I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 425

Garrett continuously piled food into Zoe's plate, creating a small mountain of all her favorite dishes.

Refusing to waste another second thinking about Hayden, Zoe chatted happily with Garrett as they ate.

Two days later, Garrett formally requested time off from Director Yates on Zoe's behalf so they could attend the awards ceremony.

She returned to the Kendall estate to pack her bags. When she had stayed over at Thorne Manor the previous night, neither of Garrett's parents had pressed her for details. Grandfather Arthur had asked casually, and she merely explained that Beatrice had missed her and Lily.

Arthur, who had his own fondness for Beatrice, waved it off as perfectly reasonable.

Zoe and Hayden were technically still married. No matter how much the Kendalls adored Zoe and Lily, they couldn't exactly forbid her from interacting with the Thorne family.

Zoe was a free woman.

Since Zoe and Garrett were flying to the United Kingdom for the ceremony, they left Lily in the care of Garrett's parents and Arthur.

Zoe purposefully kept Professor Layne's attendance a secret from Arthur, terrified that the stubborn old man would throw a tantrum and demand to tag along.

The two elderly men bickered relentlessly, and managing both of them on an international flight sounded like an absolute nightmare.

After a long flight, Zoe and Garrett arrived at a luxury five-star hotel in the UK. Joining them were Cherry, her assistant, and Professor Layne.

Zoe and the professor had come to an agreement: she would not show her face at the event. Instead, Cherry would take the stage on her behalf.

The speech was already prepared, and Cherry would make it crystal clear that she was merely a representative, not claiming the identity of Lily.

Given that Zoe had physically flown out for the event and arranged a proxy, Professor Layne couldn't push her to publicly unmask herself. It was the biggest compromise she was willing to make.

Zoe had another massive reason for staying in the shadows. She wanted to focus all her energy on her current project, perfecting her emotional-support AI companion robot.

If she outed herself as the legendary Lily, she would be swarmed by investors and tech giants begging her to look at their projects.

She didn't want the distraction.

The group of four rested at the hotel that night, preparing for the ceremony the following day.

"I assume you're here for the awards ceremony, Professor Layne?"

Sienna asked first. Professor Layne didn't even want to acknowledge her. Out of basic respect for Hayden, he just gave a gruff, dismissive hum.

"What a coincidence. So am I," Sienna boasted. "One of my papers happened to win an award, so I came to check it out."

Garrett and Zoe exchanged a silent, knowing look. Professor Layne let out a long, exaggerated "Oh," stretching the syllable to maximum sarcastic effect.

He looked like he was one second away from spitting right in Sienna's face.

"And what pen name did you use?"

Professor Layne despised her arrogance. Dressed like a seductress, her only apparent skill was stealing other women's husbands. He couldn't see a single redeeming quality in Sienna.

She was absolutely nothing compared to his brilliant, unparalleled goddaughter, Zoe.