Chapter 16
Just as Harrison was about to push open the door his hand froze midair. He looked up in disbelief through the glass panel on the door, taleng in the scene inside.
Inside, Hazel sat surrounded by her friends. Her heavily dolled–up face looked nothing like the sweet, innocent young lady he thought he knew.
She was smug, radiating triumph.
“Of course I pulled it off. Haven’t you heard? That old hag, Scarlett, has already left for the aerospace research base. She won’t be back for at east ten or 20 years!”
The ladies around her erupted into applause.
“Damn, Hazel, you’re really something! You actually managed to break off an ironclad engagement and a massive business partnership between the Yeager and Steele families!”
“Tell us your secret, Hazel! How did you get Scarlett to back out on her own? We need to take notes!”
Hazel smirked. “Oh, I did plenty. For starters, Uncle Harry agreed to the wedding in the first place because I drugged him. He was out of it, and that’s how he ended up sleeping with Scarlett.”
Outside the door, Harrison was stunned.
That night with Scarlett, she had insisted they were both drunk. But Harrison knew that being drunk didn’t feel like that. So, he had assumed Scarlett drugged him to force him into the marriage.
It turned out he was only half right.
He had been drugged. But not by Scarlett. It was Hazel.
But why would Hazel do that?
Not only was Harrison baffled, but even Scarlett’s friends couldn’t understand it.
“Hazel, I don’t get it. Weren’t you basically forcing Harrison to marry Scarlett? Why would you do that?”
Hazel laughed, her eyes glinting with slyness.
“You don’t get it, do you? The Steele and Yeager families‘ partnership is set in stone. No matter what, Uncle Harry had to marry Scarlett. That was inevitable.
“Since that’s the case, I might as well use this chance to make him believe Scarlett set him up and make him completely hate her.”
FO
Harrison couldn’t believe his ears. Was that scheming woman inside really the same Hazel he had once believed to be sweet and Innocent?
Her friends were still cheering her on, hyping he up as she basked in their admiration.
“That was just the beginning,” Hazel continued. Then, at the auction, I deliberately acted like I wanted Scarlett’s mother’s final work so Uncle Harry would spend a fortune to buy it. Once he did, I smashed it on purpose.
“Then, came Scarlett’s birthday party. 1 drugged myself and made sure Uncle Harry and I ended up in bed together. The moment it happened, I knew he’d never be able to walk away
from me.”
She let out a lighthearted giggle. “But that wasn’t enough. I needed Uncle Harry to think it was Scarlett who drugged me. That way, he’d hate her even more.
“I have to admit. Scarlett caught me off guard that time. She actually injured herself just to make Uncle Harry believe her. I didn’t see that coming. But so what? I had an even bigger move planned!
“I set fire to Yeager Manor. Just as I expected, Uncle Harry saved me instead of Scarlett! And just like that, she finally gave up on him!”
She laughed afterward.
Outside the door, Harrison stood frozen, every last trace of color draining from his face. He never imagined that everything that had happened recently had been orchestrated by Hazel.
Inside the private room, Hazel was still basking in her triumph, laughing.
“I did all that just to make Scarlett lose faith in Uncle Harry and walk away on her own! And guess what? It actually worked!”
She threw her head back, still laughing. “That idiot ran off with her tail between her legs! Now I’m the future Mrs. Steele!”
She had her chin held high when the door suddenly burst open.
Hazel’s smug smile froze as she locked eyes with the man storming in, his face dark with fury. Her blood ran cold.
“U–Uncle Harry?”
“Chapter 170
Chapter 17
