Half an hour later, Zoe Rhodes appeared at the entrance to the banquet hall, her face pale.
While she was spacing out, a figure beside her leaned in slightly, his gaze sweeping over her face. In a concerned tone, he asked, "Are you carsick? You look a little pale."
"..." Zoe Rhodes jumped back a step in fright. When she looked up and met the man's inscrutable eyes, her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly shook her head.
"I'm fine, I'm just... hungry."
As she spoke, she rubbed her stomach pitifully.
"Then let's go in first. We can see if there's anything you'd like to eat."
Zoe Rhodes wanted to turn and run, but...
A waiter at the entrance stopped a woman who was about to enter. "Hello, miss. Please present your invitation."
"I forgot my invitation."
The waiter looked as if he'd heard it all before. "You're the twenty-third person to use that excuse today."
"But I really did forget it."
"Then please give me your name, and I'll see if you're on the guest list."
"..."
The waiter gestured for her to leave. "I knew it. You're another reporter trying to sneak in for photos. This way out, or I'll have to call security."
'I don't have an invitation either. If I don't rely on Nathan Bennett to get in, I probably won't get a chance to see Zane Hawthorne.'
At this thought, Zoe Rhodes sighed and resignedly followed Nathan Bennett.
'I don't know whether to call myself lucky or unlucky.'
'The good news: I'm not dead, I've just time-traveled ten years into the future.'
'The bad news: I opened my eyes and landed right in the villain's hands!'
'And I kept calling him such a good person. I was truly... blind.'
Having successfully slipped into the venue wearing a cocktail dress that was a decade out of style, Zoe Rhodes finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Um... Mr. Bennett, you go do your thing. I'm just going to go find something to eat over there." Zoe Rhodes prepared to make her escape.
Nathan Bennett lowered his gaze, and their eyes met.
Zoe Rhodes swallowed nervously. 'I have a feeling this supervillain has seen right through me.'
Fortunately, the man only stared at her for a few seconds before letting her go.
Zoe Rhodes felt a wave of relief and turned to slip away.
"Wait a moment."
Nathan Bennett's voice rang out, and Zoe Rhodes's breath hitched.
"Wh-what is it?"
She turned around cautiously.
"Phone."
Nathan Bennett took a phone from his secretary and handed it to her. "It's new. I've saved my number in it. Keep it with you."
Just as Zoe Rhodes was about to refuse, she heard him say:
"It's crowded here, so having a phone will make it easier to get in touch if something happens. You can return it to me after you find your family."
'I really do need a phone right now.'
"Thank you, thank you! Send me your bank account number, and I'll have my brother wire you the money later!" 'Maybe this villain isn't so bad after all.'
"Alright," Nathan Bennett agreed.
"So, I'll be going now?" Zoe Rhodes pointed to the side, her tone tentative.
The man smiled and nodded. "Goodbye, Miss Rhodes."
Once she disappeared around the corner, Nathan Bennett retracted his gaze, and the smile vanished from his face as well.
"Is the device installed?"
The secretary nodded and took out his own phone to show him the real-time location tracking.
—
There was still some time before the ceremony officially began, and Zane Hawthorne had not yet appeared.
Zoe Rhodes grabbed a couple of small cookies to tide her over. Munching away as she asked around, she finally found Zane Hawthorne's private lounge.
However, the staircase leading to the lounge was guarded.
As soon as Zoe Rhodes approached, she was stopped by a bodyguard.
She tried to explain to the bodyguard, but he didn't believe she was a friend of Zane Hawthorne.
Zoe Rhodes blinked, trying to win him over with her sincerity.
Growing up, Zoe Rhodes had often used this trick on Ethan Rhodes.
It never failed.
Sure enough, the bodyguard was starting to yield. Just as he was about to go up and pass on the message, he turned and saw Zane Hawthorne's secretary coming down. "Hey, Secretary Lawson! There's a girl here who says she's a friend of Mr. Hawthorne's. She says it's urgent!"
"A friend?" Lawson sized up the young woman before him, frowning. "What's your name?"
"Zoe Rhodes."
Lawson mentally reviewed the name, searching his memory, but he had no recollection of it at all.
"Can you take me to see Zane Hawthorne? It's really urgent!"
"I'm sorry, Miss Rhodes. I'll need to make a call to confirm."
Lawson, afraid of genuinely slighting someone important, didn't dare to delay and immediately called Vance.
He hadn't been on the job for long, but Vance was different. He had previously been the old master's assistant, and after Mr. Hawthorne took over the company, Vance had naturally started working for him.
Vance answered the call. "What's her name?"
"This young lady's surname is Rhodes, her name is..."
Before Lawson could finish, Vance cut him off. "Mr. Hawthorne has no friends with the surname Rhodes. Didn't I tell you before? He's practically allergic to that name."
"..."
Lawson turned back to Zoe Rhodes and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Hawthorne says he doesn't know you."
"?" Zoe Rhodes's eyes widened. Without a second thought, she yelled at the phone, "Zane Hawthorne, don't you dare forget where you came from! Who did your homework for you every day in elementary school, ran your errands in middle school, and brought you water during your high school basketball games?! It was me, your goddamn father!"
Meanwhile, in the lounge, Vance held the disconnected phone, the corner of his mouth twitching violently.
'Goddamn father?'
'The voice really does sound like the Miss Rhodes from my memory.'
'But...'
'Impossible. Impossible.'
Vance shook his head forcefully. 'She died ten years ago. How could it possibly be her?'
A thought occurred to him, and he looked toward the balcony.
On the balcony, a man with refined features leaned against the railing, tilting his head as he toyed with a worn-out lighter. The flint wheel scraped, and a blue flame flickered and danced in the air.
Wreathed in smoke, the man held a cigarette between his lips. His beautiful, almond-shaped eyes were slightly downcast, his thoughts unreadable.
'The ceremony is about to start.'
'I'm not going to tell Zane Hawthorne about that little incident.'
'What I just told Lawson—that Zane Hawthorne is allergic to the name Rhodes—wasn't a lie.'
'For the past few years, forget hearing Zoe Rhodes's full name—Zane Hawthorne has a stress reaction just hearing the name Rhodes, flying into an indiscriminate rage.'
'She's been dead for ten years. Best to let sleeping dogs lie; there's no need to bring her up again.'
"Mr. Hawthorne, it's time," he said, stepping forward to remind him.
At the sound of his voice, Zane Hawthorne seemed to startle awake from a dream. He gently stubbed out the cigarette in his hand. "Mm."
Downstairs in an inconspicuous corner of the banquet hall, Zoe Rhodes was squatting behind a food cart, munching on cookies while trying to figure out how to contact her brother.
'I have a bad memory. Besides my own WhatsApp number, the only long number I can remember is my brother's phone number... Wait, my WhatsApp number!'
Zoe Rhodes quickly downloaded WhatsApp and, after going through several layers of verification, finally managed to log in.
Because it was a new phone, all her past chat histories were gone.
Scrolling through her contacts, Zoe Rhodes found a familiar gray avatar and tapped on it.
Zoe Wants To Get Taller: [You there?]
Not far away, Zane Hawthorne was descending the stairs, walking at the very front. Beside him, Vance was still detailing the upcoming proceedings.
It was all just a formality, so he was distracted, not paying much attention to it at all.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket vibrated, and a familiar yet strange notification sound chimed.
"What was that sound?" Vance asked, looking over in confusion.
Ahead of them, Zane Hawthorne froze.
After a long silence, he pulled out his phone with a trembling hand and unlocked it.
At the top of the notification bar, the latest WhatsApp message was from—
[Special Care] Zoe Darling.