Broken Oath: I Left, He Regretted-Chapter 172: Timothy Xavier Spots Naomi Sawyer
As soon as he said this, Doris suddenly raised her head and asked in disbelief, "What? That bad woman is also at home? Dad, why haven’t you kicked her out yet!"
"Doris!" Timothy Xavier’s face darkened, he interrupted her sternly, "She brought you up since you were little. Even if you don’t call her mom, you should at least call her aunt. Who taught you to be so ungrateful!"
"I won’t!" Doris angrily shook off his hand and quickly ran to my side, her stubborn little face glaring at Timothy Xavier, "I only have one mom. That bad woman has harmed me, she is a bad woman!"
After saying that, she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards my car, muttering, "Mom, let’s go! Ignore that big fool of a dad!"
Timothy Xavier was infuriated, and the veins at his temple were throbbing as he grabbed me, full of questions in his tone, "Is this how you usually teach my daughter to insult her father?"
I looked at his livid face and calmly said, "Isn’t this what you taught her through your actions?"
I paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "But I think Doris’s assessment of you is quite accurate."
After saying this, I shook off his grip and got into the car with the two kids.
...
In the following days, whenever I went to work, someone would inevitably ask me about my wedding.
Everyone thought Timothy Xavier and I had gone through the hardship and that Timothy had turned over a new leaf.
For example, now, my neighbor Ms. Morgan leaned over and patted my arm with a smile: "Zoe, I heard the wedding is set for next weekend? How come you haven’t given us the invitations yet?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the intern at the opposite desk also poked his head over: "Ms. Ellison, even though Mr. Xavier made mistakes before, he’s handsome and considerate. Now he’s treating you really well; he’s probably trying his best to make it up to you!"
I was about to casually brush off their comments when Victoria Monroe’s agitated voice came from behind me: "Have you finished your work? Haven’t you seen someone getting married before?"
The office instantly quieted down, Ms. Morgan tactfully withdrew, and the intern stuck out his tongue and lowered his head.
Victoria Monroe grabbed me and pulled me into the office, slamming the door shut. She pointed at my nose and started scolding: "Zoe Ellison, did your brain get filled with water? After graduating college, it was such a good opportunity! The department gave you the only postgraduate spot, and you just gave it up to marry Timothy Xavier!"
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, raising her voice, "Now your career is finally picking up, and you want to jump back into his pit of fire again? You really piss me off!"
I looked at her explosive demeanor, but my heart felt warm, teasingly saying: "Why so agitated? If I leave, you’d have one less competitor; wouldn’t the front page of the newspaper be yours for the taking?"
Victoria Monroe rolled her eyes at me and said, "I don’t need you to give way for me."
She lifted her chin slightly, speaking with a touch of pride, "In the field of journalism, I have a higher education than you, more frontline experience than you, I’ve already won, okay? I’m angry because you’re not striving; you’re not taking the good path, but instead repeating the same mistakes!"
I know she’s rooting for me, speaks sharply but has a soft heart.
Therefore, I confided in her, saying: "This wedding with Timothy Xavier will have no meaning. I don’t intend to leave the job; I will continue to dig into the news with you in the future!"
Victoria Monroe frowned and looked at me for a while, then suddenly seemed to think of something and asked, "Is he threatening you?"
I didn’t want more people to know about the entanglements between Julian Sinclair, Timothy Xavier, and me, so I vaguely replied, "Sort of."
The air in the tea room quieted down, Victoria Monroe is very smart and realistic.
Although she no longer openly or secretly competes with me, she knows that, with her background and ability, she can hardly get involved with Timothy Xavier’s matters.
So she didn’t ask further, just sighed and said, "As long as you know in your heart, don’t be silly like before."
I nodded with a smile, feeling warm inside.
...
During my "wedding preparations" with Timothy Xavier, Julian Sinclair didn’t appear again.
Occasionally, I hoped he would come to the newspaper, just like before, even if only to see him from afar.
But he never appeared again.
I didn’t know if he was intentionally avoiding, afraid of gossip, or if he was too busy.
The wedding date was getting closer, only three days left.
At that moment, Jenna Sutton was sitting on the sofa in my office lounge, urging me earnestly: "Zoe, please listen to me, run away from the wedding!"
She gripped my hand, her eyes red with anxiety, "I see it clearly, Julian Sinclair is completely unreliable! The situation is urgent, if he had a solution, he should have shown up long ago. But now he’s gone completely incognito, what kind of thing is this?"
Saying this, she sighed deeply and said, "Yesterday, The Ellison Family called me, your mom was almost crying over the phone, saying you should buy a plane ticket and leave the country, and don’t deal with the mess here. Although The Ellison Family isn’t what it used to be, they can definitely support you living comfortably abroad."
"Jenna, I’m already twenty-six. The Ellison Family raised me to this age, I can’t be a parasite hiding behind them anymore."
I raised my eyes to look at her, with no hint of cowardice in my eyes, "Besides, I’ve never liked to escape. If I could escape, when I found out Timothy Xavier was cheating, I should have pretended to be deaf and dumb, continued to fool myself."
"You’re just being stubborn!" Jenna Sutton said angrily, standing up abruptly, "I ask you, if Julian Sinclair doesn’t show up on the day of the wedding, so you just muddle through and marry Timothy Xavier, then what?"
I took a deep breath, my heart mysteriously calm, and said softly, "I trust Julian Sinclair won’t deceive me. Even if he doesn’t come, what does this wedding signify? Can’t one divorce after marrying?"
Just after saying this, Timothy Xavier suddenly called.
It turned out he thought the wedding dress I chose before was too plain, specifically arranged several wedding ceremony outfits, requiring a change for each step from the procession to the toasts, even instructing the bridal shop to rush the new styles from Aurelia headquarters overnight.
I wanted to find an excuse to refuse, but on the phone, he sarcastically sneered: "If you don’t want to come try them on, I’ll have the store send all the dresses directly to your office, and let your coworkers help with the reference."
Jenna Sutton gritted her teeth, grabbed my bag: "Let’s go, I’ll go with you! To prevent this bastard from making a move on you while fitting the dress."
And so, we went together to the high-end bridal shop arranged by Timothy Xavier. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
As soon as we opened the door, we saw Timothy Xavier was already sitting on the sofa surrounded by several shop assistants, respectfully recommending new jewelry case models to him.
Diamond necklaces, jade bracelets, pearl earrings, each glistening beautifully.
"I’ll take them all, wrap them up and send them to this address."
Timothy Xavier didn’t even glance at the price tags, directly gave the shop assistant my home address.
We stood at the doorway watching this scene when Jenna leaned over to my ear and said in a low voice, "I heard from my dad that this guy’s making big moves at the Xavier Group recently. Even with Ethan Xavier taking the helm, he hasn’t been toppled. Instead, he’s drawn in some old shareholders. Look at how smug he is. If he ever goes bankrupt, let’s see what he has to be cocky about then."
Just then, a sales clerk holding a gown glimpsed us and immediately greeted with a smile, "Miss Ellison, you’re here?"
Timothy Xavier looked up at the sound, and his face darkened as his gaze swept over me. He coldly corrected the clerk, "Mrs. Xavier."
The clerk’s face turned pale white, and she immediately lowered her head, nervously correcting herself, "Mrs. Xavier, please come in, President Xavier has been waiting for a long time."
Timothy’s gaze then fell on Jenna Sutton, his brow furrowing into a scowl, his tone unfriendly, "What are you doing here?"
"Here to protect Zoe," Jenna retorted unyieldingly, glaring back with a clear voice, "to prevent some shameless creep from taking advantage of her under the guise of fitting gowns."
Timothy let out a derisive laugh, stood up, and walked over to us, his eyes filled with mockery, "You should know Julian Sinclair, right? Didn’t he educate you about the marriage law? Zoe Ellison is my lawful wife; what’s wrong with touching my own wife?"
I said coldly, "You should learn the marriage law yourself first. Using filth as capital, do you think the marriage law is giving you face?"
With these words, the store’s clerks instinctively paused, holding up jewelry boxes and gowns in mid-air.
But clearly, they had been strictly trained; they didn’t dare spread anything about what happened in the store.
Afraid I would say something even nastier, Timothy opted to continue looking at the jewelry.
He pointed at a necklace encrusted with diamonds and said, "This one, and that pair of sapphire earrings beside it, wrap them up for my wife."
When he turned to look at me, the smile in Timothy’s eyes faded, and his words carried barbs, "Mrs. Xavier, do these suit your taste? If you don’t like them, I’ll have the clerks bring out some new designs."
The words "Mrs. Xavier" were deliberately emphasized, each repetition stabbing at my heart.
I didn’t engage with him, just curled my lips slightly, my tone calm, "Do it as you said."
Timothy’s expression stiffened slightly at these words.
He stared intently at my face, his eyes full of scrutiny.
Only after a moment did he speak, asking in a low voice, "Zoe Ellison, what are you plotting with Julian Sinclair?"
I blinked at him, pretending to be puzzled, "Plotting? What are you talking about? I don’t understand."
Timothy looked down at me, snorted coldly, "Stop pretending. You used to be so resistant to me, but lately, you’ve been so obedient. Are you saying you two don’t have a plan?"
I thought to myself, thankfully Julian didn’t tell me all his plans.
Otherwise, when Timothy asked like this, my micro-expressions might have betrayed my guilt.
But now, I couldn’t help but chuckle and answer frankly, "You’re truly hard to please. I don’t agree, and you’re unhappy; I go along with you, and you think I’m up to something. So tell me, what exactly should I do to please you?"
Timothy’s gaze darkened, and he scrutinized me for a full half-minute as if examining me.
Suddenly, he curled his lips, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, "I’d advise you not to play tricks. You should know better than anyone the consequences of a fish dead-net broken scenario. Unless Julian Sinclair is willing to abandon all the glory the Sinclair Family brings for you, ignoring even Madam Sinclair’s safety."
I resisted the urge to slap him, holding my temper, "So are we trying on the gown or not? If not, I’ll go back."
"Try it! Of course, you’ll try it!"
Timothy signaled to the sales clerk, and immediately, a professional designer and stylist approached me.
He let out a scornful laugh, saying to me with hidden meaning, "On the day of the wedding, you have to be the most beautiful Mrs. Xavier, let those men eyeing you know that you are Timothy Xavier’s woman."
With that, he raised his hand to touch my face, but Jenna went over without a word and slapped his hand away.
Timothy’s brows tightened, barely maintaining composure, and Jenna stood by my side, looking up at him, "What are you glaring at? Don’t forget, on the day of your wedding, I am Zoe’s only bridesmaid! Even if you don’t like me, you’ll have to get used to seeing me!"
Though she had no intention of attending my pointless wedding, she thoroughly enjoyed provoking Timothy.
Timothy snorted, "We don’t need a bridesmaid or groomsman, especially not you. You’re not qualified to be at my wedding."
Jenna shrugged, "Aren’t you just the CEO that the Xavier Group recently ousted? Even Ethan Xavier said he’d invite me as a guest to any future wedding! What makes you say I’m not qualified?"
The clerks nearby, initially shocked, were now holding back laughter.
It was probably their first time witnessing such an absurd and farcical ’wedding preparation’.
Just as Timothy was about to call Jenna’s father, I spoke up suddenly, "Weren’t we going to try the gown? Hurry, try it on, and get it over with, Jenna still needs to help me!"
Only then did Timothy back down, letting Jenna accompany me to the fitting room.
Once the door was closed, Jenna was taking deep breaths in anger, "God, just the sight of his smug face made me want to go down with him! Listen to me, if Julian Sinclair doesn’t save you on the wedding day, you must flee the wedding! Never mind the consequences; you absolutely can’t let Timothy Xavier have his way. The guy is terrifying!"
Her exaggerated expression made me laugh.
I wasn’t sure whether I was just resigned to my fate or if I had so much trust in Julian that I wasn’t afraid of the coming wedding.
In any case, I could still laugh at this moment.
Suddenly, we heard Timothy’s voice from outside the fitting room, "Naomi! Naomi!"
Both Jenna and I were completely stunned.
Because we heard clearly, Timothy was calling ’Naomi Sawyer’!
We immediately opened the fitting room door and chased out, a bunch of clerks also rushed to the doorway, calling, "President Xavier, where are you going?"
I pulled aside a random clerk and asked nervously, "What just happened?"
The clerk looked confused and said, "President Xavier suddenly saw someone entering the elevator outside and was, as if possessed, yelling that name and chasing after!"
Another clerk added, "It seemed to be a woman, she was the only one waiting for the elevator earlier. Unfortunately, by the time President Xavier chased over, the elevator door had already closed, so he hurriedly went down the stairs. Who knows if he can catch up with her?"
