Filed to story: Mia Bowen and Timothy Barrett Novel
Still, Dominic’s phone kept ringing, and Mia eyed him curiously. “Your phone keeps ringing.”
“Someone probably got the wrong number.”
Dominic was very tempted to throw his phone away. What was the point of keeping it?
“But the person keeps calling.” Mia commented doubtfully. “It must be for something urgent:”
Since Dominic couldn’t avoid the situation any longer, he walked out to the balcony with his phone. Once he was sure Mia wouldn’t overhear the conversation, he answered the call and asked stiffly. “Yes? What is it?”
“Dominic, I heard that you came to Bern City on business! Why didn’t you tell me?” Maya exclaimed excitedly.
“Oh, yeah. I have something to attend to,” Dominic replied vaguely.
“Since you’re here, Dominic, can you help me with something? I have a friend whose grandma is in poor health. She needs to get surgery, and Connor’s the only one who has a 100% success rate with this surgery, but he keeps refusing to do it.”
Dominic’s expression tumed cold. “You’re talking about Timothy Barrett’s grandma, aren’t you? He’s already married, so why are you still latching onto him?”
“Tim’s getting a divorce, Dominic. He never liked that woman anyway. I’m sure that after three years, Tim has figured out who’s right for him.”
Maya added anxiously, “Dominic, the surgery’s a piece of cake for Connor! Help me talk him into it, please? He listens to you.”
She could use the surgery as her bargaining chip to marry Timothy!
“I’m not doing it,” Dominic replied before ending the call.
Even though Maya was adopted, Dominic didn’t want her to marry Timothy, a cold-blooded and heartless man who had been married once before.
Dominic checked the One Big Happy Family group chat. It was a newly formed one. For the time being, the family didn’t want to let Maya know they had found their biological younger sister.
At the very least, they were going to wait until they had won Mia over.
Dominic went back into the living room of the hotel suite. “Everyone will be arriving by this evening, Mia. Let’s have dinner together.”
“This evening?”
Remembering that she had promised to eat dinner with Laura, Mia said hesitantly, “I’ve already made plans with a friend.”
“It’s alright. That’s not a problem. We’re in no rush. After all, so many years have passed. We don’t mind waiting a little longer.”
Seeing how careful Dominic tried to be with her, Mia pursed her lips and said, “I’ll come back earlier tonight.”
Dominic stroked Mia’s hair while asking, “You’re going out to have dinner with a friend, yeah? Do you have enough money?”
Mia stiffened. She was unused to such physical intimacy. Her tone was a little stiff as she replied, “I have enough.”
She went back to the bedroom to get changed. Patricia followed her and muttered, “You’re going over to the
Barretts’, right?”
“You figured it out, Aunt Patricia? Grandma Laura has always been kind to me. Either way, I should head over there to explain things to her.”
“Mia, I didn’t tell your brother about your marriage and divorce, but I’m worried about you going to the Barretts’,
“Patricia said.
“Let’s keep my relationship with Timothy a secret. I’m afraid that Dominic would get riled up and look for
Patricia didn’t continue with that subject. Still, her eyes reddened as she declared, “You don’t need to suffer such grievances anymore. We’re not interested in those wealthy families.”
Mia nodded. After changing her clothes, she looked in the mirror and stroked her belly.
She would start a new life with her baby.
When Mia headed out, Dominic followed her down to the lobby. “Where are you going, Mia? I’ll give you a ride.”
“It’s fine,” Mia declined. “I’ll take a bus.”
How could Dominic let his younger sister take public transport? He even prepared a fleet of luxury cars for her!
Even so, he had to hold himself back. After all, he was only a real estate agent right now.
Thankfully, Dominic spotted a cab. He quickly flagged it down and paid the driver in advance before saying to Mia, “Take a cab. The bus would be too packed. I can afford this much, you know.” (1
Dominic couldn’t bear to let Mia crowd together with the rest of the commuters on other modes of public transport. Mia had spent years away from the family, and he wanted nothing more than to make it up to Mia.
Mia could not talk Dominic out of it, so in the end, she got into the cab and waved to Dominic.
She had a small smile on her face. It felt pretty good to have finally found her family.
Mia took the cab to the Barrett residence. As she stared at the familiar house, she was conflicted over how she was going to inform Laura about the divorce.
Taking a deep breath, she walked into the residence.
A young woman came over from the garden. “You actually came over in a cab this time, Mia. What happened to taking a bus?
“Have you finally given up on pretending to be a frugal and virtuous wife? Have you started using the Barrett family’s money to fund your luxurious lifestyle?”
The young woman was Shelly Barrett, Timothy’s cousin.
Mia simply ignored Shelly’s sarcastic remarks. Throughout the years, Shelly viewed Mia in contempt. Her comments would always suggest that Mia was only willing to marry a half-dead Timothy for money.
In the past, Mia kept putting up with Shelly’s ridicule. But now that she had signed the divorce papers, she no longer needed to do so.
Shelly strutted haughtily over to Mia and snapped, “Why are you just standing there? Hurry over to the kitchen and start cooking. Remember to make my favorite seafood stew.”
Mia withdrew her gaze and replied, “Grandma Laura invited me over to have dinner. She didn’t ask me to come here as a maid to cook for other people.”
“What do you mean by that, Mia? You’ve got the nerve, don’t you? You’re even refusing to cook! I’m going to tell Aunt Sharon about this!”
Mia ignored Shelly and walked into the house. When she entered the living room, she saw two people sitting on the couch.
One was her ex-mother-in-law, Sharon, while the other was her ex-husband’s first love, Maya.
She didn’t expect to see Maya at dinner today.
Shelly rushed into the living room. She purposely bumped into Mia before reporting loudly, “Aunt Sharon, I told Mia to head to the kitchen and cook for us, but she refused! She even said that Grandma invited her over as a guest and not as a maid!”
As soon as Shelly finished speaking, Sharon’s expression turned cold. “Mia, as my daughter-in-law, how can you refuse to cook for the family? What’s the point of keeping you around then?
“What can you do apart from spending the family’s money? You should be honored that we let you cook for us.”
“Do calm down, Mrs. Barrett. Don’t let this affect your health,” Maya said with a smile.
“The more I look at her, Maya, the more annoyed I get,” Sharon huffed. “Even though you two have similar names, she’s just some poor woman. How can she compare to a young heiress like you? You come from such a good family, and you even studied abroad.
“You’re a beautiful and capable young woman. In my eyes, you’re the most perfect daughter-in-law a person could have.”
Maya’s eyes flashed with smugness as she replied, “She’s an orphan, Mrs. Barrett. I can understand her circumstances.”
“Hah! What’s there to understand? As an orphan, she should know her place. She shouldn’t have dreamt of soaring up the ranks of society.” Sharon scoffed.
“My son is such a fine young man. He’s bound to accomplish a great deal more in the future. How can he be
“They’re not from the same class. I never agreed to their marriage, you know? But his grandmother insisted upon it.”
Mia took it all in. She had heard the same speech numerous times over the last three years.
However, she was no longer an orphan. She had six brothers who were all accomplished in their various fields.
She raised her eyes and remarked, “Oh. Based on what you just said, are you implying that Timothy needs to rely on his wife’s and family connections to make something of himself?”
“What’s this about him needing to rely on his wife? My son has always been talented, even at a young age. Why would he possibly rely on a woman?” Sharon snapped.
“Wasn’t that what you just said?” Mia reminded her. “You said he should’ve married someone from the same class as him so that he can accomplish a great deal more in the future.”
Sharon was so furious that she couldn’t even speak. When did Mia become so sharp-tongued?
Mia glanced at the maid who was standing nearby. “Where’s Grandma?”
The maid finally snapped out of her daze and replied respectfully, “Mrs. Barrett Senior is taking a nap in her room. I think she hasn’t woken up yet.”
Mia frowned. “Has Grandma not been feeling well lately?”
She was a little concerned about Laura’s health.
Shelly purposely chimed in, “Mia, look at what Maya brought with her. Not only did she bring a lot of expensive supplements and health products, but she even brought a bracelet. They’re all very valuable, you know.
“Meanwhile, look at you. You came empty-handed. You don’t even know how to behave like a proper guest.
Don’t you know any etiquette?”
Maya glanced at the expensive gifts on the table and intentionally said, “You’re too kind, Shelly. These are all just ordinary gifts.”
“They’re ordinary to wealthy people like us, Maya, but someone in our midst doesn’t have any money. She would never be able to earn enough money to afford these things, so that’s why she did everything she could to marry into the family,” Shelly stated.