"Besides, she was so aggressive on your birthday. She was clearly trying to embarrass you."
"She treated you like garbage, and I won't stand for it!"
Sloane stared at him in silence. What does it matter if you won't stand for it?
Do you really think she's afraid of you?
"Levi, what if Claire comes after you for doing this?"
"I'm just worried about you."
Sloane knew exactly how to play the game. What man wouldn't feel his heart melt at words like that?
"I'm just getting even for you. Leave it to me," he said. "If she comes after me, let her. I'll make sure none of this traces back to you."
Levi prided himself on being a fiercely protective man. He could never let anyone bully Sloane.
"I'm honestly not even mad. She's just young and reckless," she sighed softly.
"My grandfather actually knows her and her family. It would look really bad if things got ugly."
Sloane sounded reasonable, but her expression perfectly captured the look of a long-suffering martyr.
"You're right," Levi said, having forgotten about the family connection. "Don't worry, I know how to handle this."
Levi might have thought he was being tactical, but Claire definitely did not agree. When Phoebe dropped the bomb about Levi continuing the smear campaign, Claire was genuinely surprised.
She had been off-campus all weekend and even missed Monday morning classes. The rumors simply hadn't reached her ears yet.
But now that they had, she absolutely wasn't going to let it slide.
"So what actually happened?" Phoebe asked, morbidly curious about the drama at the birthday party.
"Didn't you tell her you already had plans that night?"
"How did you end up there?"
Phoebe had been sitting right behind Claire in the cafeteria and heard the entire conversation.
She knew for a fact that Claire had rejected Sloane due to a prior commitment.
"I went to the same venue, but not for her party," Claire explained.
"They just happened to see me and jumped to conclusions."
It was just a massive misunderstanding.
It wasn't her fault Owen had chosen the exact same high-end restaurant for their celebration.
Being at the same venue shouldn't
have mattered anyway, since they had booked completely different
poems.
FindNovel.net
But Sloane's pretentious friends immediately assumed she was there to crash.
To them, even a medical prodigy like Claire was miles beneath Sloane's elite status.
To show up after Sloane had supposedly rescinded the invite seemed hopelessly desperate.
"Wow, that's insanely coincidental," Phoebe said, realizing how it all blew up.
She had also quietly wondered if Claire had changed her mind about the party.
"It really was," Claire sighed. If it
hadn't been for that stupid
of this
coincidence, none
have happened.
FindNovel.net
But they had cleared things up that night. She never expected this lingering fallout.
Did Levi actually think she was an easy target?
After her afternoon classes, Claire tracked down Levi's whereabouts and marched straight to the cafeteria.
Funny enough, almost every run-in she had with him happened right here.
The guy seemed permanently glued to the dining hall.
Claire stormed in, radiating sheer predatory tension, with her roommates flanking
her like an army.
Levi was sitting with the rest of the
Student Council, laughing and
holdingane was
right there with them Cont
They were busy planning a group dinner for the following day.
"Levi!"
The group had just grabbed their plates and were chatting as they walked to a table.
Claire cut them off, blocking their path.
Levi looked up in annoyance, but the moment he saw Claire, his eyes darted away.
The guilt was written all over his face.
"Claire, did you need something?" he asked.
His tone was frosty, making his disdain for her painfully obvious.