Chapter 171
Chloe didn''t get the hots for anyone right now.
Her previous marriage was a total train wreck.
Now, she couldn''t care less about the whole birds-and-bees thing.
All she wanted was to raise her two kids right.
And besides, even if she did fall for Mr. Alexander, with his status and all, there was no way he''d be
into a divorcee like her. How could a divorced woman ever be a match for such a high-flyer?
"If I were still a na?ve young girl, I''d definitely fall head over heels for a catch like Mr. Alexander. But I''m
a divorced woman now, and my mindset''s changed. Honestly, I am not got the hots for him."
Roxanne didn''t buy it, "You''re telling me you are not got the hots for him? Your heart doesn''t skip a beat
when you see Mr. Alexander?"
Chloe asked, "You think I''m just into his looks?"
Roxanne said, "Then why don''t you agree to pretend to date him? Who knows, maybe feelings will
develop over time?"
Chloe retorted, "Don''t y cupid, Roxanne. Cindere stories only happen in fairy tales. I''m even less
of a Cindere."
"What''s stopping you? Mr. Alexander''s been divorced, you''ve been divorced. Aren''t you two a match
made in heaven?"
Roxanne was lounging on the sofa, chatting with Chloe.
She had her phone on speaker mode.
Their conversation could be heard loud and clear by Harrison in the living room.
Harrison frowned.
Why the hell didn''t Alexander tell him about the fake dating scheme with Chloe?
He went back to his room, locked the bathroom door, and gave Alexander a call.
Alexander was on his way back to Grandeur Meadows.
His driver was driving.
As soon as Harrison got through, he asked straight away, "Do you have a thing for Chloe?"
"What did your wife tell you?" Alexander retorted, gripping his phone.
"Roxanne wanted me to set Chloe up with Alex. She''d be over the moon if she knew Alex was into her
best friend."
"Stop ying cupid." Alexander stared at the bustling nightlife outside the car window.
This bustling metropolis was full of temptations.
He, as a man, could resist those temptations.
Why couldn''t Hazel?
He''d lost hope in love, "I just wanted Chloe to help me out, to pretend to date me, to help me get rid of
Hazel. It isn’t what you guys think."
After their divorce, Hazel just couldn''t let go.
Only when she lost him did she realize his worth.
Or maybe she had nowhere else to turn and remembered his kindness.
He knew that if he gave Hazel another chance, with her character and behavior, she''d betray him
again.
As a man, his dignity had been trampled on by Hazel, time and again.
He couldn''t bring himself to forgive Hazel again. But eight years of feelings couldn''t be cut off that
easily.
The more Hazel clung to him, the more she hurt him.
Harrison said, "If you don''t want to see Hazel, I can talk to the Dawson family. We can send her abroad
and make sure she never shows up in front of you again."
Alexander retorted, "Don''t send her away."
Harrison asked, "You''re divorced. Why are you still protecting her?"
Alexander said, "She was my only woman."
She was the woman he nned to spoil till old age. But she didn''t know how to cherish that.
Harrison said, "Alexander, you''re too sentimental."
After Harrison said that, Alexander fell silent. He was staring at the night view outside the car window.
His straight back seemed to have lost its support and bent a little. Even his eyes were dimming.
Why couldn''t he meet a good woman?
He stopped talking.
He was in a terrible mood now.
Harrison went on and said, "You can pretend to be Chloe''s boyfriend. Maybe you guys will be a
real couple. That would be a good thing. Then both our couples would be happy, everyone would be
happy, and we could even arrange a marriage for our kids."
"Chloe''s a good woman. I wouldn''t joke about feelings. I just asked for her help, and I''ve made it clear
to her."
"If Hazel finds out that you''re pretending to date a divorced woman, she might try to harm Chloe in
secret." Harrison instructed, "You can''t let your woman mess with Chloe."
Hazel, that woman, was good at pretending, cunning, and absolutely hypocritical.
Alexander emphasized, "Let me make it clear, she''s not my woman anymore. We have nothing to do
with each other now."
Harrison asked, "Then why won''t you let me send her away?"
If it weren''t for Alexander, Hazel, being so frail, wouldn''t even be enough to feed sharks in the sea.
Harrison said, "Back to the point, we can''t let Hazel mess with Chloe. Otherwise, the only one who will
suffer is my Roxanne."
He knew how much his wife cared for her best friend.
Whenever something happened to Chloe, the person who worried the most was always Roxanne.
Before he hung up, Roxanne knocked on the bathroom door.
"Harrison, are you in there?"
"I''m in the bathroom." Harrison pretended to sit on the toilet and flushed it.
Then he got up and hung up the phone. He pretended to wash his hands again. Then he finally opened
the door.
Roxanne was standing at the door, "I heard you on the phone just now?"
"It was Alex. Didn''t you say you wanted to set him up with Chloe? I told him about it, and he said he''s
not in the mood for a rtionship."
"Well, if he''s not in the mood, we won''t force it." Roxanne was grinning from ear to ear, "I have some
good news for you."
She told Harrison about Chloe and Mr. Alexander. "Even though Alex is your good buddy, Mr.
Alexander seems like a better catch. If Chloe ends up with Mr. Alexander, it''ll be like she''s starting a
new life for the third time, and this time she''s hitched to a perfect CEO. That''s just so romantic, so
wonderful. Just thinking about it makes me green with envy."
Harrison asked in confusion, "If you''re so jealous of Chloe marrying rich, why don''t you want to marry
rich?"
Roxanne said, "Mr. Alexander''s family isn''t just any rich family. He''s so well-mannered that you can tell
his family is top-notch. Plus, his sister''s been through a divorce, and his parents will surely be more
understanding towards divorced women."
Harrison asked, "Have you ever thought that you could marry into a top-notch rich family too?"
Harrison probed Roxanne on purpose. After saying this, he watched her reaction without blinking.
She clearly dismissed it with disdain. "I don''t care. I prefer an ordinary life. Our ordinary lives are filled
with real emotions. What''s so great about being part of the upper crust?"
Harrison felt a pang of disappointment.
Why was this girl so averse to the upper crust?
Luckily, she didn''t know that he was a scion of a prestigious family.
The next day, it was Monday.
Alexander personally picked up Chloe and Aria and took them to school.
Aria''s school was a private school.
The tuition was around four thousand dors a year.
The parents of the students often drove all sorts of luxurious cars to drop off and pick up their children.
Today, a Rolls-Royce parked at the school gate naturally attracted attention.
All those regr BMWs and Mercedes suddenly seemed inferior.
"Whose parent is this? So rich, driving a Rolls-Royce!"
Alexander, holding Aria''s hand, got out of the car.
When they arrived at the school gate, they bumped into Laura, the girl who used to bully her.
But Laura and her family didn''t know that Aria came in a Rolls-Royce today.
Laura, dressed in designer clothes, saw Aria, walked up, and started mocking loudly, "The scaredy-cat
dares toe to school, haha. Aren''t you just a crybaby?"
Mrs. Grace, Laura''s mother, dressed in fur, said, "Laura, how many times have I told you these people
are just poor, don''t bother with her."
Chloe was very angry. She dared to verbally attack her daughter in front of her.
If she was not around, who knew how arrogant this child could be?
Just as she was about to teach this impolite girl a lesson, Alexander tugged at her sleeve, "Keep your
cool, don''t rush. I''ll make them apologize to Aria in front of the whole school."
When they reached the ssroom door.
Mrs. Grace pulled the teacher aside and said, "Mr. Charles, you can''t let a bad child like Aria Lewis,
who steals things, be in the same ss as Laura. Laura is so well-behaved and innocent; she will be
influenced by such a terrible student as Aria. Mr. Charles, if you don''t let Aria transfer schools or at
least change sses, I''ll get all the parents toin to the principal. A bad child like Aria should be
expelled from school."
Chloe couldn''t stand it anymore.
Her daughter was so well-behaved, kind, and innocent. How could she be described as a bad student
and terrible student?
How much damage would this cause to Aria''s self-esteem?
Tears welled up in her eyes. She felt extremely humiliated.
This resentment was stuck in her chest, like a big stone lodged there.
She couldn''t bear it!
Chloe rushed forward and pushed Mrs. Grace. "Who are you calling a terrible student? Who are you
framing? Aria didn''t steal anything; don''t use her."
"Are your hands clean or not? Do you know how much my fur coat cost? You''ll be shocked if I tell you.
Can you afford to pay if you dirty it?"
Mrs. Grace patted her white fur coat. "This is fox fur, five thousand dors a piece. You can''t even
afford the cleaning fee, let alone pay for it."
After saying that, she gave Chloe a nce full of disdain and sarcasm.
Chloe was filled with humiliation, trembling all over with anger.
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With such a sharp-tongued parent, it was no wonder she raised such a domineering and overbearing
child.
What would her daughter be bullied into if she remained ssmates with this kind of child?
So this was why Aria chose to lock herself in her room a few days ago, refusing toe to school at
all.
Chloe couldn''t hold back anymore.
Her emotions exploded, and she pped Mrs. Grace hard across the face.
The sound of the p echoed in the corridor, immediately attracting the attention of several teachers
and students.
"You dare to p me?" Mrs. Grace stared at Chloe in disbelief.
She raised her right hand, ready to fight back.
However, a long and powerful arm easily stopped her.
"So what if she pped you? People like you deserve to be pped." Alexander hardly exerted any
effort.
Mrs. Grace''s face had already turned pale, but she still acted superior.
"Who are you? Are you Aria''s mom''s new boyfriend? Aria''s mom is really shameless. I heard she found
a new man not even half a year after her divorce. Can''t she stand being alone?"
Another pnded on Mrs. Grace''s face.
But this time, it wasn''t Chloe who pped her.
It was Alexander.
Alexander had never hit a woman. He was the one who respected women the most. He believed
women have a hard time in this society. Every woman, regardless of who she was, deserved respect.
But the woman in front of him made Alexander break his principles.
Even if he didn’t know Chloe, he wouldn’t have stood by and done nothing when he saw a kind woman
being humiliated and mocked by this fur-coat woman.
Alexander and Harrison always kept a low profile.
But today, Alexander decided to make a scene for once to teach this arrogant woman a lesson.
Mrs. Grace rushed forward, trying to fight with Alexander. She seemed to give it her all.
Alexander gently pulled, then pushed.
Mrs. Grace was pushed two meters away, fell on her butt, and immediately started crying.
As she cried, sheined, “Mr. Charles, aren’t you going to do anything? How can you let this rude
and uncultured lower-ss man hit people in school?”
Mr. Charles nced at her and said, "Mrs. Grace, you were the one who insulted others first. And he''s
not some rude and uncultured lower-ss man; he''s the secondrgest shareholder of the Rodriguez
Group, Alexander."
This famous figure had been on the news.
Didn''t Mrs. Grace recognize him?
Mr. Charles suggested, "Mrs. Grace, you better stop lying around on the floor. Get up."
Rodriguez Group was a name known to all.
That was Seraphim Haven''s richest corporation.
Especially for middle-ss folks like Mrs. Grace, they knew it too well.
It was a massive financial empire.
The secondrgest shareholder?
Mrs. Grace scrambled up from the floor, tongue-tied, "Mr. Charles, is this for real?"
Seeing the fear finally creeping into the face of the always arrogant and domineering woman, Chloe, on
the side, felt a surge of satisfaction. But she also felt profoundly sad.
There really were hierarchies among people.
Those at the top of the power pyramid have the authority.
Mrs. Grace always thought that her family’s wealth and power gave her free rein to bully Chloe and her
daughter.
Little did she know, there were people even wealthier and more powerful than they were.
Perhaps it never urred to Mrs. Grace that, as a divorced working woman, she had such a powerful
man as Mr. Alexander backing her up.
She angrily red at Mrs. Grace, “Are you scared now?”
Today, Mr. Alexander would surely clear Aria’s name.
Chloe, with her mixed feelings, couldn’t hold back her tears, “When you and your daughter were
bullying mine, weren’t you supposed to be scared too?”
At this point, the principal walked over nervously.
He approached Alexander and said, “Mr. Alexander, I’m sorry I didn’t personally greet you at the school
gate. We havepleted the task you assigned us. We failed to protect your friend’s daughter; we are
truly sorry.”
Alexander red at him fiercely and said, "I think it''s about time for you to step down from your position
as principal."
He knew, without the principal''s consent, Mr. Charles wouldn''t dare to cover for Laura.
The principal was scared stiff. He kept apologizing to Alexander, begging for forgiveness.
Seeing the principal''s reaction, Laura''s mom went pale. "How does a divorced working woman have a
friend like Mr. Alexander?"
Alexander lifted his head, looked at her, and said firmly, "I need to correct you. I''m not Chloe''s friend,
but her boyfriend. We''re getting married, and Aria will be my daughter."
He purposely let the people at the school hear these words.
Of course, he didn''t really n to marry Chloe.
Saying he was her boyfriend was just to deal with Hazel, pretending to have a lover.
But at this very moment, he truly treated Aria as his own daughter, protecting her. "My daughter was
bullied at school. I can''t let it go just like that."