Part 3Married to His Uncle

I laughed. An actual, honest-to-god laugh of disbelief.

“Preston, I suggest you get your head checked. If I remember correctly, Mary is twenty-five this year. A few months older than me, isn’t she?”

“There are two things I can’t stand in this world: giant babies and manipulative little thieves who steal other people’s things. Coincidentally, she’s both.”

At my words, Mary’s eyes welled up, tears streaming down her face on command.

“Preston will spoil me no matter how old I am! You’re just jealous!” she shrieked. “You haven’t even married him yet! What right does an outsider like you have to wear a Zhou family heirloom? You’re the shameless one!”

Technically, Mary was the family’s ward, but she had never been formally adopted, nor was her name in the official family records. Strictly speaking, she was the outsider living in the Zhou home. Preston had once thrown a tantrum, demanding she be made a true Zhou heiress, but the patriarch had flatly refused. Preston had felt guilty about it ever since.

Seeing her cry now, his heart ached.

He frowned at me. “Mary isn’t like you. She has no parents, only me. Grandfather wouldn’t let her be formally adopted, that’s why she’s so insecure…”

I cut him off with a suggestion. “You want her in the family records? That’s easy.”

“Marry her. If you do, I will gladly give her this pendant as a wedding gift. As the bride of a Zhou grandson, she would finally deserve to wear it.”

I unclasped the emerald from my neck and held it out to Mary.

Her eyes went wide with shock, then filled with an unconcealable, ecstatic glee. She reached for it immediately.

“Don’t!”

Preston snatched the pendant from my hand, his fist closing tightly around it.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Mary is just… she’s my sister. You’re the one I want to spend my life with!” His gaze was intense, pleading. “You can be jealous of anyone, but not her.”

“She is my family. You are my love. Stop saying things you don’t mean. Anymore of this, and I’ll actually get angry.”

Being stared at by those supposedly deep, soulful eyes didn’t move me in the slightest. In fact, it made me want to gag.

Done with the conversation, I turned and walked away, ignoring Preston’s voice calling after me.

As I stepped out of the terminal, a discreet black Maybach pulled up to the curb. The driver, Leo, got out and opened the door for me.

“Ma’am. Sir said he’ll be late and asked me to pick him up later. Should I take you home first?”

Damian had been on a business trip for half a month. The patriarch knew he was returning today and had arranged for a family dinner at the estate.

Suddenly, someone pushed past me and slid into the car.

Mary settled into the leather seat and smirked. “I thought you were married? Still mooching rides from the Zhou family? Shouldn’t you be taking your husband’s car?”

Mary recognized the Maybach. It belonged to Preston’s uncle, Damian.

Preston recognized it too, and a flattered look crossed his face. After all, his uncle rarely bothered with such trivial matters. He sat down next to Mary, buckled her seatbelt, and then turned to me.

“You can sit in the front. Mary’s used to sitting next to me. I’ll have the driver drop you at your family’s home first.”

“No need. I have my own car. Leo, just take them to the estate. I have other plans.”

I pulled out my keys and hit the unlock button. Across the lot, the headlights of a Lamborghini Veneno flashed twice.

As I drove away in the supercar, I saw a flash of raw envy in Mary’s eyes.

Preston sighed dramatically. “She came all this way just to pick me up. She must be angry I didn’t ride with her.”

Then he turned to the driver. “Did my uncle send you to get me?”

Leo answered truthfully. “No, sir. I was sent to pick up my boss.”

The air in the car hung thick and silent for a few seconds.

“…What a coincidence,” Preston finally said. “Where is my uncle, then?”

“His flight was delayed.”

I treated myself to a spa day, and then, seeing it was almost dinnertime, I drove to the family estate.

The moment I got out of the car, I saw two figures kneeling ramrod straight at the main gate like a pair of wooden posts.

Apparently, when Leo had dropped them off, the patriarch had heard it was Preston and Mary, and he’d thrown his cane in a rage and refused to let them in the door.

“Get out! Why didn’t you just die in Africa? What did you come back for?”

Preston, banking on his grandfather’s soft heart, had dropped to his knees at the gate. Mary, to show solidarity, knelt beside him.

When he saw me, Preston scrambled to his feet, his dejected expression vanishing, replaced by a triumphant glow.

“I knew it. I knew you couldn’t stay away.” His voice was filled with smug satisfaction. “Did you hear Grandfather was punishing me and rush right over?”

I turned my face away in annoyance and tried to walk around him.

He blocked my path again, his face a mask of faux concern. “Don’t go in. Grandfather’s still furious. I’m afraid he’ll take it out on you.”

Mary had somehow appeared at his side. She pointed a finger at my nose. “You’re still holding a grudge because Preston left you for me, aren’t you?” she accused. “You’re the one who stirred this up! Grandfather adores Preston, he would never refuse to let him in!”

“You just came here to laugh at us!”

With a shriek, she lunged at me. I sidestepped, and she went sprawling, landing face-first on the gravel.

Mary lay on the ground, her knee scraped and bleeding, tears instantly flooding her eyes.

Preston’s lips thinned. The smile vanished from his face as he knelt to check her injury. Seeing it wasn't serious, he scooped her up in a practiced princess-carry and cooed at her until her sobs turned into a watery smile.

Only then did he remember me. He sighed.

“Arabella, I hardly recognize you anymore.” His voice was laced with disappointment. “Mary never means what she says. If you’re going to marry me, you have to learn to be more forgiving.”

“For now, just apologize to her and we’ll forget it. But in the future, I hope you’ll try to change that temper of yours.”

What?

My vision went dark for a second. “Should I offer some compensation, too?” I asked, my voice dripping with ice. “To soothe her fragile, glass-like heart?”

A flicker of greed crossed Mary’s face. “I could use a new run-around car. That one you were driving today was… barely acceptable.”

A Lamborghini Veneno. One of only three in the world. Worth twenty-three million dollars.

The sheer audacity of it.

Preston, of course, made the decision for me. “Since Mary likes it, just give it to her. Consider it compensation for her injury.”

I stared at him. “When pigs fly.”

“What?” he said, not understanding the idiom.

“I said, not a chance in hell!”

I shoved him aside and walked straight towards the house.

“Stop right there!”

Preston, realizing he’d been played, turned beet red. “Arabella, I’m telling you right now,” he threatened, his voice sharp with fury. “If you don’t apologize to Mary, you can forget about marrying me! You won’t take a single step into the Zhou family home!”

WHACK!

Suddenly, a dragon-headed cane flew through the air and connected squarely with Preston’s skull.

From several yards away, the patriarch’s voice, clear and booming with rage, echoed for all to hear.

“You little bastard! That’s your aunt!”