Free Web NovelChapter 131: Chapter 127: Who Said We Are Going Back Tonight
’He wouldn’t go so far as to sell me!’
Georgia Thorne was just afraid Zane Lennox would try to pull something.
But right now, she had no choice but to go with him.
Georgia Thorne clutched the strap of her bag and reluctantly followed him.
The two of them sat in silence inside the quiet car.
Zane Lennox’s hands were on the steering wheel. A pair of black sunglasses, perched on the bridge of his handsome nose, hid his eyes.
This allowed him to watch the expression on Georgia Thorne’s face as he pleased.
Georgia Thorne kept her head turned, watching the scenery fly by outside the window, refusing to spare him so much as a single glance.
After driving for a while, the number of cars on the road began to dwindle.
It seemed they had left the city limits.
Georgia Thorne had a habit of sleeping in cars. The drive was long, and since she had no idea where Zane Lennox was taking her, she leaned back against the seat, growing drowsy.
To keep herself from falling asleep, she eventually just took out her phone and started chatting with Nancy Hughes.
Before she knew it, more than two hours had passed, and the car was still cruising down the highway.
Georgia Thorne glanced at a road sign up ahead. It indicated that a resort was just a few miles away.
"Zane Lennox, where are you taking me?"
Georgia Thorne glanced at the desolate roadside scenery, then whipped her head around to glare at the man in the driver’s seat.
"A resort. I’m guessing in all your years with the Thorne Family, you’ve never been!"
"Are you crazy? You brought me all the way out here! How are we supposed to get back tonight?" Georgia Thorne shouted, fed up with Zane Lennox’s high-handedness.
’What could possibly be so important that we had to come to such a remote place!’
Zane Lennox took off his sunglasses and slanted her a look. "Who said we were going back tonight?"
"Uh..."
Georgia Thorne’s chest tightened at his words. ’How could he just drive all the way out here without saying a word!’
The landscaped trees on both sides flew backward as Georgia Thorne finally exploded. "That’s enough! Stop the car, I want to go back!"
"Georgia Thorne, don’t forget why you came looking for me!" Zane Lennox turned his head, his dark eyes brimming with anger.
"...Zane Lennox, I’ve done nothing to you! Why are you treating me like this? What on earth did I ever do to wrong you?"
Georgia Thorne felt a surge of unprecedented anger. She honestly wished she could slap him again.
"I’m tired today. We can discuss work another time. Stop the car. I want to go back!" Georgia Thorne took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"You don’t have the option to refuse me!" Zane Lennox floored the accelerator, and the car sped toward their destination.
’It was because he was so arrogant and conceited, never listening to anyone else, that this conflict would always exist between them.’
The car pulled up to the resort at exactly three o’clock.
Georgia Thorne unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car.
She said coldly, "Thanks so much for bringing me here!"
Then she turned and walked away, intending to find a local station.
Zane Lennox grabbed her wrist. "Where are you going?"
"Let go of me! I want to go back!" Georgia Thorne yanked her arm fiercely but couldn’t break free.
The back of her hand was already turning red from his grip. Just as Georgia Thorne glared at him, her beautiful eyes flushed with anger, a soft, gentle voice reached their ears.
"Zane Lennox, you’re here!"
The resort Zane Lennox had brought Georgia Thorne to was in a small town on the outskirts of Portmire. The drive from the city center took about two and a half hours.
The resort boasted beautiful scenery and pleasant surroundings, but its greatest advantage was its seaside location.
The resort had been completed just a few years prior. Since then, it had steadily attracted a growing number of tourists, boosting the local economy.
Georgia Thorne wanted to leave, but upon seeing Joanne Donovan, her feet felt as if they were nailed to the floor, unable to move.
Not long ago, her larger-than-life photos had been plastered all over television and the newspapers, leaving a deep impression on Georgia.
Joanne Donovan was exactly as she appeared on television.
Confident, mature, dignified, beautiful, and effortlessly poised, she wore a white, ankle-length dress that radiated elegance.
In her presence, Georgia Thorne was suddenly struck with a sense of inferiority; it felt as if she couldn’t compare to Joanne Donovan in any way.
Joanne Donovan knew Zane Lennox and said with a smile, "I didn’t think you’d bring a woman with you."
Zane Lennox’s hand was still clamped around Georgia Thorne’s wrist. "Let me introduce you. This is my fiancée, Georgia Thorne."
Hearing the surname "Thorne," Joanne Donovan’s brow furrowed. "Seriously?" she asked in disbelief. "I haven’t heard a thing about you getting engaged!"
"It’s true."
"Miss Thorne, hello. My name is Joanne Donovan."
Joanne Donovan introduced herself to Georgia Thorne with graceful ease. In her high heels, she stood a good half a head taller than Georgia.
Georgia Thorne had to tilt her head back, her response coming a moment too late. "Hello, Miss Donovan."
"I’m not his—"
"You two are just so sweet, holding hands like that. Aren’t you worried you’ll make people jealous?" Before Georgia Thorne could finish, Joanne Donovan’s gaze shifted to Zane Lennox at her side.
"What’s there to misunderstand?"
He squeezed Georgia Thorne’s hand even tighter, making no secret of his affection for her in front of Joanne Donovan.
"Miss Thorne is certainly lucky to have a fiancé like you," Joanne Donovan said with a smile, ushering them into the resort hotel.
Georgia Thorne followed them in a daze, her eyes fixed on Joanne Donovan’s every move.
’This woman was exceptionally brilliant in every respect.’
’She was beautiful, came from a good family, and even her conversation was incredibly elegant.’
’Any man would be captivated by a woman like this. Elliot... he...’
Standing to the side, Georgia Thorne listened to Zane Lennox and Joanne Donovan’s conversation and began to piece things together. freёwebnovel.com
Apparently, Zane Lennox had met Joanne Donovan when he was studying abroad. They seemed to have lost touch after he returned to the country, as Joanne kept bringing up their time overseas.
Joanne Donovan steered the conversation, and Zane Lennox followed wherever she led.
They mostly reminisced about their time abroad—how they’d met and the time they’d spent together. Georgia Thorne couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
Not that she had anything to say in the first place.
She snuck a glance at Joanne Donovan’s delicate features. She didn’t know if she was just being overly sensitive, but she felt that Joanne was deliberately giving her the cold shoulder.
She couldn’t help but recall Nancy Hughes’s opinion of Joanne Donovan—and it hadn’t been a good one.
Today was Joanne Donovan’s birthday party, the first one she had thrown since returning to the country, and she had invited many of her friends.
Besides celebrating her birthday, it was also an opportunity to reconnect with old friends.
Joanne Donovan had invited many people, mostly from her own social circle of people around thirty.
Among those invited was, of course, Amanda Thorne, who had been all the rage in recent years—the publicly acclaimed "number one beauty."
’Joanne Donovan was disdainful of Amanda Thorne. In her opinion, Amanda’s looks were just so-so; that face was clearly bought and paid for. She truly couldn’t understand how people could call her the number one beauty.’
’They must be blind.’
’Now that she was back, there was no longer a place for Amanda Thorne in this circle.’
Joanne Donovan gasped in mock surprise, her eyes shifting to Georgia Thorne. "Oh dear. I was so sure you wouldn’t be bringing a date that I only booked one room for you."
"Unless... you two are planning on sharing a room?" Joanne Donovan’s gaze swept over Georgia Thorne’s face, a soft smile playing on her lips.
In that soft smile, Georgia Thorne saw Joanne Donovan’s hostility toward her loud and clear.
Georgia Thorne met Joanne Donovan’s gaze head-on, letting the other woman size her up. Her own voice was clear as she said, "That won’t be necessary. I’m not staying here tonight."
"Georgia, stop making a scene," Zane Lennox said, squeezing her hand. He turned to Joanne Donovan with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, she’s young. You don’t have to take her seriously."
"Zane Lennox, are you deliberately trying to say I’m old?" Joanne Donovan laughed as if she didn’t mind, but inwardly she was startled.
’She’d known Zane Lennox for quite some time. They were the same kind of person—proud and arrogant. And yet, here he was, apologizing to her over some little girl.’
’Georgia Thorne was clearly important to Zane Lennox.’
Having reached this conclusion, Joanne Donovan sized up Georgia Thorne again, this time in earnest.
’Truth be told, there wasn’t anything special about Georgia Thorne. Her only advantages were that she was a little younger, a little more vibrant.’
’Georgia Thorne looked like the type of girl who was fresh out of school—young and pretty. She really didn’t understand how Zane Lennox had picked up the same disgusting habit as those other men, chasing after "younger things."’
The sudden silence in the elevator made Georgia Thorne a little uneasy.
Her palm had grown sweaty in Zane Lennox’s grasp, and she struggled against his hold where Joanne Donovan couldn’t see.
Zane Lennox released her hand. Just as Georgia Thorne breathed a sigh of relief, an arm draped around her shoulders.
Zane Lennox pulled her petite frame into his embrace, his masculine scent washing over her face. "Georgia, be good. Stop making a scene."
"Zane Lennox, don’t push your luck!"
Georgia Thorne clenched her jaw. If Joanne Donovan hadn’t been there, she would have stomped on his foot long ago.
Because of Joanne Donovan, she found herself staying, stunned into submission, and had even been enthusiastically invited—no, insisted upon—to attend the birthday party that evening.
Before Georgia Thorne could even speak, Joanne Donovan made the decision for her. "Then it’s settled! I’ll be waiting for you both tonight!"
Her tall figure swaying alluringly in her high heels, she sauntered away.
Zane Lennox, standing behind her, warned in a low voice, "Don’t get too close to Joanne Donovan."
Georgia Thorne whipped her head around, nearly crashing into Zane Lennox’s chest. She instinctively recoiled until her back was pressed against the wall.
The tall man had already taken out the key card. With a BEEP, he entered the room.
’Don’t get too close to Joanne Donovan.’ ’What was that supposed to mean?’
Georgia Thorne didn’t go in, nor did she want to. She stood at the doorway, ready to turn and walk away.
She didn’t want to go to Joanne Donovan’s birthday party, either. It had nothing to do with her.
’She, Zane Lennox, and Joanne Donovan... they weren’t from the same world.’
Down in the lobby, Zane Lennox, with a mild expression, was speaking with the front desk clerk about switching rooms.
His other hand was clamped firmly around Georgia Thorne’s wrist, preventing her from leaving.
He’d let his guard down for a moment earlier, and she had almost escaped.
There was no way Georgia Thorne was going to share a room with Zane Lennox—they were nothing to each other. Furious, Zane Lennox had dragged her over to book a separate room.
The front desk clerk said apologetically, "I’m very sorry, but all of our rooms for tonight are fully booked. We can’t move you to a different room."
With Joanne Donovan holding her birthday party tonight, many of the guests had booked rooms in advance.
The room Zane had booked for Georgia was the only one that had been available, but it was too far from his own.
