The Wife He Dumped, The Queen She Returned As novel Chapter 174

"You must be Ms. Reed, right?"

Chloe frowned as she glanced past him to see Penelope Rowan leaning against an elegant, older woman.

She went to slam the door shut, but Mr. Rowan quickly stepped forward, jamming his hand against the frame.

"Ms. Reed, we came here specifically to apologize to you!"

"Penelope is young and foolish. You're much older than her, so please, be the bigger person and let this go."

"Of course, we know what she did was wrong. We're perfectly willing to discuss any form of compensation."

Mrs. Rowan glared at Chloe with open hostility, muttering under her breath, "Besides, you weren't completely innocent either. We're already showing a lot of good faith here."

Having said that, she looked sympathetically at the faint, scabbed scratch on Penelope's cheek.

Penelope instantly leaned into it. "Mom, my face hurts."

Chloe's patience completely evaporated. She let out a cold laugh.

"Are you here to apologize or to interrogate me?"

"As for Ms. Rowan, you better hurry to the hospital to get that checked out, or the scratch might heal before you get there."

"You—" Penelope bristled at the mockery. She opened her mouth to snap back but was silenced by a sharp glare from her father.

Mr. Rowan turned back to Chloe. "We're here to apologize, of course! Penelope, hurry up and apologize to Ms. Reed!"

Clearly unhappy, Penelope spat out rapidly, "I'm sorry."

It was the most half-hearted apology in history, yet both Mr. and Mrs. Rowan stared at Chloe expectantly, waiting for her to say it was fine.

Chloe offered a faint smile. "Noted. But I don't need your apology."

Mr. Rowan looked at Chloe with an exasperated expression. "Ms. Reed, I'm so sorry. We spoiled her rotten. Please don't take her words to heart. You don't need to stoop to her level."

Instead of getting angry, Chloe simply smiled.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of stooping to her level."

Just as the Rowans let out a collective sigh of relief, she slowly added, "I plan to destroy her completely."

Mrs. Rowan's face turned livid. "What is wrong with you? We gave you face by coming here to apologize, and you're still being this ungrateful?"

"I haven't even settled the score with you for hurting my baby's face!"

Mr. Rowan's tone dropped, turning threatening. "Ms. Reed, quit while you're ahead. Rowan Industries and Vantage Corp are business partners. We're funding half of Preston's latest project. If things get ugly, we won't be the ones taking the biggest hit."

He looked past Chloe and tried to force his way into the house. "Is Mr. Hayes home? There's no reasoning with you. We'll take this up with him directly."