"I know exactly who they are!"
Zara shrieked in sudden realization.
Claire jumped, quickly taking a step back from her wildly flailing roommate.
"The Churchill Family! My grandpa talks about them constantly. He's always complaining about how their grandsons are brilliant and perfect, while his own family is full of screw-ups!"
The only person in Zara's family actually close to the Churchills was her grandfather.
Her father and uncle had some ties, but the rest of the Zellers had virtually zero contact with the elusive Churchill family.
Her mother and aunt had met them briefly, but the younger generation never really interacted.
After all, the Churchills were notoriously low-profile and rarely hosted large social events.
Especially massive galas where entire extended families were invited.
In all her life, Zara could only remember attending one single banquet hosted by the Churchills.
Rumor had it that the three Churchill brothers were so ridiculously good-looking that the family decided to keep them out of the public eye to avoid unnecessary drama, stopping their attendance at other people's parties.
Even for her grandfather's milestone birthday, Padgett had been the only one to show up.
At most, he would bring one of his sons as an escort.
As for the grandsons...
Zara slapped her forehead. "I knew it! I knew Owen looked familiar. He came to my house with Padgett once."
"It took you long enough to figure that out," Claire muttered dryly.
"Hey, my memory was just a little foggy!"
Who would have ever guessed that the ultra-elite billionaire heir she'd met as a kid was her college roommate's brother?
"Wait, I heard the Churchills didn't have any girls in their generation. You said Owen was your cousin, so what exactly is your connection to the family?"
Zara racked her brain but couldn't piece it together, and the mystery was driving her crazy.
"The 'Padgett' you're talking about is my grandfather."
Zara's mouth fell open in a massive shock, abandoning all pretenses of socialite grace.
"Your grandfather?"
Zara looked like she had just stumbled upon the juiciest scandal of the century.
"I never would have guessed. Padgett seems so strictly traditional, yet he actually had an illegitimate daughter."
Illegitimate daughter?
Claire glared at her. "Who said my grandfather had an illegitimate daughter?" Right. Zara's knee-jerk reaction had defaulted to a classic billionaire scandal. But then a specific piece of gossip flashed through her mind.
Word around high society was that the Churchills had recently thrown an intimate dinner party to officially welcome home a long-lost granddaughter.
Supposedly, she was the daughter of Melissa-the legendary heiress who had vanished without a trace years ago.
Could that granddaughter actually be Claire?
"You're Melissa's daughter!" Her voice was a mix of sheer awe and ravenous curiosity.
Was there also a strange hint of hero-worship for Melissa in there?
"Did you know my mom?"
Why else would her tone completely shift the moment Melissa's name was dropped?
"Know her? Oh, wait, no, I've never met her. But I've lost count of how many times my parents screamed your mom's name during their massive blow-out fights."
Claire was utterly speechless. "Please don't tell me your dad had a crush on my mom."
Melissa had been missing for years. Was she really still some man's unattainable true love?
"Ahem. My dad was young and foolish. But don't worry, your mom never gave him the time of day."
"He was just a lovesick fifteen-year-old kid when he fell for Melissa, and she... well, she was already eighteen."
Ah, so it was a classic case of a younger boy obsessing over the untouchable heiress. Unfortunately for him, Melissa had been entirely. out of his league.
The poor guy had been forced to worship her from afar, elevating her to a goddess
and cementing her as his lifelong true love.
Looking at Claire's stunning
features, it was easy to imagine just
how breathtakingly gorgeous her
mother must have been. No wonder
Zara's dad had been hung up on her for decades, and no wonder Zara's mom had spent years consumed by jealousy.
"Well, I'm truly sorry for the drama," Claire said, though her face lacked even a shred of actual remorse.
Honestly, she just found the whole situation hilarious.
She figured that if Zara's parents had spent decades fighting over it without actually
getting a divorce, then what they had was genuine love anyway.