Filed To Story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
As the host continued to introduce the donated items to be auctioned off, the room’s atmosphere grew more and more fervent, and the crowd’s voices grew louder and louder.
Each year, the presentation of donated items and the subsequent auction became a sort of disguised contest for financial strength and power. Whoever donated the most valuable item and the person who paid the highest price for these items would eventually become the most influential person in Beach City for the year.
That is why new companies, celebrities, and socialites would take the plunge and try to donate the most. valuable possession that they owned in exchange for glowing reputations. However, because Halston and Liam both already possessed a high reputation and influence in the city, to begin with, they would not participate in the donation part of the event but only in the subsequent auction.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, I will present to you the most precious treasure donated to us this. evening!”
At this point, the host’s voice grew tangibly more excited as he added, “This treasure was donated to us by Mr. Micah Larson, of the notable Larson family, as a token of his love for his girlfriend, Miss Charlotte. Milford. I would like to invite our personnel to reveal this treasure to everyone…”
As soon as the personnel pulled away the white cloth covering the exhibition box, the whole audience burst into an excited gasp.
“Wow!
Inside the exhibition box shone a pink peach-shaped pendant, dazzling the eyes that saw it.
“As you can see,” said the host, “this peach-shaped pendant was cut from a single whole piece of pink. crystal, and it was given an incredibly romantic name-Everlasting Heart…”
This is far from being a normal crystal pendant,” the host continued. “Legend has it that it was specially made for the adopted daughter of the king of a small kingdom in Varangia, which means that this… is a royal treasure, ladies and gentlemen. It is absolutely one of its kind in this world. Currently, it’s being valued at around three million dollars!”
The host’s colorful descriptions endowed the already luxurious pendant with even more hype and splendor. The audience’s continuous gasps in awe were enough to show how highly regarded this crystal. pendant was. Numerous ladies even cast an envious look at Charlotte.
“So,” Micah took Charlotte’s hand and asked in a groveling manner, “do you like this surprise that I’ve given you, baby?”
Charlotte’s vanity was fully assuaged by that point, and the grin on her face could not get any wider.
Meanwhile, Liam was frowning slightly in the first row as he studied that pendant with a scrutinizing gaze. Disdainfully, he said, “The crystal’s coloring is mediocre at best, but I guess the label of being a royal jewelry managed to get it to be valued as high as three million dollars. Do these people think that we’re all idiots with too much money in our hands?”
“It is indeed a good quality crystal,” responded Flossie in a half-smile and a vaguely mysterious tone, “but as for whether or not it comes from a royal family, well…” 1
“Right,” the host continued, “we have just presented to you all the items that will be auctioned off today, and among all the donated items, the most valuable one is the pink peach-shaped crystal pendant that Mr. Micah Larson donated in the name of his girlfriend Charlotte Milford, therefore, I’d like to invite Miss Charlotte to please come on stage.”
And so Charlotte appeared on stage like a celebrity amidst loud cheers and applause. She took the microphone and spoke to the audience in an obviously affected tone, “Thank you for your applause, ladies and gentlemen. I’m really happy to be here with you today in the name of charity. To spread the love, I would like to invite my cousin-in-law, Flossie Ellsworth, to come on stage and share this beautiful moment with me.”
As she finished her sentence, she extended her arms toward Flossie as an inviting gesture.
Flossie knew at the drop of the hat that Charlotte must have some hidden bad intentions for her, but still, she showed no sign of timidity and proudly walked up on stage.
She really wanted to know what kind of trick this silly cousin-in-law of hers had up her sleeve.
In an instant, the audience’s attention was focused on Flossie’s beautiful figure. They were mesmerized by her blinding beauty. This made Charlotte even more jealous of her now.
“Anyway, I invited you up here because I’ve got a simple question for you. You see, we’re gathered here in the name of charity this evening, and everyone has donated so much to show their support for the cause, and yet it seems that you’ve… not donated anything at all?”
“In any case,” Charlotte continued, “you are a part of the Guajardo family. You must’ve obtained a substantial amount of money these past few years, so wouldn’t it look like you’re a little cold-hearted when you don’t contribute anything at all?”
Evidently, she had done everything up to this point just to embarrass Flossie in front of the huge audience, making it too shameful for her even to leave the stage. Surely enough, the people in the audience had begun to criticize Flossie, each standing on the moral high ground, accusing Flossie of being one of those greedy rich people who had no charitable heart at all, painting her as the kind of woman who only knew how to suck on the fortune of the Guajardo family, yet being unwilling to give anything back to society. She might look stunning outside, but her heart was hollow and ugly.
“F*ck!’ cursed Liam. He clenched his fists in anger as he watched it all transpire. He could barely stop himself from rushing onstage and beating those people up. In fact, he knew of no one else in this world who was kinder and more charitable than Flossie!
Meanwhile, Halston, who was seated in the same row as Liam, merely pursed his lips tight. His handsome face was gloomy and severe. His eyes were focused keenly on Flossie as he waited for the situation to develop.
Despite being surrounded by vocal disparagement and criticism from the audience, Flossie appeared perfectly calm. She faced the audience and said, “Don’t worry, ladies and gentlemen. I will definitely donate something to the cause in time, but before I do that, I would like to give everyone a sincere apology on behalf of my cousin-in-law.”
Those words completely confounded the crowd.
Charlotte gritted her teeth and, in a lowered voice, asked her, “What the hell are you talking about, your gold digger?”
Without bothering to look at Charlotte, Flossie continued, “Because the pendant she had just donated is a fake!”
The vain Charlotte was explosively enraged by Flossie’s words.
“Are you so mad with jealousy that you completely lost your mind, you gold digger?! My boyfriend spent millions of dollars for that pendant! How could it possibly be a fake?! You know, I should wreck that foul mouth of yours for spewing bullshit!”
And with that, without a thought of consideration for her reputation as a rich socialite, Charlotte stomped her feet and hurled herself toward Flossie.
Without a change in her expression, Flossie effortlessly dodged Charlotte, which caused Charlotte to lose her balance and fall straight to the ground.
The audience roared in laughter at the sight of such a comical scene.
Halston’s face turned severe. The gloominess of his expressions looked like the rumbling thundercloud that warned of the dangerous rage that was about to explode.
Flossie Ellsworth… What was she going to do now?! Was it not bad enough that she dressed so inappropriately, attracting all the unwanted attention? Yet now she even ended up fighting with his cousin onstage! Who knew what kind of horrible headlines would be plastered on tomorrow’s frontpage? 1
“Mrs. Guajardo,” said the host, trying his best to control the situation, “were you just joking to lighten up the atmosphere, or do you… have the evidence to prove that this pendant is fake?”
“I have the proof, of course.”
She then proceeded to pull out a laser pen and faced the audience with a confident smile, saying, “The authentic Everlasting Heart had been meticulously polished, and in fact, the inside of the crystal was cut a total of sixteen. times, which happens to be the number of letters in the words, Everlasting Heart. Also, if you shine a laser pen through the pendant, the words “Everlasting Heart” would be projected out, signifying the King of Asken’s love for his adopted daughter…”
“Which means,” she continued, “that the authenticity of this pendant can be proven with just this laser pen.
The audience listened with keen interest. Some people even corroborated what she said, confirming that there really was such a rumor about the crystal pendant called Everlasting Heart.
Without hesitation, Flossie aimed her laser pen at the crystal pendant in the exhibition box. As expected, no words were projected out of it.
“Ah, so all this commotion was just for a fake!”
“Tsk tsk, they even stooped so low as to donate a fake item, all for that little bit of publicity and self- promotion. They don’t have a shred of integrity!”
The situation had completely reversed, and now all the disparaging and mocking was directed towards Charlotte, who had been so proud and celebrated not a few minutes ago.
Charlotte was so humiliated that she wanted to bury her head in the ground, but she gritted her teeth and angrily questioned Micah, “Is what this gold digger just said true?! Did you actually buy a fake to mess with me?!”
With a droopy head, Micah endured the mockery of the crowd and answered, “I’m sorry, Charlotte, I had no idea that there was such a way to prove its authenticity, but even though the pendant is not authentic, I still spent millions of dollars on buying it!”
Like a sore loser unwilling to admit defeat, he turned to Flossie and asked her, “How did you know all these things? To my knowledge, only experts are privy to this kind of information! Most people don’t know how to differentiate such a close imitation from the real thing!”
“Well…” Flossie stifled her laughter.
Of course she knew! How could she not, when the real Everlasting Heart pendant was in her jewelry box at home and when the true identity of the mysterious adoptive daughter of the King of Asken was herself?
“I just made a lucky guess,” she lied.
In the end, Charlotte stepped off the stage in disgrace, wishing she could find a hole in the ground to hide herself.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.