When Cathy heard Graham address Alex as Adam Childs, she snickered to herself.
Adam Childs? She thought. What nonsense. But wait a moment, why is that name so familiar? Oh right, it was that rich student from Minnie's live broadcast room.
Cathy finally understood that Alex had used a fake identity to get himself invited to the banquet.
This loser is quite smart, it's just that he never expected Billy and me to be here. And he never thought that he'd be lucky enough to win a diamond necklace.
Alex, you're so pleased with yourself for winning the prize. But just wait—I'm going to expose you right now and get you to put in jail.
As expected, Cathy's shout caused a huge uproar, and the other guests started to talk excitedly amongst themselves.
Alex sighed. Now Cathy's caused such a ruckus, it's going to be even harder to keep under the radar. Everyone's going to want to know who I am, and as part of the Ambrose family, it will be really difficult to keep my identity hidden, he thought.
For now, I'll just try to deny it.
"Miss, what are you talking about? I don't understand." Alex took the microphone and said blandly to Cathy.
"Hey, you're still pretending to be rich, aren't you? In front of so many decent people. Tell them who you really are," Cathy answered aggressively.
"Mr. Stirling already announced who I am. Since it seems that you didn't understand, I'll tell you again. I'm Adam Childs."
"If you really are Adam Childs, then tell me, which company are you from?" Cathy wanted to expose Alex. The people attending the party were all well-known businesspeople in New York, so who was he going to pretend to be?
"I don't need to answer your questions. I have business here worth 350 thousand with this company." Alex's expression became increasingly serious.
"Ha ha, 350 thousand? You've got the audacity to talk about 350 thousand when that's the amount you stole from the school. Are you completely brain-dead?" Cathy assumed that Alex had blurted that out thoughtlessly in a moment of desperation. "Then it's easy to find out the truth. Let Mr. Stirling tell us if you really have a 350 thousand business here, or are you spouting nonsense to all of us? I'll soon prove that you're up to no good."
If you're hoping everyone will think you're innocent, dream on, she thought.
The others also focused their attention on Graham. Deep down, they were also suspicious of Alex.
"Mr. Childs and I do have a business worth 350 thousand. In fact, within the next two years, we will have another business worth five million," Graham said to the guests at the tables.
How is this possible? The smile on Cathy's face froze. At that moment, her mind was in turmoil. Why is Mr Stirling colluding with Alex? Where did Alex get the 350 thousand from? It can't be true. Everything must be a scam. It's Alex's doing.
"No, please don't believe Alex, that scammer. Look, I have his photo on my phone. He's really just a loser in our school. He stole 350 thousand last month. I have pictures to prove everything. Look." Cathy opened her cellphone and showed Alex's photo around to the other guests.
However, the others didn't even bother to look at the photos. They trusted Graham and had taken his word as the truth. They had no more doubts.
"Is this girl mad?" One of the guests asked.
A well-dressed gentleman said, "She thought she had won the necklace just now. I think this girl is just jealous."
His wife agreed, "You're right. What a vulgar girl. The necklace is expensive, but it's not acceptable to maliciously hurt someone else to get your way."
"Young lady, please stop messing around and sit down," Graham frowned and said to Cathy.
Cathy was determined to make her point, but she was pulled down by Billy. Graham was already angry, and it would be extremely humiliating if he had them physically thrown out by security.
Cathy sat down and used her phone to call 911. If the school didn't call the police, then she would. Let the police find the truth.
"Do I really have nothing better to do?" Graham muttered to himself. He looked at Cathy and thought, what am I supposed to do if you continue to slander Alex?
Graham took the necklace from his assistant and handed it over to Alex respectfully.
"Thank you," Alex said calmly, supporting the necklace with his hands. He turned to Debbie and said, "We've been dating for a bit now, but I've never given you anything really beautiful. Today, I'll use this necklace to make up for it. And I'll buy you something even better in the future."
Then, Alex put the necklace on Debbie's neck and arranged it for her.
Wearing the diamond necklace, Debbie looked stunning. She looked just like an elegant woman from a noble family. Cathy, who was sitting in the audience, could barely contain her anger.
"Miss Stonehill, Adam has given you the 200-thousand-dollar diamond necklace. Is there anything you'd like to say?" Graham said to Debbie with a smile.
"Go on, say something," called out one of the guests.
Another gentleman said, "Tell us how you're feeling."
"Kiss him," called out his wife.
The guests at the tables all started calling out to Debbie.
Debbie's face turned red. She looked at Alex, begging him for help, but she found that he was barely looking at her. He gave her a small smile but seemed distracted.
The jeering from the tables continued.
Debbie fiddled with the corner of her dress and criticized Alex in her mind. Stupid Alex, can't he see I need help?
But everyone was watching, so Debbie gritted her teeth and stepped over to Alex to gently kiss his lips.
Alex was happy. At least she still wants to kiss me.
Debbie only wanted to kiss him lightly. She didn't expect Alex to grab her, hug her, and act like a lout. He stuck his tongue into her mouth in front of everyone.
Debbie was stupefied. She felt extremely ashamed. She wanted to reject him, but she couldn't make him stop.
She tried to look into Alex's eyes, but they were closed. He seemed to be enjoying himself.
In front of so many people, there wasn't much that Debbie could do, so she let Alex continue kissing her.
He kissed her for more than twenty seconds before he slowly let go. Then he wiped his lips in satisfaction and looked at Debbie with a cheeky smile.
Debbie grimaced. She calmly reached behind Alex and pinched him on his side. When she saw him smile at her with tears in his eyes, she felt satisfied.
**
At that moment, the main door of the banquet hall opened and three uniformed police officers walked in.
Everyone was perplexed. What was going on? Why were the police here? When Cathy saw them, a smile appeared on her face.
Alex, you shameless swindler, it's time to go to jail, she thought.
Cathy ran to the police excitedly and pointed at Alex on the stage. She said, "Officer, I'm the one who called you. Our school lost 350 thousand, and it was that man on stage who stole the money. All the teachers will tell you it's true. Arrest him."
Her eyes flashed with a cruel smile. Alex, you're finished, she thought.
"I'm sorry, but you're confused, young lady. We're not responding to a 911 call. We're here based on other evidence that we've gathered," one of the officers said solemnly.
"What?" Cathy was stupefied.
"But it seems like you are talking about the same case. We're here to arrest the suspect."
"That's good to hear, Officer. Go on then," Cathy said with relief.
"Arrest him." With a shout from the police captain, the two sergeants behind him rushed forward, not toward Alex, but Billy. The two officers quickly pushed Billy to the ground.
Billy protested and tried to fight them off.
Cathy tried to stop them. "Officer, you're arresting the wrong guy. That's my boyfriend. The guilty man is on stage. Let Billy go." Cathy wanted to pull the police away to save Billy.
"You're his girlfriend?" The police captain looked at Cathy and said to the other two officers, "Take her as well."
Cathy was determined not to let them arrest her.
She screamed at them, "What are you doing? I'll sue you for wrongful arrest. Let me go." Cathy was furious. Why aren't the police arresting the real criminals? This stupid police don't know what they're doing, trying to arrest me and Billy. She continued to shout at them, "So you're really going to arrest me? Fine, I'll tell your boss about this. Your career is over."
The police captain smiled and said, "Little girl, be careful of what you're saying. Let me ask you, where did you get all these designer clothes and expensive jewelry? According to our records, you and your boyfriend have been visiting designer boutiques, luxury hotels, and other expensive establishments a lot this month. Where did you get all this money from?"
Cathy replied grumpily, "Hmph, you're assuming that my boyfriend's family don't have any money, right? Just because the police receive handouts from all these rich families, do you think you can randomly arrest innocent people?"
"Billy's family owns a karaoke bar and a medium-sized restaurant. They barely count as a rich family. How do you think he could afford to spend so much money this month?" a policeman asked.
Cathy suddenly realized that Billy had been spending a lot of money this month. Before this month, he had spent some money on her, but they had only been out for nice meals every few days, and he had occasionally paid for her to go to the spa.
But this last month, Billy had taken her shopping in all kinds of luxury boutiques almost every day. He had regularly spent at least ten or twenty thousand on her. It was way more than the previous months.
A terrifying possibility entered Cathy's mind. Could it be—?
At this moment, the police captain expressed her thoughts for her. He said, "We've received a report, and we've gathered plenty of evidence. Billy is the thief who stole the money from Preston University. We're not yet sure of your involvement, but we will be investigating further. Right now, it is our legal obligation to apprehend you."