Chapter 188: Inappropriate

"I'm going home," Jared said calmly.

"Come in! I'm going the same way, I can drop you off."

Maria opened the car door as she spoke, opening the passenger door. She would never have allowed Jared in her car before; he would have had to sit in the back.

Jared had no idea what Maria was up to. She seemed like a different person.

"Come in!" Maria urged, seeing him hesitate.

Jared nodded and sat in the front. Maria slammed her foot on the accelerator and sped toward Jared's house. Jared sat silently, the atmosphere growing awkward.

After a while, Maria broke the silence. "Jared, do you really own a mansion overlooking Dragon Bay?"

"Yeah," Jared nodded.

"Did you buy it?" Maria asked, surprised.

"Someone gave it to me," Jared replied calmly.

Noticing Jared's reluctance to talk, Maria fell silent. Then Jared spoke. "Why aren't you home for dinner? Where are you going?"

"Zayne made a restaurant reservation. I'm going to dinner with him; we're discussing our wedding," Maria said.

"You're marrying him?" Jared was taken aback.

"Yes! We've been dating a long time, and our parents are pushing us. So we decided to get married," Maria explained.

Jared was silent for a moment. "I'd advise you to think carefully. Zayne isn't right for you"

He wasn't motivated by revenge for Zayne's bullying. He'd had Tommy investigate Zayne secretly; the man was a playboy who'd slept with numerous women while dating Maria. Though Maria was materialistic, she was still his father's comrade's daughter, and he didn't want her to make a mistake.

Maria wasn't surprised by his warning. Smiling, she said, "Actually, Zayne isn't as bad as you think. He might be mean to you, but I'll try to change him"

She'd misunderstood; she thought his comments stemmed from Zayne's antagonism.

Jared smiled and let it go.

Soon, while driving down a dimly lit street, a car suddenly cut them off. Maria slammed on the brakes, stopping just inches from a collision.

"How dare you drive like that? Are you blind?!" Maria rolled down her window and yelled, but quickly retracted her head, realizing the car was a Porsche 911. She wouldn't dare offend the driver.

A man and a woman—Leyton and Sandy—got out of the Porsche, smirking coldly at Jared. They didn't seem inclined to leave.

Maria felt fear. She opened the door, scrambling out. "I'm sorry. Please move your car. Why don't you go first?" she said submissively to Leyton.

Leyton glanced at Maria, who was in a pink dress with her hair in a ponytail. He found her cute and looked at her again, making Sandy jealous.

Note: I removed the questionable sentence promoting a website. Consider removing or rewriting such sentences entirely in future submissions.