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Keira followed Lewis into the back door of the
banquet hall. Just as she was about to head to the main hall, suddenly a servant rushed over from the side.
She was carrying several glasses of red wine and didn’t see the path clearly. She was about to collide with Keira.
Keira instinctively extended her arm to block her, but in the next moment, she was yanked fiercely around the waist, and Lewis shielded her with his body. “Crash!”
The wine glasses hit his back and scattered on the floor.
And the red wine stained his white shirt.
“Mr. Horton, Miss Olsen, I’m so sorry, so sorry…” the servant apologized, clearly flustered.
Yet Keira was looking at Lewis.
In past incidents, she always braced herself, but just now, she had felt what it was like to be protected.
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Lewis carefully checked the girl in his arms, and seeing she was unharmed, he relaxed. Frowning, he felt the wetness on his own skin and said to the servant, “Be careful. Don’t bump into the guests.”
“Yes, yes…”
The servant crouched down to clean up.
Lewis then said to Keira, “I’ll go upstairs to change my clothes. Stay with Grandma for the time being.”
He certainly couldn’t appear in such a disheveled state publicly with Keira.
“Okay.”
Keira watched Lewis ascend the stairs before she herself entered the main hall.
After entering through the back door, the first area was a lounge.
At the moment, it was surrounded by a group of hig school classmates invited by Jake. They were chatting away and were almost the same group of people from the last class reunion.
Erin, who had been fired from her company and couldn’t find a job. looked even more sullen than
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before. She was talking in a sarcastic tone. “I just saw Mrs. Horton. This proves that Keira was indeed lying last time. She’s definitely Mr. Horton’s mistress! How shameless!”
Charles was defending Keira. “There must be some misunderstanding…”
“What misunderstanding could there be?” Erin sneered. “That day, it was clear what kind of
relationship Mr. Horton had with her. Otherwise, why would he call her his woman? I really want to see later when Mr. Horton and Mrs. Horton make their
appearance, what you will have to say then!”
Charles was speechless.
Keira didn’t walk over but looked toward where Old Mrs. Horton was seated, noticing the old lady wasn’t there. She must have gone to the restroom.
She stood still, planning to wait for old Mrs. Horton to
return.
Suddenly there was a commotion at the entrance. Keira turned her head to look and saw Poppy somehow making her way inside.
She wore plain clothes. which made her stand out
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among the splendidly dressed crowd, and quickly drew
the attention of others. They began to whisper among themselves, “Who is that?”
Keira frowned, knowing Poppy must have come looking for her.
Just as she was about to go over and lead her away, Isla had already appeared by her side. “Aunt Hill, are you here to find Keira?” she said loudly, drawing the immediate attention of everyone around.
Smiling, Poppy said, “No, I’ve come to find the hostess of the Horton family…”
Isla’s gaze swept past Keira and settled on Madeleine, who was beside her. She deliberately raised her voice.
“That would be my aunt, currently the hostess of the Horton family. What do you need her for?”
Poppy immediately approached Madeleine, nodding and bowing with an ingratiating smile. After glancing around, her eyes flicked, and she started shouting loudly. “Mrs. Horton, I’m Keira’s mother… My daughter has slept with Mr. Horton. She can’t just get away with it for free, right? I’m here today to demand an
explanation…”
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Madeleine seemed to be frightened by her behavior, and she stepped back abruptly like a startled deer.
But how could Poppy possibly let her go? She grabbed hold of her wrist. “Mrs. Horton, don’t leave! Let’s have a good talk about how you and Keira should get along
in the future…”
Madeleine was panic-stricken, with fearful tears. welling up in her eyes as if she had been terrified.
Isla stepped forward with a frown. “Let go! If you don’t let go, I’ll call security!”
Upon hearing this, Poppy immediately sat down on the ground. “I don’t care. I can’t just let my daughter get taken advantage of for nothing, Mrs. Horton. You and my daughter are now sisters, living together in the Horton house from now on. You must get along peacefully…
Madeleine seemed to have been scared out of her wits,
unable to utter a word.
Isla exclaimed angrily, “Keira is already married to
someone else!”
Yet Poppy slapped the floor. “Exactly, my daughter is
married and now she’s living in the Horton rasidonna
cha’a
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in such an unclear and ambiguous way. What does this mean? You must give me an explanation!”
Isla, in a righteous manner, said, “What right does a mistress have to demand an explanation?”
Poppy had come here today to disgust Keira and affirm her identity as a mistress on behalf of Isla, so upon hearing this, she immediately raised her voice. “What about being a mistress? Mistresses are people too. The law doesn’t say you can’t be a mistress! Can’t you learn from Mrs. Olsen, who took me and my daughter in the Olsen residence and got along with me peacefully…”
Keira stood not far away, listening to these outrageous and unbelievable words. Her eyes flashed with mockery!
Poppy had definitely been invited by Isla.
When at the Olsen residence, Poppy demanded Keira always give way to Isla, which she thought was due to Poppy’s feeling of guilt, and she had put up with it.
gone
But why did Poppy hate Keira so much? She had so far as to do something like this, wanting to tarnish Keira’s reputation.
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Keira thought, “Is she really my mother?”
Isla immediately looked toward her. “Keira, I didn’t expect you to shamelessly cling to the Horton house. Is that what you intended?”
With that, she turned all the attention toward Keira. The crowd then noticed her presence and immediately began to point and comment.
“Oh my God, that’s so shameless. I’ve never seen such
an arrogant mistress. She’s talking about being sisters as if we’re in the 18th century.”
“Didn’t you hear what Isla said? Keira’s mother’s a mistress, and now here she is serving as someone else’s lover-like mother, like daughter!”
“I heard that this mistress was provoking Mrs. Horton backstage just now. She’s just bullying Mrs. Horton because she doesn’t have a powerful maternal family to back her up! I really don’t know how the Olsen family raised such an illegitimate daughter!”
“It’s simply speechless and laughable!”
In the midst of the argument, Rebecca burst out
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angrily, “Stop talking nonsense! Miss Keira couldn’t possibly do such things. She lives in the Horton house because old Mrs. Horton likes her. It has nothing to do with Mr. Horton; her relationship with him is pure and innocent!”
Keira remained calm and composed.
These accusations from others couldn’t possibly hurt her.
She didn’t bother to refute them because she already knew that this crowd would never believe her words.
Lewis wanted to make it public, and he must have prepared in advance.
Just as she thought this, a sound came and Keira, along with everyone else, turned their heads to see a curtain slowly dropping in the center of the hall…