Emily pierced the crowd to reach the point where Nolan stood with his drinks. He looked at her still unsure about what was happening but this time, Emily looked focused. She only stopped when she was close enough to him so what she spoke could only be heard by him and no one else.
"I need what I asked you to hold close on Ashley." She ordered with a steady voice, "Now."
"Whoa." Nolan said with a grin, "Do I sense the smell of a take down?"
"If I want to know what Victoria has on my mother," Emily turned her gaze to where Ashley stood, "I have to be careful with who might be on my way and even if Ashley might seem harmless, I have my reasons to believe that her plays go to further places than just posing for pictures with Daniel."
"Any special event for you to believe this, may I ask?" Nolan raised one eyebrow as he took a sip of his cosmo.
"She was never trustable." Emily said in an almost whisper. "She does what's best for her, backstabbing included."
"You seem to hand pick your friends, don't you?" Nolan had his sarcasm tone on with a pleasured smile on his face.
"You think that was pure coincidence that I was friends with Ashley when I first got to the Hamptons as Emily Thorne?" Emily looked at him with a soft – yet pleased – smile. "I really handpicked this one."
"I can't even imagine how the two of you met…" Nolan, now, was looking at Ashley as well.
Emily remembered it too well. A few years ago she knew that she couldn't just appear at the Hamptons overnight as a new comer who happens to be a multimillionaire out of nowhere. She had to, quietly, build a past into the high society and there was no better way to do this through some parties and taking part on a few causes. During her first weeks inside the new world that would soon become a recurrent background for Emily Thorne's persona she could spot a girl that looked as much as out of place than she was and not only because of her heavy English accent, even though she had much more style sense that Emily could ever have. The girl literally tried hard to get attention. She was up to anything to get a shot inside that world. Emily observed her for a few weeks and the final word on the girl came when she asked around what the girl wanted and the most general answer was: "Just another party planner trying to climb her way to Victoria Grayson."
It was true that the girl aimed high since she hadn't ever approached Emily. But just like her ambition could lead Emily to an easier path to Victoria, Emily could put the girl on the spotlight. That's how their "friendship" started: out of pure ambition from both sides. But while Emily always knew Ashley's goals she had always been keen about her own, as usual. Her excuse to end up at the Hamptons last summer was a simple: "It will be fun to spend the summer there while you work for the Graysons." Just because she could.
She had thought that if she kept Ashley close enough she wouldn't have to bother with her. But she was too careless and kept Ashley on arms length, enough to lose control of her. After Tyler, she knew that there was no turning back. Ashley wanted more than she was getting and this was causing trouble for Emily. She knew that Ashley had her past mistakes but so did Emily. She wasn't willing to get something that was buried to come back at her. Still, luckily enough Ashley had let her ambition blind her and stepped away from the road during the past year in more than one occasion.
If there was anything that Emily had learned with Takeda was to find allies that could be easy to dispose of if she had to. To trust no one. So it wasn't a problem when Nolan checked on his phone and turned to her with a smile and the magic words:
"You're ready to go."
She nodded to him but her way to Ashley was interrupted by the suddenly dimmed lights and the announcement that requested everyone to take their seats because Daniel's speech was about to begin.
Emily rolled her eyes and spun on her heels to take her seat while Daniel stood on the place where he was supposed to give his speech. He surely looked nervous while staring to the paper that he had just unfolded. His eyes scanned the words but nothing made sense for him anymore. He took a deep breath looked over the room and folded the paper with his speech and put it inside his pocket again.
"Just a while ago, I came to learn that unpredictable moments can change your life if you're ready for them. When you least expect it, something happens – no matter how big that event is - and it will turn your world upside down." He laughed nervously. "It's not news for anyone in this room that lately, my life has been full of unpredictable moments."
No one understood the point of his speech. People remained quiet and stared at him who tried to make himself clear.
"When you go through something like that, you learn to valorize the good moments which predicted good changes." He couldn't avoid searching for Emily's eyes, "That's when you learn the difference that they could make to one's life. I've spent my whole life attending benefit balls, watching my parents while they were honored by charity but, until now, Grayson Global hasn't taken a stand on making difference on people's life. I'm here tonight to redeem us for that mistake. Today, the Grayson Foundation is officially a strong branch of Grayson Global, a part of the company that will be there to help anyone who needs it, whenever they need it."
Now, people were reacting to the news. It wasn't unexpected at all but the public at the room surely had a soft spot for charity.
"We are doing this in honor to everyone that helped us when we needed help and I'm glad to see that whenever I needed help, there was someone to give it to me. Some of these people are even here tonight." He was much more confident, "Now, we want to be the ones to help. And it would mean so much if this cause was supported by anyone who has interest on it. It's about giving someone a chance to have their life's changed."
Emily felt the words hit really close to home, as she usually would do since she saw herself involved more than she once planned to be with the Grayson family. She was one of the first guests to stand in ovation for Daniel, for something that she truly believed to be his initiative. She was finally starting to see Daniel for who he really was again and that gave her hope. He was getting back to the path that he once stood a few months ago. He had learned to work with all the new information he had about his family and was, definitely, growing up.
Shortly before the round of applause finished, Emily was already on her way to corner Ashley. She had her phone in hand and a serious look on her face. Ashley had seen her coming and didn't even try to escape, she was almost trapped and she knew that it was never a good choice to avoid Emily. She just waited for her wearing her best smile.
"I warned you." Emily said under her breath when she was facing Ashley.
"I don't know what you're talking about." For anyone who looked at them from outside, would get the impression that Ashley was having the time of her life.
"I told you if you ever crossed paths with me in the wrong way, you'd regret it." Emily looked into her eyes. "It seems like the days has come."
"I still don't know what you're talking about, honestly." She had finally toned down her smile. "I haven't done anything that I wasn't doing before."
"In that case, you're admitting that you've been backstabbing Daniel since you've got into Grayson Global?" Emily was getting irritated, "While you've been saying that you have his best interests at heart?"
"I still report to the person who actually is my employee." She still had the same expression on her face, something that she seemed to have learned from Victoria. "If there's anything of your concern, you should be asking him and not me."
"You know that it's not like that." For a second, Emily's voice almost tricked her into failing. "Daniel trusted you. You were the person that he turned to when he needed the most – even if you were the only one available to do so. But he forgets that your loyalties will always lie to the highest power."
Ashley stayed quiet. She knew that Emily was telling the truth even if she couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud. What she had with Daniel before the summer was casual at its best. He was an emotional wreck and it wouldn't hurt anything for her to be there for him. But as the summer kicked in, Daniel started to avoid her more and more and their relationship became something only for the papers, just so that people knew that everything was fine when they obviously weren't.
"So here's the thing, I can't ask you to disappear. But I'm going to ask you to stay away from Daniel. You guys don't have a relationship, there's no reason for you to keep on that after he received this amount of applauses today." She took a moment to weight in Ashley's reactions, "Stop being in the middle of his work, I don't care if it's what you were asked to do, he's trying to do the right thing, that's what should matter."
"Why should I do this?" Ashley side eyed Emily, "What happens if I don't?"
"The whole world will know that besides paying for your new car, Conrad paid your apartment in the city and stopped by a couple of times." Emily showed her a security camera video on her phone. "For the most creative minds it should be enough to say that you're having an affair with the father while dating the son. You know how this would be everywhere in a heartbeat."
Ashley knew that if any scandal like this happened, the weight of it would be all on her shoulders since she was supposed to keep track of anything like that and avoid it. She took a deep breath and gave in.
"I'll do it." She said in an almost whisper.
"You are smart, I always knew that." Emily blacked the screen of her phone and put it down. "Also, don't think that I don't know that you were the one that released the pictures to the press when Daniel was arrested. But that's past."
By the look on Ashley's face, Emily knew that she wouldn't be hanging around as if she was occupying the spot left by Victoria anymore. She could be ambitious but she had a good instinct of self preservation that could be admirable at certain point.
The pleased look on her face was undeniable when she reached the place where Nolan watched her. All he could do was laugh.
"You do that so easily." He exclaimed, "Like if you could be doing this all day."
"I can't say that's easy." She said as she grabbed her things. "But I'll do what I have to do."
"We are leaving already?" He still had a full cosmo on his hands. "I thought that the fun was just beginning."
"Yes, we need to figure out a way to bring my mom closer." She waited until he finished his drink.
"How much closer?" He questioned as they made their way out of the party.
"To the nearest Hampton's clinic." She vaguely stated. "Now that I'm sure that she's alive, I want to know where she is."