I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 331

An indescribable gloom flashed through Hayden's eyes, while Sienna smiled. "We can all go together. Lily is half a Thorne, after all."

As if suddenly remembering something, she corrected herself. "My mistake, she's half a Kendall. Garrett's goddaughter, right?"

Zoe interrupted Sienna without a shred of politeness.

"We aren't going the same way, and we have our own car."

She ignored Sienna, didn't even glance at Hayden, and walked straight off with Garrett.

Once they were in the car, Garrett tried to comfort Zoe, worried she might be upset.

"Don't take Sienna's words to heart. Hayden might have his own unspoken difficulties."

He could sense Hayden's occasional jealousy, but if the man truly had feelings for his wife, why was he constantly protecting his brother's wife?

Zoe couldn't care less.

Take it to heart?

Because of what Sienna said?

"She wasn't wrong. Lily is a part of the Kendall family, but she is definitely not a Thorne."

Did the Thorne family have a throne to pass down or something? Acting as if bearing their surname was the ultimate privilege.

Seeing that she had no intention of continuing the conversation, Garrett dropped the subject.

As per government requests, a leading corporation like Sterling was expected to send representatives to participate in the local Annual Charity Regatta during the Summer Solstice Festival.

Garrett shared this with Zoe, and they brought it up to Lily when they picked her up.

Lily's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Okay! But Garrett, what's a Regatta?"

She had never heard of it, let alone seen one.

Garrett shot Zoe a curious look.

"You guys never took her to see it before?"

Zoe felt a pang of embarrassment; she had absolutely no memory of her past.

If Lily said she didn't know, then it meant they truly had never gone.

Garrett understood immediately. It had to be Hayden's failure as a husband, showing zero care for his wife and daughter, never even bothering to take them out for fun.

He cared for her, but never in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

He offered an understanding smile.

"Lily probably just said that because she hasn't experienced much fatherly love. I won't take it too seriously."

Even so, a faint trace of disappointment and regret lingered in Garrett's eyes.

If only he had met Zoe before Hayden did, perhaps everything would have been different.

Zoe felt a bit embarrassed but simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

Raising a daughter on her own, she had no intention of holding back a man like Garrett.

In her heart, he would always just be a dependable, brotherly figure.

Over the following days, Zoe went to Easton every single day. No matter how eloquently Sienna spun her excuses, Zoe diligently submitted her reports on the project's vulnerabilities, patching up numerous illogical flaws.

With the files submitted, Zoe figured Hayden couldn't possibly be so blind and foolish as to jeopardize the entire project just to cover for his mistress.

But reality proved to be far harsher. The hundreds of pages of documentation she had compiled over five sleepless nights were rejected without a second thought.