Chapter 51: Party

Inside the function hall of a famous luxury hotel in Oakridge City, men and women were in their best outfits for the night.

Since the Wagner family was military, most of the attendees were from the military.

Of course, they had relatives who owned businesses outside and inside Oakridge City.

They were gathering around and waiting for General Wagner, his family, and other, important guests to arrive and the party would start.

Meanwhile, Jackson decided to join their group in going to the party. They were riding in a limo going there. Brian was driving while Rupert was sitting beside him.

Elliott and Chris were together with them at the back.

Xavier knew why Jackson was doing this but he decided not to bust him about it.

Jackson was the less-favored son of their family.

He wanted to tell his family that even though he opted for a clerical position, there was nothing to be ashamed of.

He wanted to prove that he was able to meet big people because of his job. He just wanted his grandfather and father to acknowledge him.

As they arrived, the party had not started yet but it was pretty crowded. A red carpet was laid out at the entrance for the guest to walk on.

"There's an auction at the start of the party. It's up to you guys to participate or not." Jackson told them at the last minute. It was brought up at the last minute.

Xavier did not comment on it and neither were the others.

They finally reached the venue and a silver limo pulled over at the entrance of the hotel.

The twins came down first with their respective partners, Elliott, and Chris. Elliott partnered with Olivia while Trixie was with Chris.

Cole and Hope came down as well followed by Jackson.

Lastly, Xavier came out, and then he waited for Zarah to come down.

He stretched his arm like a true gentleman and then Zarah grabbed his hand.

Xavier carefully placed a hand on her head so she won't bump her head against the ceiling.

"Thank you," Zarah said in appreciation. Xavier only smiled in response.

With Jackson's lead, they walked through the entrance of the hotel, and after going through security, they boarded the elevator to reach the function hall.

They walked through the red carpet before entering the function hall.

They were surprised that there were a couple of people from the press who were also camping at the entrance.

"What's going on?" Xavier asked Jackson as he didn't want any media exposure at all.

He had always been discreet. Rumors about him only appeared and circulated within the circle.

However, it was never released in the media except if there was an insider tip and would be published in gossip forums.

Between the cousins, Dylan was popular because he often got a lot of media exposure.

"This is a milestone for General. So they invited people from the press to witness it."

Xavier had forgotten that General Wagner was like a celebrity in the military.

Though he had already retired, he was known for his loyal service to the Presidents of Country Z.

That was the honor and legacy that they wanted to preserve. It was their pride.

"I'll just censor the articles about you if you're uncomfortable," Jackson said to compensate him.

"There's no need."

His name was mentioned all over the news after he became the Chairman of Stevens Group. However, they never got a clear picture of him as he was either facing to the side, his back was shown or something was blocking his face in photographs.

He was this aloof.

And even though he didn't have to tell them, Rupert and his team were already doing their work.

Being careful won't harm him.

As they entered, all eyes were on them. Those who recognized Zarah and Xavier from the funeral came to greet them.

As expected, Xavier had become the spotlight.

However, what was more surprising was that he came with Jackson. The less favored grandson. They had no idea that these two were close.

The guests' opinions about Jackson immediately changed.

Jackson and the rest decided to head to their table first as it might take a long time for the two to join them.

However, Xavier only exchanged quick greetings. "We all came here to enjoy. If you have business proposals in mind, feel free to approach my assistants, Elliott, Rupert, and Chris respectively." He said.

Some of them had already met and made a transaction with the Stevens Group and so they knew his temperament. Therefore they were not surprised.

"Of course. Let's enjoy this party first. Then I hope we have something that might interest you later on."

"We will see. Excuse me, everyone. Our friends are waiting for us."

He then grabbed Zarah's hand to follow the others.

Jackson had already reserved a table for his guest.

However, he was surprised that they were located in the middle.

"I'm sorry, guys," he apologized right away. Xavier was one of the distinguished guests, therefore he should be seated in the front. However, he chose to stay with them and declined the staff.

"It's fine." Xavier was not there to get attention but to support him. The rest didn't mind either. There's no fun being in the spotlight.

After they settled down, Olivia nudged Zarah's shoulder telling her that Natalie and Josh had entered the hall.

Zarah saw them and she looked back at her phone. She was no longer interested to know about them.

Xavier who followed Zarah's sight saw Josh with his niece, Natalie.

And when Josh happened to look in their direction, Xavier grabbed her hand and held it.

Xavier was insecure. He would always be insecure since Zarah had not accepted him yet.

Josh flashed a glint of jealousy in his eyes. He looked at Xavier with anger.

This man never allowed him to get closer to Zarah. He was blocking him from her. He would not be surprised to know that his drug overdose was caused by him.

The police investigation report showed that he was being injected with drugs. He remembered he and his friends were drinking at a bar and he was so drunk that he barely managed to reach his car and drive. It was shown in the CCTV footage.

But the recording stopped right after. However, he could vaguely recall that two men approached him and injected something into his neck and he passed out.

The combination of drugs and alcohol would always be lethal to a person.

The police didn't find enough evidence to support his claim that he was abducted because he was seen checking in a hotel with another person. The front desk said it was a woman. But she was wearing sunglasses and a mask.

They could not find anything that could identify her even though they spoke with her. She was the only lead to his case.

However, she vanished the next morning after making a call for room service.

The room service attendant was the one who called for the police and the medic arrived seconds after.

He could not recall that he had a beef with anyone other than him and Zarah.

However, he dismissed that it was Zarah who brought her to the hotel that night. She was the reason why he was drinking after all.

It didn't make any sense at all. He also confronted Natalie about it. After what happened, he thought that she was capable of doing anything to harm him.

However, she refused. She also has a great alibi that night.

The last person he could think of was Xavier. After finding out about his identity, he tried to investigate him but his investigators could not give him anything.

Of course, he knew that he was a Lockhart and was protected by the family.

The Lockhart family was a big shot in Sterlington City after all.

It was not easy to dig up their dirt unless they were willing to let the public know about it.

However, rumors had it that the Lockhart was somehow involved in the underworld and the black market. Only a few people knew about this rumor and they dared not to talk about this in public.

Though he didn't want to admit it, Josh knew that their status had a huge gap between them. He had to make himself strong should he want to take away Zarah from him.

Zarah should be his.

This was a mind game. Therefore, he had to hide his strategy now to outsmart him.

Zarah on the other hand felt uncomfortable. She knew that Josh was looking at him.

Natalie also looked at their table and she had a great discomfort in her heart.

"What is she doing here?" Natalie asked and Josh answered her, "I don't know. Do you want me to ask her?"

"There's no need." After she saw Xavier sitting beside Zarah, she could tell that she was his partner for the night.

She felt disgusted seeing the two.

She didn't like Xavier at all. She didn't like the air of arrogance around him. Especially after learning that he seamlessly kicked her mother and threw their things out of the mansion when it was very late at night.

Though she no longer trusted her mother like before, it was a different story when she learned that someone bullied her mom.

Her mother's stern warning rang in her ears though. Paula reminded her daughter to be careful around him.

Should she listen then?

"What a small world. I just realized that you're related to Natalie Stevens, Jackson." Olivia commented and Jackson looked at Natalie and Josh walking toward the table.

They were seated near the front.

"Yeah. Unfortunately."

After his grandfather found out that he was helping an outsider to imprison a family member, he was immediately summoned to the mansion to explain.

They only stopped pursuing the matter after he presented enough evidence to prove that Nikolai was guilty of the crime.

They were military people themselves. They knew the law so well. Therefore, General Wagner respected the law and this made his cousin Carla Kent to be disappointed in him.

However, Jackson was told to stay out of the case. Helping an outsider was seen as a betrayal to their family. Nevertheless, he owed Xavier and so he had to defy his grandfather's order.

Jackson looked at the table again and realized that they were not alone. Mr. and Mrs. Irving were with them and so he looked at the twins and thought, 'Did they not see their parents?'

"Aren't you going to greet your parents and brother?" Jackson innocently asked as he had no idea about the beef the twins had with their parents.

The twins were silent and Jackson did not pursue the matter as he could tell that he touched a sensitive topic.

The auction began after General Wagner and his family came and were seated in the front seat.

Carla Kent also arrived with Nicole and Franklin.

As Xavier saw the old woman, he clenched his hand into a tight fist.

"Good. The two are together." He whispered with deep hatred in his eyes.

Of course, Xavier had been preparing for the whole week after Jackson told him that she was attending the party.

She was the main reason why he came.

"I'm sorry if I'll ruin General Wagner's party." He told Jackson and Jackson smiled sadly.

"Don't worry, my men are waiting outside for my cue. They'll barge in when I said so." Jackson was informed about Xavier's plan.

He knew his grandfather would hate him again for this. But what was new about it?

He would just earn their trust again.

At the same time, he was trying to pull out the weed that was trying to blend in with their family.

He wanted to save them from trouble and more headaches in the future

Carla Kent was not a perfect definition of a vicious and evil woman. Therefore she should be stopped before she could gather some followers.

He was not expecting that they would thank him later. They were full of pride after all.

The auction officially began. The organizer gave them placards with numbers to use during the auction.

Xavier didn't find anything interesting about the auctioned items.

However, his interest was picked when she saw a jade bracelet.

Why did it look familiar?

It was his mother's bracelet. He thought his mother lost it.

Carla turned her head and smiled viciously at Xavier.

She wanted to anger Xavier that was why she did it.

However, she had no idea that this bracelet would cause her trouble later on.

***