Second Chances Protecting Mrs. Hall

Chapter 8

Hearing Emma was about to make her entrance, the crowd couldn’t stop talking.

“I heard Emma, Mateo’s eldest daughter, is a complete screw–up. She finishe one remarked contemptuously.

in just 30 minutes yesterday. Can you believe that?”

“Come on, think about it. Mateo dumped her mom and married Nora. Then they had Aria. And Aria, wow, she’s got it all–looks, grace, you narne it. Emma’s been out of the Wilson family for years. How could she possibly compete with her?” another replied.

“But rumor has it that Liam is into her, right?” one asked.

“Liam? Into her? Nah, you’ve got it all wrong. If anything, he’d go for Aria,” someone muttered in disbelief.

Before heading downstairs, Emma glanced over the crowd from the top of the stairs. Many faces looked familiar. At a similar party in her past life, Mateo had invited their Vark College teacher to publicly praise Aria’s grades, and then they shamelessly handed Aria the entire 2 million dollars inheritance.

Scanning the room, Emma spotted that same teacher and the trust company folks her mom had hired.

The trust company’s team stood out, looking sharp and elegant. But among them was one person everyone wanted to cozy up to: Daniel Rivera.

Daniel, the investment genius, a guy who played with billions like pocket change. He was a stock market legend known worldwide.

The crowd went wild again.

“Even though Liam Hall didn’t show up, Daniel Rivera is here!”

“The Wilsons must have serious clout to get Daniel here. They say any stock he touches skyrockets. If I could just get a few tips from him, I’d be set for life.”

“There he is, check it out!”

People saw him but were too intimidated to approach. “Yeah, that’s him, but Daniel keeps his distance. If anyone gets too close without permission, his assistant will toss them out in a heartbeat.”

the beans. “I heard Daniel’s here about the inheritance

Who’s that?” one asked

fact, Daniel was Emma’s uncle, the younger brother of

gone all out for her at that party, but the Wilson family had brainwashed Emma into thinking Daniel was just a ruthless capitalist. She fell for their lies, distrusting her uncle who genuinely cared for her, and refused to cooperate. As a result, her mom’s hard–earned money ended up in Aria and Nora’s pockets. Thinking about

sure Daniel could see the birthmark on her neck. From across the room, Daniel, usually as

family had four sons, and only Stella was their daughter. While the brothers were busy with their careers and stayed unmarried, Stella fell for Mateo and

the only child in the family. After Stella’s tragic end and Emma’s disappearance, they searched the globe

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Chapter 8

back, they would give

of the stairs, she spotted Mateo with the mic,

also began to offer insincere

“Wow, she’s so stunning.”

rumors say, huh? She’s got this classy vibe that Aria totally

happy

that her skin was deeply tanned. Now, trying to restore her complexion, she chose black–not the flashiest color,

opportunity, Nora turned to Emma and Aria’s homeroom teacher, Maya Baker. “Hey, Maya, why

to publicly announce Emma and Aria’s scores, hoping to show

Maya hesitated. “Mrs. Wilson, with all these people, maybe we should skip

just add to the celebration. Go ahead, Maya,

to sweat. As the homeroom teacher, she knew Aria well. She warned again, “Making it public might

flashed a look of disdain. “Hurt

chance to reclaim my pride. I have put up with

total idiot. Poor, dumb, and

the bomb.” one of her classmates chimed