Chapter 31
Zabelle tapped her feet nervously as Antonio drove to her parent house. They were already late, all thanks to him and his never–ending work.
Antonio had refused to give her an answer until he was done, and he told her that he would only allow her to go if he would be there as well
That was better than nothing, and so she agreed. The question was would her father agree as well. She wondered. The fact that they were already late was already deducting points, as lier fither hated tardiness.
Her worry increased as she imagined what the interaction between the two men would be like. They both had pride, and she wondered which one would drop their pride for the other.
Zabelle turned to look at Antonio who looked calm as always and this made her click her tongue as she was losing her mind.
Realizing that worrying wouldn’t do anything, she decided to distract herself by looking at her phone.
As expected, she and Antonio were still trending and with the release of a statement by his team that they were indeed engaged, it only made netizens crazy as they were trying to figure out how she had managed to bag Antonio.
When she looked up once again, she saw that they had now arrived at her family mansion. She didn’t bother to ask Antonio how he knew where it was located, as he seemed to know everything.
It seemed her family was already expecting her, as the guards at the gates didn’t give them any trouble and opened it up for
them.
The worry which he had pushed to the back of her mind returned in full force when they got to the front of the Pierce.
mansion.
She and Antonio got out of the car, and she led him to the door of the mansion. A helper received them and informed them. that the rest of the family were already at the table having dinner
When they got to the dining table, Zabelle paused in her steps when she saw Jeremy and Vanessa seated at the table. She had thought the dinner would be only her parents alongside her and Antonio.
She didn’t know that they were going to be there and remembering the last interaction she had with Jeremy, her eyes darted towards Antonio.
“You are both finally here,” her father remarked when he looked up from his seat. “Have a seat,” he told the couple and Zabelle out of habit proceeded to sit at the seat farthest from him as he never allowed her to see close to him whenever they had dinner together back in the past
However,
Antonio stopped her “Is this where you normally sit?” He asked her and she nodded.
Without saying anything else, he took her hand and led her to the seat opposite where Vanessa and Jeremy sat, and Zabelle saw her mother open her mouth to complain
When Zabelle hesitated in having her seat, Antonio sat down and pulled her to the seat. Afterwards, a helper stepped forward and served them, but Antonio made no attempt to touch the food, and Zabelle upon seeing this, decided to follow in his lead.
Even if she didn’t want to follow his lead, she had no choice as they had prepared a meal she hated. They never bothered to know her, and so they were oblivious to the fact that she hated the meal, or maybe they weren’t but just didn’t care. She didn’t know which it was..
Antonio’s eyes darted from Jeremy to Gabriel and he smiled slightly. It was obvious from their glares that they didn’t expect him to be there. They had planned to gang up on Zabelle and that was what he had suspected would have happened, hence.
1/3
14:42 Fri, Dec 27.
Chapter 31
the reason he had accompanied her.
His fiancée was a fool who, despite all that her family had done, still had hopes that they would come to love her one day. If she didn’t, she would have outrightly rejected going to the dinner.
Even now, he could see the look of nostalgia in her eyes as she stared at her parents.
She was really a fool, he thought to himself. They had served her something she hated, and she still was making excuses for them in her head.
“You aren’t eating,” it was Lily who spoke as her eyes rested on the couple who hadn’t touched their food.
“Well, how am I supposed to eat when you served my fiancée something she hates,” Antonio lifted an eyebrow and Zabelle turned to look at him, wondering how he even knew in the first place.
Just how good was his investigation team?
Was he really not eating because she couldn’t eat? She wondered, and her heart warmed at the thought of it
Gabriel didn’t appreciate Antonio’s answer, and he turned to give his daughter a warning look. Upon receiving the look from her father, Zabelle picked up her spoon with the intention of stuffing the food down her throat, but Antonio stopped her once again.”
“Don’t intimidate my fiancée, he fired at Gabriel.
This was one of those rare moments when someone was standing up on her behalf, and Zabelle found it ironic that coming from the same person who she couldn’t stand up against
“Don’t be rude to my father!” Vanessa, who had been quiet all along, snapped in anger.
it was
“With all due respect, go back to stuffing your mouth with food. When it’s time to have a conversation about how to steal your sister’s boyfriend, you’ll be more than welcome to join,” Antonio jabbed and Zabelle coughed as she didn’t expect such words from him.
As expected, her sister turned red with anger, and the sight was a beauty to behold.
“How dare you?!” Lily exasperated. “Is this the kind of man you intend to marry? One who can’t respect your family?” She turned to face her daughter.
“Coming from a family that cannot respect one of their own!” Antonio scoffed just as she and Jeremy’s eyes met.
He had been surprisingly quiet, and she wondered if it was because he wasn’t ready to deal with Antonio after what happened at the auction.
Antonio didn’t tell her what had happened between them, but she noticed his bruised knuckles when he stepped out of the restroom, which led her to conclude that they had gotten physical.
“Enough!” Gabriel roared as he banged his fists on the table and he got up. “You,” he pointed to her. Break off the engagement!” he ordered her.
“Our family and his are enemies, and I won’t allow no daughter of mine to get married into the Garcia family!” Antonio smiled upon hearing what the man said, and he wished he had started with that rather than wasting their time.
Here he thought he was the worst person to exist, but Gabriel was actually giving him a run for his money. At least he had a soft spot
for his family with the exception of his dad, but even at that, he didn’t do anything to harm William nor would be.
He could see in Gabriel’s eyes how much he hated Zabelle and the only reason why he was asking her to break off the engagement was because he couldn’t stand to see his daughter in such a high position as his partner, even higher than his
