?Chapter 374:


    Narrowing his eyes to get a better look, Jarrod’s face shifted into an expression of shock. It was Maia. What in the world was she doing here? At an event like this, someone of her standing should not have even been allowed through the doors. Suspicion red in his mind as he quickly made his way over, stepping directly into Maia’s path to block her.


    After Vince and Rosanna’s engagement party, Jarrod carried a faint weight of guilt for Maia, though in his heart, he believed he had done no wrong. To him, Maia had always been like a younger sister under his wing. If anything had been troubling her, she should havee to him without hesitation.


    Seventeen years under the same roof, yet in that moment, Jarrod realized that Maia was as much a stranger to him as the moon is to the tide — always close, yet unknowable. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth.


    “Has Maia never truly seen me as her brother?” Jarrod mused bitterly.


    To Jarrod, family meant a certain pecking order that should never be disturbed. As the younger one, Maia ought to have shown some measure of respect instead of acting high and mighty, treating him as though he were dust beneath her feet. Every glimpse of her haughty demeanor stirred an urge in Jarrod to cut her down to size.


    “Maia, what are you doing here? Do you even know what kind of ce this is?” Jarrod said, nting himself firmly before her, his voice dripping disdain. “You don’t belong here. How did you even worm your way in? Go home before you make a fool of yourself!”


    Maia lifted her eyeszily, casting him a fleeting, indifferent nce. Seeing Jarrod at the Cooper Group’s private g surprised her. With his clueless air, could he truly have any standing with the Cooper family?


    A memory stirred — Rosanna’s engagement party with Vince, where Rosanna had proudly worn a dress gifted by none other than Mariana, the cherished daughter of the Cooper family.


    In a sh, Maia pieced it together. It was Rosanna who had managed to wrap herself around the Cooper family’s little finger.


    Lɑt??τ cнαρτ?rs ιn g??l??ov?ls.??????


    Maia had to hand it to her; Rosanna had a few tricks tucked up her sleeve. Not only had she cozied up to Mariana, but she had even wrangled an invitation to this rare gathering of the elite. A soft, mockingugh slipped from Maia’s lips. Some foes, it seemed, were destined to meet again under the cruel gaze of fate.


    Without wasting another breath, Maia reached into her purse and drew out a ck invitation card. Its golden trimming and silver-embossed design shimmered under the chandeliers like a secret whispered in light. She held it aloft with a faint smirk. “I have an invitation. Why shouldn’t I be here?” she said coolly.


    An invitation?


    Jarrod’s mind stumbled over itself. How had Maiae into possession of an invitation to the Cooper Group’s most private affair? What was more, her card wasn’t the same as Rosanna’s.


    A seed of suspicion sprouted quickly — could it be a forgery?


    Just as Jarrod’s lips curled in preparation to mock her, gasps rippled through the nearby crowd.


    “Look! A ck gold invitation?!”


    “Who on earth is she to have a ck gold invitation?”


    In the very next moment, a socialite mingling near Rosanna and Mariana spotted Maia from afar and cried out, “Isn’t that Eileen, MCN’s chief designer?”


    In the glittering circles of Wront’s elite, MCN had its fair share of diehard followers. When news had broken online that Maia was Eileen, many had been drawn into the whirlwind of gossip.


    Yet, once word leaked that Maia was not a cherished daughter of the Morgan family but a fallen sparrow who had spent time behind bars, admiration curdled into disdain. Some even began whispering that maybe she wasn’t Eileen at all.


    As soon as she heard themotion, Rosanna’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She whipped around, her face stiffening the moment her eyesnded on the woman everyone was talking about.


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