Chapter 261 Everything Was Gone
Holding that grimy bid sheet, Darlene strolled back to those two spots to give the raw stones another look. She couldn't feel a thing when she touched 'em, but she had to keep her cool. She ran her fingers over each one, trying to remember which ones had gems before.
Going with her gut, she picked the ones that caught her eye, filling in the blanks. Even if she didn't nail 'em all, she figured she'd get a few right.
It took her over an hour, but she finally finished the new bid sheet and handed it to the staff. They slipped it into an envelope right in front of her. Once the buzz died down, everyone scattered.
Nicholas showed up then, sweating like crazy.
Not seeing Nicole with him, Darlene couldn't help but ask, "Where's Nicole?"
Nicholas shook his head. "Couldn't find her. She didn't show up on the surveillance, and we didn't see her go outside. We looked around outside for ages and asked a bunch of people, but no one saw her. We're gonna keep searching inside. I've got someone at the door, so if she leaves, we'll catch her," he said, frowning.
Darlene snapped, her eyes blazing with anger, "Then hurry up and search."
This time, she joined the hunt, checking all the women's restrooms herself.
In the end, they found nothing.
Darlene didn't trust Nicholas and went to the surveillance room to check the footage. But it was just like Nicholas said.
The cameras only showed Nicole in the auction hall, and after she left, she was nowhere to be seen. Someone must've messed with the footage or pulled some trick to make Nicole disappear.
Nicholas asked, "What do we do now?"
Darlene frowned. "Let's go to the cops. We'll say we think someone kidnapped her." Her prime suspect was Elizabeth.
Nicholas nodded. "Alright."
Thus, they headed to the nearest police station to report it. The cops took down their story and then asked for Nicole's phone number and tried calling it.
The call went through, and someone picked up right away.
After hanging up, the officer looked at Darlene and Nicholas, kinda helpless. "Didn't you try calling her before coming here? She said she just wanted to leave suddenly, so she left early. She wasn't kidnapped at all."
Darlene and Nicholas were stunned. Their first thought when they couldn't find her was that Nicole had bolted again and wouldn't answer the phone. So, they hadn't even tried calling her.
After leaving the police station, Darlene called Nicole.
Sure enough, the call went through, and Nicole answered, "What's up?"
Darlene asked, surprised, "Did you go back to the hotel?"
Nicole replied, "No, I left first. You guys have fun."
Darlene's face darkened. "What do you mean?"
Nicole coldly said, "Just what it sounds like. I don't wanna hang with you guys anymore. That's it!"
Just as Darlene was about to speak, she heard the busy tone. She called again, but her number was blocked. She was also deleted from Nicole's contacts on social media.
Nicholas called, and it was the same.
Darlene was sure Nicole had run away again. This time, it was definitely Elizabeth who helped her escape.
But without surveillance evidence or witnesses, she couldn't prove that Nicole's escape was tied to Elizabeth.
Plus, Nicole was an adult, and if she ran away, they couldn't legally do anything.
Darlene could only swallow her anger and head back to the hotel. Once in her room, she sent a text to an unlisted number on her phone.
She recounted what happened but left out the bid sheet issue. She thought she could still fix that tomorrow.
She also asked the other party to send someone to find Nicole.
The other party agreed to look for her and reminded her not to screw up the bid sheet tomorrow.
The next day, everyone went to the jewelry market venue. After getting into the auction hall, they sat down and waited.
After a bit, the jewelry market staff got on stage to announce the results of each raw stone's bid.
Elizabeth went all out, bidding on over two hundred raw stones and snagging one hundred and eighty of 'em.
Raymond played it cool, bidding on over a hundred and winning twenty.
Rex, though, wasn't so lucky. He bid on over a hundred stones but only walked away with eight.
The Ingram Group went big, bidding on nearly five thousand stones and winning over a thousand.
But in the end, everyone saw that the Spellscroll Group still had the biggest haul. They bid on three thousand stones and won over two thousand.
Of course, the Spellscroll Group also dropped the most cash, shelling out several hundred million dollars.
Next up was the stone cutting. The jewelry market had a bunch of stone cutters ready to go.
Over a dozen cutters were working on the Spellscroll Group's stones.
Thanks to Darlene's killer rep and the fact that she bid on three thousand stones and won over two thousand, it looked like she was keeping her legendary streak alive.
So, a ton of people came to watch the Spellscroll Group's stone cutting. Especially those who'd heard of Darlene but never seen her in action. They were all curious to see her magic.
But the results were a total letdown. As each stone was cut open, just like the bids yesterday, they were completely worthless, not a single gem inside.
Darlene couldn't believe it, staring in shock at each empty stone.
She murmured, "How could this be? It's impossible!"
Could it be that none of the numbers she filled in for the two thousand stones were right? Had her luck gone that bad after the backlash?
Darlene watched with a sinking heart as the Ingram Group, Elizabeth, and others uncovered high-quality and top-grade gems. Each stone they found was one she had previously touched, but now they belonged to others.
Darlene's regret deepened. Why hadn't she double-checked the bid sheet yesterday to make sure she hadn't messed up? If the bid sheet had stayed the same, all these gems would still be hers. Now, everything was gone, and it was over!
Several hundred million dollars down the drain. How was she gonna explain this to her foster parents and the higher-ups at the Spellscroll Group when she got back? And what about the top-grade gems someone wanted? She hadn't gotten a single one. How was she gonna explain that?
Darlene's mind was a mess, filled with regret and fear.
Nicholas and the others from the Spellscroll Group were also stunned. This was a total shock; not a single gem had been found.
Nicholas, with a grim look, questioned Darlene, "What's going on now? You've ruined everything. This is several hundred million dollars!" Just saying it made his heart ache terribly.
The appraisers from the Spellscroll Group pretended to be mad on the outside but couldn't help feeling a bit of schadenfreude inside.
One appraiser, who'd been suppressed by Darlene the most in the past two years, felt particularly pleased. He sarcastically said to Darlene, "Ms. Spellscroll, we amateurs ruined everything, but I didn't expect a genius like you to do the same!"
Others chimed in, "Yeah, out of so many raw stones, not a single one contained a gem. Ms. Spellscroll, you're quite something."
The higher-ups at the Spellscroll Group couldn't hold back anymore. They looked at Darlene with anger. "Ms. Spellscroll, don't you think you owe us an explanation?"
This time, not only did they gain nothing from the jewelry market, but they also lost several hundred million dollars. This was the first time Spellscroll Jewelers had such a result in the jewelry market. Even the worst appraisers in the past could pick some raw stones that contained gems.
Matthew also deliberately added, "Ms. Spellscroll, it's awesome. So this is the result of your harsh words to us, huh? I didn't expect us to have a good haul while you didn't uncover a single gem. Amazing, I'm impressed!"
Filled with anger and frustration, and now ridiculed and questioned by everyone, Darlene couldn't hold back. Combined with the aftereffects of the backlash, she spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
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