"Please direct the spotlight to the main stage. And make sure the international media invitations are seated in the front row," said the event coordinator through her headset, jogging lightly across the red carpet.

The five-star hotel ballroom shimmered under a canopy of crystal lights, adorned with thousands of white flowers and glowing synthetic diamond pillars.

Distinguished guests began arriving: business tycoons, international gallery owners, art figures, and neatly dressed foreign investors.

But the spotlight wasn’t entirely on the famous names—it was on the rumors.

The rumor that Evelyn would appear tonight.

And sure enough—without an announcement, without an escort—Evelyn entered, draped in an elegant trailing black velvet gown. Around...