Part 3My Ex-Husband Doesn't Know I'm an Heiress

By the time I returned to my suburban villa, it was getting dark.

In the living room, over a dozen of New York's top stylists and assistants had been waiting.

When they saw me enter, they bowed in unison: "Miss."

I tossed my cheap canvas bag onto the sofa and sat down before the makeup mirror. "Let's begin."

For the next two hours, I let them strip away three years of disguise as an ordinary housewife.

As layers of French haute couture draped my body, as my casually pinned hair was styled into lazy, elegant waves, the downtrodden Samantha in the mirror disappeared.

In her place stood the heiress of John Corporation with all her rightful brilliance.

Mr. Kane approached carrying a velvet box.

Inside lay a dazzling pink diamond necklace---my mother's legacy.

"Miss, it's almost time."

At eight o'clock, an extended Rolls-Royce Phantom pulled smoothly up to the main entrance of the Peninsula Hotel.

Tonight, John Corporation had reserved the entire Peninsula Hotel. Security was extremely tight.

Countless luxury cars stopped before the red carpet.

Everyone who stepped out was truly powerful and influential in New York.

The car door was respectfully opened by the doorman.

I lifted my gown, just extending one leg, when a familiar voice came from the edge of the crowd at the security perimeter.

"Samantha?! How did you follow us here like some ghost?!"

I looked toward the voice.

Beyond the security line, Ethan was staring at me with wide eyes.

He probably assumed this Rolls-Royce belonged to some dignitary, and I was shamelessly crashing the red carpet.

Winona clung to his arm in a cheap rented gown, but around her neck hung the sapphire necklace pried from my drawer.

Seeing I wasn't responding, Ethan tried to push past the security line to show off in front of Winona, lowering his voice to scold me: "I'm warning you---this isn't a place for trash like you to make a scene! Get lost right now before you embarrass yourself!"

Winona deliberately thrust out her chest, flaunting the stolen goods around her neck, covering her mouth with a coy laugh: "Ethan, your ex-wife is so pathetic. Where did she rent that knockoff gown from? Is she here to find a sugar daddy? Too bad---not even a fly can get through that door."

I looked coldly at the necklace around Winona's neck, my gaze penetrating: "That necklace---comfortable to wear?"

Winona smugly touched her neck. "Of course it's comfortable. Ethan specially bought this for me. It cost hundreds of thousands! A poor woman like you has probably never even seen the real thing, right?"

Ethan averted his eyes somewhat guiltily, his gaze shifty.

He knew exactly where that necklace came from, but he could never imagine that what he thought was a knockoff was actually worth ten million dollars.

"Stop making trouble here, Samantha."

Ethan tried to cover his guilt with arrogance.

"Winona's necklace has nothing to do with you! I'm about to go in and meet Chairman John. If you anger the important people inside, you won't even know how you died!"

Just then, a low engine roar tore through the night.

A black Maybach drove straight up beside the Rolls-Royce and stopped.

The door opened, and a man in a custom suit with an intensely oppressive presence stepped out.

The surrounding crowd immediately gasped in shock.

"It's the Payne family's eldest son! New York's crown prince, Caspian Payne!"