Sophia stared, completely blindsided.
When did Paulina pull that off? How did she miss it? Her mind flashed back to her mom’s warning before they left for Harrisburg—don’t ever let your guard down around Paulina.
Twenty million dollars was a lot of money. What if Paulina got greedy and decided to throw her under the bus, too? Sophia’s heart pounded with anxiety, but before she could say a word, Shirley lost it right there.
“You’re unbelievable! Trying to scam us with a fake check? I actually thought you and Mr. White were close, so I never questioned it. I was even racking my brain for ways to convince Mr. White to help you hunt down the Ambrosia Vitae buyer. Turns out all you wanted was to use me. Well, I swear, you’ll regret this!”
With that one explosion, Shirley brought all the dirty secrets out into the open. Everyone in the room was left reeling.
Ambrosia Vitae? That was what this whole mess was really about?
The Whites’ staff used to think Harriet and Shirley just liked to play pretend, but nobody expected them to try something this bold on Norris. Did they really see him as some kind of endless money supply?
Norris didn’t even flinch, but his eyes turned glacial. Just looking at him sent a chill through the room.
Paulina couldn’t meet his gaze. Her nerves were shot, but she forced herself to nudge Shirley. “Shirley, we only paid you to help out, that’s it. Mr. White isn’t involved at all, so please don’t start rumors…”
Shirley’s whole face froze as she realized she’d said too much. Flustered and panicked, she scrambled to cover it up. “Mr. White, I…”
Before she could say anything else, Sophia jumped in, voice sharp.
“Paulina, didn’t you say you’d wait for Norris to say yes before swapping the check? Why’d you rush it? You got the real check now, right?”
Everyone turned to glare at Paulina.
Her face burned with shame, every muscle tensing like she’d been caught in a trap. There was nowhere to hide.

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