The Day I Broke Her

Surrounded

Perfect. Just perfect.

I kicked Zoey down again. "You're calling me a homewrecker too?"

She shook her head fervently, guilt holding her down. Just when she was going to say something, Bartholomew jumped to her rescue, screaming. "Are you alright, Zoey?" He held her and gave her quiet messages with his eyes.

Zoey met his gaze and slowly calmed down. A calculating gleam flashed in her eyes.

Her relatives would not stand for this violence. "You can't hit her, you homewrecker!"

A guy rolled his sleeves up and raised his hand. Just when he was about to swing his fist, Zoey spoke up.

She no longer had that guilty look on her face.

"You've been harassing me for a whole year, Winston. I've said it a million times, no. I've told you I had a boyfriend. It's my big day today, and I will not let anyone ruin the wedding I spent so much time planning for Bart! Leave, or I'll call security!"

I met her gaze with a sneer. "Did you forget who gave you this hotel? You can't kick me out. Even if you can, that doesn't mean your dirty little secrets will be hidden forever."

Bartholomew held Zoey's hand and stepped forth. "Winston, I know you've always liked Zoey, and it hurts to see me marrying her. But the one she loves is me. You can't force love. We're getting married, and I don't want you to harass her anymore."

I was not surprised about these two, to be honest.

It was that discovery that led me to taking back the company I spent money and effort building for Zoey.

I had not told her that, of course. At first, I thought this was cruel and cold, and I wanted to give her one last chance.

Now I knew how wrong I was.

I was going to throw the reclamation papers into Zoey's face, but Benjamin came up with another wicked idea, and he raised his voice, "Oh, I know! You're that male secretary who tried to assault her! She told me about you!"

That nearly made me laugh, and I kicked Zoey's feet. "Really? Me, your secretary? Not fitting our status. Your father doesn't even know what his son-in-law does?"

A guy hurled a watermelon rind in my face. The hall erupted into laughter.

"You gold-digging swine! You don't even know how rich your target is? Zoey's a multimillionaire and a successful business owner with a list of companies! She has tons of supercars and mansions lying around!"

He added, "See this big and extravagant hotel? Zoey owns it! And Bart? He helps her handle all her companies and snagged loads of mega projects. He added millions to her companies' net worth and made them one of the world's top 100!"

Bartholomew, handling Zoey's companies, snagging deals, and raising their net worth so much they became one of the world's top companies?

Get real. I was the one who spent millions investing in her. I tapped into my folks' connections to help her network. I dealt with the clients to snag the deal, even though the appointments were beneath me.

I burned the midnight oil talking her through every project's completion, and I had to help her finish her job because she was limited by her extremely narrow scope and inexperience.

She was just a broke country girl who couldn't make enough for college tuition. Without my help, she'd never have made it on her own. Her kids would have to work to their bones.