Still, the thought of Reid willingly attending a dinner at Zara's house filled Zoe with burning resentment.
Why did Reid treat her like absolute garbage while showering Zara with gentle affection?
She quickly forced the bitterness down, soothing her bruised ego.
Once she managed to seduce Dane, no one in this city would ever dare look down on her again.
Who cared if she wasn't the true heir to the Zeller fortune?
The entire family would eventually be begging for her scraps.
Dane's supposed fiancee was the only real obstacle. She needed a strategy to make that girl bow out voluntarily.
If a random college roommate could hang around that crowd, Zoe was confident she could secure her place at the top.
She clearly hadn't looked in a mirror recently. If she had, she would have realized she couldn't hold a candle to Claire.
Back at the party, Zara was too busy living her best life to waste a single thought on Zoe.
Surrounded by friends, she blew out her candles, made a wish, and handed out generous slices of cake to the cheering crowd.
Even Reid accepted a small slice.
The cake was a masterpiece. Light, airy, and delicately sweetened without being overpowering.
Claire finished her piece, silently acknowledging that the pastry chef was worth every penny.
It was visually stunning and utterly delicious.
Reid, knowing when to make an exit, excused himself shortly after finishing his dessert.
Being slightly older than the rest of the group, he didn't want his presence to stifle the wilder part of the evening.
He opted to head back to his office and bury himself in work.
Zara walked him to the door and returned to the lounge. "Reid is a workaholic. He is at the office at all hours."
"Whoever ends up marrying him is going to be incredibly lonely. She will be stuck managing a massive estate all by herself."
"His heart is entirely consumed by his empire.'
Zara offered a moment of silence for his hypothetical future bride.
Claire gave her a loaded look. "Or maybe he is building his empire now so he can step back and give his wife the world later."
"Think about it. With the kind of wealth he is generating, what would his wife actually need to manage?"
"She could just sit back and live a life of pure luxury."
Zara mulled it over. Claire actually had a brilliant point.
"That kind of marriage doesn't sound half bad."
Seeing that Zara was still entirely missing the hint, Claire pushed harder. Didn't you just tell him that his family should offer him up compensation? FindNovel.net
"And didn't he agree to it?"
"All you have to do is casually suggest the idea to your parents and let them handle the negotiations."
Preston's parents had absolutely zero authority over Reid's life.
But if they were desperate to maintain their alliance with the
Zellers, they wously el
to Reid and beg him to step in.
Would he actually turn them down?
Claire couldn't wait to watch the drama unfold.
"You seriously want me to bring it up?" Zara hesitated, a sudden wave of nerves washing over her.
The thought made her stomach flutter anxiously.
Could a ruthless, independent titan like Reid really be pressured into an arranged marriage?
Zara found that incredibly hard to believe.
"You won't know until you try."
Claire continued her aggressive matchmaking. "Look at it this way. If he says no, you lose nothing. But if he says yes, you score a fiercely protective, drop-dead gorgeous billionaire fiance."
"A flawless catch. That sounds like a massive win to me."
Zara absorbed the words.
"Fine. I will test the waters."
Once the birthday bash officially wound down, Claire gathered Skye and Lex and ushered them out.
One had gorged herself on canapes, and the other was hopelessly drunk.
The fact that Lex was the one completely wasted genuinely surprised Claire.
The moment they slid into the back of the car, the girl broke down into relentless sobs.
Panicked, Skye scrambled across the leather seats to hold her.
"Lex, what is wrong? Are you feeling sick?"
"Why does everyone else have parents who love them?" Lex choked out through
her tears. "My parents treat me like absolute garbage."
Skye froze, completely unequipped to handle that kind of trauma.
She had grown up surrounded by unconditional love, so she had no frame of reference.
Claire stayed silent. Her own family history was far too complicated to bring up.