?<strong>Chapter 353:</strong>


    Kylee was frozen, unable to react for what felt like an eternity.


    “Kylee…” Baker began, but Kylee quickly cut him off.


    “Dad, please go upstairs.I want to be alone for a while,” Kylee said, her voice unusually calm.


    After a brief pause, Baker sighed and left.


    Kylee knelt, her back straight, her heart seething with jealousy, resentment, and bitterness. She couldn’t ept that her meticulously nned scheme had copsed like this. After tonight, she would be infamous in the entire high society. Everyone now knew she had hired people to stage a robbery and gain favor with the Thomas family.


    How could she face anyone in this circle from now on? What would the socialites think of her? Her reputation was utterly tarnished now!


    These thoughts filled Kylee with rage, her eyes bloodshot with fury. She silently cursed Mollie for her ruthlessness. She vowed to remember this and repay it a hundredfold in the future!


    After heading upstairs, Baker entered his study first. He retrieved his phone and dialed a number.


    “Baker, how did the evening turn out? Did Santino recognize Kylee as one of their close friends?” Holley’s concerned tone filled the line as soon as the call connected.


    Baker inhaled deeply beforeunching into a detailed ount of the banquet’s events for Holley.


    Holley was left momentarily speechless after hearing that, trying to wrap her mind around what Baker had just said.


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    “I can’t believe it…”


    “Mrs. Thomas went to the extent of hosting a banquet solely to humiliate Kylee and support Belinda! Wasn’t her intent clear—to utterly destroy Kylee? She truly pulled out all the stops for that!” Baker’s words were steeped in biting sarcasm, each sentenceced with sharp undertones.


    “Did this upset Kylee a lot?” Holley inquired.


    “Naturally, she is upset,” Baker answered. “No, upset isn’t the right word—she is crushed. She is still kneeling in the foyer because Car insists she stay there until she lets her get up.”


    Holley gasped in disbelief, blurting out, “What? How could Car possibly do that to Kylee? Is she expecting Kylee to stay on her knees the entire night? Even if Car doesn’t care about Kylee, I still care about her!” The words escaped Holley’s lips before she could stop them, her voice trembling with both concern for Kylee and anger toward Car’s actions.


    “Holley!” Baker eximed, his brow knitting into a subtle frown.


    On the other end of the line, Holley paused briefly and then rushed to rify, “I can’t help it—I see Kylee as if she were my own daughter.”


    Baker’s eyes gleamed with a hard-to-read look.


    After a moment of silence, he spoke with a tone heavy with implication. “Holley, you should take pride. The daughter you raised is truly remarkable!”


    Holley’s words caught in her throat.


    She didn’t know how to respond to Baker’s sarcastic words.


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