Chapter 41 Matching Outfits

Chapter 41 Matching Outfits

"Bob, go find a drum and tell everyone I'm making my entrance." Adrian said with a smile, his tone light and playful.

This unusual behavior made Assistant Parker twitch his mouth. His boss never joked around—what was going on today?

Evelyn naturally caught his teasing tone and responded with an equally speechless chuckle.

But jokes aside, Assistant Parker quickly got things done. When Evelyn appeared at the top of the stairs on Adrian's arm, the "audience" below, who had been tipped off in advance, spoke up right on cue.

"Mr. Morgan is here, look."

"The mysterious heir of Morgan Corporation?"

"Yeah, that mysterious Mr. Morgan."

"Who's that girl next to him? She looks so elegant."

"Isn't that the poor student from earlier—wait, what's with the dress she's wearing?"

Following a gasp, everyone's eyes, including Molly's, focused on Evelyn's dress, and their expressions changed.

Wearing the same dress?

In that case, whoever had more status and position would be more embarrassed.

"Well... as expected, the same dress looks different on different people. Look at her—still looks so shabby." Someone glanced at Molly and eagerly kissed up to her.

As soon as he finished, voices of agreement rang out around them.

But only they knew how stunning Evelyn looked in that dress when she first appeared.

The current era favored skinny beauty, and chubby girls were often associated with ugliness. But Evelyn reminded them of noblewomen from medieval times—that kind of graceful, regal presence surpassed any carefully dressed woman there, including Molly.

Evelyn naturally heard those mocking comments. But these words didn't affect her mood one bit. She stared straight at Molly.

Molly's face showed no displeasure, but Evelyn knew this stepsister better than anyone in the world. She could tell at a glance that Molly was about to lose it.

"Evelyn, you bitch!" Just then, Isabelle, covered in bandages, appeared from somewhere, limped over to her side, and raised her hand to splash an entire glass of red wine all over Evelyn's dress.

Adrian tried to stop her but was too late. In an instant, the white hem was stained crimson.

People around gasped in shock, but soon after, amazed exclamations rang out.

When the red wine hit Evelyn's white dress, it revealed hidden patterns that weren't easily noticeable before. The dress that had given off a pure feeling instantly bloomed with dark red spider lilies, adding an enchanting beauty.

Finally, someone couldn't help but applaud in amazement, impressed by this clever design. Those who had mocked Evelyn earlier, though not joining in the praise, also fell silent, shocked inside.

Evelyn stared at Molly without blinking, precisely catching the flash of surprise in her eyes.

It seemed that although Molly had stolen the dress her mother left for her, she didn't know about the little trick her mother had left in it.

Evelyn smiled and turned to the crowd, graciously accepting their compliments. From the corner of her eye, she saw Molly tightly gripping her dress hem and quietly leaving when no one was paying attention.

She must be going to test whether her dress had the same hidden pattern by splashing wine on it.

Evelyn did it on purpose—deliberately making Molly suspicious.

She didn't know how things were going on Lone Wolf's end these days, or whether her performance in the math competition had pushed Molly to immediately check her body. But either way, this extra push today might help Lone Wolf out—

As long as Molly suspected she was still alive, the more likely she'd go verify the body, and the easier it would be for Lone Wolf to get close to it.

...

Once Molly left, many people immediately surrounded Adrian and Evelyn with constant flattery.

Evelyn cooperated with these fake people for a while, chatting and also finding out the identity of the estate owner who hadn't shown up yet—this person was named Gordon. Years ago, he went overseas to seek his fortune, struck a gold mine and accumulated massive wealth, then returned home a few years ago with his children and grandchildren to find his roots, locating relatives from the Davis Group in California.

Isabelle was a distant relative of this Gordon, and Molly's mother also seemed to have family ties with him.

Evelyn didn't have much contact with her stepmother, but she knew the woman would never spend time and energy on someone whose status and position were below hers just because of blood relations—Liam's assets were worth more than ten gold mines.

There was definitely something fishy about this.

"I'm going to the restroom, excuse me." Having gathered enough information, Evelyn decided to leave.

Everyone else's attention was on Adrian, so they didn't really notice her. Only Adrian gave her a meaningful look.

After leaving the noisy main villa, Evelyn pretended to be lost and secretly slipped into the nearest villa.

Surprisingly, although there was no security here, infrared alarm devices were installed.

Evelyn quickly took off the cumbersome dress and slipped in wearing only her slip dress underneath. But even with her agility, her extra weight almost touched the infrared beams.

I really need to lose weight soon... Evelyn made a mental note.

There was nothing special inside this villa—no jewels, no collections, not even a safe. Instead, it was full of signs of daily living, really nothing worth stealing. But the more ordinary it was, the more suspicious the infrared equipment at the entrance seemed.

Evelyn searched the villa thoroughly from top to bottom but found nothing. She didn't get discouraged and moved on to the second one.

Then the third, the fourth... When she left the last villa, sweating profusely, she still had nothing.

Evelyn had no choice but to change back into her dress and return to the main villa.

The estate owner Gordon had appeared, and Molly had also changed into a different outfit, now chatting with people with a big smile.

This Gordon wasn't anything special, even more ordinary than Evelyn had imagined.

"Miss Molly is so loyal, coming to our Davis Group's party every year."

"Of course, I practically watched Miss Molly grow up."

Two women nearby were chatting quietly. Almost instantly, a flash of insight struck Evelyn, and all the fog cleared.

None of the villas she'd checked had valuable jewelry, and the closets only had ordinary clothes—princess dresses for a four-year-old girl, sailor outfits for a fourteen-year-old. The clothes were all faded, suggesting they were quite old.

Evelyn hadn't paid attention to these details during her investigation, but now, hearing these women's conversation, she suddenly realized—the owner of those clothes, the little girl who had lived in those villas, was Molly.

Evelyn recalled that when she was young and returned from the island to the city for missions, she had indeed heard that Molly wasn't home. But Liam had said she went abroad to study—could it be she never went abroad but had been at this estate all along?

But with Molly's status, why would she come to an estate in California?

What connection did Molly, or even Liam, have with California?