"Mom," Sylvia whispered, signaling her to stop talking.

    But Naomi couldn''t swallow her anger. She''d finally earned her ce in this family, only to be mocked and med by outsiders.

    "These things-" she started.

    "Mom!" Sylvia cut her off, her voice sharper this time.

    Naomi caught Sylvia''s warning nce and froze for a moment, then snatched the bracelet from her daughter''s hand.

    "This can''t be right! No way!"

    Kay nced at Naomi coolly, then sat back with a casual grace, sipping from her

    coffee mug.

    "Naomi, it sounds like you''re admitting the bracelet''s a fake."

    "Reese''s father is stuck abroad-flight dyed by a snowstorm. That''s why I''m here, standing in for her family at the engagement party," Kay said, her tone icy. "Now look what''s happened. How am I supposed to exin this mess?"

    "If we hadn''t caught it ourselves, and these favors ended up with the guests-do you have any idea how humiliating that would be for both our families?"

    "So I hope Mr. Rupert and Tristan will stand up for Reese here. She hasn''t even married in yet, and you''re already letting her get bullied."

    Naomi''s face went ghostly pale. She swayed on her feet.

    Edwin rushed forward, steadying her with an arm. "Take it easy," he murmured.

    Naomi leaned into him, nearly in tears. "Honey, I swear I didn''t do anything wrong."

    "I believe you," Edwin said, nodding.

    Kay scoffed. "Well, how touching. Maybe, Mr. Edwin, you should be thinking about how you''re going to exin all this."

    Edwin frowned. "Kay, you''re jumping to conclusions. Nothing''s been investigated yet—you can''t just pin this on Naomi without any proof."

    Sylvia''s heart skipped a beat. Kay?

    She looked up, noticing the tense,plicated nces Edwin and Kay exchanged.

    But before she could dwell on it, Tristan, fuming, hurled his teacup at Edwin.

    "That''s enough! How long are you going to cover for her? You want proof? I''ll give you proof. Let''s see what you think of her now!"

    Tristan grabbed a few papers from the butler and mmed them down in front of Edwin.

    Edwin picked them up and read-his face instantly went stiff.

    Naomi nced at the papers and shook her head furiously. "No, I don''t know anything about that!"

    Sylvia leaned closer. It was Naomi''s bank statement. That morning, almost half a million dors had been deposited-almost exactly the value of the party favors.

    Then, the housekeepers who''d helped move the gifts were brought in.

    "We just carried the boxes," one said. "Mrs. Naomi handled everything else."

    "Exactly," another chimed in. "On delivery day, Mrs. Naomi and Ms.

    Lloyd checked everything in before it

    went into storage. We don''t even

    have the code to the storeroom. There''s no way we could''ve

    switched anything."

    "These past couple days, Mrs. Naomi told us where to go. If she and Ms. Lloyd

    did anything, we weren''t there to see it."

    Finally, the delivery manager was called in.

    He produced the signed contract. "Tristan, Mr Rupert, here''s Mrs. Naomi''s signature. When we

    realized something was missin

    from the original order, we brought it over immediately. Mrs. Naomi and Ms. Lloyd checked everything before signing."

    It was true-Sylvia remembered that everything had been real on delivery day.

    So, the switch must have happened inside the Garcia house.

    But Tristan didn''t give her time to think, mming his hand on the table.

    “Naomi! I trusted you with this big responsibility. I even bragged about you to the family. Is this how you thank me?"

    "Tristan, I didn''t swap anything!" Naomi sobbed.

    Tristan waved her off, frustrated. "The

    switch people who could''ve

    I things are you and you

    daughter. If it wasn''t you, that just leaves one other person..."

    Everyone turned to look at Sylvia.