After the Affair Falling into a Billionaire's Arms novel Chapter 417

Chapter 417

Meanwhile, at Cozy Community.

After Julian finished dinner, Nicholas suddenly called.

Julian went to the study to take the call.

Nicholas launched into a stream of nonsense.

Julian listened, speaking very little, somewhat distracted.

Suddenly, the name Xanthe surfaced in his mental database.

He remembered–a few days ago, on the JM Chamber of Commerce

roster, he’d seen information related to Xanthe.

But at the time, the name listed wasn’t Xanthe’s, but her husband’s.

So he hadn’t recalled it immediately.

“Nicholas, I have something to handle. Gotta go,”

Without waiting for Nicholas to respond, Julian hung up directly.

T

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As he walked out, he called Louisa’s phone.

Unable to connect.

Julian immediately called Noah. “Go into the ballroom and check for

anything unusual. Louisa’s phone isn’t going through.”

Noah had been sitting bored in the car, playing games. Hearing this,

he immediately responded, “I’ll go right now.”

He swiftly exited his game.

Julian added, “Send me the address of the party.”

“OK!” After hanging up, Noah quickly sent an address.

Julian was already in the elevator. He glanced at the address, then

called Teddy, instructing him to investigate the guest list for this

private club’s event.

At that moment, inside the private club.

The bored guests suddenly grew excited seeing the final mysteriously–appearing masked woman under the lights.

None of them found it strange–having some unusual entertainment

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designed into a ball’s program was perfectly normal.

Otherwise, just eating and chatting would be too dull.

Only Louisa and her group, who knew the truth, felt their hearts

tighten.

And tonight’s primary target, Adeline, was also tense to the extreme.

It seemed this mysterious woman’s appearance signaled that the hunt

had begun.

Adeline’s brain had frozen. She was panicking terribly.

Because she couldn’t send messages or make calls.

She thought something was wrong with her phone and borrowed

someone else’s to call–same result.

She was scared out of her wits.

Only the person who’d lent her the phone remained oblivious, not

thinking the worst at all. They even consoled Adeline, saying not to

worry–the signal in the ballroom probably wasn’t great.

But how could Adeline not worry?

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She grew even more anxious, trying to think of ways to contact the

outside world.

Just then, Xanthe approached.

With a smile, she said, “Ladies, just sitting here is rather dull. I’ve

arranged a very entertaining game and invited a tarot reader. Let me

take everyone over to play.”

Everyone immediately agreed.

Only Adeline didn’t want to go. “I’m feeling a bit unwell. You all go

ahead. I’ll sit this out.”

How could Xanthe allow that?

Xanthe went over to pull her along. “Come play with us. There are

many more activities tonight, all quite interesting.”

“Yes, come along.”

Several people around them also urged her.

Seeing this, Adeline had no choice but to agree–refusing would raise

suspicion.

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She stood up reluctantly and followed the crowd.

As she walked, she scanned the hall searching for Louisa.

She remembered the girl wore a mint–green gown–very fresh-

looking.

She was also the only person in the entire party who made Adeline

feel at ease.

But the ballroom’s lighting was dim, and there were people

everywhere.

8

She couldn’t find Louisa anywhere.

At that moment, Hazel proactively greeted Adeline. “Hello.”

“Hello,” Adeline responded perfunctorily.

Right now, she only wanted to leave this godforsaken place. How

could she care about pleasantries?

Hazel detected something off in her tone and felt even more puzzled.

Though Hazel didn’t care about Louisa and had no intention of speaking to her, just now, Hazel had still instinctively tracked

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Louisa’s movements. She’d noticed Louisa had been talking with this

elegant lady the whole time and had seen their interactions.

This struck Hazel as strange.

Moreover, though she didn’t know this elegant lady was Adeline, from

her clothing and bearing alone, Hazel could tell Adeline was someone

of considerable status.

A greeting couldn’t hurt.

Louisa and her group walked ahead with the crowd.

To prevent getting separated, Louisa and Rachel linked arms, and

Sadie and Flora also held onto each other tightly.

They all watched the woman in the black mask who had descended

the stairs.

They couldn’t see her face beneath the mask or determine her age.

They could only judge from her exposed neck and arms that she had a

good, slender figure, but her skin’s tautness was average.

She probably wasn’t a young woman.

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The black gown and black mask were also extremely dramatic, giving off an attention–seeking vibe.

Rachel whispered in Louisa’s ear, “This woman looks like she’s here to

perform magic tricks.”

Louisa’s heart tightened as a bold speculation formed in her mind.

“She’s not planning to make the ‘important figure‘ disappear in front

of everyone, is she?”

Rachel and Flora exclaimed in shock, “No way?”

Sadie said, “Hard to say. With so many people here, they can’t just

kidnap that lady directly. They probably put some kind of nerve-

paralyzing drug in the mask they originally arranged. They wanted to

take advantage of the drug taking effect to spirit her away. But now

that plan’s been disrupted. They can only activate Plan B–put on a magic show and make the important figure disappear. Then they’ll make someone with a similar build reappear wearing the important figure’s gown and mask. It’s so dark in here–who can tell who’s who? Who would know she’s been switched? By the time the important figure’s family realizes she’s missing and launches an investigation, we’ll all be witnesses, completely clearing the masquerade ball of suspicion. That’s the convenience of a masked ball.”

Louisa fell silent.

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Flora fell silent.

Rachel fell silent.

With that deductive ability, Sadie truly lived up to being a lawyer.

They were all shocked but couldn’t find words to refute it.

At that moment, Xanthe had led everyone before the mysterious

woman in the black mask.

Xanthe addressed her respectfully, “Madam, you claim you can see through a person’s past and present lives, can see into the deepest fears and desires in their hearts. Honestly, I’m rather skeptical. Why don’t you demonstrate? All my guests tonight are wearing masks.

Please, choose anyone you like.”

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