Chapter 23: Jayden's tale
Jayden continued his tale, which grabbed everyone's attention on this table. Even Vanessa was intrigued.
"She kept on saying how she would drag me on social media, no matter who I was, she was not scared of me. I tried giving her money so that we can push the matter aside, but she did not agree to it one bit, she kept asking if I thought she was a whore or something; which is quite funny when I thought about how she assaulted me at the club the previous night. After trying to explain what happened to her repeatedly, she finally agreed to let the matter go because of how handsome I was, on the account I took her out for a meal. Which I did to get everything over with. But during our first date, as I will call it, we chatted a lot and found out we had similar interests in programming…"
"Lilac complained about some issues she was having while running some programs, so I offered to help out. So we exchanged numbers and over time, the more we chatted about programming and other stuff, we got to know each other better until the day she playfully asked me to be her boyfriend after confessing her feelings cutely and brazenly, which I accepted because I also felt that way for her. So that's how we officially started dating." Jayden finally completed his tale like the good storyteller he was.
Vanessa never expected the domineering CEO to be such a good liar, well people do say after lawyers, businessmen were the second best liars. His story was very silly, but he said it so seriously you would believe it. Jayden would be a good scriptwriter to come up with a story like that, which sounds more like a drama story.
When Jayden was done, Alessia and Lorenzo were amazed at his tale; it was truly bizarre and far from what they were expecting to hear.
"That's a unique story, I must say Lilac is very brazen and cute." Alessia giggled, Jayden was able to turn the table atmosphere after his tale to a more harmonious one. They started making jokes about Vanessa and Jayden. Vanessa could only laugh at herself for being painted as a brazen girl all because of money. Alessia also asked Vanessa several questions about what she liked and what Jayden also liked. It was like Alessia was interviewing her in-law.
After the main event was over, Lorenzo excused himself to talk to some business partners because a lot of top business figures used this as an opportunity to get new connections since many experts both locally and Internationally were in attendance.
Vanessa was standing by Jayden's side usually but all she could do was just smile because she wasn't very knowledgeable about business or the stock market.
"Mr Ashford, I am grateful you accepted my invitation and came for the seminar at my faculty; it was truly an honor." A middle-aged man approached Jayden with a smile to appreciate him for attending the seminar, which was held at Babcock University.
Vanessa recognized him immediately as one of her lecturers from a distance as he was approaching Jayden she immediately excused herself because she would rather not take the risk of her lecturer recognizing her as it would blow her cover.
She went over to another area where several ladies were gossiping about her and Jayden, which made her uncomfortable. They belittled her, not knowing she was present because they were so immersed in their conversation. Disgusted, Vanessa quietly left. Jayden was still talking to her lecturer, and she was not acquitted with anyone here. She would rather not strike up a conversation with anyone, not after the gossiping session she witnessed moments ago. Vanessa did not have a good opinion of the high class, so she chose to rather avoid them. Jayden had even advised her not to converse with anyone to protect her cover.
After having a few glasses of champagne, Vanessa wanted to use the restroom, so she asked for directions from a waiter and started heading there.
The floor was a little crowded, so no one could spot a lady who was among the cliques gossiping about Vanessa earlier who had sneaked through the crowd and pushed Vanessa making her miss her step and crash onto someone.
Vanessa's heels broke and she lost her balance tripping on someone. She spilled wine on the person shirt ruining his appearance. Realizing the mess she made, Vanessa felt terrible because she caused a scene at such an important event and attracted a lot of attention to her.
.
.
Somewhere else in Port Marino, in a quiet street, clicking sounds of heels were echoing. Brandy was heading home to her apartment after a date. She was humming a song and nodding her head to the beat of the music that was playing on her headphones.
It was already late in the night, around 10 pm, and Brandy's neighbourhood was mainly a residential area. So no one was on the street at this time of the night. Brandy was totaled in the music without any care for her environment, she was sure it was safe because her neighbourhood had a very low crime rate.
The only sounds that could be heard were the clicking sound of her heels and the streetlight along with her humming voice. Unknown to Brandy, someone was trailing behind her. The person's figure was not tall, a little but above average. The person has been following her since she got off the bus at the bus station. The person was dressed all in black and a hood covering his head. He had been looking down throughout to avoid his face being captured by CCTV cameras around.
He had been watching her at a distance so that she would not be able to sense his presence. Brandy was unaware of the danger that lurked around her. When the person was sure enough that Brandy was unaware of his presence, he increased his pace to meet with Brandy's. Even though Brandy was not hearing anything from her surroundings, her instincts spiked up that there was an impending danger around.
She pulled off her phone to turn back, but there was no one there. She furrowed her brows confused because she felt that she was being followed and watched.
Furthermore, she used her eyes to scan her surroundings, but there was nothing out of place. Not even one person was in sight, only packed cars and occasionally sounds of dogs barking. The clicking sounds of the streetlight as it blinked made the street seem eerily silent. There was a strange ominous aura in the air Brandy had never felt before, she immediately picked up her pace, looking around anxiously.
The man who was trailing Brandy had sensed her fright and had hid in an alley earlier, effectively hiding himself away from her field of view. When he came out of the alley, he immediately knew Brandy was alert; she had increased her pace and was behaving anxiously. He also increased his pace. After all, he couldn't let his plan fail because his target was alert.
Brandy heard the footsteps approaching from behind her and her heartbeat spiked up immediately. Brandy sprinted off in fright, her heart was hammering in her chest and she was breathing erratically. The man trailing Brandy followed the same suit and chased after her.
Brandy wanted to scream because she was sure the person was after her, but she couldn't make a sound. A van that was parked by the road drove to block her path. The person chasing after her had caught up to her and immediately gagged her mouth, then knocked her unconscious. Then she was carried into the Van before they drove off.
"What did you do to alert the target?" A lady with a buff appearance driving the Van questioned the man who was trailing Brandy.
"I didn't do anything outside the plan. She isn't the first person I have trailed before. She has good instincts, even with her ears covered, she was able to feel something amidst." The man explained to their gang leader while he pulled off his Hood. He was even shocked when he realized Brandy was aware she was being followed.
"Excuses, you almost ruined the plan." Another member of the gang sneered.
"There is no need to attack him, the important thing was that we achieved our goal and none of our traces were left. Jax is already working on cleaning all the CCTV footage from cameras around the street." The lady who was the leader snapped at her colleagues as she referred to another member whose fingers were rapidly tapping his laptop keyboard.
"I am done, all footages have been cleared. I wonder what she did to make a big client come after her." The hacker commented, he was a teenage boy, probably still in high school. He had a lollipop in his mouth and his eyes were stuck on the laptop screen.
"That's none of our business, our only concern is to drop her at the notified location." The leader drove off from the city heading to a forest path which was a secret path heading out of Port Marino which was unguarded by the authorities.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone