The Wife He Dumped, The Queen She Returned As novel Chapter 8

Preston called after her. "Stop throwing a tantrum! It's late. I'll have the driver take you."

Chloe completely ignored him and kept walking.

Behind her, Jenna's obnoxiously loud voice echoed down the hall.

"Oh my God! Preston, I can't believe you put up with that! She is so incredibly ungrateful!"

Mason eagerly agreed. "Seriously, I don't know why she's acting all high and mighty. Who knows how much cash she and her trashy family have leeched off Preston. Didn't they buy like, three houses?"

Wyatt chimed in too. "Disabled people always have the weirdest complexes. I'm telling you, Preston, you never should have married her! You should have just written her a fat check. Why throw your whole life away?"

Chloe picked up her pace, practically fleeing down the corridor.

She was terrified that the tears threatening to spill over would make her look even more pathetic.

Her phone buzzed relentlessly against her palm, the vibrations syncing with the painful hammering of her heart.

Taking a jagged breath, she forced the crushing humiliation down and headed up to the third floor, walking into a different private room.

Linda Rivers was sitting at the table, aggressively stuffing her face with expensive food. The second she heard the door open, she slammed her silverware down, threw herself backward in her chair, and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Oh... oh God, the pain! It hurts everywhere!" she wailed dramatically. "You ungrateful brat, what took you so long? Are you waiting for me to drop dead so you don't have to deal with me?"

Chloe had heard this exact routine a thousand times. She thought she was numb to it, but tonight, it felt unbearably suffocating.

"Cut the act," Chloe said coldly. "Why did you trick me into coming here?"

Her cousin, Leon Rivers, hurried over, putting on a miserable face. "Chloe, you've got to help me! I sank my entire life savings into that club, and not only did it catch fire, but the cops are trying to nail me for fire code violations. I'm looking at real jail time..."

Chloe's brows slammed together.

Seeing her reaction, Linda dropped the dying-mother act instantly. She sat up straight and snapped, "Call Preston right now. Tell him to fix it!"

"Yeah!" Leon begged. "For a guy like him, it just takes one phone call! He loves you. He'll definitely pull some strings!"

A bitter, agonizing wave of irony washed over Chloe. It felt like a physical blow to her chest.

Was this how Preston handled things?

As long as it kept Jenna safe and out of jail, it didn't matter whose lives were destroyed in the process. Was that it?

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