The comment section was flooded with stunned reactions from mutual friends.
[Is this really the Theo I know? Everyone always said he was devoted to the Callahan heiress since childhood, but I’ve never seen him smile like that at Emma!]
[Since when has Cole been this sweet? Boiling brown sugar water and preparing warm packs? He’s clearly head over heels.]
Reading each comment, Emma let out a cold, mocking laugh. She switched off her phone and raised her glass, then stepped onto the dance floor.
Her silk camisole clung to her skin, her curls cascading in messy waves across her shoulders. She drifted through the crowd of male models with practiced ease, the curve of her lips wickedly seductive.
Maya could hardly believe her eyes. She stared, mouth agape.
“Emma, you’re not chasing after Theo anymore? I thought you once said you’d never even look at another man. And he’s famously jealous; aren’t you scared he’ll lose it?”
Jealous? Maybe only when it involved Juliet.
After several drinks, a faint flush bloomed across Emma’s cheeks, her eyes gleaming with a misty sheen. Even through the haze, she had never felt more certain.
“Not chasing him anymore.”
But before the words had fully left her lips, a familiar voice sliced through the noise behind her.
“Not chasing what anymore?”
Emma turned and met the sharp, questioning stares of Cole and Theo.
Each of them gripped one of Juliet’s hands tightly.
Theo’s expression was cold, his brows drawn tight with displeasure.
Cole’s eyes swept over Emma’s figure in the tight camisole, then shifted to the male models surrounding her. His expression darkened.
“Emma, what are you doing in a place like this?”
Emma swayed slightly as she stood, the glass in her hand tilting with her movement.
“Can’t you tell?”
The alcohol flushed her cheeks and gave her voice a sultry edge, making her look all the more seductive.
Whatever she said seemed to ignite something in Cole. His jaw tightened.
“Emma, have you really become this cheap?”
Emma lifted her gaze. She had always known Cole had a temper, but before Juliet appeared, he’d never dared speak to her like that.
Now, it came so easily.
Her voice turned cold. “What does it have to do with you?”
Cole let out a bitter laugh. “You’re right. It has nothing to do with me. Just thought you looked filthy, nothing like Juliet’s purity.”
Emma let out a sharp laugh.
That one sentence pierced straight through her like a blade, releasing a burning, unbearable pain.
Back when she cared, he never dared to say a cruel word. Now that she didn’t, he said anything he pleased.
As she laughed, her eyes began to sting.
Not wanting to exchange another word, she turned and vanished into the sea of bodies on the dance floor, leaving the three behind.
But before long, the sharp crash of a beer bottle shattered through the music, piercing her ears.
Screams followed. Then came the low hum of whispers and gossip rippling through the crowd.
“Oh my god, the Barrett Family’s young master just threw hands because someone asked that woman for her WhatsApp. Even the always-cold Blackwood family’s young master snapped!”
“That woman must really mean something to them. I’ve never seen those two lose it like that.”
“Haven’t you heard? Last night, the two of them lit up the whole city with fireworks for her. And just because she glanced at a globally limited-edition necklace during an auction, they bought it for her on the spot. They even rejected a marriage alliance for her. A twenty-year bond with the Callahan heiress couldn’t compare. That’s how much they love her!”
