Chapter 126
Clare was genuinely irritated by Zayn. Once Anne calmed down she snapped back to reality.
“Oh dear, look at me talking out of turn,” Clare said with an apologetic expression. “Cassie is still young and just turned twenty. It’s too early to discuss these things. Let’s talk about something else.”
With that, the topic shifted.
Cassie occasionally glanced at her phone, avoiding eye contact with Zayn.
She was now sure that she was with Marcus, No matter how much Zayn tried to impress her, he couldn’t win her over.
In her rush to get out today, she hadn’t realized that this was Zayn’s house.
But that’s not exactly his house.
After having Larry look into it, she learned that the lady of the house seemed to hold a strong dislike for him.
There was even a rumor that Zayn had lived here for two months as a kid but left after Clare broke three of his ribs.
Thinking briefly about Zayn, Cassie decided it was time to execute her next prank on Casey.
Feeling the need to salvage her earlier gaffe, Casey started chatting non–stop about her loving relationship with her husband.
They have always been seen as the ideal couple, and this is something she proudly boasts about to others. But everyone
knows Sean has had countless affairs. Gossip magazines even caught him kissing a young model on the beach. However, that magazine was later hushed up.
“My husband is great in every way, but he’s just too clingy. He has to travel for work tomorrow, and he insists I go with him. I just have no way to deal with it,” Casey said with a dramatic sigh.
Around the same time, everyone’s phones buzzed.
“What’s this?” Casey asked warily. “Everyone be careful, let’s not see any more creepy pictures.”
Everyone else just stared at her in confusion.
“It’s the news update from noon,” one lady replied.
“Oh, I see.” Casey pouted.
Just then, a woman seated next to her suddenly gasped, covering her mouth in shock as she turned to Casey.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Clark.
“Y–you might want to check your phone,” the woman whispered.
Seeing this, everyone who had set their phones down quickly picked them back up.
Casey furrowed her brows, feeling a sense of foreboding. She picked up her phone and opened the news alert. When she saw the photo of her husband kissing a young model on the beach, she felt completely breathless.
“It’s edited!” Casey exclaimed, suddenly standing up.
She said, “Don’t look at this. These online news articles are all nonsense. They’ll spread any rumor they like. I’m calling the police.”
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“That could just make things worse.” another lady cautioned.
Casey’s face turned beet red with anger..
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“What a joke. The media has gone too far. Editing photos like this is just ridiculous,” Cassie muttered as she looked at her phone.
Casey was sensitive to the word “joke.” She immediately turned to look at Cassie, who was also glancing in her direction. Cassie blinked and asked, “Casey, what’s wrong? Why are you looking at me?”
“No,” Casey said, her face pale. “I have things to take care of, so I’ll skip the meal and head home first.”
After saying that, she grabbed her purse and stumbled out.
Once in her car, she immediately called her husband.
It was midday. Her husband was probably busy with work, so when he picked up, she heard a woman’s voice on the other end.
Casey exploded with anger, “Sean! You said you had everything sorted out from the beach incident with that model last time!”
“Yeah, everything was handled. So why are you freaking out?” Sean asked impatiently.
“Just look at what I just sent you!” Casey yelled.
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On the other end, there was some rustling before they snapped, “You have a stable life, so what are you causing a scene for? You’re crazy!” With that, Sean hung up the phone.
Casey was left utterly stunned. She knew her husband well enough to recognize that he wouldn’t react this way if he had seen that news photo.
Quickly, she opened the link again. The news site had changed completely. Now, it showed a clown emoji with the words: [Just kidding, don’t take it seriously.]
“What is this? What is happening!” Casey was terrified and threw her phone away. She began banging on the seat, urging the driver to speed up.
As soon as Casey left, Cassie became the hot topic of conversation.
“What editing! I saw that picture two years ago. I just don’t understand why the media is bringing it up again,” a wealthy lady said with a smirk.
“Does she think no one knows the truth about her family situation? She flaunts her life all the time, and not exposing the truth was my last act of mercy,” another wealthy lady remarked.
Anne wasn’t too keen on this kind of atmosphere. She quickly made an excuse to head to the restroom.
Originally, she intended to take Cassie with her, but Clare stood up first. “I need to go too. Let’s go together.”
Anne glanced at Cassie. Cassie nodded, indicating it was fine. With that, Anne followed Clare out.
“Why aren’t you eating?” As soon as Clare left, Zayn turned to Cassie.
Cassie finally glanced at him. “Not in a hurry.”
Zayn flashed her a bright smile. Cassie rolled her eyes but quickly looked away.
Meanwhile, on the way to the restroom, Clare casually started a conversation with Anne. “Anne, you’re not from a rich
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family, and you seem so easygoing and chill. I’m afraid you might not understand some things.”
“Like what?” Anne asked with a confused face.
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“Cassie is your and Lucas’s only daughter, and she’s the apple of Heston’s eye. So many people are eyeing her for their gains. You need to protect her closely,” Clare said seriously. “She’s still young and easily fooled. If someone manages to trick her. Well, the consequences would be unimaginable.”
“Thank you for your concern for Cassie, Clare. We’ll be careful,” Anne smiled slightly.
“Also, Cassie comes from a prestigious background, so when it’s time to choose her husband, you need to be very selective. Make sure to weed out anyone with a questionable background to avoid making Cassie a target for ridicule,” Clare continued. “A few years ago, one of my close friends, who was part of the royal family, married a man with an illegitimate background, and it nearly ruined her. Once he gained power, he started living it up and even fathered two illegitimate children last year. My friend was left heartbroken.”
“That sounds terrible,” Anne thought she understood what Clare was hinting at–she was just telling her to stay away from Zayn.
“Sometimes, I think the whole pedigree thing is ridiculous, but children born to women who hook up with other people’s
husbands and then grow up to betray their marriages–I wonder if there’s some kind of karmic connection at play here,
Clare said with a mocking expression.
Anne smiled but didn’t say anything. The issue of pedigree was something that these wealthy ladies had originally used mock her.
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The union of aristocrats is the ideal. Anything else is just unacceptable–This is the consistent belief of these socialites who were born into privilege and married into wealthy families.
“Lucas is a hopeless romantic. You definitely wouldn’t understand what we’re talking about,” Clare sighed. “Anyway, just do
the only treasure you have in
your best to support Cassie and make sure she doesn’t go through that kind of suffering. Clare sighed. “Anyway, just do
the Murphy family.”
“I know,” replied Anne.
Clare let out a long sigh of relief.
She thought, ‘Zayn is so eager to brag just because he’s managed to attach himself to a noble family. What a fool! If he hasn’t solidified his position yet, he shouldn’t be making a fuss. Just like his pathetic mother, he never learns, no matter how much you try to teach him.’
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Just as Anne left, the wealthy ladies immediately turned their focus back to Cassie.
“Cassie, your grades used to be pretty average. How did you suddenly get such high scores this time?” one lady with a fake grin asked. “Honestly, did your parents pull some strings?”
“Isn’t that the truth? With scores this high, even Paolo, who’s always been a top student, couldn’t achieve that. Before your score was announced, his mom was already bragging about her estimated 1100 points like it was the greatest achievement ever,” another wealthy lady laughed.
“You people don’t understand anything. Cheating on the SATsy is illegal. Even if she did manage to pull some strings, do you think she would tell you?” a lady added.
“That’s true.”
These people didn’t give Cassie a chance to speak at all. They just started playing out their roles and spinning their own
narratives.
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“I’m really curious about how you got your looks.” a plump lady, who was incredibly jealous of Cassie and Anne, said as soon as Cassie arrived. “I have a cousin who used to look a lot like you but she wasn’t exactly attractive. You should introduce me to your doctor. With summer break coming up, I could take her in for some work too.”
“Ma’am, I haven’t had any work done on my face,” Cassie replied
“Come on, we all know what you looked like before,” the plump lady rolled her eyes. “We are pretty open–minded. We don’t think getting work done is a big deal. Just admit it.”
Suddenly, Zayn slammed his fork onto his plate, causing it to shatter with a smash.
The plump lady was startled. “Mr. Zayn, what are you doing? Is your hand okay?”
“And what about you? Is your mouth okay?” Zayn,shot back, glaring at the woman. “When her mom was here, none of you were brave enough to ask. Now that Ms. Murphy has left, you’re all fired up? What’s going on? Too scared to mess with the adults, so you pick on the kids instead?”
The other ladies seemed to fit Zayn’s description perfectly.
“Why are you talking like that?” the plump lady fumed, standing up in anger.
“I don’t know if she had any cosmetic surgery, but I do know about you,” Zayn leaned back and her a once–over. “You’re already this heavy. Are your boobs real? Did you get injections in your shoulders? And that nose–augmented, right? The work isn’t that great. I know quite a few good doctors in Hyalineland. If you want, I can hook you up.”
Everyone gasped in shock at his words.
“And you–you keep talking about how Cassie is cheating. Do you have any idea how powerful the Murphy Group’s legal team is? If I were Cassie, I’d sue you for defamation right away!” Zayn paused, eyeing her up and down. “You’ve had your cheekbones done, that chest is fake, your rear end is padded. You should ease up on the lip injections and Botox! Your face has stiffened up like a statue!”
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