Just as she bent down to pick up the purse, a group of people suddenly surrounded her.
Bethany knitted her brows and felt that something was not right with the way they kept staring at her disdainfully.
“Give it up now” Marianne Downey demanded as she fumed with anger.
“Give up what? what are you talking about?”
Bethany wore a puzzled expression on her face as she didn't seem to understand what the woman was demanding from her.
Marianne looked furious as her lips vibrated vigorously as she looked at the woman with displeasure, “You stole my stuff, and you didn't dare to admit to it?”
She glared at Bethany, scrutinizing her from head to toe.
The diamond necklace that Marianne was wearing earlier was said to have gone missing right after she went to the restroom. Then, she was informed that Bethany had gone to the restroom at that time as well.
So, Marianne, had doubts surge up about Bethany being the culprit. she became even more confident with her accusation when she saw that Bethany looked like a stranger, who was new to the country.
There weren't many people from the elite society of the Bay City, who was there now, she knew the people wouldn't steal anything from getting.
   how can Bethany steal the woman's stuff?.
Bethany wasn't the type to shy away from accusations, however, she felt strange to be accused of such a thing right in a public place like this, so she asked courteously.“ Is there a misunderstanding between us? I don't seem to understand where you're coming from”. Bethany said while driving a smile that didn't seem to pass her teeth.
Mrs. Downey became angrier as soon as she saw that Bethany was smiling.
One of the people, who was standing in the crowd said to her in a loud disdainful tone, “Mrs. Downey there's no need to explain things to her. just get her purse searched”.
As soon as Marianne was reminded of this method, she tried to grab the purse from Bethany's grip. However, Bethany immediately hid her purse behind her. Then, her eyes fell on Danica who was standing in the crowd, she was smiling maliciously while fiddling with her hair.
Bethany suddenly realized that something might not be right with her–knowing how ferocious Danica can be.
I've underestimated how shrewd and unruly you can get, Danica– Knowing how ferocious she can be most time but she had never expectedly.
Bethany didn't expect that Danica would use this dirty trick to have the Downeys turned against her, just so she could be thrown out of the banquet hall.
“Why is she hiding the purse? There must be something fishy”.
Another person from the crowd yelled out, pointing her fingers at Bethany.
Marianne got so much anterior after hearing what the woman. suddenly, she forgot where she was as she shouted at Bethany,“ Give me your purse, now!”.
Her voice was so loud that it attracted the attention of everyone at the event, even the charity activities were brought to a sudden halt.
Bethany became the target of everyone's vision, the attention of the attendees was focused on her now.
some people even snatched her purse and gave it to Ms. Downey when she wasn't paying attention since she was still dazed by the accusations leveled against her, however, she maintained her calm expression as the woman ripped her purse open.
Suddenly, the person she had given the purse to, who was supposed to search for the necklace, screamed out with an anxious voice as he said.“Mrs. Downey, is this your necklace?”
Suddenly, the person, whom she had given the purse to, and was supposed to search for the necklace, screamed out with an anxious voice as he said.“Mrs. Downey, is this your necklace?”.
The guy brought out a diamond necklace worth at least 10 million.
Bethany was surprised to see that the necklace was taken out of her purse even when she knew that there was something fishy, but she maintained her all expression.
Seeing how calm she looked, Marianne moved forward and said disdainfully,“ What do you have to say in your defense now?” Marianne took the necklace from the man. she spoke as though she had truly caught the thief.
“What else should I say? would you believe if I say I didn't steal your necklace?”.
Bethany maintained her composure as though nothing had happened, she didn't look any bit scared as she was expected to be.
Instead, she raised her head and stood tall like she had done nothing wrong, which make the people murmur among themselves.
Marianne and the other guests were scared when they saw Bethany acting like this, She had never seen a criminal act so nonchalant even after being caught red-handed in action.
“Who is this woman? I've never seen around this sphere before. Did she sneak in just to steal things from us?”.
Danica, who was hiding behind the crowd suddenly yell out. trying to make the situation worse and force others to palm accusations on the woman.
“I haven't seen her before as well. Do you know her?”.
“No, I don't ”.
“No!”
All the people who had surrounded Bethany part took in the murmuring as they tried to ascertain her identity amongst themselves.
When they couldn't find out who, she was, this made her look even more suspicious.
“Someone call the police, this woman deserves to be put behind bars!”
It was not going to be easy to prove her innocence in such a situation since this was supposed to be a private event, so there were no surveillance cameras set up for the event– Or rather it would very difficult to get clues from the surveillance cameras.
Thinking of this, Bethany just heaved a sigh of relief as it was almost time for their next move.
Suddenly......
“What's going on here? what's the bustle and hustle all about?”
The voice sounds calm and a little hoarse, immediately it attracted the attention of all the people toward the direction where the voice came from. Even Bethany turned around.
Standing behind them in all of her elegance and Glory was a woman –Who looked like the replica of a goddess; She was wearing the most expensive collection of fashion wear in the world, her hair was long, dark, and wavy. it was styled beautifully on her shoulders. Her eyes shone like a piece of valueless green emerald and her lips were luscious with a touch of red lipstick. What's more, she looks like she's an important personality.
What an attention grabber she is!
Standing behind her was an elegant man too.
The hall went quiet after the young woman walked in.
Erica knitted her brows, then she left the hands of the man and walked over to the side of Bethany, who looked like she was in distress.
Everyone thought that the young woman came to look for Miss Danica Medina.
so, the crowd parted to let her through. Danica was so excited, even though, she didn't know who the other woman was, she just felt that she might be an important person, so the sudden desire to be associated with her– She wanted to be affiliated with people of great caliber.
However, Erica stopped in front of Bethany and said. “Miss Quest, what's going on here?”.
After asking the question, she didn't bother to wait for answers before she turned her gaze toward Mrs. Downey as she asked rhetorically.“ Is this how you judge a person? I wasn't informed that this is how you welcome your guests if I had known I wouldn't have bothered with the invitations, Ms. Downey”.
When the guests heard her words, they were startled as they couldn't understand why she would go about defending a wretched woman like that.
Shocked, Marianne couldn't place a finger on why the woman was mad at her for accusing a thief and calling a thief, a thief.“ Do you know her, Miss?”.
The guests also gasped when they saw her talking to the woman.
How did she get to know this thief?.
With a smile on her face, Erica slowly turned to face Mrs. Downey, “How does that even matter now? I just learned that you passed judgments without evidence. Is this your good way, Mrs. Downey?”.
Her tone was filled with sarcasm, and her face was crushed in disgust as she glared at everyone one of them.
Seeing that Erica was able to get them all to shove their words down their throats, Bethany quickly spoke up, which cause others to raise their eyes.
“Miss Burnett, you were looking for me? I just went to the bathroom for a quick change. what's the matter? ”.
Bethany asked firmly while looking at the woman in front of her.
When others heard that, she had caused her by her name as if she was closer to the elegant lady, the people held their hearts in their hands, as they didn't know who she was in the first place.
   “Miss Burnett, who is this woman?”
“Why does her name sounds so familiar?”
“     is she an important guest, and why would she get herself entangled with a thief?
Erica turned to look at her, however, Bethany stopped in her tracks just as she was about to continue with her questions.
“Ms. Downey, I heard you lost your lost necklace during the event. Do you have any evidence to back up your claims?” Erica asked with her brows knitted slightly.
Caught off, Ms. Downey didn't know what to say as she had not bothered to look for evidence in the first place, and had just gone ahead to falsely accuse the woman.
“I-I-I'm.....”
Mrs. Downey stuttered trying to find the right words. However, she couldn't say anything even after stammering for a long time.
“Isn't it strange that you accuse others without evidence? If this is how you treat your guests, then I wonder how you're gonna treat your neighbors”.
Erica was blunt with her words. Bethany quickly shot her a glared to shut her up, but she wasn't done yet.
Mrs. Downey suddenly found herself lost in thought as she was getting berated for her actions, while listening to the women scolding her, she suddenly felt gullible.
how did she end up allowing others to tell her what she's to do?
“So, what can you say after searching her purse? Did you find your necklace in her bag? I don't think, you did. Am I right? Then, why have you decided to make a fuss out of nothing, tarnishing her I'm again in front of others?”.
When she heard what the woman said, Marianne's face was flushed with embarrassment, and she didn't dare to raise her head at this moment.
“ Now, I want to ask you all once again, do you have anything to say about this matter?”.She asked clutching her purse tightly before continuing to squint her eyes slightly. “I hadn't expected this from you all, especially you Mrs. Downey, and you also, Miss Medina. Why would you allow others to decide for you? Miss Medina, I think you should be more strategic sometimes.”.
When Danica heard her name being mentioned, she was startled as she quickly raised her head to look at the woman in front of her with a confusing expression as she felt that the woman was speaking in riddles and she wasn't able to understand a thing she said.
The crowd was becoming rowdy a little bit after she said these words, so they began to argue amongst themselves as no one dared to say a word against the woman for fear of getting boycotted, of she turned out to be an important person.
Danica suddenly felt that the woman was getting in the way of her plans, so she rushed forward and demanded invasively.“Who are you to interfere in this matter? Why are you defending a thief and encouraging her to do more? Am I missing something? or are you in a cohort with her? Why do I feel that you're not who you are trying to present before us?”.
She crossed her arms around her chest as she glared at the woman in front of her with undiluted anger.