Chapter 3

Julian's punch packed a lot of force; Liam was sent sprawling to the ground.

He recovered, scrambling to his feet, and pointed a finger at Julian's nose, cursing, "A nanny's son! How dare you hit me!"

Chloe started to cry, gently touching Liam's face, then turned to me, whining, "Miss Thorne, if you're angry, take it out on me! How could you let him hit Mr. Sterling?"

The words had barely left her mouth when I couldn't resist. I slapped her. "I'll hit him, and I'll hit you too!"

Chloe clutched her face, tears instantly gushing out.

Brandon quickly shoved me away. "Aria Thorne! Even if you're the richest heiress, you can't behave like this!"

"No wonder Liam wouldn't even look at you all these years. You're just too vicious!"

I turned to them, sneering, "Have you forgotten that your family businesses all depend on *our* Thorne family to thrive?"

"Even Julian, who's not even part of your elite circles, understands that, so why don't you?!"

At my words, Brandon instantly clamped his mouth shut.

Noah also looked away, stammering, "So what? Does that mean you can force us to marry you?"

I scoffed disdainfully. "I never said I wanted to marry any of you three losers."

Liam's head shot up at my words. "Aria Thorne, what game are you playing now?!"

Chloe nestled into his arms, her eyes red, saying, "It seems Miss Thorne is still angry with me. I shouldn't have told you I was in a bad mood today…"

Hearing this, Liam anxiously wiped away her tears. "It's not your fault. Aria Thorne has been clinging to us three for years; everyone knows she can't live without us and wouldn't dare do anything serious."

"I just can't stand her always bullying you. She just needs a lesson."

I was speechless.

If they didn't believe me, then I wouldn't bother explaining.

I turned to link my arm through Julian's, ready to leave, but Liam grabbed my arm, stopping me.

His gaze fell on our intertwined arms. "Since when are you so close to a nanny's son?!"

I slapped his hand away, enunciating each word. "What nanny's son? Julian Vance is my fiancé."

"He's the man I'm going to marry."

At this declaration, everyone stared at me in unison.

Especially Liam. He widened his eyes, pointing at Julian, and roared, "You'd say you're marrying a nanny's son just to humiliate me?! Are you out of your mind?!"

I felt Julian's arm tense; clearly, he was also startled by my words.

Brandon and Noah snapped out of their shock, stepping forward to mock me. "Aria, you really aren't picky, are you? You'd even stoop to a nanny's son!"

I pointed at Chloe and retorted with a smile, "Well, you haven't exactly picked well yourselves."

Chloe instantly swayed, choking out, "Miss Thorne, don't say such things carelessly."

"While the three young masters have been kind to me, I haven't done anything to offend you. You don't need to be so sarcastic."

She paused, then looked at Liam with a contrite expression. "It's Miss Thorne who knows what she's done."

"Actually, I've long noticed your nanny's son often going in and out of your room…"

"It's all my fault. I protected you before and didn't tell Liam…"

I used to consider her my best friend, even let her be my only bridesmaid.

And she just spouted such nonsense?

Liam snorted, pulling her back. "Chloe, you're still too naive. You're even covering for Aria Thorne!"

"I think she's just jealous of how good we are to you, so she's trying every trick to get our attention."

"A dirty, stinking nanny's son like him? We wouldn't even give him a second glance."

I nodded, perfectly satisfied. "If that's the case, then I won't disturb your little 'harem' then."

With that, I pulled Julian into the upscale boutique next door.

I pointed to the most expensive suits on display. "Get all of these down. My fiancé needs to try them on."

Julian snapped out of his daze and looked at me. "Miss Thorne, a joke is a joke."

I looked at him, amused, and smiled. "I'm serious. Don't you want to?"