<h4>Chapter 278: Chapter 278 Matchmaker</h4>


    Author’s pov


    The afternoon sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of a private estate in the foothills west of Denver.


    A select group of women, the kind whose names regrly appeared in the society pages, lounged around a linen-draped table.


    They sipped imported tea and picked at artisanal cheeses, their conversation a low, polished hum.


    Yvonne stretched, savoring the feeling of being among people again. She’d been a recluse for over a week, declining every invitation since the Dahlia masquerade.


    The strange events of that night, followed by their hostess’s abrupt disappearance, had left a chill she couldn’t shake. But even a socialite couldn’t hibernate forever.


    She’d chosen a powerful, brand-new Carolina Herrera dress and decided to rejoin the world.


    "You simply must have heard about Molly’s spectacr face-nt," purred a woman adorned with diamondsrge enough to be considered a security risk. Her eyes gleamed with the pure joy of someone holding a fresh scandal.


    Heads leaned in, the collective thirst for gossip practically audible.


    Yvonne set her cup down."Molly? From the Van Horn jewelry family? And what’s this about Luna Regina searching for someone?"


    A ripple of surprised nces traveled around the table. A woman with perfectly styled silver hair gave her a look of gentle pity."Darling, where have you been? It’s been the talk of Boulder and Denver for days."


    Yvonne offered a wan smile. "A dreadful flu. Complete istion. Do enlighten me."


    "You were at Dahlia’s masquerade, right? Well, guess what. Luna Regina was there too. Of course she was masked and kept to herself. Nobody in that room had a clue."


    She paused, lowering her voice." When the trouble started, Luna Regina was cut off from her guards. A young woman in green led her to safety through a back passage. It was so chaotic, Luna Regina never got a good look at her. Now, she’s on a personal mission to find this ‘angel in green.’ And she’s not being subtle about it."


    "The description is maddeningly vague," another woman cut in with a sigh." ‘Tall, willowy, with a fairplexion.’ It’s set off a gold rush. Every unmarried she-wolf has suddenly recalled wearing green that night and is lining up to audition for the role of heroine."


    Yvonne’s heart gave a hard, sudden thump against her ribs. Green dress. Tall and pale. Helped Luna Regina escape.


    "But Luna Regina has dismissed every imant so far. She says she’ll know the real one. The girl’s energy, she says. She’ll remember it."


    "Which brings us back to Molly’ disaster," The woman with the diamonds interjected, seamlessly steering the conversation back to its juiciest point.


    "Georgina set up a private audience, convinced she’d bagged the real deal. Molly swanned into the ck familypound, ying the part of the modest savior to the hilt. Luna Regina grew colder by the minute. When Molly overyed her hand one too many times, Luna Regina simply stated, ‘You were not there.’ The silence, I’m told, was absolutely cial. Molly left in tears. Georgina’s reputation is in tatters."


    The table erupted in soft, satisfiedughter.


    But Yvonne didn’t hear it. Her mind was a whirlwind.


    "Ladies, you’ll have to forgive me," Yvonne said, rising so abruptly her chair scraped the gstone terrace.


    Her socialite mask was back in ce, but her mind was already miles away." A prior engagement haspletely slipped my mind. Dreadfully rude of me."


    Once outside, Yvonne immediately pulled out her phone and called Cecilia. It went straight to voicemail.


    She wasn’t about to let this opportunity vanish.


    This wasn’t just gossip; it was a storybook plot dropped right into herp.


    The unknown beauty who saves the Alpha Sebastian ’s mother, now the subject of a high-society manhunt.


    Except in this version, Cindere had tossed the ss slipper into a closet and forgotten about it. Time was wasting.


    Acting on a socialite’s instinct for strategic information, Yvonne had a discreet, impably worded text sent to Luna Regina.


    She presented herself not as the savior, but as "another guest who utilized the same service corridor for egress during the unfortunate incident at the Dahlia estate."


    To establish undeniable credibility, she included a precise, obscure detail only someone who had been in that hallway would know.


    Satisfied with her opening move, she slid into her car and tried Cecilia again. Still no answer. Frustrated but undeterred, she scrolled and called Harper instead.


    "Harper! " she eximed the moment the line connected, dispensing with any greeting."You are not going to believe who one of those women was that we helped at the ball!"


    Harper’s voice was wary."Who?"


    "Luna Regina. As in, the Regina ck. Alpha Sebastian’s mother."Yvonne couldn’t keep the triumphant thrill from her voice."It’s been the talk of every country club and charity board for a week. She’s been searching Denver for her ’ angel in green’ to extend her personal thanks. It’s Cecilia, Harper. Our girl!"


    There was a pause on the line.


    "We... actually pieced that together yesterday," Harper admitted, her tone cautious. "But Cecilia doesn’t want to step forward."


    "What? Why on earth not?" Yvonne demanded, genuinely baffled.


    In her world, such a connection was a social coup to be seized, not avoided.


    Harper sighed, the sound heavy with her friend’s unspoken anxieties."She’s nervous. After the whole mess with Xavier and his family’s... expectations, she’s wary of getting tangled in wolf politics. And she’s terrified Sebastian will think she engineered some sort of meet-cute with his mom. She doesn’t want their start to be shadowed by that kind of calction."


    Yvonne considered this, her manicured nail tapping a thoughtful rhythm against the supple leather of her steering wheel.


    Cecilia’s caution, born of past hurt, was understandable.


    But it was also, in her opinion, a tragic waste of a perfectly good romantic turning point.


    "Her hesitation makes a certain sense,"Yvonne conceded."But what if the narrative came to her? What if Luna Regina sought her out? That flips the script entirely, doesn’t it?"


    "What are you thinking?" Harper’s voice sharpened with interest.


    "If our Cindere refuses to try on the slipper,"Yvonne said, a slow, mischievous smile spreading across her face, "then I’ll just have to ensure the royal envoy delivers it right to her doorstep."


    "Leave it to me," she told Harper, her voice full of confident finality."I’ll arrange the most elegantly coincidental meeting this territory has ever witnessed."


    After all, her best friend deserved to be happy. And especially with an Alpha who was so clearly head over heels for her.