Chapter 469 - 465: Triggered Again

By now, everyone present could sense the tension in the air. Recalling the bidding war over the two jade bracelets, they started to wonder: ’Could there be bad blood between Mrs. Lane and Miss Sterling?’

Jasmine Sterling was a bit slow to catch on, but she too was starting to realize what was happening. She glanced at her daughter, puzzled, but said nothing.

Cecilia Sterling, however, kept a smile on her face the entire time, seemingly enjoying herself immensely.

She made a huge jump in the bidding, raising her paddle and declaring, "Three hundred Dollars!"

After announcing her bid, she turned to face Mrs. Lane directly. When their eyes met, Cecilia’s smile became openly provocative, and she gave a slight lift of her eyebrow.

’I’ve had my fair share of dealings with Shawn Lane’s mother,’ Cecilia thought. ’I know her type. She has the air of a wealthy socialite, but she’s incredibly petty. Her explosive temper and lack of composure are her greatest weaknesses.’

’Her intentions are malicious, but her methods are crude. She must have been spoiled rotten growing up in such a wealthy and privileged environment. She was an arrogant, hot-tempered young miss, and now that she’s older, those nasty traits are still there.’

’Teaching someone like her a lesson takes almost no effort. A simple little trick is all it takes to make her suffer a humiliating defeat!’

Sure enough, the sight of Cecilia’s provocative smile sent Mrs. Lane into a rage. She immediately raised her paddle and upped the bid, "Three hundred and twenty!"

Just as the crowd was getting excited for the show, Cecilia slowly lowered her paddle and stopped bidding.

"Mr. Sullivan, that vinyl has gone for quite a premium, hasn’t it?"

Mr. Sullivan chuckled. "Quite a premium? It sold for more than double its value. If she hadn’t made that last bid, Miss Sterling, you would have been out a fair bit of money."

Cecilia’s smile widened. Clearly, this was exactly the outcome she had hoped for.

And so it went for the rest of the auction items. Cecilia would wait until the bidding stalled, then place a bid. And every time, Mrs. Lane would follow.

Whatever Cecilia seemed to want, Mrs. Lane was determined to spitefully bid against her.

As a result, Mrs. Lane ended up winning every single one of those items at an exorbitant premium.

Anyone with eyes could see that Cecilia was deliberately driving up the prices. But Mrs. Lane was too caught up in the moment, mindlessly bidding higher every single time!

Walter Lane could no longer keep a straight face. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford it, but his wife’s actions were just so foolish.

With all eyes in the room fixed on his wife, he couldn’t very well say anything to stop her. All he could do was plaster on a fake smile, applaud along with the crowd, and pretend his wife genuinely wanted all these items.

In the end, the couple were made into laughingstocks, completely played by Cecilia and painted into a corner.

By the end, of the ten items up for auction, Mrs. Lane had single-handedly won six. She became the biggest "winner" of the night, contributing nearly three thousand Dollars to the charitable foundation all by herself.

"Ridiculous!"

Once the auction was over, Walter Lane finally had a chance to reprimand his wife. His face was flushed, his head was ringing, and his blood pressure was soaring. "Do you have any idea what you were just doing? Couldn’t you see she was deliberately provoking you?"

"I just didn’t want her to get her way," Mrs. Lane said through gritted teeth, her eyes filled with pure, unadulterated hatred.

"Get her way?" Walter Lane laughed, furious. "Oh, you’re a real genius, you are. You played right into her hands. Why don’t you do the math and figure out just how much extra money you spent on all that junk?"

"That Cecilia Sterling didn’t have to do anything but open her mouth, and she made you waste nearly three thousand Dollars. You were the only one who didn’t see it. Who in that room couldn’t tell what was going on? We were the laughingstock of the entire event!"

Only after hearing her husband’s words did the reality of the situation begin to sink in for Mrs. Lane.

"She..."

"Mr. Lane, Mrs. Lane." Just then, Cecilia suddenly walked over, startling the couple into silence.

Mrs. Lane glared at her, her voice dripping with malice. "Cecilia, just now, were you deliberately..."

"I was," Cecilia cut her off, nodding before she could even finish.

The expression on her face was infuriating. Her eyes crinkled with a smile full of mockery, the corners of her lips curled in contemptuous disdain. Her arrogant, triumphant glee was written all over her face.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Lane. You always did love things to be spotless. I see you’ve used your own reputation to sweep the floor again."

Cecilia said this in a gentle, sweet voice, but those few words were enough to detonate Mrs. Lane’s explosive temper. She lunged forward. "You little bit—"

Walter Lane and Julian Summers, who was standing beside Cecilia, both moved at once.

Walter Lane grabbed his wife, clamping a hand over her mouth. He glared at her and growled, "That’s enough! Do you know where we are? Haven’t you embarrassed us enough for one night?"

Julian stepped in front of Cecilia, his immediate instinct to protect her.

"Cecilia, your... Mrs. Lane... lost her composure today. Please don’t stoop to her level, but don’t provoke her any further either," Walter Lane said, turning his head slightly toward Cecilia. Though he was inwardly furious with her, he was self-controlled enough to know this wasn’t the time or place for a confrontation.

Besides, Cecilia’s current status and connections made him wary. He couldn’t afford to make an enemy of her.

Cecilia heard him and gave a slight nod, offering a "well-intentioned" piece of advice. "I’d suggest, Mr. Lane, that perhaps you shouldn’t bring Mrs. Lane to events like this in the future. There’s a good chance we’ll run into each other again, and if she’s always this emotionally unstable, I’m afraid she’s bound to cause a serious incident sooner or later."

"Understood," Walter Lane replied, surprisingly agreeable.

Mrs. Lane’s eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets. If looks could kill, her glare would have ground Cecilia to dust.

Cecilia flashed a brazen smile but said no more. She patted Julian’s shoulder, her expression instantly shifting to one of gratitude. "Let’s go, Mr. Sullivan. We just need to make our donation, and then we can head home."

Julian nodded and gave a big stretch, clearly still savoring the drama. "That was spectacular. We should definitely do this again sometime."

Chatting, the two of them headed toward the donation desk.

"You’re Miss Sterling, correct? How much would you like to donate?"

A staff member asked with a pleasant smile. The final part of the charity gala was the open donation period, where the amount was entirely at the guest’s discretion.

However, a detailed list of donations would be made public, so no one ever donated a trivial amount. The unspoken minimum was usually around a hundred Dollars.

Cecilia smiled faintly and said without hesitation, "I’ll donate ten thousand."

The staff member was taken aback, as was everyone else nearby who had overheard.

"Seymour?" Julian Summers cried out in shock. "Ten thousand?"

His shout was so loud that even people farther away heard it and instinctively began to drift closer.

Cecilia nodded calmly. "Ten thousand. In my mother’s name."

’Money was just a number to her. With the amount she received in monthly payouts, she could afford to lose money on every venture she tried and still be fine.’

’Besides, none of her investments had ever lost money, which made her care about it even less.’

’Fate had treated her well, so she was willing to return that kindness to the world. She considered it a way of building good karma for her family.’

Julian couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, "Miss Sterling, I’m right behind you in line. You’re making this very difficult for me!"