Chapter 14: Pictures

Daniel Qing’s announcement had sent shockwaves through the crowd and speculations of all kinds flew in the air.

"Is there a feud in the Qing Family?"

"I always thought Sienna Qing was the legitimate heiress of Daniel Qing’s hotel empire!"

"Years ago, the Qing Empire faced a huge crisis and was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was Sienna’s mother who revived the company from the dead. Who could imagine that while she was pregnant, her husband would bring a pregnant mistress home?"

"It was surprising she never divorced him in the first place!"

"She should have. At least, her daughter’s rights wouldn’t be stolen today!"

"How could Daniel Qing position his illegitimate daughter as the heiress of his hotel empire? Unlike Sienna Qing who is known to be a capable face in business and Qing Empires, all I know about Kira Qing is that she is a spoiled princess, constantly mingling with those socialites?!"

In the upper circles, everyone knew about each other’s dirty laundry. But it was an unsaid rule that they wouldn’t dissect each other’s secrets until—a scandal happened.

And a scandal had already taken place at the Qings. Now, nobody bothered to hold back on their tongues or opinions.

Daniel, Kira and Beth, the perfect family of three, occupied the center of the stage, surrounded and protected by a bunch of bodyguards.

But Sienna was surrounded by the guests in the hall in no time, with each of them shooting another scathing question.

"Excuse me," Sienna gracefully stepped aside as she walked away from the crowd.

She had just made it to a pillar when her hand was grabbed and she yanked away to the dark hallway.

"While we are at it, there is another announcement I want to make," Daniel Qing’s voice rang again, commanding the attention of the chaotic crowd, "I want to take this opportunity to introduce my daughter’s future fiance, the man who is going to be my son-in-law in the near future and shoulder the responsibilities of my empire with her... And it is none other than, the second son of the prestigious Hawke Family, Seth Hawke!"

Half the guests were befuddled because they knew of the relationship between Seth and Sienna. And the other half was taken aback by the news of two powerful families like Qings and the Hawkes coming together.

But minutes passed and Seth was nowhere to be seen.

Daniel frowned and turned to Kira, "Where is he?"

Kira could sense her father’s dissatisfaction. When she looked into the isolated corner where Seth was sitting earlier, the chair was empty, "Daddy, he..." her words trailed off when she realized that Sienna was nowhere to be seen as well.

In a far end of a dark hallway, someone dragged Sienna’s hand. As her back hit against a pillar, the scent of a familiar cologne entered her nostrils, mixed with the scent of alcohol.

"I heard that you got married," Seth’s voice was low, and cold, "Did you find some con artist to go through with it because you saw that I would never forgive you for what you did to me?"

The man pinned her to the wall, refusing to let her budge even an inch.

"Let go!" Sienna’s voice turned cold, "My private affairs don’t concern you."

"How does it not concern me?! Aren’t you doing this all to get my attention?" Seth hissed, "You proposed to my brother in public, just to get my attention. When he rejected you, you got married to some random man to save your face and now you show up at this party, dressed like this to get everybody’s attention, especially mine."

A burning pain spread around Sienna’s wrist as the man gripped it even harder, "Congratulations, then. You have my attention," Seth chuckled, "You broke up with me and disappeared for a month without a word. Why?! I want to know the truth!’’

Suddenly, the entire hall went dark and within a second, every corner of the place lit up dimly in a haze of blue.

Sienna took advantage of the moment to step away from Seth but she had merely taken a step back to the hall when Kira’s voice rang, "There she is, my beautiful elder sister."

The spotlight immediately fell on Sienna as Kira spoke again, "Business aside, today is a special occasion because it’s my sister’s birthday and I have planned a little surprise for her!"

The huge screen lit up, starting a slideshow. The first picture was of young Sienna standing by a swimming pool, "This was when we had just started our swimming classes..." One after another, the pictures changed until—

"Ah...! What... What is this?" Kira gasped.

On the screen, there was a picture of Sienna hugging a man. The man’s face wasn’t visible but everybody could see Sienna’s face.

Following that was a picture clicked in front of the hotel with a man who had a head full of silver hair.

And the third picture was in front of Sienna’s apartment. Only Sienna’s side profile was visible in the picture along with the back of the man’s body.

Seth, who had just stepped out of the corner, caught a glimpse of the third picture and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the familiar figure.

"No! Close it quickly!" Kira’s voice broke the silence in the hall and the screen immediately went dark.

"These look like recent pictures, sis. Weren’t you dating Seth at that time? You..." Kira bit her bottom lips, "He never told me about this... but is this the reason you both broke up? How could you do this to him?"

Gasping murmurs rippled through the crowd like wildfire.

"So that’s why they broke up... she was cheating on Seth Hawke!"

"To think she looked so noble just minutes ago... What a shameless woman!"

Beth rushed forward, burying her face in her hands as she sobbed loudly into the microphone. "Sienna... we covered for you for months! We tried so hard to protect your reputation, but you just won’t stop!"