Lost and Found: Return of My Mysterious Fiancee

Walter listened to the discussions around him, his face turning grim. He looked up at Tina. “Just because of some paint, you accuse me of plagiarism? That’s quite a wild claim.” His voice wavered with guilt. The painting was indeed plagiarized. He had seen it in a famous local art gallery during a trip. It was not for sale and only on display for three days. He took a photo and later copied it for an exhibition at his gallery. He never expected Tina to find out. She grew up in the mountains and had only recently returned to the Reed family. How could she possibly know?

Tina lifted her eyes, her expression blank. “The painting is called Reminiscence, created by an artist reminiscing about her mother. The bracelet and clothing in the painting were personally chosen by the original artist for her mother. This painting has only been exhibited abroad and is not for sale!” Her gaze was sharp like an arrow. “Did you check who the original artist was before you plagiarized it? Do you think you can afford to offend her?” Her demeanor suddenly turned dangerous.

This painting was created to commemorate her mother, capturing the most vivid memory she had of her before she died. That day was the only time her mother took her to the mall since they had been on the run. Her mother bought many things for her but nothing for herself. Tina lied that she loved seeing her mother wear that bracelet, so her mother bought it to make her happy. The clothes were also bought at her request. That day, watching her mother’s back as she paid, Tina felt it was the happiest day of her life. But that night, her mother took poison and committed suicide, wearing the clothes and bracelet Tina had chosen.

During those years at Serenity Ridge, every time she thought of that scene, she painted it down and kept it well-preserved. Later, when she had to leave Serenity Ridge, she left the painting behind. Yuchi Xuan found it while cleaning and sent it out under her name because he thought it was beautiful. Soon after, someone contacted her wanting to exhibit the painting. She refused several times until they offered terms she couldn’t reject but made it clear the painting was not for sale. It was displayed for only three days before being taken down.

Walter was shaken by her aura but still tried to defend himself. “You speak so confidently; then tell me who the original artist is? Does this artist have other works? An artist capable of such a masterpiece can’t possibly have just one work.”

Tina lifted her eyelids slightly. “Her name is Eva Sanders!”

“Eva Sanders!” someone exclaimed suddenly.

“Eva Sanders is a very mysterious painter; many countries have invited her to paint, but she refused.”

“Not only that, Eva Sanders’ paintings are full of soul; each one starts at a million dollars in auctions, and many people pay high prices to collect them.”

Walter panicked; he didn’t expect Tina to know so much, even the name of the artist.

Suppressing his panic, he raised his voice, “You say it’s Eva Sanders; does that make it true? Everyone knows her paintings are auctioned by national art galleries; if it’s really hers, why would this one be here?”

He stubbornly refused to admit it. After all, Eva Sanders’ paintings were either in national galleries or privately collected-never publicly available! Tina was just a recently acknowledged daughter of the Reed family; could she really bring Eva Sanders here?Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Tina’s cold eyes glanced at him as she slowly smiled, “During those years in the mountains, I dabbled in painting under the name Eva Sanders. What do you think about that?”

Everyone present was shocked.

Eva Sanders turned out to be Tina?

How could that be possible?

She wasn’t even twenty yet; how could she create such astonishing works?

“Ha! What a coincidence!” Walter sneered. “But I advise you to change your name; I understand you want fame, but associating with Eva Sanders isn’t that easy.”

“Is that so?” Tina indifferently withdrew her gaze and dialed a number on her phone.

Soon, someone answered respectfully on the other end, “Miss Eva Sanders, what brings you to call today? Do you have new work?”

Tina put the call on speakerphone; everyone present was stunned!

Even Walter froze!

That voice…

Wasn’t that the secretary of the national art gallery’s director?

Any painter would dream of having their work in a national art gallery; once there, their fame would skyrocket.

Tina actually knew the gallery director’s secretary? And did he just address Tina as Miss Eva Sanders?

How could this be?

Before he could react, Tina coldly said into the phone, “Mr. Walter Farrell plagiarized my Reminiscence; how should we handle this?”

The person on the other end paused briefly before replying seriously, “I will investigate this matter thoroughly! We will immediately file a lawsuit against him in your name and close his gallery!”

“Alright! You handle it,” Tina said and hung up.

Walter was stunned.

A lawsuit? Close his gallery?

How could this be?

His gallery had just opened not long ago; this exhibition was meant to boost his reputation. If it got closed down now, how could he continue in this field?

He was about to speak when a staff member hurried over. “Boss, bad news! The national art gallery sent us a legal notice and ordered us to clear out all paintings from our exhibition hall immediately.”

Another staff member rushed over right after him. “Bad news! Some people outside claiming to be from the national art gallery said they are here to close us down!”

Walter was dumbfounded by this series of events!

“How could this happen?” He couldn’t believe his well-prepared exhibition would be shut down in an instant.

Walter glared at Tina angrily through gritted teeth. “It’s you! It’s all because of you! You’re nothing but trouble! Ever since you got engaged to Jared, nothing good has happened-first Nathaniel ended up in jail because of you, and now you’re ruining my exhibition!”

He charged forward furiously yelling, “You wretch! I’ll kill you!”

Jared stepped in front of Tina and grabbed Walter’s wrist with one hand, his face expressionless and cold. “Touch her and see what happens.”