"If I pushed her, I won’t just apologize—I’ll livestream it for the entire world to see. But if I didn’t... how will the Di Carpios compensate me for this trouble?"
The entire hall fell into complete silence. No one spoke. Even the servers flinched upon hearing that, their gazes instinctively dropping to their uniforms.
"How did she... know about that?" one of the servers wondered, confused.
Then, one of the guests gasped. "Right. Madam Shyaan’s parties always have high security since incidents can happen."
With that, those who had attended these types of parties hosted by the woman in question showed realization in their eyes.
"Oh!" another agreed, only for someone to ask, "Really?"
"Yes! You might not know this yet, but Madam Shyaan’s parties include many important figures. Not to mention, everyone here carries their most valuable pieces. So she requires servers to wear body cams to clear any suspicions in case something goes missing."
Those familiar with Shyaan would’ve known about the incident in the past where someone lost a rare and expensive piece of jewelry, only for it to be revealed that a staff member had stolen it.
Since then, Shyaan made sure to keep her events secure.
But Ashley didn’t know that story. She had simply noticed it earlier when she was served a drink the moment she and Lucian arrived.
"Shall we review it?" Ashley urged, her sharp eyes settling on Carmella and Isabella.
Isabella paled further as she clutched her mother’s arm. "Mom..." she whispered. "Let’s not..."
"Hah!" Carmella scoffed, but deep inside, she knew she would be finished if the footage revealed the truth.
"Why aren’t you answering? Is a public apology livestream not enough?" Ashley hummed. "Or... are you afraid that once we show it, everyone will see I barely touched your daughter—let alone pushed her?"
"Sis!" Isabella called out, finally finding her voice. She stepped forward, looking as pitiful as ever. "I’m already sorry. Mom is just frustrated, but I hope you understand. She’s just a mother trying to protect her daughter."
"From who, exactly?"
This time, one of the ladies Ashley had ignored earlier spoke — not because Ashley disliked her — but because she didn’t like how Lucian had been glaring at the young woman.
Isabella almost choked as she looked around, noticing the raised brows of the ladies and the frowns of the male guests.
"Let’s just watch it!" the same young lady suggested, clasping her hands together. "By reviewing the footage, we’ll see the truth! Isn’t that more convenient? Besides, Madam De Luca already promised to livestream her apology if she did push you!"
"Right, Madam De Luca?"
Ashley glanced at her, catching the brief flicker of mischief in the young lady’s eyes. She didn’t dwell on it and instead faced the duo.
"I agree," Ashley nodded. "Let’s review it."
"You!" the young lady pointed at the server. "Let’s review the footage—oh! Put it on the big screen over there!"
The server flinched slightly but quickly recovered. "Yes!"
"Wait!" Isabella panicked, stopping the server from leaving. "I mean..."
She cleared her throat before turning to Ashley. "Do we really need to go this far? Sis, everyone is here for an important event. This is a family matter. Shouldn’t we settle this privately?"
"But Madam Di Carpio didn’t have a problem calling someone out publicly," Ashley replied almost instantly. "And you didn’t have a problem when I was being forced to apologize for something I didn’t do. So, why do I need to clear my name privately?"
Everyone exchanged glances and nodded.
"She’s right. They confronted her publicly, and now they want to settle it privately?"
Another snorted. "Is it because they don’t want the footage to show she really fell on her own?"
"Oh, my god!" someone scoffed. "I was starting to pity them, but it seems that act fooled me."
What the heck? Is he watching too? I thought he went somewhere!

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