Chapter 23 A Puppet at the Banquet
Chapter 23 A Puppet at the Banquet.
With just a few short words, Ellis understood her current predicament.
It was Carly who had sent these people to capture me! What did Carly intend to do?
Ellis was quickly ushered into a beauty salon. Various makeup products were applied to her face, and someone styled her hair. By this point, it was clear Carly was determined to make her attend Scott’s 80th birthday banquet. She had no choice in the matter.
After the stylist declared. “All done,” they took her to Master Scott’s estate.
Though Scott had retired, his power and influence remained strong, and his birthday celebration was bustling with activity. All of the elites and wealthy figures of Stonebridge had gathered to attend. The entrance was lined with luxury cars, and the guests were all dressed in the finest clothes.
Ellis looked out at the world beyond the car window, reluctant to step out.
Suddenly, a force pressed on her shoulder, it was the woman who had been keeping an eye on her, pushing her to get out.
“Ms. Ellis, don’t just stand there. Ms. Carly is waiting for you inside the hall,” the woman urged.
Realizing she couldn’t overpower this group, Ellis reluctantly complied and got out of the car.
The moment she stepped down, a few of the guests glanced her way. Their gazes were no longer polite but filled with disdain and mockery. She could easily interpret their thoughts. The respect she had once received from them had vanished.
Since marrying Easton, it was the first time she truly understood how precarious her position was. As long as Easton didn’t want her as his wife or if their relationship soured, her standing among the elite disappeared entirely.
I was nothing more than an appendage to Easton. When I was illuminated by his light, I was visible to the world.
Ellis shrank back, desperately wanting to escape, to get far away from this upper–class society.
However, the people with her noticed her intention. Though they pretended to support her, guiding her in her long gown that was difficult to walk in, they were actually gripping her wrist tightly, ensuring she couldn’t run.
And so she was forced into the banquet hall within the estate.
The hall was filled with flowers and an abundance of guests. The most attention was drawn to Scott in the center, with Easton and Victoria standing by his side. Even though Easton’s expression was neutral, the radiant smile on Victoria’s face made them look like a perfect couple, visiting the elder together.
Victoria was engaged in conversation with Scott, and those around them were eagerly participating, trying to please Scott and throwing in compliments for Victoria.
Compared to the warmly welcomed Victoria, and with Easton standing by her side, completely ignoring Ellis’s arrival, it was as if she didn’t even exist. She was supposed to be Easton’s wife, yet at that moment, she felt like a rat hiding in a gutter.
Human nature craves drama, and with both the “first love” and the wife present, the guests couldn’t help but indulge in gossip. They quietly observed Ellis and Victoria, hoping for a confrontation or scandal to
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Chapter 23 A Puppet at the Banquet
spice up the evening’s atmosphere.
is found herself frozen in place, wishing she could disappear
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Carly had been watching for Ellis’s arrival while socializing. Seeing her standing still, she quickly moved toward Scott, flashing a perfectly measured smile as she called out to Ellis, “Ellis, hurry over. Grandfather is waiting for you to wish him a happy birthday.
As she spoke. Carly subtly nudged Victoria aside.
But who could have predicted that Victoria would stumble and lose her balance?
Seeing her about to fall, a large hand reached out just in time, pulling her into a warm embrace.
The scene that followed resembled something straight out of a fairy tale, cliched yet beautiful.
It stung Ellis’s eyes. Her mind drifted back to when she was 14 years old.
She had been adopted by Carly at 13 years older and introduced to life in high society, where she met Easton, who was three years older than her.
At that young age, she couldn’t yet distinguish between like and dislike, but from the first moment she laid eyes on Easton, the aloof and proud teenager was special to her. Her so–called “cousin” began to occupy her thoughts.
Her feelings for him began to bloom in her final year of middle school, when she had just turned 14 years
older
Because she wasn’t the Hudson family’s biological granddaughter, and with Carly often preoccupied with her own hobbies, Ellis found it difficult to secure a place in the Hudson family. Some people, with an eye for weakness, often bullied her.
Her resistance was weak. One time, when she was bullied to the point of despair, Easton had appeared like a god, beating up the bullies and then carefully taking her to the hospital for a checkup.
That day, as she looked at the boy who had protected her, a thought took root in her mind.
She wanted Easton to protect her forever.
That wish, even after becoming Easton’s wife, had never come true.
When Easton saved her back then, it might have been out of pity, but the person he truly wanted to protect had always been Victoria.
Even though Victoria had abandoned him during his struggle to win the inheritance, he still loved her wholeheartedly, unaffected by her rejection. Even Scott, judging by his current attitude, seemed unbothered by what the Brooks family had done in the past.
