He thought Elena had been badmouthing him to Sarah, trying to manipulate her into thinking he wasn’t a good person.
Well, that made sense.
In Zayden’s eyes, she had always been a scheming woman willing to do anything to achieve her goals.
This time, similarly, he assumed she had deliberately let him misunderstand so he’d throw away the gift supposedly from Sarah, making Sarah hate him.
“Zayden, your imagination is quite something,” Elena said coldly.
Her indifference made Zayden frown.
In the past, Elena never talked to him in that tone.
“Zayden, you’re mistaken! Elena didn’t mean it like that…” Sarah chimed in vaguely, indirectly confirming that Elena had spoken ill of him.
Zayden said, “Sarah, you’re too kind. You never know how vicious this woman’s heart is.”
He then turned his cold gaze to Elena and said, “Don’t think that just because you’re my fiancée, I’m bound to you. That engagement was arranged by our parents when we were kids. If I don’t agree to it, it doesn’t count for anything.”
Elena replied coldly, “Is that so? I think the same. I’ll speak with my parents when I get back. Let’s cancel the engagement. From now on, we’ll go our separate ways.”
Zayden’s frown deepened – he hadn’t expected Elena to say such words, thinking, Does Elena actually agree to break off the engagement?
“Elena! What nonsense are you saying? No matter how furious you are, you can’t just cancel the engagement!” Sarah exclaimed, panicked, tugging at Elena’s sleeve.
Looking at the hands pulling on her, Elena found it laughable.
Why couldn’t she break off the engagement?
She could never forget what had happened in her previous life.
Not long from now, Zayden would announce their breakup publicly, leaving her utterly humiliated, and start dating Sarah soon after.
Later, when the Holt family fell into hard times, Sarah declared she saw no future with him and broke up without hesitation to go abroad.
It was Elena who had stayed by Zayden’s side, begging her parents, who never liked him, to lend him money to get through the crisis.
She had even dropped out of high school and lived with him for five years without status or title, cooking and caring for him like his wife.
In her previous life, when they went to the courthouse to register their marriage, Zayden held her hand and promised never to betray her.
And yet?
When Sarah returned to the country after just two days, everything changed after she shed a few tears.
On the day of their divorce, Zayden, who hadn’t come home in ages, coldly tossed the divorce papers in front of her and said, “Elena, Sarah’s back. She’s even willing to divorce for me. You know I’ve never had feelings for you. Let’s get divorced-it’s better for both of us.”
Seven years of marriage-and he made a clean break with her, saying he never had feelings for her.
Thinking of how miserable she had lived in the previous life, Elena wanted nothing more than to let go.
Elena just wanted to end things herself before Zayden had the chance to humiliate her again.
With that, she flung off Sarah’s hand and said, “I’ve made myself clear. Since this is what Mr. Zayden wants, I’m happy to oblige. Tomorrow, let’s have both families discuss the engagement cancellation.”
Upon finishing her words, Elena gave Zayden a faint smile and said, “Zayden, I only have one sister. Ever since we were kids, I have always given her whatever she wanted. I hope you don’t disappoint her.”
With that, she turned away.
In that moment, the smile faded from her face.
In her previous life, Zayden betrayed the wife who had stood by his side for twelve years-all for Sarah.
This time, she was letting go first!
These two tragic lovebirds had better stay locked together and far away from her.
As for Sarah…
Since she loved taking what wasn’t hers so much, this time Elena would let her have Zayden and take back everything else that should have been hers in her previous life.
It was late at night.
Zayden’s birthday banquet had ended. Everyone else had a driver to take them home-except Elena.
It was hard to hail a cab by the sea. She finally got a ride after waiting for half an hour and returned home to the Delaney family past midnight.
The lights in the living room were still on.
Nathan and Evelyn sat on the sofa; their expressions were serious as they watched her walk in.
Seeing her parents made Elena’s heart sink.
Evelyn asked, “Didn’t you go to Zayden’s birthday banquet? Why are you back so late?”
She frowned, continuing, “Sarah got home long ago! What kind of girl comes home this late? What kind of example are you setting for Sarah?”
Elena glanced at Sarah, who sat on the sofa.
Zayden had sent her back in the Holt family’s private car-of course, she got home early.
But Sarah hadn’t mentioned how she was abandoned by Zayden at the seaside.
“Mom, don’t be mad at Elena. She just stayed a little longer to have fun,” Sarah said softly, snuggling against their mother with feigned sweetness.
Hearing that, Evelyn’s expression softened. “See? Sarah’s still speaking up for you! When will you start acting like a proper older sister?”
An older sister?
Ever since she was a kid, she had to give up everything good to Sarah, simply because she was the older sister.
In the end, both her grades and her love were taken away from her.
In her previous life, after Sarah killed someone in a hit-and-run, their usually cold mother had actually held her hand tenderly and said, “Elena, you’re her elder sister. She’s about to get married. You wouldn’t want to watch your sister die, would you?”
The fact that she was the elder sister meant she had to take the blame for Sarah and take on the charge of the hit-and-run.
When the victim’s family caused a scene in court, she was beaten until she vomited blood, while Evelyn was only concerned with protecting Sarah, who was standing by as a family member.
Did all of this happen to her simply because she was the older sister?
Elena asked, “Mom, Dad, do you both think that as an older sister, I should sacrifice everything for Sarah, including my life?”
Nathan and Evelyn both frowned; they didn’t understand why she would say such strange words.
Evelyn snapped, “It’s late; what nonsense are you spouting now? I would want to ask you instead-I heard from Sarah about you breaking off the engagement with Zayden. What’s going on?”
Facing the scolding, Elena responded calmly, “Zayden doesn’t love me, so he wants to break off the engagement, and I agree.”
A sudden bang echoed through the room.
Evelyn slammed the table, standing up angrily, and said, “Nonsense! Why don’t you tell us about such a big matter?”
Elena had anticipated her mother’s reaction.
In her previous life, because Zayden didn’t like her, the Holt family had attempted to break off the engagement multiple times.
This caused her to lose face at school and become a laughingstock of the entire Westbrook.
At that time, feeling disheartened, she had agreed to the breakup, but Evelyn had slapped her angrily, saying that her actions had affected Sarah’s reputation.
Yeah, how could a woman who was publicly dumped by her husband still be worthy to be Sarah’s older sister?
Sarah, acting like a sweet little angel, walked over to Evelyn and tried to comfort her emotions. She said, “Mom, Elena didn’t do it on purpose; please don’t be angry at her.”
This time, Elena clearly saw the flash of smugness in Sarah’s eyes.
Sarah had been struggling with how to get together with Zayden. Now that Elena had voluntarily broken off the engagement, it was exactly what she had wanted.
She thought to herself how silly her sister was.
The Holt family was such a good match, but she refused to marry into it. Now, after breaking the engagement, no one would dare to marry Elena.
Evelyn said, “Since Sarah is pleading for you, I’ll let it go this time. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the Holt family to apologize, and we’ll pretend that no one mentioned breaking off the engagement. The midterm exam is coming soon, so focus on studying.”
Evelyn took a deep breath and continued, “Sarah has always been in the top three in her grade. But for you, your grades have been slipping, and the teacher has approached me and mentioned that with your current performance, you might not even make it into college.”
When Evelyn brought up midterm exams, Sarah’s expression was a little uneasy, and she said, “Mom, why are you bringing that up? Elena is so smart. I’m sure she’ll do well in the next exam. We should believe in her.”
Hearing Sarah defending her, Elena couldn’t help but find it laughable.
Sarah had been a top student in middle school, but after entering high school, she couldn’t keep up with the pace, and her results went into a downfall.
Eventually, Sarah came and begged for her, asking if she could swap test papers with her.
In her previous life, Elena did what Sarah told her, covering for Sarah, and ended up having their parents get called in by the school.
In the end, even the teachers stopped believing in her learning abilities.
In one exam, she took it with her real ability and didn’t swap papers with Sarah. As a result, she scored first in her grade.
The teacher suspected her of cheating, and it was Sarah who stood up and tearfully said that she was afraid Elena wouldn’t make it into college, so she swapped the papers with her in a momentary lapse of judgment.
No matter how much she tried to explain, her parents and the teachers no longer believed her words.
Later, Sarah shamelessly said that if she hadn’t begged for mercy for her, Elena would have been punished.
It was laughable that she had actually believed this absurd excuse in her previous life.
But the good news was, she had only covered for Sarah’s cheating twice up until now.
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