Chapter <i>57 </i>


    “Who are you people?” Madeline quickly stood up, shielding Olivia, and said to Shawn with a sharp tone and stern look.


    She thought to herself, ‘How could a bunch of strangers just walk into our house?”


    Once they were out of the audience’s sight, Shawn dropped his gentle act.


    Hearing her question, he gave her a cryptic smile. “No need to be nervous, Mrs. rk.


    “There’s a birthday party downstairs, and Mr. Turner wants everyone toe together for


    he asion.”


    Madeline frowned at his words. “The party downstairs is still going on?”


    She thought, ‘After everything that just happened, my husband and my son should’ve ended he party right away to protect Noel and Olivia’s reputations.


    Besides, the engagement is already settled, isn’t it?”


    Seeing that she hadpletely forgotten the purpose of the evening, Shawn had to remind her. “Mrs. rk, you must be joking.


    The birthday girl is still here. How could the party end?”


    Madeline was displeased inside, eyeing him warily. “Are you here because of Natasha?”


    Earlier, Olivia had already told her there was nothing between her and Lucas. Tonight was ust one big misunderstanding.


    Madeline thought, ‘If anyone didn’t want the engagement to go through and could set up something like this, it must be Natasha.


    She is always so rebellious and resentful toward us.’


    Then there was Matthew, who showed up in this lounge. She didn’t even dare to think if that was also part of Natasha’s scheme.


    After all, the people in this room were Natasha’s brother and sister.


    Noel was thinking the same thing.


    He felt like his luck had hit rock bottom today.


    First thing, Natasha smacked him across the face<b>, </b>so he had no choice but to sit in the lounge


    5:11 pm


    with an ice pack pressed to his cheek.


    Then, for some reason, the longer he sat on the couch, the sleepier he got.


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    In the end, he barely managed to stumble into the inner room and crashed onto the bed.


    Half–awake and groggy, Noel vaguely sensed Lucas and Oliviaing in and talking about something.


    Before he could make sense of it, Lucas hurried out again.


    Then, he was snapped back to reality by screams from outside.


    Forcing himself awake, he rushed out of the inner room, only to see Matthew all over Olivia on the couch.


    Noel tried to yank him off, but instead, Matthew overpowered him and started getting handsy with him, too.


    In the chaos, the two of them crashed into the window. It happened to face the backyard, so a whole crowd got a front–row seat to the mess inside.


    Thinking about all this, Noel said angrily, “How dare Natasha set me and Olivia up like this? Mom, you can’t give her the bracelet tonight!”


    Madeline didn’t agree right away, but from the look on her face, it was clear she was starting


    to waver.


    At the very least, she felt that Natasha should apologize before they could give her the bracelet.


    Seeing these people not only refusing to move but also smearing Natasha’s name, Shawn let out a coldugh and impatiently knocked on the open door again. “Do it.”


    He’d already tried the polite way, but since they wouldn’t cooperate, he would have to resort to rough methods.


    In an instant, several tall, burly bodyguards grabbed the three of them without a shred of courtesy and started dragging them out.


    Noel might be a grown man, but he waspletely powerless. Trying to break free from the bodyguards was like mming into a brick wall.


    Madeline’s face finally betrayed her panic. ‘Why are these people so crude and aggressive? They’re acting without any restraint at all,‘ she thought.


    5:11 pm &


    “Let go. We’ll walk down ourselves!” Madeline protested.


    She looked at Olivia, whose eyes were brimming with tears.


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    Olivia had straightened her clothes a bit, so she wasn’t exposed, but she still wasn’t presentable to meet anyone.


    Madeline added, “It’s just a birthday party, isn’t it? Let Olivia change first. Natasha won’t mind.”


    Shawn kept that fixed, tiger–like smile on his face, but his eyes were icy. “Mrs. rk, there’s no way you should keep the birthday girl waiting.”


    He nced at the bodyguards and ordered, “Take them downstairs.”


    With that, he turned and walked away without another word.


    *****


    Downstairs, in the backyard.


    Every single second of waiting felt like torture for Andrew and Thomas.


    Meanwhile, Natasha, who’d brought this storm down on them, waspletely unfazed.


    She was happily letting Alexei wait on her as she alternated between fruit and pastries.


    She lounged in her chair, legs crossed, looking utterly rxed.


    Plenty of people in the crowd were dying to go up and strike up a conversation with Alexei, all hoping to get on his good side.


    The lively crowd buzzing around the two of them was a sharp contrast to the awkward quiet surrounding Andrew and Thomas.


    It was like the roles of host and guest hadpletely flipped.


    Lucas tried again and again to get close to Natasha, but his parents practically dragged him back every time.


    The Wright family could choose not to work with the Turner family, but under no circumstances could they afford to offend Alexei.


    All Lucas could do was stand there and watch as Natasha, who had always been by his side, looked perfectly content next to Alexei.


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    She was leaning in close and whispering to Alexei from time to time.


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    Meanwhile, knowing she’d already pissed off Natasha and with her mom keeping her in check, Faye didn’t dare go anywhere near Natasha.


    Instead, she walked over to stand next to Lucas and grinned.


    She said, “Well, well, look at you, Mr. Wright. Still acting all high and mighty? What now? Your childhood sweetheart got stolen right out from under your nose.


    “All you can do is stand there like a wimp. If you’re so tough, go win her back! Wasn’t it fun messing around with your girlfriend’s sister before?”


    Lucas shot her a sharp re. “Faye, don’t spread rumors. You don’t know the whole story.”


    Faye scoffed, “Maybe I don’t know everything, but I can see just fine.


    “If you dared to do it, why are you so afraid of people talking? Hypocrite! I must’ve been blind to ever like you.”


    As Lucas’s re grew more and more menacing, Faye,pletely oblivious to the danger, kept taunting him, her chin held high in defiance.


    Out of nowhere, a p whipped through the air and smacked the back of her head. “Shut your mouth!”


    “Shit, Mom!” Faye yelped.


    “Who do you think you’re mouthing off to?” Another pnded hard on her back.


    The force was so strong that Faye stumbled, nearly losing her bnce.


    Salena thought, ‘This brat can’t go five minutes without causing trouble.


    ‘One of these days, I’ll have to tape her mouth shut.’


    She said, “I’m so sorry, Lucas. Faye doesn’t know any better. I’ll apologize on her behalf and take her home to teach her a lesson.”


    She was pulling her along while smiling at Lucas.


    As an elder, there wasn’t much Lucas could do but grit his teeth and bear it, though his <b>face </b>was darker than a thundercloud.


    Faye was reluctantly dragged away by her mom, clearly unhappy about it.


    She thought, I haven’t even gotten to see the rest of the show yet!”


    Meanwhile, the girl with the baby face and the girl in the yellow dress managed to push through the crowd and make their way over to Natasha.


    They’d already handed their gifts to the rk family butler when they first arrived, along with the rest of their family’s presents.


    But they still felt like they needed to wish Natasha a happy birthday in person.


    They felt that Natasha was nothing like all the gossip. They’d rather trust what they saw with their own eyes. <fn8302> For more chapters visit FindN()vel</fn8302>


    Honestly, with looks like that, it was impossible to dislike her.


    The two girls came over arm in arm, giggling, but as soon as they reached Natasha, they switched to super sincere mode and wished her a happy birthday.


    Natasha was momentarily taken aback, then smiled. “Thank you.”


    She hadn’t expected the first birthday wishes of the night toe from them.


    The girl with the baby face reached out her hand. “Didn’t get to say hi earlier. I’m Tilda Stephenson.”


    Natasha shook her hand. “I’m Natasha rk.”


    “I have heard a lot about you!” Tilda joked,ughing out loud.


    The girl in the yellow dress beside her lifted the corners of her mouth and reached out her hand. “I’m Kendall Green.”


    Seeing the smile on Natasha’s face, Kendall suddenly said, “Honestly, I think the rk family isn’t worthy of you.”


    Her face was soft and gentle, but her words were unexpectedly direct.


    Natasha was taken aback for a moment, then curved her lips into a smile. “I think so too.”


    The three girls exchanged nces and smiled, as dazzling as flowers in bloom, instantly drawing the attention of everyone around them.


    Once the two girls had walked off, Alexei finally broke away from the crowd and came back over to Natasha.


    5:11 pm 2D


    <b>55 </b>vouchers


    Noticing her watching their backs with a thoughtful look, he raised an eyebrow. “Do you like those two?”


    Natasha nodded. “Yeah, I like them.”


    Over the years, it was rare for her to get any genuine kindness from her family’s social circle, aside from Sadie and Lucas.


    This time, she received some genuine kindness without the help of others.


    Most people who knew Natasha would only ever give her a hard time, all because they were either crushing on Olivia or chasing after her.


    Instead of getting to know Natasha for real, they judged her based on gossip first.


    色