Chapter 7 Just a Rotten Cucumber
Zoe flinched violently when Lucas pointed at her.
"I seduced you?" she said, her voice shaking with sheer disbelief. She pointed at herself. "You chased me! If you hadn't blown up my phone every single morning and night, I never would have looked twice at you!"
She knew she had a talent for attracting garbage men. She had been cautious. But the sweet, clingy, devoted act had been convincing. And now he was throwing her to the wolves to save his own skin.
Zoe strode forward and slapped Lucas across the face with everything she had. "You spineless piece of shit."
"You dare hit me?" Lucas snarled.
The humiliation of begging on his knees broke whatever pathetic pride he had left. He wrenched himself free from the guards and lunged blindly at Zoe.
Before his hand could even come close, his wrist was snatched out of the air.
A pale, impossibly delicate hand locked around his forearm like a steel vice.
Lucas turned in shock. Standing under the shade of the plane tree was a woman in black silk. Her beauty was cold. Distant. She looked at him not with anger, but the way one looks at something already dead.
He froze for half a second. "Who the hell are—"
Bang.
Elena’s fist connected flawlessly with his eye socket.
Lucas shrieked, staggering backward and clutching his face before collapsing onto the cobblestones.
Zoe didn't hesitate. She rushed forward and delivered a vicious kick right to his stomach. "Go to hell, you lying bastard!"
Across the courtyard, Miranda Liang watched the execution in silence. Everything was crystal clear. Her little toy had been playing two women at once. She had bought him the apartment, the car, the designer clothes, and he still couldn't keep himself on a leash.
Disloyal men were disposable.
Miranda raised a hand to her guards. "Take him."
Tape over Lucas's mouth. Lifted. Dragged. Gone.
Zoe tried to follow, still shaking with adrenaline and rage, but Miranda gently stopped her.
"Just a rotten cucumber," Miranda said calmly. "Not worth breaking a nail over." She glanced toward the private dining rooms. "Lunch is on me today. Consider it compensation for my poorly trained dog."
Zoe blinked, thrown entirely off balance. "That's it? You're not going to yell at me? Slap me across the face?"
Miranda raised an impeccably arched brow. "Why would I?"
"In the movies... that's how this usually goes."
Miranda let out a soft, throaty laugh. "We live in a society governed by law, darling. And if a man cheats, why would I blame the woman?" She handed a sleek black card to the terrified manager. "Send the bill to 76 Park Avenue."
She turned and left, authority radiating quietly in her wake. At the courtyard gate, she paused. Her gaze flicked briefly toward Elena.
Something about that face... Familiar.
Inside the private room, the adrenaline crashed. Zoe collapsed into Elena's arms and burst into heavy, ugly tears.
"I just wanted a normal relationship! Why is it so hard?" Every time she let her guard down, they turned out to be trash. "El... my heart is broken."
Elena awkwardly patted Zoe's shoulder. She had never dated. Comforting a crying woman was a skill entirely outside her operational parameters.
When the food arrived and remained untouched, Elena pulled out her phone and quietly searched Reddit: Best way to cheer up a heartbroken best friend?
Take her shopping. Buy everything. Male dancers. Preferably shirtless.
Elena read the suggestions carefully. Plan A executed.
An hour later, they were tearing through SKP. New Louis Vuitton. Unreleased couture. Limited-edition Destiné jewelry. If Zoe even glanced at something twice, Elena bought it.
But by sunset, Zoe still looked miserable.
Plan B executed.
At nine that night, they walked into the largest, most exclusive nightclub in Crestmont. The bass pounded through the floorboards. Lights slashed through heavy smoke.
Elena frowned at the aggressive mix of nicotine and cheap perfume. She had only been to a club once before. She hated it.
They sat at the VIP bar. "One margarita," Zoe ordered. "And orange juice."
Elena got drunk far too easily. Juice was the only tactical choice.
High above them, leaning against the second-floor glass railing, Evan Cole finished his cigarette. He crushed it out, turning to head back to his private room, when his gaze drifted lazily over the bar below.
He froze.
That's the rainbow fairy...
His eyes sharpened. And she was sitting with Zoe? Interest sparked instantly in his chest. Evan straightened his jacket and headed downstairs.
