Chapter 3
Thinking about this, any guilt I felt towards the three of them faded away.
I had been wondering how to gracefully ask them to leave the Reed family, but since Lily had already seen what happened, there was no need to hide it anymore.
So I cleared my throat and said, “Since you already know, let’s just lay it all out. Zachary, Felix, Xavier, our agreement is hereby terminated. From now on, I won’t invest in you with the intention of marriage, and I won’t take back the money I’ve already given you.”
“From this point forward, you’re free to date and marry whoever you want. It has nothing to do with me anymore.”
“I’ve already found a suitable marriage partner.”
I thought they would cheer with joy, but instead, the three of them fell into an eerie silence.
Lily couldn’t hide the delight in her eyes, but she pretended to be worried and asked me:
“Sister, are you really giving up? Didn’t you love Zachary the most? Is it because they’ve been neglecting you, making you feel bad?”
“You can’t just marry some random guy to fight for the inheritance. It’s easy to catch diseases that way.”
“Guys, please talk some sense into her. Don’t let her hurt herself or you because of me.”
She moved between the three men, gently persuading them.
Xavier couldn’t help but laugh, then immediately fell silent, looking at me maliciously.
“This is your plan, isn’t it? To make Lily push us away herself, forcing us to marry you.”
Felix’s eyes lit up with sudden realization.
“I knew you couldn’t have changed your mind so quickly! So it was intentional, wanting to make us jealous and fight with your own sister over men!”
Zachary chuckled coldly, his eyes full of disappointment: “Aria, I never thought you were this kind of person.”
“You treat us like kept men, coming and going as you please. Seeing that we’re unwilling to marry you, you come up with this despicable scheme to force us.”
“Lily, as your sister, sees money as dirt. She only has us to support her, yet she’s willing to give us up to make you happy.”
“And you? You’ve already taken her father, and now you want to take her mother’s inheritance too. You think you can get the Reed fortune by lowering yourself to marry just anyone? Keep dreaming!”
“Compared to Lily, you’re not even close!”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“Haven’t you always hated me? I agree to let you go, you don’t have to pay me back, and you can be with your beloved Lily. Shouldn’t you be grateful?”
Xavier scoffed at my words: “You’re so devious, who knows if you’ll keep your word? You said before that you were willingly giving us the money, but what if you demand we pay it back a hundred or thousand times over in the future?”
Felix chimed in: “Even if we marry Lily and let her inherit Reed Enterprises, with your skills, how could Lily possibly be your match? The company would still end up in your hands!”
“You act generous, but if we really get together with Lily, you’ll definitely use every underhanded method to bully her!”
I was inexplicably surrounded and attacked by the three of them, and I started to get angry too.
Seeing Zachary looking down on me, I decided to give it my all and swung at his face.
“Ah!”
“Sister, even if Zachary doesn’t want to marry you, you can’t hit people! Wuwuwu…”
Zachary couldn’t dodge in time, but Lily reacted quickly, shielding him and taking the slap for him.
“Sister, I’ll let you have Zachary. I’ll tell him to marry you. Please don’t hit anymore, okay?”
She fell to the ground, then hurriedly knelt before Zachary.
“Zachary, please marry my sister! I don’t mind, don’t consider me. I’m willing to do anything as long as my sister is happy!”