Chapter 194
He would never dare mess with someone from a better family than his.
Leo never saw it coming when Claire got outed as a fake heiress. When he heard that Vera was spreading rumors about Claire, he actually tried to defend her. But honestly, the more he spoke up, the more Vera hated Claire. His efforts just made everything worse.
That was how things blew up at the school gates.
On the day they were set to leave, Claire met up with the other students at the airport. Since three of them went to the same school, Claire texted Len as soon as she got there, and then Len reached out to Leo. The three of them grouped up first and waited together in the lounge.
Claire spotted Dane and Baldrick across the hall. Baldrick and his friends were flying home in a private jet and even invited Claire to come along. She hesitated for a second, but ended up turning them down. She didn’t want to break away from the rest of the group.
Before she left, Pandora handed her the address Melissa had left behind. She told Claire to check it out when she could, but to go quietly and not draw attention. If she could find out anything about her mom, great. If not, it was fine to just let it go. And if Claire ran into her grandfather’s family, it was totally up to her whether she wanted to reconnect or not. Pandora made it clear-she wasn’t pushing for anything.
“Sorry about before. All that stuff with Vera must’ve been a pain for you.” Leo’s voice broke the silence. The three of them were sitting together, but only Len and Claire had been talking. Leo had just been sitting there, quiet and awkward, until he finally spoke up and apologized.
Claire glanced over at him, surprised. “Honestly, Vera was never the one causing me trouble. It was always you p>
Leo looked down. “Yeah. That was my fault p>
Claire let that sit for a moment, then asked, “So what happened to Vera, anyway?” She hadn’t seen Vera around school since everything went down.
“She went abroad,” Leo said. The Cole and Carl families had agreed to call off their engagement, and Vera left the country. Leo didn’t know if she’d kept the baby. All he knew was, before she left, she told him she was over him and ready to move on to someone better.
Leo felt relieved, honestly. He’d never even liked Vera. Their families had basically forced them together. He was glad she finally realized she deserved more.
“Well, congrats to both of you. Hope you each find your own happiness,” Claire said. She did wonder if Leo would ever meet someone who cared about him as much as Vera had just because Vera left didn’t mean her feelings disappeared. She’d just decided loving him cost too much.
The students from the other two schools arrived soon after. There was a guy and a girl. The guy walked right up and greeted them with a big grin. “Hey! You must be the legends from Silverpeak International Coffege, right?” He looked at Claire,
friendly and respectful. “You’re
Claire, aren’t you? I’m Alva p>
It sounded like a girl’s name, but there was no mistaking-he was definitely a guy. “Yeah, I’m Claire p>
The other girl looked pretty simple and shy. She introduced herself in a soft, barely- there voice, “I’m Wendy p>
Her voice was so quiet, it was almost like a whisper. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss it completely. When Claire nodded at her, Wendy peeked up for a split second, then quickly dropped her head again.
“Wendy’s a little shy,” Alva explained. “Our schools are right across from each other, so we know each other pretty well p>
They’d teamed up for competitions
before, so they were used to working
together. Alva and Wendy had seen Claire’s group around, but they didn’t know each other all that well. Still, everyone had heard of Claire She was the girl everyone knew-smart, gorgeous, and Iwithra famil background straight out of a fairy tale.