Everyone Can Hear My Thoughts, and Now They're Panicking

As the primary investor, Lana Sterling and a few other socialites were invited onto the stage by the staff to serve as guest tasters.

Clayton Lowell’s voice came through the microphone. "We’ll also be inviting a few young ladies from the audience for a tasting. And I’ll let you in on a little secret: this is a dessert that Caleb Lowell himself is very fond of."

Jane Lancaster was stunned and stared at the stage in disbelief. ’For real?’

’I told Caleb to watch out for Clayton. Don’t tell me he walked right into the trap himself?’

The name Caleb Lowell still held a lot of appeal. Several young women in the audience immediately raised their hands, eager to participate.

After a moment’s thought, Jane Lancaster raised her hand. "What sort of dessert could be that good? I’d like to try it too."

She paused, then added with a smile, "If it’s delicious, I’m willing to invest a hundred million!"

The staff member in charge of the tables at the back of the room immediately perked up. This was a VIP!

If they could secure such a large investment, they’d get a hefty commission.

"This lady is willing to invest a hundred million!" the staff member shouted excitedly, rushing to usher Jane Lancaster from her seat and escort her all the way to the stage.

In another corner of the audience, a disguised Alvin Lancaster couldn’t help but murmur, "It really is Jay."

He had heard his sister’s thoughts earlier and suspected she might be here, so he had been searching the crowd.

He didn’t expect her to raise her hand, stand up, and walk onto the stage so openly.

The day his sister told Caleb to check the old estate, he’d suddenly recalled her thoughts about the poppies. He later made a special trip to the small vegetable garden on the back hill to verify it.

Although he still couldn’t believe Mrs. Everett would be so audacious, he remained uneasy. He had broached the subject indirectly with Caleb, mentioning that Mrs. Everett had been a cook for the Lancaster family for a while and that her culinary skills were, frankly, not very good.

But he and his brothers weren’t picky eaters; they could happily eat plain rice soaked in water.

As for Timothy Lancaster, he almost never ate at home. He was out for business dinners every day and rarely had a chance to eat anything Mrs. Everett made.

He had been the one to recommend her back then, but it was Jane who had made the final decision after the tasting. He had just returned to the city at the time and assumed that his sister, having been pampered like a little princess, would be picky and difficult to serve. The thought alone had made him break out in a cold sweat.

Thinking back on it now, her being ’difficult’ had only ever existed in his imagination. In reality, his sister never objected to any decisions he or his brothers made.

Unfortunately, his luck was bad. Just as he was mentioning this to Caleb at the club, the door was suddenly thrown open, and Vincent Holt and his friends walked in.

The men laughed and teased him. Why was he so obsessed with a servant who had already left? Talking ill of her behind her back after all this time—it was like he didn’t want her to make a living.

They said that even if things had ended badly, there was no need to be so harsh. He was being as petty and spiteful as a woman.

After the teasing, they claimed they were just kidding and went back to drinking and having fun, but Alvin sulked over it for the rest of the night.

He had never spoken ill of Mrs. Everett to others, precisely out of respect for their past connection. But apparently, he wasn’t even allowed to tell the truth anymore?

The crucial part was that even Caleb had told him to drop it, looking as if he had no interest in hearing about it.

Alvin mulled it over and decided to find Clayton Lowell to see what was really going on.

A part of him also wondered if his sister was just being paranoid and had misunderstood the situation.

If it turned out he was wrong, he was prepared to apologize to Mrs. Everett.

Onstage, Lana Sterling froze for a second when she saw Jane. "What are you doing here?"

’What is Jane doing here? Surely she doesn’t still have lingering feelings for Caleb?’

The host, likely wanting to make an example of her generosity, eagerly began to interview Jane, asking why she wanted to invest a hundred million.

Jane took the microphone from the host. "I’m mostly just curious. I’ve never heard of Caleb liking any particular dessert, so I wanted to see it for myself."

As she spoke, she looked at the food cart being wheeled onto the stage with an expectant expression. "Hurry up and unveil it so we can have a taste."

The host was speechless.

’Did we just get a genuine foodie up here?’ he thought. ’Something feels off.’

Still, it was true that they were piggybacking on Caleb’s fame, using him as a gimmick to attract more investors.

Clayton Lowell was terrible at business—and always would be. He couldn’t make a dime off men, but he figured he could make a killing off women.

Most of the guests invited to this appreciation gala were women. Some were there for Clayton himself, but the rest were there for Caleb.

Just as the host was about to have the platter unveiled, a young woman in the audience suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute! Aren’t you Jane Lancaster? What are you doing here?"

Before Jane could answer, the woman added, "You’re not trying to get back together with Caleb, are you?"

How else could one explain her being so eager to get on stage, demanding to taste the dessert Caleb supposedly liked, and even offering to invest a hundred million?

Jane’s gaze fell on the speaker. She looked vaguely familiar.

’Oh, I remember now,’ Jane thought. ’She looks a bit like Beverly Lynch.’

Alvin also took a few good looks. He had to admit, the resemblance was definitely there.

The crowd below began to murmur.

"Who is that? She’s so arrogant."

"Her tone and demeanor are just like Beverly Lynch’s. A bit rude, isn’t it?"

Elsewhere in the crowd, Willow Summers was about to explode with rage.

Of course, she knew who this was. Una Holt was from a side branch of the Holt family. She was technically Vincent Holt’s cousin, but she had no blood ties to Old Mrs. Holt.

Silas Holt wasn’t very good at managing the company, and the Holt family had been in decline for years. In contrast, Una Holt’s father had seen his career flourish, allowing him to rise through the family ranks.

Una was an only child who loved flaunting her wealth online. She had amassed a gaggle of young fans who constantly hyped her up as some "little princess of a wealthy family."

Probably because she’d reaped the benefits of all the flattery, Una leaned into the "little princess" persona, passing off her rudeness and lack of class as "being authentic" and marketing it to the moon.

That would have been one thing, but the girl was also deliberately copying Beverly Lynch.

If Beverly posted an outfit, Una would post herself in the same one the next day. If Beverly bought a new bag, Una immediately bought one too. If Beverly dropped a witty one-liner, Una would instantly film a short video reciting it.

The copycat couldn’t stand on her own two feet. She probably knew deep down what a fraud she was, which was why she needed to use a real heiress as her blueprint.

When Willow had seen this, she’d sent the girl a private message as a gentle reminder, only to have Una post the exchange publicly. Una’s fans had then swarmed her, leaving thousands of hateful comments.

Like idol, like fan. Her followers were just as classless, completely ignoring who was right or wrong. They turned the tables, claiming that since Beverly had fewer fans than Una, it was obvious *they* were the ones trying to leech off their "little princess’s" fame.

They called Willow a "white lotus"—the type who would steal her best friend’s boyfriend—and accused her of being jealous of their princess and deliberately starting a fight.

Willow was floored. Beverly had been learning the family business from Zachary Lynch lately and had pulled back from social media to keep a low profile.

But that wasn’t an excuse for Una to copy her so shamelessly.

Beverly had a sharp tongue and was great at putting people in their place, but she would never be this tacky. She didn’t wear rudeness like a badge of honor or pick fights with everyone she met.

Jane said, "This doesn’t seem to have anything to do with you, does it?"

"How does it have nothing to do with me?" Una said with a brazen look. "Caleb is my cousin. I don’t want a green-tea bitch like you for a cousin-in-law."