Claire would never admit that seeing Jocelyn repeatedly eye Dane left a sour taste in her mouth.
It was a very subtle, irritating feeling.
She pushed the thought aside for now.
Dane looked completely unfazed. "It has nothing to do with me."
Seeing his nonchalant reaction, Claire dropped the subject.
She had just been teasing him anyway.
Outside, Xavier did exactly as Jocelyn asked and escorted her out of the hotel.
Jocelyn was fuming internally. What a complete idiot!
No wonder he was still single after all these years!
She asked him to walk her out, and he literally just walked her to the door!
Jocelyn hadn't wanted to be outshined by Claire, but she hadn't actually wanted to leave the gala.
Inside that ballroom were powerful figures she couldn't hope to reach in a lifetime of trying.
She wanted to stay; even networking with just one or two of them would have been enough.
But now she had practically been chased out before the event even ended. How could she possibly accept this?
"Xavier, why don't you come grab a bite to eat with me?" Jocelyn suggested.
Xavier frowned. "Jocelyn, it's not that I don't want to, but my parents are still inside.
If they find out I left an event like this early, they'll be furious."
Jocelyn hadn't expected him to brush her off with such a pathetic excuse.
"You're scared of your parents?"
She looked at Xavier with a hint of disdain.
"You're a grown man. Do they still keep you on such a tight leash?"
She made it sound like he was still tied to his mother's apron strings.
"They've always been strict," Xavier replied, surprisingly unashamed and almost proud of the fact.
Jocelyn was utterly speechless. She couldn't shake the feeling that during her years abroad, something had seriously misfired in his brain.
Was this how he had been when they were teenagers?
She suddenly found him impossible to read.
"You're an adult, and you're still terrified of your parents?"
Xavier scratched his head. "It's not that I'm terrified, they just control my trust fund."
What was he supposed to do when they threatened him with financial ruin at the drop of a hat?
Xavier didn't necessarily want to play the obedient son, but he really didn't have a choice.
Jocelyn choked on her words. This exact spinelessness was the reason she had chosen to go abroad rather than date him.
Xavier lacked any real maturity. Even at his age, he was still acting like a child under his family's thumb.
He was unambitious, and if his
family decided to freeze his banket
accounts, he would be
mooching off his friends fo
A man like this would never escape his parents' control. What use did she have for someone like that?
To put it harshly, if she ever had a conflict with his family, he wouldn't even have the spine to stand by her side.
Unfortunately, her life abroad hadn't been a fairytale either.
Now that she was back, she had no better options and had to use this idiot as a stepping stone.
But he hadn't grown at all. He had
brought her to th
completely failed
gala, yet
to to introduce her to
anyone important.
The Churchill family was hosting tonight, and her history with Owen was a tangled
mess.
Owen already despised her, and since he knew exactly how different she was from Seraphina, he refused to give her the time of day, no matter how much she tried to make amends.
She had spotted a much better target at the gala, but sadly, the man hadn't spared her a single glance.
Having gained absolutely nothing tonight, a dreadful premonition settled in her stomach.
Was she about to lose her grip on Xavier, too?
"Haven't you ever thought about starting your own business?" Jocelyn hesitated for a moment before asking.
Xavier gave her a bewildered look. "Are you joking?"
"If I don't start a business, I have enough family wealth to last me two lifetimes."
"But the second I start a business, I could be flat broke by tomorrow morning."