Rise of the Rich and Powerful Jamie Ashford

Chapter 12

The fact that the son of an Oscar-winning executive producer and the son of the Reynold family's business partner were also siding with the Reynold brothers made the audience who knew nothing about Jamie, suspicious of his true identity.

Is Jamie truly a member of the Ashford family? Or is he a fraud as he's being accused of?

There was something that everyone here was unaware of though. 

These five military-dressed bodyguards, who arrived with Jamie, are part of a group of nine bodyguards that were assigned by his newly assigned personal assistant, Tom Yates, to protect the long-lost grandson of Patriarch Raymond Ashford.

Seeing that the group of four arrogant boys were trying to overpower Jamie with their insults and demeanor, Stacy quickly intervened, coming to Jamie's aid.

“You guys, aren't you ashamed of yourselves?! You claim that you're better than Jamie, but the fact that you four have joined forces against him only proves how inferior you feel I'm his presence!”

The group of four troublesome friends felt insulted, but they couldn't do anything to the Reynold family's youngest child, so they angrily looked away.

Jamie smiled slightly as he stared at the back of his former stepsister’s head. From the start, Stacy had always looked out for him.

She wasn't the only pillar of support that Jamie had in his life though.

Sonia also came to side with Stacy, choosing to protect Jamie against Nathan, Jonathan, Seth, and Danny.

Tyson was fuming as his heart burned with jealousy. Why the hell is Sonia always protecting this guy?

Mr. Goodwin wasn't happy either. The reason he hadn't stepped in himself was that he needed confirmation about Jamie's identity to avoid making any possible mistake that would cause him to lose the connection he'd been working hard for so many years to build.

Seth laughed at Sonia and Stacy. “Ladies, open your goddamn eyes! We all know that Jamie is a poverty-stricken bastard! Where the hell did he get this helicopter from?!”

Danny sighed with a look of disgust directed at Jamie. “You're quite pathetic, you know? Hiding behind two ladies just to save your ass! Why don't you admit to your crimes already? I bet you must have obtained some lucky chance to swap with the real guest, stealing this helicopter and hiring a bunch of actors to cosplay bodyguards!”

To be honest, this accusation from Danny sounded absurd to even the Reynold sons and Seth, but Danny explained further.

“Think about it, guys! This is freaking Hollywood! It's only a matter of knowing where to go to meet powerful men and women in this country. Jamie must have encountered some fortuned opportunity, which allowed him to be here, pretending to be someone he's not.”

Despite the questions this assumption brought on, Jamie's enemies chose to believe it as it still made Jamie out to be a culprit.

Jonathan sneered at Jamie. “So that's how it is, huh? We should have his ass arrested! Let the police torture the truth of his crimes out of him!”

Finding this as a great opportunity, Tyson turned to Sonia's father. “Mr. Goodwin, you're the man with absolute authority at this event! Quickly call the police to take that criminal away! Otherwise, he'll end up being the reason this party ends up as a huge scandal in tomorrow's news!”

At this point, Mr. Goodwin was conflicted. Unlike Tyson and these impulsive children, he had developed a strong ability to discern what kind of people he was dealing with, regardless of how they looked outwardly.

Despite the evidence against Jamie piling up, one look at the so-called criminal and Mr. Goodwin could feel the absolute confidence Jamie was brimming with.

“No. Let's wait and see.”

He ignored the confusion on Tyson's face. “I wanna see how this young man gets himself out of this situation. I'm curious.”

Hearing these words, Tyson was displeased. But then again, he was certain that Jamie would only end up making a big fool of himself in the end. This kind of result wasn't bad either.

With these thoughts, Tyson smiled with a cruel expression. He also decided to let things play out. The audiences were more than likely to believe these children of celebrities more than Joe anyway.

Back at the scene of the crime,

The group of four troublesome friends kept accusing Jamie of being so desperate for validation, and with some extreme luck, he must have swapped with the real invited guest without even getting caught by the scary security unit of the Ashford family.

Sonia and Stacy pointed out how incredibly absurd the accusation was, but all four young men simply refused to believe that a nobody like Jamie was the true guest.

It didn't take long before Jonathan came up with another wild assumption: Jamie must have found a rare chance to kidnap the true guest on his way here, stealing his identity.

Even though everyone listening found this absurd as it would imply that the Ashford security unit was lagging, which would be a great insult to such a powerful family name, they kept their mouths shut and their eyes wide open, interested in seeing how Jamie would defend himself.

Nathan, despite also knowing that his younger brother's accusation was unbelievable, decided to buffer it up into a believable story. 

Though he didn't know the true story of how Jamie appeared as the guest Sonia's father was greatly anticipating tonight - and he was also dying to know, he still couldn't let go of such a golden opportunity to tarnish Jamie's reputation further. 

Nathan wanted to ensure that by the time he was done, everyone here would remember Jamie's name with the worst impression.

Nathan, as well as the other students of Hollywood University, knew that Jamie was incredibly intelligent. It was the reason he was able to make it into the institution's scholarship list, despite all the odds that were against him. 

Therefore, Jamie's academic brilliance and innovative thinking were bound to land him a good job in one of the top-tier companies in the city. 

Nathan's sick goal was to use these accusations to ruin any chance of becoming great in the future by giving Jamie a bad name. 

Even if Jamie managed to graduate with the best academic results and a resume that would be too good for any company to pass up, these big companies would still end up rejecting Jamie as he would have already been branded as a thief who messed with the Ashford family.

Simply put, Nathan's goal was to ruin Jamie's potentially bright future before it could even be manifested into reality.

Unknown to Nathan, Jamie already saw through his former stepbrother's scheme within seconds.

Yet, as much as it made his blood boil, he still maintained an outwardly calm demeanor, sampling various exquisite champagne drinks as if the accusations piling up against him didn't even exist.

Of course, Jamie's calm demeanor and refusal to answer any of his accuser's questions made Tyson impatient. He could no longer sit back while this dragged on. 

Therefore, he attempted to humiliate Jamie. He retrieved $10,000 in cash and threw money at Jamie, which was blocked by the five bodyguards surrounding Jamie.

“Mr. Jamie Reynolds, I'll kindly ask you to get the hell out of this yacht and return to whatever cave you crawled out from tonight. I know for a fact that everything you have on is nothing cheap imitations. But I'm willing to knit have you criminal ass arrested tonight as a form of peace offering  to every guest at this event.”

Jamie acknowledged this older man with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

Tyson felt a thread of anger at Jamie's confidence. “Yes, I'm willing to end things peacefully for the sake of preserving the former classy atmosphere of the party and, most importantly, to not ruin my dear Sonia's party.”

Sonia, knowing what Tyson was really like behind the scenes, knew that this man was bullshitting. 

Tyson was actually flaunting his superior wealth in front of Jamie as a form of passive oppression.

Surprisingly, Jamie bent his knees to pick up every single cash that Tyson had thrown his way.

Sonia and Stacy were stunned and feeling a wave of second-hand embarrassment watching this.

As for the Reynold brothers, they began laughing at him.

Nathan turned to the crowd.  “Can you all see this?! Jamie is nothing but a poverty-stricken bastard! He was just pretending the whole time!”

Seth stared at Jamie with contempt. “Exactly! In fact, I believe this only further proves that he's not a member of the Ashford family! I'm now sure that he must have managed to kidnap the real guest!”

Danny nodded his head with pride evident on his face. “We should have his ass locked away immediately!”

The whole time, Amanda, Olivia, and Meghan watched on with excitement. They couldn’t wait to see how Jamie would end up utterly humiliated.

Sonia couldn't bear watching Jamie pick up the $10,000 cash. “Jamie, what are you doing?”

Her voice held a soft tone as she urged him. “Jamie, droop the cash. Tyson threw it at you to humiliate you.”

Stacy nodded her head. She thought Jamie was picking the $10,000 cash because of the debt he still owed the hospital on behalf of his dead mother. 

“Jamie, if this is about your mom, I'm more than willing to help in any way that I can. I will even take out a loan so you can pay for her funeral as well.”

Hearing this, Sonia immediately understood, also believing that this was why Jamie had picked the money that Tyson had thrown at him.

“Jamie, please, drop the cash. I will help in any way that I can as well. You're not alone.”

The Reynold brothers and their friends mocked Jamie further, telling Stacy and Sonia to not bother. A broke orphan like Jamie will always prioritize money over dignity.

Soon, Jamie had picked up all the dollar bills on the floor. He then walked past his bodyguards, stopping in front of Tyson before he slapped the cash across the Oscar winner’s face.

The crowd gasped in shock at this action. No one had expected that Jamie would suddenly behave like this. 

Tyson had fallen to the ground, stunned as he glared up at Jamie. “It seems you're tired of living, huh? How dare you slap me with my own money?!”

Jamie feigned innocence. “What? Don't tell me that you didn't see this coming? Why else would I pick up your filthy money other than to slap you in the face with it?”

The crowd began snickering as they struggled to stifle their laughter.

Susan and Stacy felt relieved that Jamie hadn't humiliated himself. They were also shocked and concerned by his bravery.

Slapping Tyson Crook in public wasn't something that even Sonia would do without thinking thoroughly beforehand.

It was then that Jamie pulled out his phone and everyone gasped as another wave of shock hit them. The phone in Jamie's hand quickly became the center of attention.