Chapter 306 The Contest Between Men, Tension High

Chapter 306 The Contest Between Men, Tension High

"Emily, just give up!"

Calista spoke smugly.

But Emily had already spotted the newcomer and smiled. "There are still five numbers left. Keep counting! Who knows who'll win!"

A flash of viciousness crossed Calista's eyes.

She looked at her lackey. "Count!"

"The invitation is here!"

The next moment, a tall figure pushed through the crowd and handed a golden invitation to Emily.

"Mission accomplished. How's that?"

Aaron placed the invitation in Emily's palm, smiling warmly as he raised an eyebrow at her.

Emily's eyes curved with a smile as she said gratefully, "Perfect! Just a bit more and you would've made me lose!"

Aaron rubbed his nose, feeling a little guilty.

He'd been confident he could make it in time, but got held up at the entrance and almost missed the deadline.

However, he wasn't bothered by Emily's teasing.

The fact that Emily could joke with him like this clearly showed they had a good relationship.

This made Daniel, standing nearby, extremely jealous.

His eyes burned as he stared at Aaron.

Daniel knew Aaron was Emily's good business partner, but knowing they were close was one thing.

Actually seeing them interact so intimately, and realizing that when Emily was in trouble, she didn't turn to him first but to Aaron instead—either way, it made Daniel's chest feel like it was blocked by a stone.

"Emily, aren't you going to introduce us?"

Daniel spoke in a low voice, suppressing his overwhelming jealousy and rejection of Aaron.

Only then did Emily realize, and quickly made introductions.

"Aaron, this is Daniel, the head of the Smith Group."

"Daniel, this is my friend Aaron."

Emily's introduction made the closeness clear.

Aaron had been the one to arrange Daniel's treatment, so he knew who Daniel was.

Looking at him now, Daniel seemed in good health—apparently he'd recovered well.

However, Aaron also keenly sensed Daniel's hostility toward him.

Then he noticed how Daniel looked at Emily.

As a man himself, Aaron understood immediately.

Daniel was a prominent figure, so Aaron wasn't surprised he liked Emily.

Emily was wonderful—spending time with her, being treated by her, being attracted to her was natural.

But if he couldn't even protect her from being bullied right under his nose, whether this guy could be Emily's boyfriend remained to be seen!

The two men's eyes met, each with their own thoughts, their gazes clashing in the air.

Calista also heard Emily's introduction of Daniel. Her heart sank.

How was this possible!

And hadn't Axel promised to keep Daniel occupied for half an hour?

Plus, he was Daniel, yet he came over wearing clothes stained with red wine.

Calista forcefully suppressed her shock and temporarily ignored Daniel's presence, looking at Aaron beside Emily.

How could Emily possibly know Aaron from the Hill family!

Emily noticed Calista's scrutinizing gaze, smiled, and reminded her lightly, "The invitation is right here. Does Calista want to verify it personally? Or if you suspect it's fake, we can call staff to confirm!"

The two men, who had been at odds, both turned their gaze to Calista at Emily's words.

Aaron dropped his usual gentle demeanor, his face cold as he looked at Calista. "I personally got this invitation from the organizers. If you think it's fake, I'll have them come tell you themselves!"

Since Aaron had delivered the invitation, Calista naturally couldn't question it.

She quickly smiled at him in a friendly manner. "Since Mr. Hill brought it, of course it's real. But..."

"What? You dare to back out of the bet!"

Daniel's expression darkened, the air around him seeming to freeze as he spoke.

Calista forced a smile. "Mr. Smith, you misunderstand. Since it's a bet, naturally I'll honor it. It's just that Mr. Hill arrived late—a few seconds late! So Emily still lost!"

Emily knew Calista wouldn't give in so easily.

She stepped forward, looking at Calista with a half-smile. "Aren't you embarrassed saying that? Your friend here was the one counting, everyone heard it. I'm not even mentioning how you obviously rushed the time by a minute, and now you're pushing it even further!"

"Her phone time was off. Look at mine!"

Calista pulled out her phone and compared it with the woman in red's.

Fortunately, she had a habit of setting her time a bit fast and had been too lazy to adjust it—now it came in handy.

But Emily just laughed and clapped. "Calista, you really go to great lengths to make me lose! You can think up tricks like this. Everyone has phones—you can change the time on yours, but you can't change everyone's. Oh, and I noticed earlier there's a clock on the wall. I had the organizers synchronize it to make sure it matches Emerald City time exactly!"

Calista's face looked terrible.

The onlookers started pulling out their phones to compare.

Kaia arrived with staff from the event.

"Calista, you really will do anything to win! Not only trying to falsify the time, but also having the guards block people from delivering Emily's invitation. Good thing Mr. Hill personally brought it, otherwise even if you won, it wouldn't be honorable!"

Kaia pointed at Calista's nose and scolded her.

Her voice was loud enough for many people to hear.

Except for Calista's friends, most people had their own judgment. Everyone came from good families and wouldn't ignore the facts to blindly take her side.

Even if many didn't dare offend Calista and the Stevens family openly, she couldn't stop people from quietly discussing it privately.

Justice lives in people's hearts!

Kaia continued, "Now, all of you who participated in the bet—every single one—honor it. Transfer the money! And apologize."

She'd been careless, not expecting Emily to be targeted in the short time she was away.

Now that Daniel was here, Kaia didn't dare look at him, feeling guilty.

So helping Emily regain face and making these people transfer money and apologize was the only way she could make amends.

Calista still wouldn't give in. "I can transfer the money, but the bet didn't say anything about apologizing."

She couldn't afford to lose face like that.

Kaia thought about how Zoey had suddenly approached her, made her drop and break her phone, then kept blocking her from leaving until she realized something was wrong and found a way to escape—and her anger flared.

She was certain all of this was Calista's doing.

"Originally there was no apology required, but since you did disgusting things to win, you should apologize. If you don't, I'll tell Gilbert when I get back, and don't blame the Harvey family for making things difficult for you."

Kaia said angrily.

Calista was about to say something.

"Calista!"

Axel had arrived.

He seemed gentle, but his eyes were firm.

Having lost face, Calista lowered her head and obediently fell silent in the face of Axel's firmness.

Axel withdrew his gaze and looked at Emily across from him.

This wasn't the first time he'd known of Emily's existence.

He'd even investigated her.

But in the files, Emily was an incompetent person, a daughter disliked by the Johnson family.

Although her reputation had improved recently, in his view, she'd just gained a few more tricks and some talent.

But not enough to impress him.

However, at this moment, seeing Emily in person.

She was beautiful, but what made Axel's gaze deepen was that Emily had a certain spirit about her—a spirit that didn't diminish her beauty but added a unique charm to it.

"Ms. Johnson, I apologize. Calista was thoughtless. I apologize on her behalf!"

Axel smiled, his peach-blossom eyes automatically narrowing, making him even more charming.

Calista liked Axel, and her affection made her understand everything about him. He seemed the same as usual, but she felt he was being too gentle when speaking to Emily.

This gave her a sense of crisis.