Chapter 132
A deafening crash echoed through the room.
The sound of something heavy hitting the floor shattered the silence.
Zoe shrieked in terror, immediately burying her face into Frederick’s chest.
Frederick’s gaze snapped to the doorway, where Lydia and Arthur stood frozen. On the floor was a dropped food container, its soup completely spilled across the tiles.
He forcefully shoved Zoe away, taking several steps back to put a clear distance between them.
Thanks to their earlier struggle, their clothes were slightly disheveled.
His sudden movement, meant to draw a boundary, ended up looking more like a guilty reflex.
Lydia’s face was deathly pale as she slowly stepped forward. Her lips trembled, displaying a rare loss of composure.
“What… what are you two doing p>
Zoe hadn’t seen who it was at first. Assuming it was just Martha or Maeve, she had intentionally pulled her open jacket wider, letting her top slip suggestively off her shoulder.
But upon hearing Lydia’s voice, absolute panic seized her heart, leaving her with only one coherent thought.
She was screwed. She had pushed it too far!
Desperately swallowing her panic, she quickly fixed her clothes, turning her head with a forced, brittle smile to explain.
“Lydia, Frederick was drunk. I saw no one was home, so I just stepped in to take care of him p>
Her relationship with Frederick wasn’t even established yet.
Getting caught in such a compromising position by the Fairchilds did her absolutely no favors.
Lydia’s expression remained dark and rigid. She wasn’t blind, and she certainly wasn’t stupid.
The very first thing she saw when she pushed the door open was Zoe clinging tightly to Frederick’s waist, her chin tilted up with a seductive, lingering gaze—a blatant attempt to initiate a kiss.
Late at night, alone together in the house, and between the two people who should absolutely never cross that line p>
Lydia looked utterly sickened. She closed her eyes, gasping for breath a few times as if she was about to suffocate.
Oh, how she wished this was all just a hallucination.
Lydia stared at Zoe’s pregnant belly. Her face shifted from pale to a livid purple, eventually settling into a furious, stormy darkness.
“Zoe, you are still carrying Felix’s child. Doing something like this… how could you do this to Felix p>
Frederick looked at his severely agitated mother, pressing his throbbing temples as he exhaled a heavy breath.
“Mom, it’s not what you think. I was drunk and almost tripped, and Zoe was just helping me up p>
Even though he said that, he wasn’t drunk enough to lose his mind.
He knew exactly what was happening—Zoe had developed romantic feelings for him.
This was not the outcome he wanted p>
For the first time, Frederick began to doubt his own actions.
Was it really because he had been taking too much care of Zoe?
Had her reliance on him mutated into something twisted?
“Helping you up p>
Lydia was furious, clutching her chest as she panted heavily, clearly having suffered a massive blow.
“Do you think I’m blind? Or senile? Frederick, you really are… you’re unbelievable p>
Her usually sensible, boundary respecting eldest son had done something so utterly absurd that the crushing pain in her chest prevented her from finishing her sentence.
Catching Arthur standing silently off to the side from the corner of her eye, she lost her temper and snapped at him.
“Say something! Are you mute p>
Arthur’s face was ashen. Hearing her yell, he glared right back at her.
“Stop yelling! This absolutely cannot get out p>
Lydia stood rigidly, her gaze darting between Frederick and Zoe. Finally, she forced herself to speak with eerie calmness.
“I don’t care if this was a misunderstanding or something else. The two of you cannot be in the same space ever again p>
She then turned her icy glare onto Zoe.
“In a couple of days, Ill arrange for you to be sent abroad. There will be professionals to take care of you and I will give you enough money to live comfortably. Until the child turns three, you are not allowed to return p>
Zoe instantly panicked. In all her scheming, she had never calculated that Lydia and Arthur would show up here.
She wasn’t stupid. Being exiled abroad meant a severe downgrade in her quality of life compared to the Capital.
Throwing all caution to the wind, Zoe slumped to the floor in front of them, tears instantly streaming down her face.