Several eyes darted toward her in surprise and Maya quickly realized she had said the wrong thing out loud.
Laughing nervously, she quickly clarified, "I mean, I've never seen her go through something like this, and I was the closest to her. Doesn't that tell you something?"
Hearing her, someone couldn't help but ask, "Does it mean you know this person? Is she a member of your Warren family?"
Maya gritted her teeth silently.
After Dahlia slept with that hobo and couldn't marry the man they were depending on, the Warren family did whatever they could to get back on their feet.
Their grandfather didn't want their dirty laundry being aired in public, so he did everything to keep their family in the people's good graces.
As the remaining grandchild, she did a lot of charity work in the first two years before being sent abroad.
Mentioning Dahlia as a previous member of the Warren family was likely to unlock people's memories of what happened back then.
God forbid someone connected the dots and realized their grandfather had Dahlia's name removed from the family registry.
Not only would what happened six years ago come out, but the fact she had children would also be the talk of the town and the Warren family name would likely become a laughingstock.
So she merely huffed, "Not at all. We merely happen to have the same last name, that's all, which is why it surprises me how she could come in here using my own family's influence."
The person who asked nodded in understanding.
At the same time, it finally made sense why neither of them reacted to Dahlia supposedly fighting for her life.
By her side, Wynona exhaled in relief, patting her daughter proudly on the shoulder.
Even she hadn't been able to think up something like that, but not only did Maya do so, she even sounded convincing.
Seeing their stance shift towards her again, Maya lifted her head proudly and glared at Dahlia.
"This is a wine-tasting event for high-class families. The last thing we want is a pauper trying to fool us."
"This is not a high-end wine-tasting ceremony." The words had barely left her lips when Malachi smacked his lips irritably.
Mays was momentarily taken aback and frowned hard, "What did you just say?"
Malachi slipped both hands into his pockets and went ahead to add, "A high-end wine-tasting ceremony wouldn't have shallow minds like yours in it. It would also have emergency personnel easily accessible to stop what just happene."
Maya swallowed and turned to look him over in disbelief.
This event was being hosted by a member of the Hemsworth family.
The Hemsworths were a first-tier family in Queensland. Not those who recently made it to the tier, but those who had retained it for ages.
They had numerous sources of income and weren't one to be trifled with. But this man who looked like he crawled out of a hole was talking down on them… in an event they were hosting.
She would've pretended to find it funny if he looked to be on par with them, but he sven seemed to be from a lower tier family than hers.
She had no business being nice to such a person.
"Well, don't you talk big?"
He stared her squarely. "I do."
Feeling intimidated, Wynona glanced at him and sighed irritably. "If it was so beneath you, then what are you doing here?"
"I don't think a woman who almost let another person half her age die has the right to be talking to me," Malachi said flatly, then began walking away.
Humiliation washed over Wynona like cold rain, and she gritted her teeth.
"W-why… what is such a rude person doing here? If I had my way, people like that wouldn't be getting invitations to places like this!"
Malachi had only taken three steps forward when he realized he was forgetting something and turned toward the woman standing quietly behind him.
Such a small presence.
He had almost forgotten why he had gotten into an argument in the first place.
She had tossed a cheque at him and treated him like a gold digger when he confronted her about it, so he honestly had no reason to defend her from these bullies.
But seeing her just standing there rubbed him the wrong way, and before he knew it, he was striding back toward her.
As he reached her, the security personnel who had cleared Dahlia to enter finally arrived.
He was the one in charge of letting people in, so when he heard someone had snuck in while he wasn't looking, he rushed over as fast as he could.
"There. She's the woman who snuck in using my family's name as an excuse."
Following Maya's finger, his eyes settled on Dahlia, and he frowned slightly.
He had made sure to memorize the faces of those seated at the front, and he was almost certain she had been cleared to sit there.
Still, just to be sure, he walked up to her and requested to see her invitation.
Maya and Wynona watched as Dahlia raised her phone toward him, wincing helplessly, "It broke when I fell, but it's a relief I didn't leave the email app,"
Taking the phone, he scanned the code and immediately broke out in a cold sweat when it was exactly as he thought.
Crossing her arms across her chest, Maya was almost certain she knew what the final outcome would be and sneered, "Whatever she's showing you is just to stall you."
He opened and closed his mouth, swallowing hard as he turned to Maya, chastising politely, "Please don't spread such claims. Miss Warren here is a distinguished guest of the Hemsworth family."