?Chapter 430:


    Christina met her eyes, unfazed. “Do you believe I came here to cause trouble?” she asked smoothly.


    Lorraine and Yvonne nearly burst with excitement. What a stupid response! She had just sealed her own fate.


    Celine’s face, however, revealed nothing. After a pause, she turned to the head of security. “Tell me everything,” she ordered.


    “Yes, Mrs. Miller,” the head of security replied, stepping forward and recounting the events as he had witnessed them.


    “She did it on purpose,” Lorraine interrupted, her voice rising. “Who brings a tacky $1,800 ornament to a formal banquet and has the audacity to say ‘it’s the thought that counts’? She wanted to insult the Millers!”


    Celine said evenly, “‘It’s the thought that counts’—that part is true.”


    Lorraine blinked, confused. “Wait… you mean you don’t think she was trying to cause a scene?”


    “Whether she made a scene or not will depend on the evidence,” Celine said, her tone cool andposed. Her gaze drifted to the crumpled invitation lying nearby on the marble floor.


    Not missing the subtle cue, the head of security quickly bent down and picked it up.


    Lorraine’s eyes widened, and she rushed to speak. “Celine, that’s just a regr invitation!” she said quickly, a slight panic rising in her voice. “There’s no way someone who gives a cheap gift like that could be a personal guest of Kurt’s.”


    Lorraine doubted anyone offering a measly eighteen-hundred-dor gift had any true status. In her mind, Christina had to be just another gold-digger—one of those women who slipped into elite banquets hoping to charm a wealthy man and climb thedder of high society.


    Celine slowly turned to face Lorraine. Her expression turned frosty. “Lorraine, the Miller family has rules. And no one is allowed to break them, especially not over personal grudges. Are we clear?”


    Lorraine flinched under Celine’s chilling stare, and whatever she’d been about to say died in her throat. A spike of fear shot through her. “I—yes… I understand,” she muttered, her voice small. “I got ahead of myself. I’m sorry.” She lowered her head, trying to mask the unease tightening in her chest.


    g?lnσν????s is where magic happens


    Lorraine had worked too hard to earn the Miller family’s favor. Her family’s entire social standing hinged on her connection to Celine. One wrong move and it could alle crashing down. Kurt and Robin had never liked her. The only reason they tolerated her presence was that she had once saved Celine. If Celine turned cold…


    If Celine turned cold toward her now, the doors of the Miller family would m shut. And with them, so would her family’s future.


    Celine shot a frosty look at the head of security. He caught the message instantly, stepped forward without a word, and carefully retrieved the battered invitation from the marble floor. Holding it reverently with both hands, he offered it to her like a sacred relic.


    Unbothered by the grime clinging to the invitation, Celine unfolded it. The moment her gaze swept across the handwriting inside, a flicker of recognition crossed her face—it was Kurt’s. The script was sharp, deliberate, and dignified—brimming withmand and refinement. There was no mistaking it.


    .


    .


    .