"I was?" Emline squeaked, her face the very picture of confused innocence, but Matteo could detect the faint hint of panic in her eyes.
To her credit, Emline let out a delicate sniff and crossed her arms. She recovered fairly quickly, her montary surprise quickly lting into sadness.
"Funny you should say that, Matteo. I didn’t think you were paying much attention to my clothes, since you were spending so much effort trying to get out of them!" She pretended to wipe a tear from her eye, but her eyes were still glassy as she looked between Matteo and her grandfather.
"Besides, if you find so abhorrent, to begin with, I highly doubt the objectivity in your words." She let out a sniff. "You could be framing , just so you can protect Alia!" Then, Emline looked at Horace with puppy eyes as though she was waiting for him to say sothing that proved he bit the bait.
Unfortunately for her, she didn’t realize Matteo had made his own investigations.
Finally, he had received the last piece of the puzzle. After Alia moved out, he scoured his ho for the hidden cara, trying to use the cara angles shown in the photos to pinpoint its position. He thought perhaps the photos could’ve been transferred wirelessly as Ronan hadn’t seen her remove anything from the room other than her clothes.
Unfortunately, he found nothing, which led him to believe the cara had to be disguised among her personal belongings and was removed quickly from the scene.
Yet, Emline had raised a good point. In the end, it was his words against hers, and Matteo had shown that he couldn’t care less about Emline’s feelings, for people to believe that he would pay attention to a tiny brooch on her jacket.
"Surely Emline would not do such a thing!"
"A woman leaking her own photos... no way!"
"It’s just impossible."
The onlookers murmured to themselves, casting Matteo dubious looks.
"But how did you know that that was a spy cara?" Ronan asked with a raised eyebrow. "It’s not exactly common knowledge."
"Well, I’m not exactly a commoner, am I?" Emline tossed her long blonde hair with a huff. "Of course I’m privy to such information."
Ronan smirked. "Really? Because from the shocked faces of everyone here, including Mr. Walton and Mr. Hawthorne, it definitely isn’t common knowledge among the upper class like ourselves. Or do you think yourself better than your own grandfather?"
"Of― of course not!" Emline denied it imdiately, a flush crawling up her neck as she puffed up her cheeks. "Don’t put words in my mouth!"
Clearly, Ronan had learned so lessons from Dimitri, for he continued his line of questioning.
"I’m just curious since you were so adamant that Alia’s brooch was a hidden cara. You see, I am also soone who knows what this was, but that’s because my older brother was personally in charge of their developnt."
Alia blinked, surprised. Matteo leaned down and whispered in her ear, "The Sullivans dabble heavily in jewelry. This must be Dimitri’s way of expanding his company."
Exclamations of shock echoed through the listeners.
Ronan sighed to himself. "I guess I’m going to have to apologize to Dimitri for letting the cat out of the bag. But since it’s already out, I might as well continue."
He then turned to address the others watching.
"Gentlen, this line of covert jewelry is from my brother’s newest line, and pieces are made by commission only. The only reason why Emline Hawthorne would know about it was if she went looking for sothing like it." Ronan cast Emline a glance. "After all, why would a young woman buy a spycam?"
"Emline!" Horace Hawthorne’s face purpled as he registered the intent in Ronan’s words. "Why did you buy sothing like this?"
"I did not! Grandpa, can’t you tell he’s framing ?! All of them are! They committed the cri, but they’re trying to wash their hands off it and bla it on !" Emline wailed frantically, her gaze flitting between her angry grandfather, Ronan’s smug smirk, and Matteo’s deadly glare.
The crowd seed to be turning against her, with the businessn casting her skeptical looks.
Emline let out a choked sob. "Grandpa, Matteo..." Tears welled in her eyes and trailed down her cheeks, glistening like diamonds. "Fine, if you don’t believe , then there’s nothing more I can say!"
She turned to Horace Hawthorne and said, her voice barely even above a murmur, defeat in her tone, "I knew it. I knew you would side with her and forget about , even though I was the one who grew up in the Hawthorne household!"
And with that, Emline turned around and ran off, slamming into Alia’s shoulder as she went, her sobs trailing after her.
Alia stumbled back, but Matteo imdiately wrapped his arm around her waist, steadying her. The warmth of his hand, along with the protectiveness of his gesture, sent butterflies coursing through her stomach.
"Emline, co back and apologize!" Horace growled, but Emline did not look back. She stord away like a bull in a china shop, causing the random partygoers to duck out of her way.
"I’ll go after her. Apologies everyone." Kelsie gave her demure bow to everyone, not before shooting Alia a venomous look from under her lashes. She chased after her as quickly as she could on her high heels.
"Emline! Emline! Wait!"
Caleb watched her leave, but his feet remained rooted to the ground. Instead, his eyes were still drawn towards Alia, and he took a small step forward as if he wanted to embrace her.
"Alia..." Caleb began, but Matteo cleared his throat loudly, an expression of polite disdain on his face.
"Why are you still here?" Matteo asked. "Shouldn’t you go after Kelsie, since she’s the love of your life?" His voice was heavy with sarcasm, even as he tugged Alia closer to his side.
"I..." Caleb’s gaze flitted to Alia, who rely raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Caleb, you should go after her. I do not wish to stand in the way of your torrid romance with Kelsie Friesent," Alia added blandly. "Shoo. Go on. What are you waiting for?"
Caleb swallowed, a muscle twitching in his jaw. If he could have turned back ti, he would never have divorced Alia to begin with! He had lost access to a gold mine! Now, Alia had fallen right into the hands of Matteo Montgory, and Caleb didn’t have the resources to snatch her from him... yet.
A dark look crossed his face, but then his father spoke.
"Son, don’t bother with her," Will Walton declared with a hearty laugh. "Let the won have their girl talk. What say we spend so ti together, have so good old father-and-son bonding? I got a few girls that might interest you."
Disgust welled up in Alia’s gut as Caleb’s father thumped him on his back and dragged him away by the shoulders. Caleb shot one last look in Alia’s direction, and if Alia didn’t know better, she would have thought he was pleading with her to save him.
Preposterous. Now that she knew better, she rely smiled and watched him leave against his will.
"If there’s nothing else, I would like to leave with Alia now," Matteo declared.
"Wait!" Horace Hawthorne exclaid, holding out a hand. "Where are you going? The party has just started!"
The corner of Matteo’s lips lifted, and his gaze turned imasurably gentle when his eyes t Alia’s own. "Ho, of course. Alia needs to move back in."
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