Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

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Chapter 74
The Elate City project was of utmost importance, involving the participation of all senior executives. Ludwik had a reputation as a
relentless taskmaster.
Without delay, the executives responded, “Mr. Lippert, Elaine has messaged about a flight delay and sends her deepest
apologies.”
The man’s face was a mask of icy disapproval. “Tell her to get here as fast as she can!”
At that moment, in Banyan City at the Valentine Mansion.
Yvonne and Monica stood awkwardly before the couch, where Elaine unveiled a 28–carat diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg
and glanced at it with a sly smile before handing it to Monica.
“What’s this about?”
Elaine stood up, her eyes harboring a chill in the night. Smirking, she remarked, “Claire from the Lutz family is celebrating her
80th birthday tomorrow. I’ve heard that her husband, Hunter Lutz, has gone out of his way to buy a huge diamond from the Skye
Gem Ltd. boutique to please her. You’re going to replace it with this one. Aren’t you furious about Whitney snatching back the
General Manager position from you?”
Monica pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up with understanding. She knew exactly what the diamond Elaine handed her
was.
She looked at Elaine in shock.
She hadn’t expected Elaine to have such a clear grasp of Skye Gem Ltd.’s internal affairs, even the fact that Monica had been
secretly buying subpar gems to pass off as quality merchandise.
Elaine had only shown up a couple of days ago, but Monica felt as though she had been preparing for a long time. Elaine
appeared well–acquainted with all matters related to Whitney, possessing an intimate knowledge. of every detail.
This terrifying capacity for strategy sent shivers down Monica’s spine.
She was now almost certain–Elaine seemed to hold a personal grudge against Whitney?

Trembling with excitement, Monica hurried off to set her plan in motion.
Tomorrow promised to be quite the spectacle!
The following afternoon, Whitney headed to Skye Gem Ltd. to start an investigation into the diamond supplies.
She sent for Monica, the instigator, to come to her.
Yet Monica was nowhere to be found.
Whitney instructed the materials manager to take her to the company’s storeroom to personally inspect a batch of diamonds for
authenticity.

As she stepped into the storeroom/before she could even flick on the light, the door suddenly slammed shut behind her.
Whitney’s brow furrowed, her bright eyes flashed with alarm, and she immediately sensed something was amiss. Despite her
efforts, she couldn’t open the door.
After a tense half hour, the door suddenly burst open from the outside.
As Whitney looked up, a squad of police officers rushed in. They glanced at her, then at the cabinet of diamond. materials she
was standing in front of, and immediately cuffed her wrists. “Are you Whitney? Take her away!”
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“What’s going on? Whitney asked, confused and apprehensive.

The officer looked at her coldly. “During Claire Lutz’s grand 80th birthday celebration, the globally limited ‘True Love Collection‘
28–carat diamond purchased from your company’s boutique was found to be a counterfeit! Now, an inspection by the trade
department found over half of the jewelry from the Skye Gem Ltd. boutique to be fake. As the General Manager and designer at
Skye Gem Ltd, you’ve been implicated in dealing with counterfeit materials–a serious criminal offense under commercial law.
You’re coming with us to the station “What?” Whitney was incredulous.
Simon, who had rushed over after hearing the news, went pale and said, “Claire’s diamond was bought from our company, and it
was revealed to be a fake at the luncheon. The scandal has rocked Banyan City. Claire was so upset she had a heart attack on
the spot, and the Lutz family is furious. Two hours ago, the trade department’s inspectors found a mass of fakes in our boutique,
and it’s already hit the news. Whitney...”
“That was Monica who bought the subpar materials,” Whitney’s eyes narrowed, guessing this was a setup by Monica. “Officer, I
left Skye Gem Ltd. two months ago. I designed ‘True Love Collection‘ but had no hand in production–that was Monica’s
responsibility. Please investigate thoroughly!”
The officer seemed to have anticipated her defense. “Whitney, there’s no need for excuses. Monica has already provided
evidence of your collusion with a subpar gem supplier, involving kickbacks amounting to millions. And this manager from your
company also claimed you entered the storeroom to destroy evidence. Come with us, now!
Whitney turned to look at the materials manager, who was visibly evasive.
Her face turned ashen. This matter involved the Lutz family–one of the city’s magnates–and was no small affair.
Panicking, she immediately reached for her phone to call L. He had told her to contact him if anything happened, and though
unsure if he could help, he was the first person she thought of..

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Back in Elate City.
Elaine strode into the office in a professional dress. “Where’s Mr. Lippert?”
The office was deserted.
The assistant spoke gravely, “The Sea Bay project has run into trouble due to a typhoon. Mr. Lippert left to deal with it just a
moment ago.”
At that instant, Ludwik’s personal phone rang on the desk. Elaine narrowed her eyes at the caller ID–Whitney.

The assistant reached for the phone, intending to deliver it to Ludwik.
But Elaine interjected, “Give it to me; I’ll take it to Mr. Lippert.”
“But it’s Mr. Lippert’s personal phone.”
“You know who I am? I’m heading to the project site now. What’s there to worry about?” Elaine said with a gentle, reassuring
smile.
The assistant’s face flushed with embarrassment. Elaine was the vice president of Imperial Gem Corporation, a company that
not only sold jewelry but also owned countless subsidiaries. Her status was unparalleled; she was a socialite and even
addressed Mr. Lippert by his first name, Ludwik.
Reluctantly, the assistant handed her the phone.
Elaine took it and left the office, deliberately slowing her pace on the ten–minute walk to the project site.
Whitney’s frantic calls came through twice, and Elaine watched the phone ring without answering, letting it go to voicemail.
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Chapter 74
The corners of Elaine’s mouth curved in a deep, knowing smirk.
Back at the storeroom, Whitney frowned, baffled as to why L wouldn’t answer the phone. Desperate, she could only assume he
was busy with something critical.

Immediately, she rang Tiana, but before she could utter a word, a cop snatched the phone right out of her
hand.
She was herded into the squad car, and Simon hurried over.
Squinting against the sun, Whitney whispered urgently to him, “The Lutzes are livid. Can you get Tiana to vouch for me, see if it’ll
make any difference? And find her, quick. I’ve got something at her place that could clear my name. Tell her to bring it to the
station.”
Simon frowned, nodding with grave determination.
He was clueless about Monica’s shoddy gemstone dealings, totally in the dark about the fake diamonds hitting the market–
diamonds that Hunter had unluckily snagged a whopper of a dud!
Damn it all!
Simon realized belatedly that Monica had been framing Whitney with evidence from the beginning. He dialed Monica right away.
But Monica was playing Houdini, dodging his calls.
At the station.
Whitney was marched into an interrogation room. The harsh white light overhead blanched her face, draining it
of color.
Her mind was buzzing, trying to connect the dots at lightning speed. It was crystal clear–Monica was pinning her as the fall guy.
With a resounding thud, an interrogator slammed a pile of documents onto the table in front of her.
In a stern and solemn tone, he spoke, “So, Carter, the supplier of those knock–off diamonds you’ve been taking kickbacks from,
has confessed. According to him, you not only provided subpar raw materials to Skye Gem Ltd., embezzling over twenty million,
but you also peddled his shoddy diamonds to other jewelers, sparking a nasty turf war in the biz. Your profit from this
collaboration exceeded sixty million, with a seventy–thirty split between you two. Is this true?”