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.”

agree to hand Marilla over to her son, she’ll back my campaign in the upcoming election. Chairman Emeric is also in the loop. If

jaw, and Mrs. Bartley was at a loss for words.

to a rogue in a heartbeat. “Firstly, Alston won’t have to marry the ‘simpleton‘ and demean himself. I’ll get what I want without owing the Abernathy group any favors, freeing us

campaign financing and aligns us with the influential Ashbourne family. It’s

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

abroad for treatment and probably won’t last two years. I’m not afraid of him,” Mr. Bartley retorted

daughter Evadne! In my eyes, that woman is like a banshee, far more terrifying than her father!” Alston fumed, influenced by

not forget, she has Thaddeus backing

acting like a cornered animal in front of Mr. Frederic. I’ve taught you better! Even if it’s an act, you have to maintain your composure. But you lost your temper in front of everyone!

Alston was speechless.

all a performance, a means to an end. Yet watching her dance intimately with Aaron had stung him deeply. It felt like a betrayal,

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

shook his head in disappointment. “You don’t have what it takes to marry into their world. Give up on

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

to Marilla and

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

where. We’ve been planning an engagement with the Bartleys,

a mere trinket? Those Ashbournes probably have a vault

boy,” Dennis scoffed. “Last night, Alston had the nerve

of this. The comparison between the two suitors was the last thing he wanted to

Aaron truly feels about Marilla. Why don’t we call off the engagement with the Bartleys? A match with

armrest, his face flushed with anger. “My son marrying an Ashbourne girl and my daughter wed to an Ashbourne boy? As if my children have no other prospects but those Ashbournes!” he fumed, his pride wounded.

wisely chose to remain

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

affection for his daughter; it was all about family arrangements. But the way

only Aaron wasn’t an Ashbourne.

him from his thoughts. It was