“Weren’t you moving out?
Why haven’t you left yet?” Zion Hawthorne met her gaze without flinching.
“I’m leaving, you don’t have to tell me.” Rowan Keller grabbed her suitcase.
“I can’t stand to stay in this garbage heap for one second longer.”
With that, she turned to leave without a moment’s hesitation.
Seeing how decisive she was, Zion’s eyes darkened.
“Wait.”
Rowan stopped in her tracks.
Before she could speak, Zion’s gaze fell on her suitcase.
He ordered the bodyguards outside the door, “Take Ms.
Keller’s suitcase out and check it.
See if there’s anything inside that doesn’t belong to her.”
“What do you mean by that?” Rowan instinctively held the suitcase protectively.
“Given your attempt to steal jewelry just now, it’s hard to trust that you haven’t put other things in your suitcase.” Zion knew just how to push a person into a corner.
“A quick check is better for everyone.”
“Is that the kind of person you think I am?” Disappointment and anger flared in Rowan’s eyes.
For a fleeting moment,
Zion’s heart softened.
But the image of her determined departure flashed in his mind, and he answered with a deadpan expression, “Yes.”
A sharp pain pierced Rowan’s heart as if she’d been stabbed.
She could accept his distance, his disdain, and his indifference.
But she couldn’t accept him humiliating her in front of Serena Sterling.
This wasn’t just questioning her character; it was a slap in the face.
“I will not submit to this invasion of my privacy.” Rowan’s grip on the suitcase handle was tighter than it had ever been.
“If you insist, then either call the police and have them search it, or cut my hand off the handle.”
She just stared at him, as defiant as ever.
Zion walked up to her and, meeting her fiercely stubborn gaze, pried her fingers from the suitcase handle one by one.
She held on with all her might, but Zion broke her grip with ease.
He handed the suitcase to a bodyguard, his demeanor as businesslike as if he were handling a public affair.
“Take it and check it.
Don’t miss a single corner.”
“Yes, sir,” the bodyguard replied crisply.
“Zion Hawthorne!” Rowan, her eyes red-rimmed, snatched the suitcase back.
She had never been so wronged in her entire life.
Zion’s face was devoid of expression, his eyes completely empty of their former tenderness and affection.
The fallen heiress had nothing left but her fall.
“As if you don’t know perfectly well whether I would take your things or not!”
Of course, Zion knew.
He knew Rowan’s personality better than anyone.
He was certain she wouldn’t take anything else.
He just wanted to show her the consequences of making the wrong choice.
“Why don’t we just forget it?” Serena Sterling could tell from Zion’s expression that he couldn’t bear to go through with it, so she stepped forward to give him an out.
“You and Rowan were a couple, after all.
Even if she did take something, she’d be entitled to it.”
“Can you please just shut up?” Rowan’s dislike for Serena Sterling was as palpable as ever.
‘She’s so foolish,’ Zion thought.
‘This habit of hers, of speaking without thinking of the consequences the moment she’s provoked… she’ll only suffer for it out in the world.’
‘Why can’t she just stay by my side obediently?’
“Just go.
For Serena’s sake, I’ll let it go this time.” He didn’t press her further, but his words made Rowan feel utterly wronged.
Rowan took hold of her suitcase.
Just as she was about to give them a piece of her mind, the butler suddenly came up to them and said, “Sir, Miss Keller, the young master is back.”
The three of them froze.
Before they could react, Summer, a sweet-looking little boy in overalls, walked in from behind the butler.