Aliceâs wound continued to ache while they were inside the car, but she asked Daniel, âWhatâs wrong with this Sandra? She doesnât seem to be in her right mind.â
Daniel knew that Sandra had fallen into Sophiaâs trap, but he couldnât tell Alice about it. He answered, âIt wasnât easy for Sandra to rise from an illegitimate daughter to the Young Lady of the Mitchell Family.
Sophiaâs return placed her position in jeopardy, so she suffered a mental breakdown and went crazy.â
Suppressing the anger within her, Alice removed the entire Mitchell Family from consideration.
Sandra ran after the car, but she failed to catch up with it. Overwhelmed with anger, she immediately dialed Lucileâs number.
How dare Alice-the-lapdog treat me like this?! Iâm Lucileâs close friend! Now that she has disrespected me, Lucile will have the chance to denounce her!
Alice was overweeningly ambitious, but she used to hide her ambition so well that one couldnât find fault with her. Now that Sandra had found an open and justified excuse, she believed that Lucile would certainly thank her this time.
However, Sandra couldnât reach Lucile on her phone; she simply assumed that the latter was too busy to answer her call. Anyway, she could no longer stay at the banquet since she would certainly be humiliated if she went back inside. Therefore, Sandra decided that sheâd better go home and have Lucile speak up for her.
When she and Vincent called home, they learned that Lucile and Abbie had gone out shopping that morning and hadnât returned yet. Sandra immediately sent her people to search for them, but after a day of looking around, the Mitchell Familyâs men went to the place where Abbie and Lucile used to stay and realized that the house had already been emptied.
When they arrived at Abbieâs house, they learned that Abbieâs family had moved out a year ago. At that moment, the Mitchell Family realized that something was wrong.
Lucile and Abbie had disappeared into thin air, and the property under their names had been converted into cash and transferred a long time ago!
They left without leaving any clues behind; no one knew where they had gone, nor could anyone get in touch with them. The luxury goods they left in the Mitchell Residence had been spirited away.
That night, word finally came that Lucile and Abbie had left the country by plane.
At this moment, Sandra and Vincent seemed to have guessed something. No! How could Lucile possibly leave like this? The daughter of the Michel Family certainly wouldnât abscond with their money!
She must have left in advance because of some urgent matters. Lucile has always been mysterious;
being unable to contact her is normal. Besides, sheâs the daughter of the Michel Family, so how could she possibly report her schedule to us in advance? This must be the case⦠thought Sandra and Vincent as they tried to comfort themselves.
They knew that they would suffer a huge loss if Lucile was actually a con artist!
Panic-stricken, Vincent immediately called Linus; he believed that Linus would know where Lucile was.
Linusâ assistant answered Vincentâs phone call, telling him that Linus was booked and busy; he could only wait until next month to make an appointment with the man. However, he refused to answer him about matters regarding Miss Lucile.
Vincent was as anxious as hell. He lost both Lucile and his moneyâwhich meant that he had lost everything.
Ian was equally anxious as Vincent, for he also discovered that Lucile and Abbie had gone missing. He also realized that all the property he gifted Lucile had been converted into cash, but the money couldnât be traced.
They utilized various channels and even contacted the Mafia abroad to search for Lucile and Abbie.
However, the two women seemed to have vanished into thin air; they couldnât even find a trace of the duoâs whereabouts.
Even so, they couldnât conduct a large-scale search for them. If word got out that the Edwards Family and the Mitchell Familyâs Young Masters were swindled out of their money by the same woman⦠Losing money wasnât the matter here, for they would lose face completely.
Moreover, Vincent had even slept with Lucile.
After several days of fruitless searching, the two victims put their prejudice against each other aside and met up to discuss the matter.
Ian said to Vincent, âLucile spent the night with me that day. She promised to make me the agent for Dragon Eye; she also said that she would go back to the Michel Family and seek their blessings to marry me.â
Vincent was speechless upon hearing his words.
At this moment, they realized that both of them had fallen for a romance scam.
However, they didnât just fall for a romance scam; the Mitchell Family had believed Lucileâs baloney and offended Alice thoroughly. Losing the contract to be Dragon Eyeâs agent was less important than the fact that they had offended the Michel Family!
Still, they hung onto every last bit of hope, thinking that they could recover their losses once they found Lucile. After all, everything would be fine if Lucile was real. If she was an imposter, they would take the fake Lucile to Aliceâs and confront the imposter in her presence; perhaps they could even get back into Aliceâs favor by doing so.
However, the wait was endless. As Lucile and Abbie disappeared without a trace, Sandra finally realized that she had been scammed. Upon learning that Lucile had transferred all the property away, she passed out on the spot and was rushed to the hospital.
On the fifth day after the incident, Linusâ assistant suddenly called Vincent. âMr. Mitchell, Miss Lucile will set aside two hours from 2.00PM to 4.00PM tomorrow to meet you on the 18th floor of the Michel Groupâs building. She wants to discuss the quality issue you raised regarding the sports car. Please be there on time; we wonât wait for you if youâre late.â
Upon learning this, the wilted Vincent came back alive at once.
Previously, he had made an issue out of the sports car multiple times in hopes of luring Lucile out and meeting her in person. Unexpectedly, Sandra brought Lucile to him afterward, so he forgot about the sports car entirely.
He didnât expect Lucile to make an appointment with him on this day.
Although he looked forward to this meeting, he was afraid as well.
He wanted to meet Lucile very soon, but he feared that the Lucile he was going to meet and the Lucile he had previously spent time with werenât the same person at allâ¦
However, he had to attend the appointment no matter what!
The next afternoon, Vincent set out on time before arriving at the Michel Group.
I wonât make a mistake this time. Even if I learn that the Lucile from before is an imposter, Iâll be meeting with the real Lucile. If I can find a way to win her heart, Iâd be able to recover the losses Iâve suffered previously!
With this idea in mind, Vincent stroked his head confidently. No matter what, I mustnât be taken advantage of today! he thought to himself. At the same time, he was full of anticipation for his formal meeting with Lucile. They would be meeting at the Michel Groupâs building this time, and this appointment was arranged by Linusâ assistant; today, the Lucile he was going to meet certainly wouldnât be an imposter.
I should think positivelyâperhaps this is all Lucileâs test.
Vincent seated himself in the tearoom on the 18th floor of the Michel Groupâs office building at 1.50PM.
The 18th floor also happened to be where Linus worked, and Vincent sat in the tearoom next to Linusâ
office. Linus was also present; upon seeing Vincent, he spoke to the latter. âPlease wait for a moment, Mr. Mitchell. Lucile is taking the elevator up.â
Vincent sat there waiting with his back straightened.
At 2.00PM sharp, the sound of quick, short footsteps made by someone wearing high heels could be heard from the outside, and it was accompanied by Linusâ voice. âMr. Mitchell has been waiting for you in the tearoom.â
Vincentâs spirits rose; he looked at the tearoomâs door in anticipation, listening to the sound of footsteps as it came closer and closer⦠At last, someone pushed the door open. Behind the door stood two big and sturdy foreign bodyguards with the Michel Familyâs emblem embroidered on their sleeves. Then, Linus and a young lady walked inside under the escort of these bodyguards.
The young lady must be none other than Lucile.
Vincent stood up at once. However, when he saw the lady clearly, the smile of anticipation slowly disappeared from his face before it was replaced by a look of profound shock.
âWhy are you here, Sophia?â
Sophia took off her sunglasses to reveal her smiling blue eyes. âDidnât you say that the second-hand sports car I sold you had some quality issues? Iâm here today to have a look at it.â
The faint, scornful smirk on her face gradually broadened as she stared at him.