Hayden's attitude toward Valeria had ruined William's good mood, and he could only release some
steam by speeding.
After speeding on for miles, William finally managed to suppress his anger.
The first thing he did was apologize to Valeria, "Valeria, I'm so sorry that I couldn't do anything about
my father's attitude! You must have felt terrible after being dismissed by him like that!"
Valeria could tell that William was really upset on her behalf, and she turned to console him, "Don't
worry, I'm alright, don't let him ruin our time together!"
"How could you be fine? My father has really crossed the line this time!"
William answered with a bitter smile.He really did not expect Hayden to show his displeasure towards
Valeria in front of others, but the incident today proved him otherwise.
William was willing to take the brute force of Hayden's anger if it meant that Hayden would accept
Valeria as the family's daughter-in- law.He could never bear to see Valeria upset.
"Don't worry, I'm fine.I'm not mad at your father for ignoring me, I mean it could have been worse
right?" Valeria meant what she said.
She had already expected this outcome, so she wasn't mad at all.
Hayden's strict demeanor was the same as when they first met, and she could still bear with it even
though it was a little upsetting to be ignored.
More importantly, she could get through this because she knew that William would always be by her
side no matter what.
William was even more troubled after hearing her forgiving words, "Valeria, you're precious to me and I
don't want anyone to upset you.In fact, everyone should be treating you like a princess, just like I do!
"Who cares about everyone else? I'm fine being your one and only princess"
Valeria smiled before reaching out to clasp William's hand in her own, "Look, let's ignore what everyone
else thinks and take care of each other alright?"
"Valeria, no children can choose their parents.Hayden is my birth father, so how can I just ignore his
actions? You must have been disappointed seeing how powerless I was against him, right?"
William sighed in helplessness.He could manage such a large company, yet he was helpless when it
came to Hayden and Valeria.
That was because he knew the strict methods that he used on his employees wouldn't work on his
father at all.
"William, I know how much you care for me so I'm really not disappointed in you.Besides, it could have
been so much worse today if your father had decided to take out his anger on me, but even if he did, it
doesn't matter because I want to be with you."
William was touched after hearing words, and he lifted the hand that was clasped in Valeria's to plant a
kiss, "Thank you, Valeria!"
"I should thank you! William, promise me that you'll control your temper and ignore how your father
treats me, okay?"
"Why do I have to?"
"You know how much your father dislikes me.It'll only get worse if you continue to defend me when he's
trying to target me.You should just leave me be when he does so!"
"That is dependent on how he treats you.I won't step in if he's only ignoring you, but if he does
something out of line, I might not be able to control my temper!"
William was conflicted because he did not want Valeria to feel troubled, but at the same time, he did not
want Valeria to incur his father’s wrath as well.
"Look, why don't you stop going against your father so that we can make peace with your family? We
should always respect our elders, right?"
As they arrive at the Wolf Group, William was in a better mood after he realized how thoughtful Valeria
was.
He was going to guide Valeria into the hotel when suddenly Valeria stopped him, "Wait, your father
would be outraged if he sees that we went into the hall without him."
William paused and decided to wait for Hayden and his guests to arrive.He understood that Valeria was
bearing with Hayden for his sake, and he did not want to make things even harder for her.
It did not take long for Hayden's car to pull up in front of the hotel.
However, when Hayden got off his car, he ignored both Valeria and William who were waiting for him.
Instead, he walked past them into the hotel with a grunt.
Paisley got off the car after Hayden and she greeted both of them with a smile, "Mr.Howard, Miss
Brown, let's go in!"
Lucas also got off smiling, "Yes, Sir William and Miss Brown, let's go! With William and Valeria holding
hands, the six of them filled the lift that brought them to the hall.Hayden had invited the senior
executives of Howard Group to the dinner tonight, and he did not want to make a fool out of himself in
front of them.When they arrived, it appeared that the senior executives were being entertained by
Charles and Elizabeth.Their eyes were drawn to William and Valeria when Hayden's group arrived, and
they immediately made their way to greet Hayden.
Valeria was not only known as a former employee of the Howard Group but also Mason's ex girlfriend.
Mason was also Elizabeth's nephew, who was on good terms with all the senior executives of Howard
Group.
And this was why the crowd was stunned when they saw William and Valeria together.
Hayden quickly made his way to his seat with an annoyed expression on his face after reading the
atmosphere in the hall.
Charles and Elizabeth were delighted as they saw Hayden's displeased face.
However, Charles knew that he had to put up a friendly facade in front of Hayden and immediately
gestured to William, "Here William, I've saved this seat for you."
As William started to guide Valeria to his seat, Charles immediately pulled out the other seat next to
him, "Miss Anthony, here's your seat! The current seating arrangement meant that William was stuck in
the middle with Paisley and Valeria sitting on his sides.
William glanced at Charles with a cold smile, and Charles couldn't help but shiver.
He felt repulsive at how Charles was trying to create more trouble.
"Wait, why should I be scared of William in the first place?"
Charles muttered secretly as he once again, put a smile back on his face, "Now that all the honorable
guests have arrived, let's eat!"
As the waiters brought their dishes, William ignored Charles who was trying to make toasts with
everyone to get into their good graces.
Instead, he decided to pick out dishes that Valeria liked, "Here, try some of this dish, I know it's your
favourite!"
"It's fine, you don't have to do this when there are so many eyes are onus, I can get my own food"
Valeria insisted softly.
"Who cares if they're all looking at us? They're in charge of the company, not me," William continued to
fill up Valeria’s plate with her favorite dishes.
Hayden's face hardened even more after seeing how William was taking care of Valeria.
Elizabeth glanced at Hayden's hardened expression before stealing an eye at Paisley, who was being
ignored even though she was also sitting next to William.
She knew that both she and Charles should help Paisley as much as they could since Hayden had
already regarded Paisley as his future daughter-in-law.
This meant that Paisley was regarded as the strongest candidate to be William's wife, but now that
William had brought Valeria to the company dinner to meet all the senior executives, so Paisley had
lost some of her advantages.
It was such a pity that William chose to date Valeria instead of Paisley.She came from a richer family
that had more resources to help him with his business.
Elizabeth knew that she had to take this opportunity to get into the good graces of Paisley by helping
her overpower Valeria.
After all, more chaos was always welcomed in her eyes.
"Look, William, you shouldn't be rude by ignoring Miss Anthony as she is your business partner after
all.I know that you want to take care of Miss Brown, but getting in Miss Anthony's good graces would
be beneficial for any future business plans, right?" Elizabeth said with a light smile.
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