"Preston, are you mad at me?"
"You used to say you'd never get mad, no matter what I did."
Preston let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself."
Zoe looked genuinely perplexed.
He finally turned to look at her, staring so intently that it sent a chill down her spine. "I'm mad that I was so blind, that I let someone play me for a fool."
"Thank god my cousin is smarter than I am."
Zoe's face drained of color. "Preston, what are you trying to say?"
"Are you blaming me?"
"It's not that I don't care about you, it's just that I really can't be with you right now."
"You know how difficult my situation is within Rose's family."
Claire and Skye finally couldn't hold back anymore and strolled over from the side.
Zoe instantly dropped her theatrical performance.
She had just been lamenting her difficult living situation, and now Zara's two classmates had suddenly appeared.
If they were merely Zara's classmates, they wouldn't be worth worrying about.
But Claire also happened to be Dane's fiancée, a fact that left Zoe seething with jealous resentment and utter frustration.
"Well, sorry about that. We didn't mean to eavesdrop on your little chat," Claire said smoothly, her tone unapologetic.
She greeted the two of them with effortless grace.
Preston was in no mood to deal with her, but Zoe glared at Claire, flush with humiliation. "Claire, I'm trying not to judge you since you're Zara's friend, but how could you do something as classless as eavesdropping?"
Claire barely wanted to waste her breath on this woman.
"Do you even hear yourself right now?"
"You don't need to do me any favors for Zara's sake. After all, you spend half your time framing her for things she didn't do, don't you?"
"But you can certainly watch your tone for my fiancé's sake."
"After all, he's brilliant, incredibly wealthy, and gorgeous. You've been lusting after him for a while now, haven't you?"
Hearing this, Preston suddenly remembered that Claire was engaged to Dane.
That was a man he absolutely could not afford to cross.
It also hit him that Zoe had a massive crush on Dane and had even confessed her feelings to him.
She had later explained to Preston that she was just trying to secure a powerful backer for herself and her parents.
She claimed that since they were merely living under someone else's roof at Rose's family, she didn't want then to be kicked out on the street once the old man passed away.
She said she didn't want to be looked down upon.
And if she needed a backer, she had to aim for the absolute top.
Preston realized his brain must have been filled with absolute garbage to ever believe that excuse.
Zoe was just disgustingly vain, which was why she was obsessed with Dane.
Or maybe she really did like Dane, but she was just as enamored with his money and his looks.
Preston hated to admit that he couldn't measure up to Dane.
But he also knew perfectly well that there were very few men in all of Cabinda who could even hold a candle to Dane.
"Don't talk nonsense! I may admire Dane, but—"
Zoe stumbled over her words, so Claire kindly finished her sentence for her. "But you never intended to ruin our relationship, right?"
"That's only because you know damn well you couldn't ruin it even if you tried, isn't it?"
"You really didn't think you had a shot at breaking us up, did you, Ms. Zeller?"
"Oh, and I just heard you
complaining about how miserable
your life is with Rose's family
so awful, how can you afford to
it's
dress so lavishly?"
"I checked online earlier. That gown you're wearing is worth tens of thousands of
dollars, isn't it?"
"Could your parents afford that on their meager salaries?"
Zoe's face turned a sickening shade
of gray.
She had never ex nee
but
Claire to not only eavesdrop call her out on it right in front of
Preston.
FindNovel.net
It was true. Based on her parents' income, they couldn't even dream of affording a dress like this.
"I rented this gown from SUNNY."
Zoe instinctively glanced at Preston, desperately hoping he would step in and
defend her.