Filed to story: Mia Bowen and Timothy Barrett Novel
No commercial projects came before her family.
Furthermore, it wasn’t like she needed money right now. Nothing bad would happen just because she failed to land the deal.
When the night dawned, Mia changed into a nightgown and headed to the charity banquet organized by Raymond’s daughter.
As soon as she got out of the car, reporters began surrounding her, bombarding her with questions.
“Ms. Mia, we heard that your ex-husband is a rich person in Bern City. Who is he?”
“Ms. Mia, how were you able to marry into a wealthy family in Bern City when you were still an orphan? Was there a story behind this?”
“Which family did you marry into, Ms. Mia? Could you tell us?”
The corner of her lips twitched. She knew that these privy reporters would surely ask her who her ex-husband was.
Even if the incident about Lewis and Connie was the talk of the town, it couldn’t quench their thirst to know more about the stories in the entertainment industry.
After all, it had been years since they had been looking into who Mia’s ex-husband was.
Mia responded, “All I can tell you is that my ex-husband really comes from a rich family in Bern City. But as for which family was it, I can’t tell that. I can’t give away much because we’ve signed a divorce agreement. Sorry.”
“Ms. Mia, why did your ex-husband willingly hand over the custody to you? He’s from a rich family, isn’t he? Did he do it conditionally?”
“Ms. Mia, did you divorce because your ex-husband had an affair? Or was he looking down upon your identity as an orphan?”
Mia contemplated an answer before responding, “He didn’t know that I was the lost daughter of the Lane family when we divorced. He only knew that I was an orphan without a background. This was indeed one of the reasons we divorced.”
The reporters surged into excitement as they didn’t expect to hit the bullseye.
“So, does he know that you’re the daughter of the Lane family now?”
“They know now.” She nodded.
“Did they regret their decision after that?”
Another reporter continued, “What was their response when they first learned of the news? Did he come back to you to get back together?”
A marriage alliance with the richest family in Nord City would bring good to any family.
“I can’t answer these questions for now because of the divorce agreement we signed. I can’t blabber whatever I want, can I? Sorry,” Mia replied indifferently.
The reporters didn’t give up.
“Ms. Mia, please tell us a little more!”
“Ms. Mia, which rich family in Bern City is your ex-husband from?”
Right then, a luxury car stopped outside the hotel. Someone was staring at Mia’s back from inside the car.
Mia strode toward the banquet hall without looking back, not wanting to waste time with the reporters.
She didn’t have the luxury of time to reveal her personal information to feed the reporters some juicy headlines.
She barely took a few steps when she suddenly felt a scorching gaze on her.
Turning her head to look outside the hall, she didn’t notice anything out of particular.
Frowning, she wondered if she was overthinking it.
Slowly, she turned back and shrugged it off as being oversensitive. After walking into the hall, she noticed that many were looking in her direction.
They obviously knew that Timothy was her ex-husband.
After all, Timothy was on that list enumerating possible names that could be her ex-husband.
People would only buy it when there was a mixture of truth and lies.
Although Mia could do something to the headlines published out there, she couldn’t stop words from spreading among the insiders.
Now, a lot of people were aware that she had married the president of Barrett Group before.
“Ms. Mia, why are you here today?” A sweet-looking blonde approached Mia and linked her arms so intimately.
That was Raymond’s daughter, Jasmine Shelbert.
Mia wasn’t used to profusely enthusiastic welcomes.
It was clear that Jasmine was aiming to get together with Nathan, in other words, Mia’s sister-in-law!
Mia forced a smile. “I dropped by for fun after hearing that there’s a charity banquet going on. Why? Am I not welcome here?”
“Of course, you’re welcome here! But I heard that the president of Barrett Group is your ex-husband. Is that true?”
Mia saw this coming the moment Jasmine started talking about her ex-husband. “Ms. Shelbert, my ex-husband and I have signed a confidentiality agreement, so I’m not allowed to say whatever I want. Whatever everyone knows is enough.”
That answer was neither an admission nor a denial.
The clever Jasmine naturally understood what Mia meant.
Jasmine smiled. “Don’t take it to the heart, Ms. Mia. I asked because it’s on everyone’s lips. Besides, the reporters were asking who your ex-husband was when you came. I wasn’t trying to gossip. “A lot of guests are invited today. Some of them are rich families from Bern City.”
Mia asked, “Are the Barretts invited too?”
“Yes. Ms. Mia, I’ve planned for today’s charity banquet for a long time. And I didn’t know about you and your ex-husband back then, let alone the fact that he’s from a rich family in Bern City.
“I invited the rich families from Bern City simply to build a bridge between the two cities. Nothing more. It’s definitely unintentional. The story about you and your ex-husband just happened to be exposed only recently.”
Mia nodded. “I’m not that petty. I know, so you don’t have to take it to heart.”
So what if the Barretts were invited? She wasn’t afraid of them.
“I’m glad to hear that, Ms. Mia. I was so worried.”
“There’s nothing for you to be worried about. I’ve severed all ties with my ex-in-laws anyway. It won’t hurt to meet them,” Mia assured.
Despite her distaste for such a pretentious character, Mia had to show respect because Jasmine’s father was the mayor.
“That’s great! Thank you for understanding. There are a lot of guests coming today. I should get going.”
“Sure, go ahead. Don’t mind me.”
Mia watched Jasmine leave. There was a spark of curiosity in her.
Just who from the Barrett family was invited to the charity banquet? Could it be Timothy?
If Raymond had invited Timothy, he would’ve told Mia the name specifically.
That was why Mia was very curious about the person from the Barrett family who was invited to the banquet. Was it someone of the indirect family line?
Her eyes of scrutiny scanned the area but there were no familiar faces.
“Mia,” someone called her from the side.
Mia turned her head only to spot a young lady approaching her. A smile played across her lips. “Blair, what brings you here as well?”
Blair grinned. “Aubrey’s having a concert in Bord City, so I came along to have fun.”
“Aubrey’s having a concert? I should come with you. Connor’s so mean for not telling me about Aubrey’s concert in Nord City. He’s doing such a great job of keeping his relationship a secret. No one in my family knows. Thanks for helping me deal with the Barretts last time,” Mia said sincerely.
Back then, Mia knew who Blair was. Blair was the younger sister of Connor’s girlfriend, Aubrey.
Mia and Blair teamed up and with perfect chemistry, they managed to set Shelly up.
The mention of Shelly tickled Blair’s funny bones as she covered her mouth. “Shelly’s plain stupid. She doesn’t even know the truth as of today. The truth of her using imitations has spread within the circle. Everyone’s calling her ‘Ms. Sham.””
Blair recalled how the shameless Shelly demanded luxury products from Mia only to show them off to her friends.
It was another level of shamelessness.
However, it was refreshing to expose Shelly and turn her into a joke.
Shelly kept showing off and bullying others because she was a Barrett.
In fact, her family was a mere shell of nothing. Her confidence simply came from how much Timothy’s family took care of her.
Mia said, “I heard that someone from the Barrett family is invited too. Do you know who it is?”
Blair shook her head. “Beats me.”
Mia was simply curious about it.
“I think Shelly isn’t invited, Mia. Her family has always been a joke. No one takes them seriously. Besides, if she was invited, she would’ve shown it off on her social media.” “You have a point.” Mia nodded in agreement.
“But Mia, people keep saying that your ex-husband is the president of Barrett Group.”