Chapter 185: The Battle Between the Two Ladies
Julia Watkins thought that she was always the center of attention wherever she went.
She was born with pride, but what was so important about Yvonne, who had just been an annoying teenage girl.
With so many people here today, most of them knew that back then, the Leinster and Watkins families were going to join in marriage, but in the end, Zachary chose Yvonne. So, of course Julia felt disgraced.
She decided to fight for her dignity.
Julia Watkins wore a black lace high-class dress today, her figure was tall and slender.
She stepped on her heels, walked through the crowd, and volunteered to stand in front of Mrs. Travens.
"Hi, Mrs. Travens, I’m Julia Watkins, your youngest daughter, Helen, and I used to be good friends at Wycombe Abbey School."
Wycombe Abbey School was one of the top girls’ schools in the world, and many graduate from there to Oxford and Cambridge. Many of the world’s top wealthy people sent their daughters to university there.
Everyone knew that Helen was Mrs. Travens’ favorite youngest daughter. And Julia was actually a good friend of her daughter! Everyone instantly threw unexpected and envious glances towards her.
Sure enough, Mrs. Travens’ demeanor changed when she heard Helen.
"Really? Very nice to meet you!"
Julia felt the adoring eyes of the crowd and was very satisfied in her heart.
She thought that Yvonne was just a punk, how could she compare with her who had been educated by the elite since she was a child?
This time, many people took the initiative to befriend Julia.
However, Yvonne didn’t care about that.
Today was supposed to be Zachary’s birthday, so everyone could make friends with whomever they liked, she just had to be responsible for making this birthday party a good one.
But some people just wouldn’t hold back their personal emotions.
Finally, it was time for the part of gift receiving, which was Yvonne’s most anticipated.
She was a little girl, and even though she had two babies, she was now just about 20 years old and still looked forward to what kind of gifts she would receive.
The people who came today were either rich or noble, and the gifts given to Zachary were of course all of the high quality.
Tens of thousands of dollars were no longer uncommon and there were even some bigwigs that gave million-dollar gifts.
Those gifts were basically counted by the hotel staff and then sent directly to the warehouse of Lord Villa.
However, there were some special cases, such as Mrs. Travens.
She had flown in from Arcus on purpose this time, bearing a partnership between the Baile Group and the Leinster Group, bringing with her a priceless and unmarketable heirloom, a million-dollar oil painting, the Sleeping Beauty!
Such a top-notch collection was certainly not just handed over to the hotel’s treasury to be inventoried, but was guarded by a personal bodyguard brought by Mrs. Travens herself.
As the party came to a close, Mrs. Travens was also ready to bring out Sleeping Beauty and announce her collaboration with the Leinster Group to everyone.
Just then, however, a foreigner in black with blond hair and blue eyes came running over to the ballroom in a hurry.
With an anxious look, he leaned over and whispered something in Mrs. Travens’ ear, only to see, all at once, Mrs. Travens’ face change immediately!
Yvonne saw that and immediately asked, "Mrs. Travens, what’s wrong?" Mrs. Travens pursed her lips, a layer of anger flooding her noble features.
"The bodyguard just told me that the birthday present I brought for Mr. Leinster from a long distance, Sleeping Beauty, was actually switched to a fake!"
Rich people value their faces the most, and the good artwork, being switched into a fake, was undoubtedly offending!
And Mrs. Travens, as the most prestigious guest at today’s banquet, had made such a mistake in her first collaborative gift delivery, so it could be imagined how serious the consequences were!
...
Yvonne didn’t have time to think that much and immediately sent people to block the whole hotel and sent someone to check the surveillance video!
That was a million-dollar worth of stuff!
And it was from Mrs. Travens, so if it was really lost, things could get very messy!
Yvonne immediately reassured Mrs. Travens, "Mrs. Travens, don’t worry. Today’s situation is special, and I have long arranged a very tight guard system at the hotel, so whoever did it will definitely be found out."
The words were in place, but Yvonne still felt not sure about it.
Although she had made all the preparations beforehand, the criminal gangs nowadays, with their endless tricks, she didn’t know whether they could fight against her.
Just as she was running out of ideas, a cold voice sneered.
"Mrs. Leinster, today is such an important day, everyone is offering gifts of great value, as little as a thousand dollars or as much as they can. If even the most basic security is not done properly, losing something is a small matter, failing everyone’s heart, especially Mrs. Travens’, is a big thing.
"They’re all things that were given to Mr. Leinster, if something is lost, you, as the person in charge of the whole party, should give an explanation to everyone, right?"
The person who spoke was Julia Watkins.
Everyone nodded as well when they heard what she had said.
It didn’t really matter if the party was good and the event was original or not.
But if a major mistake like losing something happened, it was definitely a dereliction of duty on the part of the person handling it.
Even if she was not held accountable, people would still think she had a problem with her abilities.
Everyone would also question whether she could run such a large event and whether she could afford to be "Mrs. Leinster".
Sensing the doubts of the crowd, Zachary immediately stepped forward and said.
"Julia, Yvonne is the person in charge of the entire banquet, I’m sure everyone can see how well the banquet was held. If there is an extreme situation, every security officer and every staff member at the banquet today is responsible, how can it be all Yvonne’s responsibility?"
As Zachary’s words fell, the crowd that had been somewhat skeptical and shaken began to nod their heads in agreement.
No one could prevent a thief all the time.
Even the world’s top museums were as tightly guarded as possible to lose things, if there really was a person who intended to plot, and of course, Yvonne could not prevent it from happening.
Mrs. Travens also agreed with Zachary, "Mr. Leinster, you are right. If the genuine product is really lost, it shouldn’t be your wife’s responsibility. But I will definitely not let the person who stole the Sleeping Beauty off the hook."
When Julia heard this, her expression showed a hint of dissimulation.
Yvonne observed her micro-expression and narrowed her eyes minutely.
She hadn’t had a clue, but suddenly Julia Watkins stood out and said so, then a bold
guess arose in her heart...
However, she quickly felt that she was being too bold with this idea.
If this was really Julia’s doing, then she probably didn’t want to get mixed up with anyone anymore, right?
Thinking about this, Yvonne couldn’t help but shiver.
Without proof, she couldn’t just suspect anyone.
Just then, the man who had been sent to check the surveillance video returned.
"Mr. and Mrs. Leinster, we have seen the surveillance video."
"How is it?" Yvonne asked with concern.
The man, however, shook his head in difficulty, "Sixteen cameras, and they’re all actually out of order..."
"All out of order?" Yvonne wrinkled her brow, "What do you mean? A power failure? No way!"
She had gone through a sophisticated deployment, all the circuits and also the cameras were foolproof, there was no chance of failure.
"It’s not a power failure... The cameras are fine, but there’s no sign of anyone passing by in the footage!"
...
The guests were in silence.
The stuff must have been taken by someone.
As long as it was a human, one must walk, and walking left a trail, so how could it be possible to have no sign of it in all the 16 cameras?
What was more, a large portion of those cameras were pointed at the painting.
Anyone who approached the painting would be caught on camera, and a thief may be able to avoid the security guarding Sleeping Beauty, but not always the actual cameras.
Unless, of course, he could get it over-the-air...
"How come the cameras didn’t even pick it up?"
"Yeah...that’s too weird."
"Could it be that it wasn’t a person who stole the painting, but something unclean...
Only things like that could have taken the painting without even a shadow of a clue."
"Oh my God, don’t you scare me, it’s so scary." Some of the more timid celebrities were already getting chills down their spines.
Yvonne wasn’t too bold either, but she was unusually calm.
"All the strange forces must be man-made. Where’s the surveillance footage? Take me to it."
When Yvonne decided to personally intervene in this matter, Julia Watkins spoke up again at that moment.
"Mrs. Leinster, 16 cameras and none of them actually caught a burglar sneaking in, is this burglar too good or is there something wrong with your security system in the first place?"
"Everyone here is a big man worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to let a thief sneak in casually and not catch a clue, you’ve got us all scared."
Julia was holding onto Yvonne, just to say that the event that Yvonne was running had hidden dangers and was unsafe.
They were all big, respectable people, but they came to a place where the cameras didn’t even work, and Yvonne had to be responsible for them. They wanted compensation.
Seeing his wife is pestered by this crazy woman, Zachary stood out and tried to retort, but he was pulled back by Yvonne.
"Zachary, this is the first family task I’m responsible for as Mrs. Leinster, so let me tackle it myself."
Yvonne looked at him calmly and firmly, finished, then turned her head and calmly
looked at Julia.
"I understand Miss Watkins’ concern, but before we get to the bottom of this, shouldn’t we first catch the perpetrators? Recover the Sleeping Beauty? It’s not too late to talk about whether this banquet is safe to hold or not after we get it clear."
Julia sneered, "According to Miss Taylor, you are very sure of finding the Sleeping Beauty?"
Yvonne was now able to confirm that 98% of this incident was Julia’s doing!
Because by doing so, it would completely disgrace Yvonne, and everyone would think that Yvonne was not reliable in running things, and that her banquet was not safe at all. Julia was saying these things to lead everyone to think that Yvonne could not even catch a thief, which would not only make everyone think that she was incompetent, but also destroy the relationship among the Leinster Group, Mrs. Travens and the Baile Group.
Yvonne could tell from her being so aggressive. It was Julia who deliberately wanted to make a fool of her!
Having basically identified the originator, Yvonne’s heart was in the right place.
"Right." One word fell and everyone drew in a breath of air.
Even the police didn’t dare to be so confident. This woman was crazy, right?
And she even boasted, "Tonight, I will recover Sleeping Beauty and give everyone an explanation. If I can’t do that, I’m willing to accept any kind of talk and claims! All the blame, I will take it!"