His Ex Wife Is A Billionaire

Chapter 762

In the dead of night, Mr. Bartley summoned Alston to his study. Mrs. Bartley was already there, her presence a clear sign of the gravity of the discussion about to unfold.

“What? Call off the engagement?!” Mrs. Bartley shrieked in disbelief. “Timothy, are you out of your mind? The news has already spread like wildfire. I have the ladies from the country club practically fawning over me, showering me with gifts because our Alston is set to marry the Abernathy heiress!”

Her eyes blazed with the scandal of it all. “With the wedding just around the corner, you drop this bombshell on me. How am I supposed to show my

ace around them after this?”

“Dad! What’s going on? Why cancel the engagement?!” Alston, his face flushed with anger, recalled the evening’s humiliation. “Marilla had the audacity to hold hands with Mr. Ashbourne and dance with him right in front of me. I’ve been embarrassed already, and now you want to call off the wedding altogether?”

Edith had painted Marilla as a simpleton. But what sort of fool dares to flirt with another man in front of her own fiancé, to be so intimate in public?

The thought of it was maddening. He wanted to make her pay, to make her regret her indiscretion.

“If your dignity comes at the cost of my future, then I say your pride is a small price to pay!” Mr. Bartley’s words were shocking, his impatience written all over his face.

“What are you saying?!” Both mother and son stared at him, bewildered.

“Haven’t you seen it tonight? Aaron has fallen for that ‘simpleton‘,” Mr. Bartley said, sipping his tea with an air of self–satisfaction. “Suri approached me in confidence, asking me to break off the engagement.”

Chairman Emeric is also in

and Mrs. Bartley was at a loss for words.

wife and son, this arrangement is nothing but beneficial for us!” Mr. Bartley lounged on the couch, legs crossed, transforming from a dignitary to a rogue in a heartbeat. “Firstly, Alston

influential Ashbourne family. It’s killing two birds with one

“Dad, aren’t you oversimplifying things? The Ashbournes have a formidable reputation. I find Emeric even

knows that. He’s abroad for treatment and probably won’t last two

fumed, influenced

not forget, she has Thaddeus backing

acting like a cornered animal in front of Mr.

Alston was speechless.

please Edith. He didn’t care for her; it was all a performance, a means to an end. Yet watching her dance intimately

impression with Frederic. He’s known for holding grudges, and even if I didn’t speak up, he’d never allow his daughter to marry you.”

what it takes to marry into

following day, Frederic, having wrapped up his engagements, inquired about the previous night’s events during his leisurely

gift to Marilla and Aaron’s bold declaration of

has been incredibly generous with our Miss Marilla. The welcome gift alone was worth over ten million,” Dennis remarked, clearly

We’ve been planning an engagement with the Bartleys, and yet they’ve shown no such grandeur.

the better of him. “Bought by a mere trinket? Those Ashbournes probably have a vault full

be, but Aaron is leagues better than that Bartley boy,” Dennis scoffed. “Last night, Alston had the nerve to publicly criticize you. I wonder what’s eating at

expression grew even darker at the mention of this. The comparison between the two suitors was the last thing he wanted to

A match with the Ashbournes would be a hundred times

son marrying an Ashbourne girl and my daughter wed

wisely chose to remain

window, the sky was overcast, mirroring Frederic’s mood. If he set aside his personal feelings, he had to admit that Aaron, Suri’s son, was a far superior match for his daughter than the Bartley

knew deep down that Alston had no real affection for his daughter; it was all about family arrangements. But the way Aaron looked at Marilla,

Aaron wasn’t

from his thoughts. It