52

52



Gala
Dante


I looked at all of the press officials throwing multiple question at me and Nathan tried to stop them from bugging me at both sides..


"You'll get all your answers in the gala. It'll be broadcasted live," I heard someone answer behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see that it was Xander walking down the red carpet with his entourage of guards.


"Mr. Rivera, nice to see you," he said and nodded before walking past me into the building. I walked into the building too and took a look around the large hall that was filled with familiar and unfamiliar faces dressed in nice suits, tuxedos, and dresses..


As I looked around, I stopped and I looked a bit back to see someone familiar.


Holy shit! What the hell was he doing here?!


"Isn't that Javier?" Nathan asked from behind and I nodded, staring at Javier.


He stared at me too for a while and I looked at the corners of his lips raise into a smirk. He did a mock cheer with his wine glass in my direction and looked away.


It was Javier fucking RedWood, the eldest RedWood twin from the Mystic Fangs Clan. What the hell was he doing here?


"Good Morning, Mr. Rivera," I looked up to see Kara, my secretary walk towards us. She was wearing a long orange dress with and silver heels.


"Morning Kara." I smiled back at her, "you look good by the way," I said and she smiled..


"Thank you sir," Kara smiled and she looked up as Landon walked towards us before leaving.


"Landon, hi," Nathan said and he pulled Landon into a hug. As they broke the hug, Landon faced me with a smile.


"I'm sorry for disappointing the other day," I said apologetically and Landon nodded.


"It's okay, I started it first so that wouldn't have happened if I didn't change the meeting's location," Landon said and he pulled me into a hug.


As we broke the hug, I looked up to see Viktor sitting at the table dressed in a wine Tuxedo


"Are we late?" I asked and Viktor shook his head.


"The gala was just about to start."


***


"Yes, that's good to hear," Carson, the housing department secretary said and I smiled before he walked away.


He was the thousandth government official I would get introduced to today while the gala went on.


I looked to my left as a waiter passed by with a tray of drinks and I stopped him, picking a glass of wine from the tray.


I took a sip out it and sighed before looking over my shoulder to see the table where Nathan, Viktor, Kara and Landon were sitting.


I walked over to the table and sighed again before sitting next to Nathan..


As I sat down and drank my wine, I was thinking about Natasha who I left back at the pack mansion.


I wanted this program to end quickly so I could rest for the rest of the day and start gathering the evidence is I need to prove her innocence from tomorrow.


"Isn't that Mr RedWood from Maverick Corps?" Kara asked and I didn't bother turning around since I had already seen him earlier.


"Yes, he is here," I replied and I dropped my wine glass on the table.


I glanced at Viktor and I noticed that he seemed uncomfortable. Was it because Javier was mentioned.


He was staring at Javier and I looked over my shoulder but Javier wasn't even looking here.


"Excuse me," Viktor said, dropping his wine glass on the table and standing up.


"I need to use the restroom," he said and he walked away.


"I need to use the restroom too," Landon said and he stood up, walking after Viktor.


"Well, the music has started, do you want to dance?" Nathan asked, facing Kara and she nodded, standing up and holding Nathan's hand as they walked to the dancefloor.


I sighed and picked up my wine glass again, taking a sip out of it again. I looked sideways as Viktor and Landon walked back and they both walked to the dancing floor.


I took a glance at Javier who was sitting far away and discussing with some people from other companies, laughing.


I knew that Javier was up to no good and he had planned something already.


The music singer that died down and I looked up as Carson Gates, the secretary of the department of housing and urban development climb up to the tall podium at the other end of the hall.


The music died and everybody walked back to their seats.


"Good evening everyone," Carson said with a smile and he cleared his throat.


"I welcome everyone here today to this special event," he added and people clapped.


"I want to specially welcome all the government officials, the board of trustees, the CEO's and managing directors of all companies present here today, and all other staffs who are going to contribute to the success and development of this great project," he continued and people clapped again.


"I'm going to use this opportunity to shout out to my wife, Karen, and my lovely children, Leo and Matilda, thank you very much for your support your love and all the motivation you have given me up to this day," he said and pointed at the table where his family sat.


Carson remain silent for a while and all of a sudden, he faced me, staring at me in a weird way.


"Sometimes it is better to let go and avoid conflicts when your competitor is a dangerous force that you don't want to mess with," Carson said and I looked at him in confusion. What was he saying?


I looked around and saw that everyone else was also confused, while Javier was simply grinning. I stared at him and looked up at the podium again.


What did he do?


"As I said before, I love and cherish my family so much, which is why it pains me so badly that I have to do this," Carson said and all of a sudden, he reached into the inner pocket of his suit and brought something out.


It was a fucking knife!