Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Chloe’s POV
On the screen, Arthur entered the grand banquet hall and spotted Mom at once.
Mom was holding a glass of juice, moving easily through the crowd with a composed smile. The voices of the ladies gathered around her came through the monitor clearly, every word sharp in my ears.
“Ms. Bennett, if you hadn’t intervened, Dr. Gloria Nguyen never would have accepted my mother-in-law’s case. You really are our family’s guardian angel.”
“That’s right, Ms. Bennett. You even arranged a fifty percent discount on the surgical fee and saved us a huge amount of money!”
“Ms. Bennett, your team’s medical skills are superb, and your courage is extraordinary. I doubt there’s another woman in all of Eldermist as bold and capable as you.”
I stared at Mom’s profile on the screen. In the face of all that praise, she remained modest and courteous, her expression calm, never showing the slightest trace of pride. There was something deeply reassuring about that bearing.
Then Arthur walked over.
With a broad smile, he parted the crowd and headed toward Mom. “Clara, sweetheart!”
Mom turned and saw him. The coldness on her face was real and completely undisguised.
Arthur put on the face of a loving father, pulled business cards from his pocket, and started handing them out one by one to the executives around him, saying things like “I’m Clara’s father,” “Please do keep in touch,” and “Don’t hesitate to reach out.” He was using Mom’s name to shamelessly build connections for himself.
I frowned.
“What’s he doing?” Zoe asked softly beside me.
“He’s using Mom’s name to build his own network,” I said. “Look. He’s even dragging Mom and Gloria Nguyen’s name into it, but he has no right.”
Zoe didn’t respond and kept staring at the screen.
On the screen, Arthur had already cornered an executive named Henderson and started soliciting investment for Bennett Corporation, using Mom and The Gloria Nguyen Collective as backing. The implication was obvious: working with his company was practically the same as being connected to Gloria Nguyen’s medical team.
This wasn’t just leveraging connections anymore. He was using Mom’s reputation to guarantee his own company.
In the crowd, Mom folded her arms and watched it all coldly. I knew that expression too well. It was the look she had when she had judged a matter from beginning to end and made up her mind.
“Ethan,” I turned to him, “what’s Mom going to do?”
He glanced at the screen and tugged his hat lower. “In front of all these people, she’s going to expose what Arthur really is.”
Beside me, Zoe quietly clenched the hem of her dress over her knees. She didn’t blink as she stared at the screen, waiting for what would happen next.
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Clara’s POV
I stood where I was and watched everything Arthur did.
He was handing out business cards in my name, using Gloria Nguyen’s name to pull investment into Bennett Corporation, treating every ounce of credibility I had built in this industry over the years as if it were a resource he could freely cash in tonight.
For five years, I had gotten to where I was step by step on my own. He had contributed none of his strength to that path. Yet here he was tonight, standing under my name, wearing that expression of a loving father. It was one of the most disgusting performances I had ever seen.
If he merely wanted to expand his network through my social ties, perhaps I could have turned a blind eye. But watching him use The Gloria Nguyen Collective’s name to profit for his own company—I could not tolerate that.
All I felt toward Arthur’s greed and stupidity was contempt and disdain. I had no intention of becoming a shield for his absurd schemes.
I set my glass of juice onto a nearby waiter’s tray, adjusted my gown, and walked through the crowd toward Arthur.
In front of all these powerful and distinguished guests, I decided to make his true colors public.
He had his back to me, still handing out business cards one after another, saying, “I’m Clara’s father,” and, “Please do keep in touch,” in a carefully measured tone, like he was attending his own business banquet. Mr. Henderson stood in front of him with the polite but noncommittal expression of someone merely listening.
“Ladies and gentlemen.”
I deliberately raised my voice a little, enough for the people nearby to hear, but not so much that it would force the entire banquet hall into awkward silence.
Arthur turned around. When he saw me, the smile on his face paused.
“Arthur is indeed my father, but there is one point I would like to make perfectly clear here.” I swept my gaze around the room. “He runs Bennett Corporation, while I work exclusively for Gloria Nguyen’s medical team. There is no business relationship between us, nor any financial connection.”
I paused.
“Business always carries risk. Please invest with caution. I would like to solemnly remind everyone present that Gloria Nguyen’s medical team has no form of cooperation or association with Bennett Corporation.”
The banquet hall fell silent for a moment.
Arthur stood there, and the color on his face changed. Looking at his stunned expression, I knew he had never expected me to draw the line this clearly, this publicly, and this ruthlessly.
He quickly recalculated, then put that wounded, loving-father expression back on his face and stepped forward.
“Clara, sweetheart, I’m your father. How can you say something like that?” His tone was layered with forced warmth. “You shouldn’t be so rigid just because you work for Gloria Nguyen’s medical team. Everyone here is practically family. Helping them out is good for me too.”
He paused, then added, “My dear daughter, you’ve been out in the world too long. You still lack social experience. Let me teach you how these things should be handled.”
I saw exactly what he was trying to do with those words.
“Dad, there’s a problem with what you just said,” I said evenly. “How well do you actually know these people? On what basis are you saying everyone here is family?”
I paused.
“And as for the ‘favor’ you’re suggesting—what kind of favor can I provide as a doctor? Make a few extra incisions during surgery? Or prescribe three years of medication while charging for only two? That kind of favor is not something anyone should be asking for.”
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