Her expression faltered for a moment.


    Tonight, Vanessa wore a stunning violet evening gown, clearly custom-made and worth a small fortune. With her statuesque figure and captivating presence, she lit up the room the moment she walked in-so much so that it was nearly impossible to look away.


    The man by her side was just as striking, his polished elegance making every other man in the room seem dull byparison.


    Their arrival instantly drew the attention of everyone in the ballroom.


    Vanessa basked in the admiring gazes from all around, exuding effortless confidence. Every now and then, though, she''d lean in towardn, whispering something with a coy smile, a trace of girlish shyness softening her poise.


    People began to gather around them, eager to exchange pleasantries. Within minutes, Vanessa andn were surrounded by the crème de crème of tonight''s distinguished guests.


    In the crowd, Gwenda clung excitedly to Faye''s arm. "Faye, your sister is absolutely stunning tonight. She''s a total goddess!"


    Faye had to admit, when it came to presence and poise, Vanessa outshone her by a mile.


    "And Mr. Goodwin looks so handsome tonight too," Gwenda sighed with envy. "They''re perfect together!"


    At that moment, Horace strolled over and said, "I just ran into Jude-he told me Joel and Eleanor are here tonight too."


    Faye''s eyes lit up. "Joel''s here?"


    "Yeah! They''re here to see Mrs. Grayson as well."


    Faye had dressed to impress tonight, and she couldn''t deny she wanted to catch Joel''s attention.


    Meanwhile, Eleanor made her way toward the bar for a ss of water. As she passed a rather rotund society matron chatting animatedly with her friends, the woman gave Eleanor a dismissive nce and said, "Excuse me, could you take this ss away?"


    Eleanor paused, caught off guard. The woman thrust her empty ss at her, assuming she was a waitress and expecting her to take it without question. With a careless flick of her hand, she let go.


    Crash!


    The ss hit the floor and shattered with a deafening tter.


    The matron and her friends jumped, startled, and turned to re at Eleanor. The woman''s face twisted in outrage. "What''s wrong with you? Are you deaf? I told you to take my ss!"


    Her voice rose above the hum of conversation, drawing attention-evenn and Vanessa looked over to see themotion, along with everyone else nearby.


    Vanessa''s eyes widened in surprise when she recognized the young woman being scolded by the matron.


    Was that... Eleanor?


    In the crowd, Gwenda and Faye also nced over, quickly realizing who it was. Their shock was tinged with a hint of schadenfreude-here was Eleanor, of all people, being mistaken for the hired help. What rotten luck! And to make matters worse, she''d worn the same uniform as the servers.


    How humiliating.


    Eleanor stared at the irate woman berating her without a second thought. She felt utterly speechless and could only try to exin, "Ma''am, I''m sorry, but I''m not a waitress."


    "Oh, really? You''re dressed just like one," the matron snapped, ring at her. "You''re just trying to get out of doing your job, aren''t you?"


    There was a certain smug superiority in her tone-how dare a server talk back to her?


    Outrageous.


    Vanessa nced atn''s face. Though his expression was unreadable, she could sense the anger simmering in his eyes. She couldn''t tell if he was embarrassed by his wife''s behavior in public, or if he was furious at Eleanor for her meekness and inability to stand up for herself.<fnfd45> Find the newest release on find?novel</fnfd45>


    Just asn started to step toward Eleanor, Vanessa caught sight of someone else. She quickly slipped her arm through his and said sweetly, n, let Mr. Kingsley handle this."