Web of deception

"Oh, I did not have any idea that you were dating someone." Her father appeared surprised by her admission. "Andrew, will you excuse us for a minute. I just need to speak to my daughter." It was more of a command than a request. Andrew immediately made his leave and the three of them were left alone.

Her father was certainly intrigued by the turn of events. He had been closely monitoring Mr. Princeton because of his recent acquisition of the Welsh Group of Companies. He had been eyeing to buy that company for a long time, but the owner refused to give it up.

He was wondering about this man who was still a mystery to all. And his curiosity just spiked up now that he had learned of his involvement with his daughter. He was still not sure if he should be happy about it or not. He needed more information about the man his daughter was recently dating.

"We are just recently dating, so I was not sure if we should announce it yet." She was glad that she was good at twisting the truth to her advantage. Because her dad was quite good at reading people and he could have easily seen through her lies.

"It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Hamilton." Alexander offered his hand for a shake to the man who he admired all this year. In a way, he wanted to achieve what he had. He also wanted to sit on his throne because that was where the real power lie.

"It was me who is pleased to meet you, Mr. Princeton." Her father patted him on the shoulder as they shook their hands. "Can I call you, Alex? We don't have to be formal. Just call me Ethan." Employing a tone, he normally used to intimidate his competition.

He always gauged a man by the way they gripped their hand on a handshake. If it was too soft or too hard, it was not worth his time. But a firm grip with a proper amount of pressure was a man he could work with.

Thus far, Alex was proving to be a very remarkable man. Although he would still need a more thorough background check on him. He had to make sure that he was not just using his daughter to get to him.

He had been wrong before with Nick and it was a lapse in his judgment when he allowed his emotion to take over his instinct. He would not allow that to happen again.

"Alex is fine, Ethan." He answered back without any hint of being intimidated.

He was not about to cower down to this man, even if he was the king of this city. He was going to use this opportunity to get in his good graces and learn from the legend himself. He felt like he just hit the jackpot. He was hitting two birds with one stone.

"So, tell me, Alex, what do you do?" Ethan asked as he signaled a passing waiter to bring them some drinks.

"I'm into a variety of business, but my main interest focuses on constructions and buildings." He answered him vaguely. But if he knew the man, he already had him investigated long before he met him.

The news of his latest acquisition had many of his rivals investigating his identity. They wanted to know how his small company was able to acquire a deal with such an elusive company. But none of them was able to dig much about him, except for the information he had asked his team to disseminate.

"How did you meet my daughter, if I may ask?" This part, he did not know. He was curious about how their paths crossed.

After Nick broke the engagement, his daughter had sworn off man and dating. He occasionally heard that she went out on a date, but it never lasted more than an hour before she called it a night. He was concerned that she might not find the right man for her.

Maybe pushing men at her did not help, but he was just hoping that she would eventually find the right one. Despite, everyone's opinion, he loved his daughter very much. He just wanted the best for her. Maybe his approach was not to her standard, but that was what he thought was best.

"I'm her client. She's handling one of my accounts in their firm." He simply explained, not wanting to give more details.

"Dad, if you'll excuse us, we still have to mingle around. We also don't want to monopolize your time. I'm sure you have many guests to entertain." Dani wanted to escape her dad's questioning because she was not sure if they could answer any of it given that they barely knew each other.

"I hope that we'll have a get-together sometime. Maybe you can bring him along for dinner." Her dad addressed his statement to his daughter.

"Dad, we are both very busy these following weeks." She tried to find a better alibi but nothing came to mind, so she settled for that.

"I'm sure you can squeeze in one night out of your busy schedule. Right, Alex?" He was not going to let his daughter squirmed her way out of this. He did not get to this position without a lot of manipulation.

"Of course, Ethan. I'm sure we can arrange something." He was not about to lose this opportunity to get close to her and her father. This was a once in a lifetime.

Although he knew he could get to his position without any help, he still believed that learning from the best and especially from your competition was the easiest way to success. He acknowledged that Mr. Ethan Hamilton was the best in this business.

"Go ahead and mingle. But before you leave, Dani, make sure to say goodbye to your mother." Her father reminded her. It was something that she loved about her parents. No matter how busy they were, family always came first.

"Of course, Dad. I'll make sure to see her." In truth, it was what she was supposed to do earlier before she got caught in this web of deception.