Scott managed to escape Chairman Trevors thanks to Bella, who smoothly intervened by saying she promised him a quick tour if he decided to come.

Phew.

But even as they left, Scott knew he’d have to deal with the man again soon. It was an absolute nightmare dealing with fathers who loved their daughters... especially the absurdly rich ones. Chairman Trevors came from serious old money and quite clearly spoiled Bella like crazy, so Scott was 100% certain the man wouldn’t just let someone like him date his daughter.

And the funny part was...

I DON’T EVEN WANNA DATE HER! (!!⇀‸↼)

She was the one chasing after him.

With how clingy she was being around him, it was sure to make her father insanely jealous. There were just so many ways this entire situation could blow up in his face, and the more Scott thought about it, the more a nervous sweat started to bead on his forehead.

All while he was spiraling, Bella had her arms securely wrapped around his and her perky chest pressed firmly against his arm as they walked. To think a woman who had won top North American beauty pageants, boasted several platinum singles, and was currently a rapidly rising Hollywood star would be this madly attached to him...

Scott bit his inner lip to hold back a smug smile,

『Ah, System is working overtime...』

Bella looked up at Scott with a pretty smile.

"Can you walk a little faster, darling? I have so many places I want to show you!"

"Ehhh..."

Scott mumbled, his feet dragging slightly.

Before he could even properly protest, Bella gave his arm a yank and practically dragged him down the massive hallway as she giggled happily.

First, the Subterranean Gallery.

Bella bragged about their climate-controlled, 40-car underground garage. It looked more like a high-end museum, housing the Trevors family collection of hypercars and pre-war classics.

Right after showing off the cars, she led him to a atrium to show him the genetically modified plant her father had bought at an exclusive auction in Europe.

"Say hi to Trevor, babe!"

Bella pointed at the exotic Venus Flytrap.

Scott raised a single brow at her, staring like she had completely lost her mind.

"Uhm..."

"Good afternoon, fine sir. Welcome to the estate."

The plant had a deep, smooth jazz voice.

"What the—!"

Scott jumped back in utter shock.

Both Trevor the plant and Bella instantly burst into a fit of laughter.

"Look at your face!"

Bella teased, poking his cheek.

"You’re so easily startled!"

The Venus Flytrap rustled its leaves smoothly.

"I must say, Miss Bella... I like this one. He’s cute."

Bella folded her arms under her breasts and a soft smile graced her lips as she looked at Scott.

"I like him too..."

Scott shifted uncomfortably, feeling a little weird. There was a certain, undeniable beauty Bella always had when she dropped the mean-girl act and showed her kinder side. He couldn’t tell if she was faking it to lower his guard, but it actually made his defenses drop for a second... which, to him, was incredibly embarrassing.

He quickly looked away and cleared his throat.

"Uh... what’s next?"

"Come with me~" (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

Bella then led him out to the tiered infinity pool that dropped off into the Los Angeles skyline. Scott walked up to the edge, completely amazed by the stunning, panoramic view of the city below.

"Woah..."

He was totally focused on the scenery.

Bella suddenly cupped her hands and splashed a wave of water right at him.

"HEY!"

Scott barked, wiping his face.

Bella giggled softly, crossing her arms.

"Oh, don’t be such a baby about it!"

But as she spoke, her voice trailed off. She noticed how the water had made his thin top stick completely flat against his torso. The wet fabric perfectly outlined the chiseled ridges of his abs and defined chest muscles.

Bella immediately felt a sudden dryness in her throat.

She swallowed hard, somehow managing to compose herself before she started drooling.

"It’s fine."

Scott sighed, looking down at his shirt.

"The shirt’s not even that wet, so—"

Splash!

Bella aggressively splashed him with a massive wave of water again.

"What the—?!"

Bella smiled up at him innocently, tilting her head.

"Aww, so sad. Well, since you’re already soaked, you can just take a quick swim in the pool and wait for your clothes to dry off, hm~?"

Scott lifted a brow at her.

"Let me guess... you want to swim too?"

"Of course~"

Bella stepped closer.

"It’s a massive pool. There’s more than enough room for both of us."

Scott blinked like a lost puppy.

Bella didn’t hesitate; she reached out to gently grab his fingers with a seductive stare.

"I’m game if you are~ ♥️"

Bella walked right past him toward the edge of the deck and threw a glance over her shoulder.

"No peeking."

She began to casually take off her clothes.

When she turned her head slightly and saw that he had actually respected her boundaries and turned his back which made her smile.

She slipped her top off, revealing a designer bra that perfectly shaped and lifted her big breasts so they looked like perfect golden melons. She then unbuttoned her bottoms, stepping out of them to reveal her famously massive, curvaceous bubble butt that practically suffocated her skimpy lace panties.

Just to tease him, she unhooked her bra, slipped off her panties, and tossed the lightweight undergarments right by his feet so he would see them.

Scott easily took the bait.

He couldn’t actually see her naked body from his angle, but the moment he heard the soft rustle of fabric landing near his sneakers, he couldn’t help but inch his ear back slightly. He was practically trying to see if he could somehow "hear" her nakedness.

Splash!

The naked Bella dove flawlessly into the water.

She surfaced a moment later, wiping her eyes and shouting toward the deck.

"Your turn! I promise I won’t peek!"

To assure him, she tightly covered her eyes with both dainty hands. But the second Scott started taking off his clothes, she subtly parted her fingers, wide-eyed and taking a shameless, thorough peek at his physique.

Splash!

Scott dove into the pool. The moment he submerged, the water went completely still. It almost felt like he had entirely disappeared because Bella couldn’t see a single ripple or sign of him anywhere on the surface.

"Scott?" she called out, spinning around.

No response.

"Scott, seriously, where are you?"

She started to get genuinely worried, frantically scanning the large infinity pool.

"Scott baby, this isn’t funny, come out—"

"BOOO!"

Scott suddenly burst out of the water behind her.

"Kyaaahhh!" .·°՞(˃ ᗝ ˂)՞°·.

Bella shrieked in terror.

She immediately turned around and furiously splashed water at his face.

"Don’t do that! Oh my god, my heart!"

Scott burst out laughing, wiping his eyes.

"Err, call it payback..."

Bella pouted and crossed her arms underwater to hide her buxom chest.

"You’re not funny!" (⸝⸝⩌ ⤙ ⩌⸝⸝)

"Kahaha! I kinda am."

The two of them started laughing and gradually it died down till it was only them.

"This is nice..."

Bella murmured softly.

"Yeah. It is."

Scott agreed, relaxing into the water.

Bella floated a little closer to him.

Her blue eyes locked onto his as she quietly asked.

"Do you want to make it... more fun?"

"Uh, Bella, I..."

"AHEM!"

A booming throat-clearing noise killed the moment.

Both Bella and Scott completely froze up.

They slowly turned their heads toward the deck and saw Chairman Trevors standing there, looking like an absolute thundercloud. Hugging his left leg was Bella’s little brother, Ian, while her late-teens sister, Callista, stood on his other side.

Scott saw the murderous frown on the father’s face and instantly panicked under the water.

"I... I can explain, sir..."

Chairman Trevors didn’t say a single word.

His veins were practically popping on his forehead.

Callista lazily lifted her eyes from her handheld console to uninterestedly side-eye her furious father.

"Well, look at the bright side, Dad. At least you don’t have to ask him what his intentions are with your daughter. That’s pretty clear."

She focused back on her game after.

Chairman Trevors stared down at Scott.

"Do you need a minute?"

"No. Just... some witnesses..."

The Chairman cleared his throat rigidly to address the two of them.

"Go put on fresh clothes. We are having family dinner in exactly one hour."

Bella inched toward the pool steps to leave first, but her father sharply raised a hand.

"Bella, a word."

He then locked a freezing glare onto Scott.

"Alone."

"Uhm, sure, Mr. Chairman, but..."

Scott hesitated, staying submerged up to his chin.

"But what?!" the Chairman snapped.

Scott offered a deeply strained, awkward smile.

"I’m... kinda naked down here. So, uhhh..."

"I cannot believe this disgraceful display!"

The man shouted in absolute horror. He violently turned on his heel and marched away, aggressively ushering his children back inside the mansion.

══════

An hour later.

Everyone was fully dressed and seated around the long dining table for the grand holiday dinner. Scott was dressed in a nice gray blazer over a white polo, paired with gray dress pants and clean white sneakers.

He subtly adjusted his stiff collar and sighed.

『Man... I could’ve been enjoying myself eating messy chili fries back at Emma’s place right now.』

Scott discreetly tapped on his System glasses.

A subtle, transparent blue glow covered his lens as he began to scan and read detailed background info on every single person seated at the table.

[Victoria Trevors-Gautier: The Chairman’s eldest sister. Married into old, untouchable European banking money. Elite snob.]

[Julian Trevors: The eccentric younger brother. Wealthy venture capitalist who funds cutting-edge tech startups and advanced aerospace technology.]

[Sonya Trevors-Sterling: The Chairman’s cousin. Huge billionaire philanthropist and high-society art curator. Sits on the board of every major museum from Los Angeles to New York.]

(10+ more...)

The holographic panels of information faded away and Scott mentally shook his head.

『Fuck this...』 (ᗜ _ ᗜ)

He then shifted his gaze to the beautiful stern-faced woman seated directly next to the Chairman.

A new information panel popped up.

[Geraldine Trevors-Monet: The Chairman’s wife and a notoriously deadly, ruthless businesswoman in the corporate world.]

Clink! Clink! Clink!

The Chairman sharply rang his silver fork against his crystal wine glass.

"Ah, there’s my beautiful daughter."

Everyone turned their heads toward the grand staircase. Bella was walking down gracefully, looking exquisite in a premium, form-fitting red cocktail dress.

"Thank you, Daddy..."

Bella smiled sweetly, sashaying over to the table.

The Chairman offered a doting fatherly smile, but the exact millisecond Bella chose to pull out the chair directly next to Scott and sit down, his face instantly twisted back into a dark frown.

The room went quiet.

The Chairman locked his eyes onto Scott and suddenly cleared his throat.

"So, Mister McQueen. Given the current volatility in the transatlantic trade agreements, what are your specific thoughts on the quantitative easing strategies implemented by the European Central Bank, and how do you project it will impact the tech-sector liquidity in the upcoming fiscal quarter?"

"Eh?" ( ╹ -╹)?

Bella frowned at this and scolded her father.

"Oh, please, Bernard. It’s Christmas week. Stop trying to interview him."

The deadly mother sat up straight.

"Let him answer, Bella."

Her cold eyes narrowed slightly.

"It’s a basic macroeconomic question."

"Uhm..."

Scott cleared his throat, completely blanking.

Victoria Trevors-Gautier let out a condescending chuckle from across the table.

"Oh, please. There is absolutely no way a boy like HIM would know anything about that."

She smirked at him.

"Perhaps something simpler? What is your take on the current corporate tax charges affecting private offshore banks in Zurich?"

A wave of snobbish laughter broke out among several extended family members at the table.

"Oh, Victoria, don’t torture the poor boy!"

"There’s no way he can answer that either."

Bella’s face flushed with pure, defensive anger.

"Hey! Stop it!"

Julian Trevors wasn’t laughing.

He casually cut into his steak.

"Well, Bella did mention to the family that Scott works as a fashion model. So, realistically, there’s no way he’d actually know about these kinds of high-level financial structures, y’know?"

The mother scoffed coldly, setting her wine glass down with a sharp click.

"Then he has no business being at this table."

Sonya Trevors-Sterling swirled her wine.

"Modeling is technically a form of visual art, yes? Tell me, young man... do you know anything at all about art? You better not give me a boring answer."

Scott didn’t say a single word.

He just sat there, staring blankly at his plate.

Seeing him silent and seemingly humiliated made Bella’s angry face break into a sad pout.

She hated seeing them gang up on him like this.

Women like Sonya was quite good at eating up uneducated men in the worst way possible. She had degrees in various forms of art so Bella that lady would embarrass Scott if she was given leeway.

"Let’s talk about something el—"

"No. I’m not done with him."

Sonya frowned at the quiet Scott.

She smugly pointed her fork toward a heavily framed French painting on display on the dining room wall.

"Take that masterpiece right there, for instance..."

Sonya bragged, puffing out her flat chest.

"An original 18th-century French oil painting, personally curated by me. And I’ll have you know it’s easily worth thirty million dollars."

Then, she turned to the rest of the table and spoke a fluent sentence in high-society French.

Scott was still silent.

"Hm?"

The woman enjoyably stared at his face.

"Oh! Silly me. He doesn’t even speak French. I am so sorry for that, dear."

The Chairman chimed in, proudly puffing his chest.

"Exactly. Bella’s former fiancée, William Roosevelt, was not only a top global model, but the boy is an absolute savant in international finance and a literal god when it comes to appraising high-value historical art."

Sonya turned her head back to admire the canvas as she sighed in awe.

"Thirty million dollars, sitting right there..."

Scott quietly picked up his fork, took a casual bite of his salad, and mumble under his breath.

"More like ten thousand dollars."

"Eh?"

Said the entire dining table.

Every single eye at the table was now on him.

Sonya’s smug smile turned into an offended frown.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?"

She scoffed, glaring at him.

"You’re funny, kid."

Scott didn’t flinch.

"The salad is a little bland..." ( ˘ᴗ˘ )

He calmly picked up his cloth napkin and elegantly dabbed it against his mouth to clean himself.

"Oh, yeah. I said, it’s a fake."