Jasmine Sinclair’s temples throbbed at those words, her head aching fiercely.
’Love-brained people were truly terrifying. Even now, she was still defending Wyatt Grant, pushing all the blame onto Renee Sullivan. When did Renee ever seduce Wyatt? The woman was just trying to exist, and he was already plotting to do God knows what to her.’
’Snap out of it, girl! Wyatt Grant is just a scumbag, plain and simple. Renee Sullivan is a victim here too. If you’re going to go after someone, it should be your precious Wyatt.’
"Back when Wyatt Grant had nothing, he had to rely on the Ashford Family for support, so of course he was good to you. Did his attitude only change after Renee Sullivan showed up? No. He started getting colder the moment he successfully launched his business with the investment your dad gave him. To put it bluntly, he was just using you. Now that he’s made it on his own, he doesn’t need the Ashford Group’s backing and wants to kick you to the curb. You saw him at his absolute lowest, and every time he looks at you, he’s reminded of how he used to grovel to win your favor. He could fall in love with anyone, but he will never love you."
As someone who knew the entire plot, Jasmine tried to snap Shannon Ashford out of it. ’You foolish girl. You pour your heart out for him, and all he wants to do is rip it from your chest. In the end, you won’t just lose yourself—you’ll drag the entire Ashford Family down with you.’
"Jasmine, don’t say that about Wyatt. He’s not like that. I believe he still has feelings for me. Once the novelty of Renee Sullivan wears off, he’ll come back to my side."
Shannon Ashford remained hopelessly devoted. Her parents had told her the same things, even trying to forcibly annul her engagement to Wyatt Grant. She’d only stopped them by threatening to kill herself. She believed Wyatt loved her; he was only involved with Renee Sullivan as part of some revenge plot.
Jasmine clutched her chest, so angry she could feel her blood pressure skyrocketing. Saving a love-brained best friend seemed far more difficult than completing her missions with those mad dogs.
’Why is everyone around me so love-brained? The five mad dogs are love-brained, and so are my two best friends. This whole damn world is ruled by idiots in love! Even my incredible, multi-talented ’sister’ gets her heart broken by the scumbag male lead later in the story.’
The more Jasmine thought about it, the more she realized that the only person she knew who wasn’t love-brained was her toxic best friend, Rosalyn Sullivan. Sure, the girl went after her fiancé, but at least her objectives were clear from the start: marry rich to climb the social ladder, and crush her so-called best friend under her heel.
"You know, Shannon, you’re right. After all you and Wyatt have been through over the years, how could he not have feelings for you? I was just so worried about you earlier. I shouldn’t have said he doesn’t love you. Of course he loves you—you’re his fiancée, after all."
"But still, he shouldn’t neglect you completely just to get his revenge. Remember when you had that fever and called him? He was too busy in bed ’getting revenge’ by torturing Renee Sullivan to come take care of you. Not like me. The second I heard you were sick, I rushed over to your apartment in the middle of the night to look after you."
Since there was no waking up a dyed-in-the-wool romantic like Shannon Ashford, Jasmine could only resort to some manipulation of her own.
Shannon had eyes for no one but Wyatt Grant; nothing Jasmine said would get through to her. So, Jasmine switched tactics. She would play to her own strengths as a "green tea," using sweet, backhanded comments to hint that Shannon’s fiancé cared less about her than her best friend did.
Shannon, who had just managed to convince herself to feel better, felt her heart sink all over again at Jasmine’s words.
’When she had a fever, Wyatt hadn’t even bothered to check on her. But Jasmine had rushed over the moment she heard and stayed with her the entire night. All while her own fiancé was in bed, tangled up with another woman.’
’Does Wyatt really care about me at all?’
"What are you lovely ladies chatting about?"
The question came with a whistle and a devil-may-care male voice.
Jasmine looked toward the voice and saw that two men had already sat down across from them, watching them with smiles on their faces.
One was Leo Ford, the third son of the Ford Family, and the other was Kai Keane, the youngest grandson of the Keane Family. Both were notorious playboys in Capitoline’s high society. They had grown up with Jasmine and her two friends, and the five of them often got together to eat, drink, and fool around.
Kai Keane had organized today’s get-together. Apparently, he’d just been dumped by his thirty-eighth girlfriend and was in a bad mood, wanting to drown his sorrows. He’d called Jasmine and the girls to come keep him company while he drank.
When Jasmine had gotten the call asking her to come drinking, her immediate impulse had been to refuse. But the damn system had ordered her to come because her third target, Dexter Ashford, was supposed to meet Renee Sullivan here while she was working.
He was supposed to play the hero and save Renee when some rich heir started harassing her. To thank him, Renee would treat him to a budget street-food meal, and their lives would become intertwined. Later, they would save a kitten together at a hospital, which would lead Dexter Ashford to see how kind and innocent Renee was, causing him to develop feelings for her. Dexter would adopt the cat, which would create many more opportunities for them to meet, and he’d fall deeper and deeper, thus beginning his journey as the story’s unhinged second male lead.
The damn system demanded that she completely derail this plotline. Not only that, but she also had to seduce Dexter Ashford and earn at least 5 affinity value points. If she failed, it would cost her ten million points.
’At this rate, how could anyone ever save up enough points to return to the real world?’ She seriously suspected the damn system was just trying to make her lose points so it would have a free workhorse for the long haul. Besides, it had bound itself to her without even asking. What a total scam.
"Mr. Keane, looking pretty hot today, aren’t you?"
Jasmine teased, her eyes lingering on the open collar of Kai Keane’s red shirt.
’Nice pecs,’ she thought. ’Firm, full, with smooth lines.’ The sight made her hands itch with the urge to touch, but she restrained herself. She might be a perv, but she wasn’t so shameless as to make a move on a childhood friend.
"Sigh. What’s the point of looking hot? She said her ’one true love’ came back, so she doesn’t need this stand-in anymore. I thought I was the one playing games, but it turns out I was the one getting played. What a user."
Kai Keane clutched his chest, a wounded expression on his face. But when he caught a girl on the neighboring sofa looking his way out of the corner of his eye, he immediately dropped his hand, unbuttoned his shirt two more times to flash his abs, his seductive intent perfectly clear.
Jasmine found herself staring. If he weren’t her childhood friend, she’d be tempted to have some fun with Kai Keane herself. It was no wonder girls played him. With a body like that, and being so damn hot, who wouldn’t want a piece of that?
"Kai, stop trying to seduce every person in the room. You’re always dressed like some nightclub model, yanking your shirt down to your navel, terrified someone might miss your eight-pack. I honestly don’t see the appeal. God knows how many people have touched those abs. You’re basically public property at this point, completely used. Aren’t you afraid your future wife will be disgusted?"
Shannon shot Kai a contemptuous sideways glance. People who knew them knew he was her childhood friend. Anyone else would probably assume he was a male escort the great Miss Ashford had ordered for the evening.
Stung by Shannon’s verbal lashing, Kai toned it down a little, even doing up two of his buttons. But his seductive flair was innate and impossible to hide completely, still drawing the eyes of several girls in their direction.
"Leo, what’s with you?" Jasmine asked. "You’re just drinking without saying a word. Don’t tell me you got used as a stand-in, too?"
Jasmine noticed that Leo Ford didn’t look too happy either. ’She, Shannon, and Ava are the cuckolded villainess trio,’ she mused. ’Are these two the stand-in brothers?’
If that was the case, then the five of them were a truly pathetic group.