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Novel Catalog
Chapter 49
Fernanda spoke up, her tone sweet but insincere, “That’s right! She’s your granddaughter. It doesn’t matter if she did a good job or not. You have to look at it. Otherwise, Ms. Bonnie will feel bad.”
The others joined in, eager to see Bonnie embarrass herself.
“Yeah, she’s your family,” someone else chimed in. “Even if it’s not great, you should look at it, just to be polite. Otherwise, she might feel bad.”
Vera glanced at Bonnie, hoping she would quietly tuck the painting away before it became a public spectacle. But Bonnie, completely oblivious to the subtle hint, gave a casual shrug and said, “Maybe I should open up the painting for you, Grandpa.”
Gresham and Vera exchanged a regretful look. They had failed to prepare a proper gift for Bonnie to give her grandparents. Now, everyone was going to mock them for being cheap and tacky. This was a mess. They shouldn’t have let Bonnie attend the party in the first place.
But Ysabel, ever the quick thinker, didn’t give Bonnie a chance to back down. She unrolled the painting with a flourish.
The room fell into stunned silence, and a collective breath was drawn as people took in the painting.
“I–Is this a painting by Master Orson?” someone whispered, their voice filled with awe.
“Do you mean Orson Steele, whose paintings sell for tens of millions of dollars?” another person gasped.
“Seriously? Are my eyes deceiving me? Master Orson stopped painting for the public years ago. He only paints for those close to him!”
Gresham’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How is this possible?”
Vera rubbed her eyes and stared again, as if trying to confirm what she was seeing. “This… this is his personal seal!” Her voice trembled as she spoke. Orson’s works had once fetched up to fifty million dollars. If Bonnie had ruined such a priceless piece… they would never be able to pay for it.
Ysabel was shaking. She recognized the seal. “If this is a fake, we’re done for. I can’t even begin to imagine how much trouble we’re in.”
Trina, however, wasn’t so easily convinced. Her face twisted in anger as she scanned the painting. It didn’t make sense. Bonnie, a girl from the suburbs, had no connections to someone like Orson Steele. There was no way she could afford—or even know—such a famous artist. It had to be a counterfeit.
Before anyone could recover from their shock, Trina seized the opportunity to attack. “How could you make a counterfeit painting and give it to Grandpa and Grandma to make yourself look good?” she said, her voice dripping with feigned concern. “I know you want to make them happy, but this is a dishonest way to do that. You’re only going to shame us! More importantly, Master Orson will be furious if he finds out. You’ll drag the entire family down with you!”
The room erupted in whispers. Everyone was nodding in agreement, their faces twisted with suspicion. It made sense, didn’t it? Bonnie was nobody. How could she possibly have access to something like this?
The Shepards turned on Bonnie with angry glares.
“How could you do this, Bonnie? You’ll ruin the family because of your pride,” one of them spat.
“That’s right. We’re a wealthy family in Pyralis, but we’re nowhere near the Steeles’ level! They could crush us without a second thought! How dare you make a counterfeit!” another family member shouted.
Grant, Gresham’s second son, sneered and looked at Gresham with disdain. “I told you we shouldn’t have brought her back into the family. She’s been living in the suburbs for too long. Her character is questionable at best. But you didn’t listen, did you? Look at where we are now. She’s made a complete mess of things, and she’s about to drag the whole family down with her. You should just kick her out before she destroys everything!”
Gresham and Vera’s faces turned a deep shade of red from humiliation. Their anger toward Bonnie was palpable. They wanted to slap her, to shout at her, but nothing could change the fact that she had just brought the family into this mess.
Hadwin, who had been observing from the sidelines, felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had called off his engagement to Bonnie, and now he was glad he had. If she had been his fiancée, they would’ve been right in the middle of this scandal too. The Rhodes family would have been dragged into this mess.
The guests around them continued to gossip.
“This is just bad luck. Can you believe we have a walking disaster in the family?”
“I swear, if I had a daughter like that, I’d have kept her locked up at home so she couldn’t embarrass us.”
“She’s the worst of them all. If I were her parent, I would’ve just left her at the orphanage. Who needs this kind of disgrace in the family?”
Trina’s face glowed with a sense of victory. She couldn’t contain her smirk as she saw Bonnie being torn apart by everyone. “Hurry up and apologize to Grandpa and Grandma, Bonnie. Ask them to forgive you,” she said, her tone sweet but mocking.
Bonnie, however, remained completely indifferent. She glanced at Trina with a look of disdain before turning her gaze back to her grandparents. “Why should I apologize when this isn’t a counterfeit?” she said flatly.
Her words cut through the tension like a knife. Everyone fell silent, unsure of how to respond. The room was thick with disbelief as they processed her defiant statement. What was going on? Could it really be true?