Rise of the Rich and Powerful Jamie Ashford

Chapter 15

Minutes later, Jamie had convinced the Goodwin father and daughter with his made-up story.

According to Jamie, he had been noticed by the Ashford subordinate who was supposed to attend this party about a year ago due to his incredible top-tier academic performance.

As it turns out, the Ashford family had established a scholarship program in over 100 top-tier universities across the continent, and Hollywood University was one of them.

Those individuals with access to top-secret information were aware that the Ashford family, despite practically owning Hollywood University, still donates billions of dollars annually to various projects. And one of these funded projects includes an extensive scholarship program that Jamie is listed on.

For each university that was funded, the Ashford family assigned a subordinate to represent them. And it appears that the Ashford subordinate that Sonia's father, Kennedy Goodwin, had invited to this birthday party, is the Ashford family's representative at HU.

Of course, the coincidence took Kennedy Goodwin by surprise. Still, it gave reasoning as to how Jamie could have possibly come across such a powerful man whose face was unknown.

Sonia was awed as she stared at Jamie. “So you're telling me that the Ashford subordinate has been keeping watch over academic performance for over a year now, and he was so impressed that he decided to give you a gift.”

Jamie nodded his head shamelessly, knowing that he was lying to these people. Still, it was better than just blatantly confessing that he is the grandson of the Ashford family's patriarch.

Jamie knew that he simply was not ready for that kind of attention. As a young man who grew up in poverty and was just coming into power, he wouldn't be able to bear the weight of trouble that would come with this new identity.

“Yeah, that was what the man told me. He invited me out for a coffee and told me how impressed he was with my academic performance. He claimed that I was the best example out of HU that the Ashford family's investment in the school's scholarship program wasn't a waste at all.”

Kenny Goodwin nodded his head with a serious frown as he looked down at the record of Jamie's academic institution. 

“That makes sense. If I was that Ashford subordinate, I would want to meet such an impressive academic performer in person as well, and encourage him to keep it up.”

Jamie was glad that these two were gobbling up the lies he had cooked up for them. “Exactly. So as a tool of encouragement, he gave me so many gifts. One of these gifts included coming here in his stead and experiencing what it's like to live an elevated lifestyle.”

Kennedy Goodwin nodded his head. “Yeah. If you can graduate with such a domineering academic record, living an elevated lifestyle shouldn't be hard for you at all. It makes sense that the Ashford subordinate would want to give you a taste of heaven.”

He chuckled briefly at his own words before frowning again. “But I wished he had told me about this sooner.”

Jamie frowned slightly with a tilt of his head. “Mr. Goodwin, from my understanding, he had sent you an email to update you on this matter. He was certain that you would have been aware of my coming before I even appeared on the yacht.”

Kennedy shook his head at this. “An email? I'm sure my assistant would have informed me if I….”

He stopped mid-sentence as he pulled out his phone to find that there was, indeed, an email sent to him. In fact, he had several miscalls from his assistant.

As Jamie had said, the Ashford subordinate had actually sent Mr.Goodwin an email, informing him that a top-tier scholarship student of HU would be there in his stead to present the conclusions on the investment funds he'd been trying to bag from Glendon Hill Group.

“Oh? It seems the mistake was on my part.”

Sonia sighed as she patted her father's chest while lightly chastising him. “Dad, did you put your phone on silent again?”

Mr. Goodwin sighed. “My dear, I didn't want to come across as unaccommodating to Tyson's parents, Holland and Freya Crook. You know that the pair hold a degree of conservative ideologies. To them, a host picking up calls while entertaining guests is a sign that those guests are not welcome. I can't afford to offend your future in-laws.”

Sonia rolled her eyes while placing a palm out to shut her father up. “Stop right there, Dad. I still haven't agreed to marry Tyson. Why would you keep entertaining such….”

Kennedy's expression turned sour. “Sonia, what do you mean by that? Is Tyson not the perfect man for such a perfect young woman like you?!”

Sonia was riled up by this, seemingly wanting to say many things, but she decisively kept her mouth shut. “You know what, Dad? Let's talk about this another time.”

She then turned her gaze back on Jamie with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, you had to witness all that, Jamie. By the way, if you're representing the Ashford subordinate, then why did you show up in a helicopter meant for blood-born members of the Ashford family?”

Jamie shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know anything about that, but I'm certain it wasn't a big issue since that helicopter must have been permitted despite knowing that the Ashford subordinate would be the one flying in it, right?”

There was a moment of silence before Kennedy Goodwin shook his hand in the air. “Alright! Alright!! Enough with the interview session. Jamie, where is the document that you're supposed to deliver to me.”

Jamie looked at the Ashford bodyguard standing to his right and nodded his head slightly.

The Ashford bodyguard quickly retrieved a small silver briefcase, went down on one knee, and opened it for Jamie.

This behavior caught Mr. Goodwin and his daughter off guard. Why was a bodyguard from the AS99 organization opening the briefcase for Jamie with so much respect? 

This act of going down on one knee, especially from a high-status subordinate, is known to be an act of great respect. So it confused Kennedy and Sonia why this bodyguard was acting like this.

In the end, they concluded in their heads that this was a sign that the Ashford subordinate thought highly of Jamie.

Sonia was convinced that Jamie's life had changed from now on. The Ashford subordinate clearly has a liking for him, and from now on, he won't be so easily bullied.

Meanwhile, once the silver briefcase was opened, Jamie retrieved a bunch of files and placed them on the small wooden table between them, before sliding it over to Sonia's father's side.

Mr. Goodwin quickly went through the files before a wide smile broke out on his face. “Yes! The project has been approved! Wablo Corporation can finally start discussing the project in detail with the Glendon Hill Group! I can't believe this!”

Sonia smiled, congratulating her father before turning to Jamie. “Now that we're done here, it's time to go back up on deck and show the world that no one can stop you tonight.”

She stretched out her beautiful hand, gesturing for Jamie to take it. “Come on, Stacy must be worried sick about you.”