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Sophie looked at Shane, unsure whether to feel grateful or angry. He had managed to manipulate the entire situation and even benefitted from it. No wonder the COLLENS always stayed on top—they seized every opportunity and made sure to profit from it.
Feeling suffocated, she excused herself and headed toward the washroom.
"Make sure no one else drinks this except him. If anything goes wrong, you'll take all the blame. After the job is done, I'll send you the other half," a voice from inside the washroom said, abruptly stopping as a sound came from outside.
"Shit," Sophie cursed inwardly, looking at the shattered glass vase on the floor, knowing she had been caught.
The person speaking inside had stopped, and Sophie could hear footsteps approaching the door. She braced herself and walked toward it, only for the door to swing open, revealing Olivia, who snarled at her.
"I should've known. Were you eavesdropping on my conversation?" Olivia snapped, both angry and surprised. She never expected to see Sophie here of all places.
'At least it wasn't an important guest who overheard me,' she thought, calming her nerves.
Sophie stepped into the restroom, catching a glimpse of a small figure in a waitress uniform with a mass of blonde hair rushing past her. She couldn't see her face.
'What is Olivia doing here talking to a waitress?' Sophie wondered, her gaze shifting to Olivia, who was trying hard to mask her nervousness, though her eyes were filled with suspicion.
"What are you doing here, huh? Were you spying on me? How much did you hear? I'm asking you a question—answer me!" Olivia demanded, fists clenched in anger. She yelled in Sophie's face, making Sophie step back in shock.
"Why are you so nervous and guilty? Why would I spy on you? I came here to use the restroom. Or is that a problem now? It's not like you were having a secret discussion or making plans, right? After all, this is an open space," Sophie retorted.
Olivia's nostrils flared, and she clenched her jaw tightly, grinding her teeth.
"And why are you here? Are you begging for money? Did you sneak in without the guards noticing? Because I've known you for a long time, I'll give you a chance to leave before I call security. But you can beg me, and I'll be nice and pretend I didn't see you here," Olivia taunted, eyeing Sophie's dress.
'Where did she get this dress from?' Olivia wondered, recognizing the custom-made design from 'Shengs,' the world's top fashion designer. She had seen it on Instagram just two days ago, and it was newly released, with only one in existence.
'No way this could be real,' Olivia thought. 'It must be a fake.'
Olivia walked up to Sophie, locking eyes with her.
"Security! Security!" Olivia shouted, and two bulky men rushed to the restroom door, assessing the scene before them.
"How can you allow strangers to walk into the ball without proper checks? What if they harm the guests? I found this woman wandering around, and she wasn't invited. Drag her out!" Olivia ordered the men, who exchanged glances, confused by what was happening.
"What are you talking about? Who says I wasn't invited?" Sophie retorted, pulling her hands from Olivia's grip.
Olivia sneered at Sophie. 'Invited?' she thought. 'How could she possibly be invited to a COLLENS party?'
"Ma'am, may we see your invitation code?" one of the men asked Sophie, who suddenly frowned, realizing she wasn't sent a code.
The ball was for her and Shane, so she didn't need an invitation code, having come with the young master.
Seeing Sophie's hesitation, Olivia smiled broadly.
"Didn't I say she wasn't invited? If you claim otherwise, show your invitation code," Olivia said smugly, and Sophie felt a wave of embarrassment.
"Please, take her away," Olivia ordered arrogantly, and Sophie's eyes widened.
"No, wait! Let me call Shane. He'll fire you all if he finds out about this!" Sophie said, making the guards stop abruptly upon hearing the young master's name.
'It seems she knows the young master. We'd better not harm her and risk getting on his bad side. He can be brutal,' they both thought.
"What are you doing?" Olivia's nostrils flared when she saw the guards freeze.
Sophie fumbled with her bag, trying to find her phone.
'What's she trying to pull, calling the young master's name like they're close? Does she really know him? No, that's impossible. No one does,' Olivia thought.
'Oh no... I don't have his number,' Sophie realized. She had never gotten Shane's contact information because she hadn't needed it before.
'What do I do now?' she thought frantically, gripping her phone tightly to hide her nervousness.
"What's the matter, Sophie? Cat got your tongue, or are you tired of lying?" Olivia smirked, seeing Sophie's distraught face.
"Drag her out, or I'll make sure both of you are fired. I am the young lady of this family—your young master's wife. This ball is for me, as you must've heard. I'm the new Mrs. COLLENS, and not only did this woman sneak into the ball, but she's also using my husband's name to lie. So drag her out!" Olivia raged, then turned to Sophie with a wicked smile.
Sophie felt like both laughing and crying at the same time. Laughing because Olivia claimed to be Shane's wife while his real wife stood right in front of her, and crying because she was about to be thrown out of her own ball—disgraced—and couldn't do anything about it.
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