Chapter 369: Chapter 369: Every Villain Has Their Match
As soon as Owen left, the calm on Ariana Grant’s face immediately disappeared, and she began excitedly exploring the first-class seats.
She accidentally pressed a button, and the whole chair started moving automatically, with the backrest reclining.
Ariana was startled and quickly grabbed Ashley Shaw, who was rummaging through her bag.
"Ashley! Help! I think I broke this!"
Seeing what was happening, Ashley reached over and pressed the button beside Ariana’s hand, stopping the seat movement.
Seeing Ariana still looking frightened, she reassured her, "It’s fine, you didn’t break it. You just hit this button. Once it starts, the seat turns into a little bed, so you can lie back all the way to Aethelgard."
"Wow! That’s so fancy!"
Ariana was shocked one moment, then quickly regained her composure, saying, "Wait a minute, isn’t this your first time flying first-class too? How do you know this?"
Ashley felt a slight panic inside but maintained a calm exterior.
"Don’t forget, I was practically half a member of the Prescott Family before, and I did fly first-class with them."
"No way! Why didn’t you brag about it on QQ Space?"
Before this year, everyone was still using QQ, but now many have switched to WeChat.
"Brag about what? It’s not my money; I was just tagging along."
"Even tagging along takes skill. If I were you, I’d post about it on eight QQ Space updates."
Ashley laughed, "It’s not too late to post now. Share it on both QQ Space and Moments."
"No, I didn’t pay for it."
"What was I just saying?"
Ariana stuck out her tongue, dropped the topic, and started fiddling with the small TV in front of her seat.
Meanwhile, Owen Sinclair made his way to the last row of first class.
Sitting there were his manager, assistant, and two bodyguards.
He whispered a few words into his manager’s ear, who nodded immediately.
"Owen, leave it to me."
Owen gave a soft "uh-huh," then returned to his seat.
...
Economy Class.
Zoe Hayes was complaining to her Riverton friend, Jessica Zane, about Ashley Shaw.
"She thinks just because she hooked up with a good father, she can act all high and mighty! You should’ve seen her; she looked exactly like a nouveau riche!"
Jessica was still processing the explosive news that Ashley Shaw was Owen Sinclair’s daughter.
"So, does that mean she’s not the third wife’s daughter?"
"Who knows? Isn’t his wife someone else? God knows if her mother is the third wife."
"You make a good point. If she was the first wife, why has she been living in Riverton all these years? Why work as a nanny in someone else’s home? I think she’s the third wife’s daughter, but now that Owen is divorced, he’s acknowledged her."
Zoe felt a bit better and said, "But a sparrow on a branch is still a sparrow and can’t become a phoenix. If you were there, you’d see her nouveau riche demeanor."
"I don’t even need to see; just hearing your description, I can imagine it. It’s hard to imagine she even dared talk back to you."
"All right, I won’t keep you any longer. The flight’s about to take off. Call me when you get to Aethelgard tomorrow. It’s been days, and I really miss you; there’s so much I want to rant about."
"Cool, see you tomorrow."
The call ended, and Zoe was about to close her eyes to rest when she saw two big men standing in the aisle beside her, glaring at her menacingly.
One was bald, the other with a crew cut, and the bald one even had tattoos on his head, looking quite intimidating.
The disparity in height and build made Zoe instinctively nervous.
"Wha-what do you want?"
The bald man, with a fierce countenance, said directly, "Get up!"
Zoe frowned, "Why should I get up?"
The crew cut man also wore a dark expression, "We’re taking this seat; go find another one."
Zoe instinctively retorted, "This is my seat!"
"Then show us your boarding pass!"
Zoe didn’t want to argue with these two any longer and pulled out her phone, showing the page with her seat number, "Look, this is my seat."
The bald man glanced and said, "You’re talking nonsense! You’re supposed to be by the window! Get up quickly, or don’t blame us for bullying women."
"Wait, aren’t you both not in this seat either? Why don’t you show me your boarding pass?"
"Why should we show you?"
"Yeah, just because you ask doesn’t mean we have to."
The bald man suddenly smirked, "Showing our boarding pass is out of the question. But we can show you something else. Since it’s not convenient here, why don’t we go to the restroom?"
Zoe’s face instantly flushed red with anger, her hands shaking.
"You two are being jerks!"
"How are we jerks? You’re the one demanding to see it."
"I did not! I just want to see your boarding pass!"
The crew cut man grew impatient and picked his ear, "You have three seconds to get back to your seat, or we won’t be polite!"
"Why should I? You’re seat bullies!"
"So what if we’re bullies? If I want to be a bully, I will. Now get up and get out of the way!"
Zoe was about to argue when she suddenly thought of Ashley Shaw.
She remembered being called a "seat bully" by Ashley Shaw and her friends back then.
Could it be these two men were...
Her eyes lit up with realization.
"Did Ashley Shaw send you?"
The two men frowned, "Who’s Ashley Shaw, or whoever you’re blabbering about? Just tell us if you’re moving or not!"
Zoe saw they genuinely seemed not to know Ashley Shaw, causing her to doubt.
Yet before she could figure out if they were sent by Ashley, the crew cut man reached out, grabbed her by the back of her collar, and pulled her up from the seat.
"What are you doing? Let me go! Help! These two are bullying me; they want to steal my seat!"
Zoe shouted, hoping someone nearby would stand up for her, thinking with so many people around, one or two might come to her defense, making the intimidating men back off.
Yet, she saw no one stood up for her; instead, they wore expressions as if she deserved it.
One even muttered, "What goes around comes around!"
The comment was soft, but Zoe heard it.
Her face shifted from panic to anger in an instant, and she shouted, "Flight attendant!"
The attendant came over sluggishly, asking what was going on in a perfunctory manner.
Before Zoe could answer, the two men said, "Didn’t we ask you earlier? You mentioned seats that are empty can be taken. So, what’s wrong with sitting here if the aisle seat is empty?"
The attendant replied with a smile, "Of course, go ahead. Ma’am, please make way."
Zoe was outraged, almost at the point of losing herself.
"This is my seat; why should I move?"
The two men simultaneously cast a chilling look.
"So you’re not moving, are you?"