Jeff stood in front of Sophia, sweating profusely and standing so straight that his posture was almost obsequious.

"Please don't be mad, Mrs. Simpson. The mall will investigate the matter and give you a satisfactory explanation for this.

"Would you like to call the police? Or—"

"The police?"

Sophia scoffed coldly and set down her teacup before glancing at me. "Handing her to the police would be going too easy on her. If she gets a criminal record, my son will also be dragged into the matter.

"People will judge him for having dated a thief in the past. And the Simpsons will not allow that to happen."

She paused for a while, not bothering to hide the evil glint in her eyes.

"Search her. I will expose her to the world and make them see how filthy and lowly this pathetic liar really is!"

Search me? That would be massively humiliating. An uneasy look appeared on Jeff's face at once.

"Mrs. Simpson, we can't do that. We don't have the right to search her—"

Sophia interrupted him at once. "Mr. Curran, do I need to remind you how much business the Simpsons have been giving Chevy International Mall?

"If you continue defending this thief today, then I will hold you accountable for all the consequences later."

Sophia's words immediately caused Jeff to break out in a cold sweat.

He stopped hesitating and turned to me, saying professionally, "Miss, kindly cooperate with us so that we can prove your innocence. Otherwise, I'm afraid that we will have to get the police involved in this."

I glanced coldly at everyone in the room—at Sophia's arrogance, Crystal's smugness, Jayson's indifference, and Jeff's sycophancy.

"Sure," I said calmly. "I'll cooperate."

I walked up to the coffee table in the middle of the lounge room and began taking everything out of my limited-edition Birkin bag, laying them on the table one by one under everyone's scrutiny.

Those things included my wallet, my keys, my phone, a lipstick, and a pack of wet wipes.

I laid out everyone on the table, as simply as it could be.

Sophia frowned. She began rummaging through my purse in dissatisfaction, even pinching through the inner lining to see if anything was hidden in there, but she couldn't find anything.

"That's impossible!" Sophia screamed. "You must have hidden it in your clothes!"

She then glared daggers at my pockets.

I was wearing a tailored Chanel outer jacket. I ignored the greedy gazes of the security guards on me and looked at Sophia and Crystal's smug expressions instead, my lips curling into a smirk.

"Are you really that interested in it?"

I then slowly reached into the coat pockets under everyone's gaze. They held their breaths and watched.

When I pulled my hand out again, a dazzling sapphire brooch appeared in the middle of my palm.

The dark blue sapphire sparkled coldly and brilliantly under the lights.

"Ah. There it is," Crystal said, breaking the silence. However, she suddenly realized that she said the wrong thing and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes then turned red as she exclaimed, "Cheryl! You… How could you really…"

Sophia's face lit up with glee. She then pointed at me and screamed at Jeff, "See that? We caught her red-handed! I was right! This woman is a thief!"

Jeff sighed in relief and gave the security guards a look.

The two guards then stepped forward, caging me in from both sides so I couldn't run away.

The people in the lounge room were all looking at me with looks of disdain, sarcasm, and schadenfreude.

Jayson wouldn't stop glaring at me. The last hint of doubt had vanished in his eyes.

He stepped up to me and spoke in a judgmental and condescending tone. "I gave you a chance, Cheryl. Now, you've just been caught red-handed. What else do you have to say for yourself?"

He then shot me a look of disgust.

"Why? Why did you have to do this? Just because Mom didn't agree to let us date each other? Or was it because you got jealous of Crystal? Is this how you get revenge on me, by stooping to such lowly methods like this?

"You've completely disappointed me."

I looked at Jayson's handsome yet stupid face and suddenly laughed out loud.

The last of my feelings for him were completely snuffed out at that moment.

My laughter reverberated in the quiet VIP lounge room, sounding out of place and even piercing to the ears.

Jayson froze when he saw me laughing. He frowned and asked, "What are you laughing at? How can you still laugh when you've been backed into a corner?"

"I'm laughing at how pitiful you are," I said, turning solemn again as I calmly met his angry gaze. "Jayson Simpson, you've been thoroughly fooled by these two women, and yet, you still think that you're playing the role of a fair judge.

"Don't you think that you're the one acting like a clown after all?"

"What nonsense are you spewing?" Sophia shrieked, interrupting me. "We have the evidence. And you're still trying to fight back? You won’t admit it until the bitter end, will you?

"Mr. Curran! Call the police at once!"

"Hold on," I said, raising a hand to stop Jeff, who was about to retrieve his phone.

I slowly swept my gaze around the people in the lounge and finally fixed my eyes on Jeff, who had been playing the peacemaker the entire time.

"Mr. Curran, I think you've been working here in Chevy International Mall for five years. Am I right?"

Jeff paused for a bit. He didn't know why I had suddenly brought that up. However, he nodded on instinct and replied, "Yes. I've been here for at least five years. But why are you asking this?"

"Five years is quite a long time."

I then picked up the sapphire brooch on the table and fiddled with it between my fingers, looking at him with a half-smile.

"Then, you must know who the largest shareholder of Chevy International Mall is, don't you?"

Jeff's expression changed slightly, his eyes twinkling in response.

Sophia urged impatiently, "What's the point of you trying to drag things out like this? Don't you dare think that saying a bunch of weird things like that will get you off the hook. I'm telling you, nobody can save you now. Nobody!"

I ignored Sophia's screams and fixed my gaze on Jeff.

"This brooch is a replica of the limited-edition 'Heart of the Sea' in Cartier's fall collection last year. There are only three such brooches in the world, and each brooch has a unique mark and a separate microchip embedded to prevent any counterfeits.

"Mr. Curran, as the highest-level manager of the most luxurious shopping center in Cloudville, I'm sure that you must also be more professional than me when it comes to differentiating a real luxury item from a fake one. Am I right?"

My words made Jeff break out in cold sweat once again.

He looked at the brooch in my hand, then at my eyes that looked like they had seen through everything. His lips moved, but he wasn't able to get a single word out.

Jayson sensed something amiss. However, he refused to think that he might be wrong and hollered at me, "Cheryl! What tricks are you up to this time? You can't fake evidence. The brooch was found in your belongings. That's concrete proof in itself!"

"Concrete proof?"

I scoffed coldly and slammed the brooch on the table with a loud, clear bang.

"Mr. Curran, would you like to tell them that the real 'Heart of the Sea' has a unique serial number laser-engraved into the inside folds of the clasp in the back?

"And would you also like to tell them that the real brooch has a tiny microchip embedded in the facets of the gemstone that can only be seen if magnified by 20 times?"

Jeff's face turned increasingly paler with every word I said.

Even Crystal's initially smug face began showing hints of panic.

She turned to Sophia helplessly, but she realized that Sophia was looking at me in shock.

I straightened up, finally revealing the presence I had been suppressing for a long time and allowing myself to relax.

Now, I was no longer the woman they misunderstood, humiliated, and described as being poor and down on my luck. I was Cheryl Richmond once again, the true heiress of the Richmond family.

My eyes pierced into Jeff as I said, "Now, I am giving you a chance to use the most professional and advanced apparatus to determine the authenticity of this brooch.

"And then, I want you to retrieve the surveillance camera footage at the cafe from the moment I walked into it. Make sure that you don't miss a single second of it."

After pausing for a while, I then revealed the most shocking news that immediately sent the entire lounge room into a dead silence.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Cheryl Richmond. My dad gave this mall to me on my 20th birthday.

"Mr. Curran, do you think that your boss should be accused as a thief on your own territory?"