Unmasking the Heiress (Evangeline and Walte)

Cole's funeral was out in the open, but the chill-out and eatery spots were under those fancy pop-up tents.

Thanks to the Foster family's power, even those temporary digs that were coming down later looked lavish, complete with a plush, dark red carpet underfoot.

Logically, when a carpet got a milk spill, a quick spot-clean was all that was needed until the party was over. However, that server scooped up the whole milk-splotched carpet, bundled it up quickly, and made to cart it off. Celina eyed him curiously,

He had a face as big as a palm, skin like porcelain, and a thin frame, yet he hoisted a carpet heavy as a sack of bricks without breaking a sweat. "You've got some muscle on you, kid," she noted.

The server shot her a look, his eyes crinkling with a grin. "It's nothing special. I'm always doing stuff like this, so I'm used to it."

Celina pressed on, "Which outfit are you with? You're hauling off the whole carpet for a bit of milk. You got a thing for cleanliness or what?" Running a beauty salon had given Celina a knack for reading people.

That glance he gave her told her he was no regular server.

He coolly replied, "Yeah, I have a real thing about dirt. I've got to get rid of it. Catch you later, gorgeous."

He waved off Celina and walked away. Watching him go, Celina's gut told her something was off.

That was where Evangeline took her spill, next to a shattered milk glass.

Celina had not been tailing Evangeline, so whether she had had a sip before the tumble was anyone's guess.

However, one thing was crystal clear: milk glass or no milk glass, something suspicious was going on.

The waiter who scooped up all the broken pieces of the milk cup and the carpet was definitely the prime suspect.

...

At Avalon City General Hospital.

Evangeline, her face as pale as the moon, was rolled out of the operating room by the hospital crew.

In the huge room, Julieta was right there waiting.

"Ms. Evangeline, how are you feeling? Still hurting?"

Hurting?

Evangeline's mind went blank for a second, then her hand sneaked under the covers to her belly.

The bump that had been there was gone, leaving nothing but a haunting flatness.

Flat?

Her eyes popped wide open, and she jolted upright, showing Julieta her belly. "Mrs. Lewis, my belly's flat, but where's the baby? What happened to my child?"

Julieta, tried

you're othe her, "Ms. Evangeline

. You'll have more kids

someday."

The Foster family's third and fifth sons had come to the hospital too, standing in the room sorrowfully.

Cole was gone, and so was the baby Evangeline was carrying.

Why did bad luck keep tailing Evangeline? Why could she not catch a break and just be happy?

Evangeline saw the look on her uncles' faces and knew-her baby was gone.

"How can that be? Uncle, my baby was so healthy! How could he just vanish?" How could such a glaring mystery slip past the Foster boys' detective-like instincts?

Evangeline's world turned upside down when she started bleeding out of nowhere. The hospital ran tests, but everything came back normal.