Chapter 116: Chapter 103: Uninvited Guest

The Sterling and Quincy families were both prominent in Meritopia. For this engagement party, however, both sides were uncharacteristically secretive, opting for a low-key affair. After all, the previous engagement between Shane Sterling and Jocelyn Quincy had ended messily. Now, for the Quincy family to offer the younger sister in place of the elder for the marriage alliance was hardly a point of pride. To avoid the media attention that would come with a lavish celebration, the two families agreed to a smaller guest list and a simpler ceremony. The entire event was meant to be more private, focused on “emotion” rather than “pomp.”

Despite the elders’ desire for a low-key event, Genevieve Quincy made a grand affair of it, inviting every friend she could, whether they were on the A-list or not.

No one knew that Genevieve Quincy had waited three long years for this moment—to make Shane Sterling her own.

Three years ago, she had fallen for Shane Sterling at first sight at the Meritopia Golf Club and had been unable to forget him since. She just never imagined that the next time they met, the man she had been obsessing over would be her older sister Jocelyn Quincy’s fiancé.

The man of her dreams becoming her future brother-in-law—this was something Genevieve Quincy absolutely could not accept.

So for the past three years, she had plotted and schemed, planning her every move. At last, her day had come.

Today’s engagement party was a traditional Chinese-style one.

Genevieve Quincy had spent a great deal of energy with the designer, striving for absolute perfection even with the scaled-down pomp.

As she was having her makeup done, her mother, Rosalind Linden, walked over to her side.

“Genevieve, you’ve really done me proud.” Rosalind Linden stroked Genevieve’s long hair, smiling in satisfaction. “You’ve made your mother so proud.”

Rosalind Linden had married into the Quincy family on her second marriage, bringing her daughter along. In all these years, she had never given birth to a child who truly carried the Quincy name, and as a result, none of the Quincy relatives paid her any mind.

But who would have thought that the “baggage” this woman brought with her would now have the good fortune to marry into the Sterling Family.

And what did Genevieve Quincy’s marriage to Shane Sterling signify?

It meant solidifying the Quincy family’s interests, and she was the chief architect of this victory.

However much the Quincy relatives had looked down on her and her mother in the past, that’s how much they would fear them in the future.

In the face of her mother’s praise, Genevieve Quincy was full of smug satisfaction, simply smiling without saying a word.

Rosalind Linden then suddenly added, “But, why haven’t I seen Sean today?”

The VIPs downstairs had all arrived. By rights, the groom-to-be, Shane Sterling, should have been downstairs greeting the guests, but Rosalind Linden hadn’t seen him at all since she arrived.

At her mother’s words, Genevieve’s heart suddenly began to hammer in her chest.

Even though everything had been going exactly as she’d planned lately, Genevieve still felt that the closer she got to happiness, the more anxious she became.

Especially when it came to Shane Sterling.

“Sean isn’t here?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

Genevieve Quincy immediately pushed away the makeup artist who was applying her lipstick, grabbed her phone, and went into the hallway to make a call.

Just as the call connected, she saw Shane Sterling stretching lazily as he swaggered out of one of the hotel’s lounges.

Today, Shane Sterling was wearing a modern Chinese-style suit with gold frog buttons. Gold-threaded embroidery flowed across the draped fabric, lending the suit an air of sophisticated Eastern elegance.

“Sean!” Genevieve Quincy immediately rushed to him. “What are you doing upstairs?”

“Catching up on sleep.”

He looked languid, showing not a hint of the nervousness or excitement one would expect from someone about to get engaged. In fact, the back of his suit was even wrinkled from being slept in.

Genevieve Quincy was a little displeased, but then she considered that he had, at least, shown up on time and in his suit, and hadn’t pulled a last-minute disappearing act. With that thought, she calmed down slightly.

“Sean, what happened to your lip?” Genevieve Quincy noticed that the corner of Shane Sterling’s mouth seemed to be injured.

“Got hit.”

Genevieve Quincy was startled. “Who hit you?”

“Silas Lockwood.”

“Why would he hit you?”

“He wasn’t happy I didn’t send him an invitation.”

Genevieve’s expression immediately turned reproachful. “Honestly, Sean. An engagement is a huge deal, and you didn’t invite a single friend. People who don’t know any better will think you’re embarrassed to be seen with me.”

Shane Sterling’s gaze swept over Genevieve, and he let out a cold laugh. “You are rather embarrassing.”

The smile on Genevieve’s face instantly froze.

“What… did you say?”

Before Shane Sterling could answer, a loud BANG suddenly echoed from the engagement venue downstairs.

Genevieve Quincy jumped in fright. She immediately rushed to the second-floor railing to look down.

Down in the venue, someone in a gray hoodie and a baseball cap had knocked over a large vase holding twin lotuses.

The twin lotuses, with two blossoms on a single stalk, echoed the day’s theme of “one heart, blissful union.” With the lotuses destroyed, the engagement party was as good as ruined.

“Who is it?” Genevieve Quincy was furious. “Who dares to ruin my engagement party!”

Forgetting all about Shane Sterling, she hiked up her dress and ran downstairs.

Shane Sterling followed unhurriedly behind Genevieve. As he descended the stairs, his eyes met with Silas Lockwood’s in the middle of the hall.

“Thanks,” Shane Sterling mouthed to Silas Lockwood from across the room.

Silas Lockwood nodded at him, then, still holding his champagne flute, retreated to the side to watch the show.

After smashing the large vase, the “uninvited guest” in the baseball cap proceeded to knock over a woven bamboo screen, shatter “double happiness” ornaments, and tear down custom lanterns and draperies. Within seconds, she had turned the once festive engagement venue into a complete mess.

“Where did this lunatic come from!” Jasper Quincy, the president of the Quincy Group, bellowed. “Where’s security? Quick! Someone grab this madwoman!”

“I’d like to see anyone try to touch me.”

The “uninvited guest” yanked the baseball cap off her head and threw it to the ground.

A haggard but beautiful face was revealed.

Wasn’t this Jocelyn Quincy, whom the Quincy family had hastily sent abroad some time ago?

“Grace?” Jasper Quincy stared at his daughter. “Why are you back?”

“And why shouldn’t I be back?” Jocelyn Quincy looked at her father, who was dressed in a sharp suit with a festive flower on his chest, looking for all the world like a man about to marry off his daughter. She was so enraged that she threw all decorum to the wind, pointed at her father, and began to scream at him. “Jasper Quincy, are you an idiot? I’m your biological daughter, yet you listened to an outsider, branded me a ’drug addict,’ and sent me away to be kept under house arrest abroad! If my mother’s spirit is watching from heaven, she must be wishing she could come take you away with her this very instant!”

“Shut up!”

Although today’s engagement party was a simple one, the more streamlined it was, the more important the guests were. How could Jasper Quincy possibly allow Jocelyn Quincy to spout such wild accusations here?

“Guards! Guards, get in here! My eldest daughter is not in her right mind! Take her away! Take her away now!”

“I am not out of my mind! And I don’t do drugs!” Jocelyn Quincy leaped onto the engagement platform and shouted at her father, Jasper Quincy. “Dad, stop being deceived! It was Genevieve Quincy! She’s a treacherous, black-hearted snake who betrays her own family! To steal my position as the eldest daughter of the Quincy family, she bought drugs to frame me! It was all a set-up!”

Jasper Quincy’s eyes went wide. “Is what you’re saying true?”

“Of course it’s true!” Jocelyn Quincy pulled a voice recorder and a file from her sweatshirt pocket. “I have evidence! And I have a witness!”

The guests burst into an uproar.

Genevieve, who had rushed downstairs ready to condemn the troublemaker, saw things were going south and immediately turned to flee.

Shane Sterling, with his quick reflexes, stepped forward and grabbed her by the shoulder, holding her in place.

“Aren’t we getting engaged? Where are you rushing off to?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep