The Clayton family was prominent enough to be invited to grandiose events held by the old families that were the backbone of the country. In of itself, that was a great honor. That honor had however been stripped away from them in recent years as a result of the Clayton's declining businesses and scandals. They had been expertly covered up of course, but nothing could be hidden from those who had more power.
The first incident happened years ago, when Emily Brooke married into the Clayton family. That had raised a lot of eyebrows, as Emily had worked closely with Miranda Grayson, Iris' mother. What made it look even stranger was how fast they got married afterwards. The tried to paint a sympathetic love story about how Emily helped him through his grief, but it did not stop the backlash that came afterwards, especially towards Emily herself for being a homewrecker. Shortly after that, she retired from her modelling career and decided to design clothes instead.
The second was even stranger, and admittedly a very bad move from her father. Perhaps it was from the constant pressure of Emily wanting her daughters to be legitimate, but he announced that the two daughters Emily brought into the family were going to be made legitimate, and have the Clayton surname. This led to another scandal as people began to point out how little of an age gap there was between Iris herself and the eldest daughter of Emily, Ivy. It was already very suspicious with how very similar she was to Harold Clayton. This was all denied, but Iris knew there was some truth to it.
The scandal had come out in the same year as the debut of Ivy as a model, so it had a negative impact on her career. The masses later forgot about the incident, but larger companies that Ivy aimed for avoided her.
Ivy would have been fine though, if it wasn't for another incident involving her, and making her one of the most hated socialites. She had gotten involved with one of x city's most infamous playboys, Jayce Young and was confronted by his fiancée. Ivy refused to back down and got into a catfight with the girl. In the end, a video of the fight leaked, and Jayce made a public statement on his feed denying knowing anything about Ivy. The video was of course taken down, and her father was furious. Ivy was sent away to another country to wait for the scandal to die down and reflect on herself. But it seemed that there was more trouble brewing from her side….
Well at this point, she might not even have to do anything. That family would simply just destroy itself from its greed for things that were not theirs. It also amused her to no small degree how much Ivy was following in the footsteps of her mother. Unfortunately for Ivy though, Iris was not going to be as accommodating to Ivy as her mother was to Emily.
The only thing she wanted to save was Sunsett, the Grayson family company. She was going to make sure her mother and her family were not forgotten and take back everything that was taken from them.
She also still had to be very careful around them. Emily was not beyond setting her up at all, and she knew that the woman would not be satisfied with just what she had now. She wanted more. She wanted Miranda's place in the society, and she wanted to be recognized as a woman of high society, not a homewrecker. She even wanted Ivy to have the position Iris had now, and she was seething at the thought of Iris getting married into such a prestigious family, but Ivy was not worthy of it and she knew that herself.
She was sure her father was watching Emily's every move, and had warned her, but she could not be too sure, and Iris did not fully trust him to protect her at all costs. That man cared only for himself and how he could benefit from any situation. She was useful to him now, so she was his pride and joy that he had to take care of. She would not put it past him to throw her under the bus the moment she was of no use to him.
Iris turned to look in her father's direction. He smiled at her fondly. She smiled back at him, but there was a lot of complicated emotions running through her mind. He was giddy, thinking about all the opportunities that lay at his doorstep. She almost had the urge to screw it all up, so she would see his reaction.
Almost.
She turned away from him, and faced the window. She had to have a clear mind. Having so many intense emotions before the event was not a good sign. She refused to think about anything right now. She already had enough on her plate as it was. Thinking about other problems was enough to give her a bigger headache than the one she was about to have.
She looked up to her side of the window, and she could already see the bright lights of the Rose villa. She had never been there before, but it was quite known to be a very beautiful house and the residence of her future mother-in law, Clara Yates. She was in no mood to view the splendor of the place though, as her heart rate accelerated the closer the car got to the place.
Today, she had to give it her all. She had to convince Clara that she and the Sunsett company were worthy of her time. She also had to leave a favorable impression for the other members of the family, as well as the guests invited. Everyone there was certainly important.
The car was granted clearance, and they were allowed to enter the villa. As the lights grew clearer, Iris took a deep breath.
The show was about to start.