Chapter 198: My Home Was Stolen
Arabella Donovan was in awe of the Ulrich family’s efficiency. In just two days, they had caught the culprits, exposed the truth, foiled the conspiracy, finalized the divorce, and officially severed all ties. Everything was done in one fell swoop—so decisive and absolute, leaving no room for negotiation. It was... totally badass!
"So that mother-daughter duo... they didn’t have any reaction? Like, fighting back or refusing?"
It was easy to guess that the love-addled former Mrs. Ulrich probably hadn’t realized the severity of the situation yet. Arabella Donovan was more curious about Yara Ulrich’s reaction.
Yara wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she had a little bit of sense.
"That Mrs. Ulrich had no reaction. In fact, you could say she couldn’t wait for it to happen." Brandon Jennings couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for Dad Ulrich as he spoke.
He had cherished his wife for over twenty years, and in the end, her heart was entirely with another man. She even had the nerve to act as if he had held her back, as if he had wronged her. Brandon truly couldn’t fathom her logic. Had all his kindness to her over the past two decades been a mistake?
Arabella Donovan couldn’t understand it either and also felt a wave of sympathy for Mr. Ulrich.
’See? This is why you should never be a simp! Never be a simp! You simp till the very end, and you end up with nothing. I mean, if she’d just been honest from the start... a man like Mr. Ulrich, with his wealth and looks, wouldn’t have needed to be so hung up on her. To give so much only to be treated with contempt? It’s beyond tragic!’
Brandon Jennings was speechless. ’Isn’t that the truth. It’s not like Mr. Ulrich couldn’t find a wife. He didn’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel like she did.’
"Chloe’s ’sister,’ on the other hand, was a crying, snotty mess, saying she knew she was wrong and begging Mr. Ulrich not to kick her out. Unfortunately, her mother is too much of a drama queen, and she herself is too malicious. Mr. Ulrich paid her no mind and still packed them up and threw them both out."
Arabella Donovan wasn’t surprised by Yara Ulrich’s reaction. She shook her head, a little wistfully.
’It’s true what they say: don’t fear a god-like opponent, fear a pig-like teammate! Yara Ulrich had clearly seen her scumbag dad’s true colors and knew that being kicked out of the Ulrich family meant she was doomed forever, so she tried to save herself. But her mom’s head was still full of unrealistic fantasies about love and climbing the social ladder. All I can say is, being stuck with a mother like that, her life is going to be hard.’
But sighs were just sighs. When she thought about all the despicable things Yara Ulrich had done to Chloe Ulrich, she felt that wicked people get their just deserts. She should just respect their destiny and drop any savior complex.
After the two cousins finished gossiping about the Ulrich family’s drama, Brandon Jennings belatedly realized something was off.
"Why is he sitting here?"
Brandon Jennings’s face darkened as he pointed at Caspian Rhodes, who was sitting on Arabella Donovan’s other side.
"Mr. Rhodes was already sitting there."
Brandon Jennings was speechless. He remembered the invitations had assigned seating, so he immediately took his out to check. He saw that his seat number was indeed here. Arabella Donovan was next to him, Caspian Rhodes was on her other side, and further down were the Kerr mother and son. Clearly, their entire row had consecutive seat numbers.
He was at a loss for words. ’Bad move. I was gone for a moment and came back to find... the fox in the henhouse!’
"Serena, want to switch seats?"
"Huh?" Arabella Donovan was a little baffled by Brandon Jennings’s suggestion. "Why?"
"I’m not used to sitting in this spot. Can I switch with you?"
"I guess we can..." Arabella Donovan glanced at Caspian Rhodes, looking hesitant.
Sensing her inner conflict, Caspian Rhodes’s eyes flickered. He said considerately, "Mr. Jennings, if you’re not comfortable in the outer seat, you can switch with me. My seat is a little further in."
"No need. I’ll just switch with my cousin. There’s no need to trouble Mr. Rhodes."
’My whole plan was to separate the two of them so they wouldn’t sit together. If I switch with him, wouldn’t all my effort be for nothing?’
"But I just promised Serena I’d help her get to know the other guests at the auction"—all the better for her to get more fun, fresh, and delicious gossip.
Brandon Jennings was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle. "If I recall correctly, Mr. Rhodes isn’t a Brynn local, is he?"
Caspian Rhodes guessed what he was getting at and replied, not at all flustered, "I am indeed not from Brynn."
"In that case, what gives you the confidence to think you know these... esteemed guests better than a local who grew up in Brynn?"
"Perhaps it’s because most of the people here do business with my family. And as for the rest, even if we haven’t worked with them yet, they’ve all shown interest in a future partnership."
Brandon Jennings was speechless. ’Damn it, so what if you’re rich? ...I have no comeback for that!’
Arabella Donovan looked at her cousin, then at Caspian Rhodes, sensing that the atmosphere between the two was a little off.
She couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, "Cuz, do you still want to switch? The auction is about to start."
"Let’s... let’s not switch for now." He was indeed a Brynn local, but given his family’s status, he didn’t really have contact with people of this caliber on a daily basis.
Right now, the only people he knew well in the venue were Quincy Ulrich and his father. He didn’t know most of the others. If he really switched seats with his cousin, and she got curious and started asking him about the guests, he wouldn’t be able to answer a single thing. Wouldn’t that be even more embarrassing?
As it turned out, Brandon Jennings’s concerns were not unfounded.
Because most of the items in the early part of the auction had already been displayed in the exhibition hall, the initial proceedings went by very quickly. The auctioneer had barely finished introducing an item before people in the audience started bidding.
The raw gemstone Arabella Donovan had her eye on was scheduled for later in the auction. The antiques and paintings up for bid in the early rounds didn’t particularly catch her interest; none seemed like rare treasures she felt compelled to own.
After a few rounds, she lost her earlier excitement and was starting to feel a bit drowsy, until...
"The next jewelry set up for auction is the Heart of the Ocean, the final masterpiece from the internationally renowned master jeweler, Wilson Lambert."
"PFFT—" The auctioneer had barely finished the introduction when Arabella Donovan nearly choked, startling the two men on either side of her, who quickly patted her back to help her catch her breath.
"Slow down, slow down, no one’s going to steal it from you. How can you just choke on water like that?"
"I’m—*cough, cough*... I’m fine," Arabella Donovan said, patting her chest. "Much better now." She had finally caught her breath, but her gaze remained fixed on the jewelry set on stage.
This led everyone around her to start guessing that she must be interested in the famous jewelry set.
Only the two men sitting on either side of her knew that she wasn’t interested in the jewelry at all, but in the gossip that it might bring!
’It’s here, it’s here! The famous prop with a ninety-nine percent appearance rate in romance novels, the Heart of the Ocean, has appeared! Fifty percent of the time, this thing is used by the male and female leads as a token of their love. Forty-nine percent of the time, it’s used by a villain or cannon fodder to frame the poor male or female lead for theft. And there’s a one percent chance it becomes the murderer’s motive in some detective story.’
’Tonight, who will be the one to take home this key prop? On which key character’s bedside table will it appear next? Let’s wait and see!’
Brandon Jennings and Caspian Rhodes were both speechless.
’Is that really a thing?!’ they thought in unison.