The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

Whitney clenched her fists, as her already sour mood worsened further.

Though she tried to restrain herself, she couldn’t help exploding in the end. “Charles Newton, am I a terrible person to you? You always insult me and put me down no matter what I do. If you really think I don’t match up to your status, why did you marry me back then? You should have approached a wealthy family’s daughter like Jessamyn.”

Charles eyed her with a strange look. “What’s wrong with you? Did you experience trouble at work? Why are you lashing out at me for that?”

After a short pause, he realized something and added, “You’re getting bold, huh? Did you just call me by my full name?”

He reached out and pinched Whitney’s cheek, exerting some force as if punishing her.

The faint pain aggravated Whitney’s anger, and she slapped his hand away.

Her reddened eyes were misty with tears as she said, “You’re taking advantage of my affection for you and bullying me as much as you like. Yes, I like you now, so I’ll bear with it. But if I stop liking you in the future, I won’t allow you to pick on me again!”

Hearing that, Charles frowned. As he scrutinized her aggrieved expression, he was perplexed.

The pair stared at each other for a long time before Charles finally broke the silence and asked, “What is up with you? You’re so confrontational today. I was just joking; how is that bullying you?”

Whitney grew increasingly distressed as she listened to Charles, bitterness spreading in her heart. She pointed at her face and retorted, “You pinched my cheek, and it’s red now. You don’t think that’s bullying me?”

We’re married. Even though I’m only his wife in name, he should keep his distance from other women. No wonder he comes to my company every day lately; it turns out he’s here to meet his lover. He just picks me up because I happen to work here.

At that thought, Whitney felt suffocated. She bit her lip hard and lowered her head, trying to process the scene she had just witnessed.

Clueless about what was going on in her mind, Charles gazed at her cheek and noticed it had indeed turned red.

The rosy color on her face, along with her grumpy pout, made her look adorable.

Arching his brow, Charles was once again overcome with the urge to tease her. “There’s no mirror in front of you. How do you know it’s red? Maybe it turned red because you’re mad.”

“I know it’s red because it hurts,” Whitney grumbled and turned her face to the side while quickly wiping her eyes.

Charles paused upon noticing her actions. “Are you crying?”

“No!”

It’s obvious from her nasally voice that she’s crying.

Charles leaned over and moved his face closer. “I’ll let you pinch me back.

turned around

in her character to sit back and do nothing after being offended by others, so she was actually tempted to take up

me if I really

“No.”

possibly be? It would be unmanly of me to get back

Whitney plucked up her courage

“Ow…”

hissed in pain as annoyance surged through

His face had gone numb from

me so hard?” he demanded,

At the sight of the dark red mark

you. Is there a restriction on how much strength I can use? Besides, I didn’t

all, he did

to take revenge. “So, can you tell me why

head. She had no intention of acting like a petty tattletale or troubling him

work,

gloomily before starting the car and driving out of the basement

didn’t bother defending

sat in the car without saying a word, the atmosphere turned so tense that one could cut

and watched the streets fade past

lot earlier continued to replay

realized

she was too greedy to want more from it. Now,

spite of her efforts to hold herself back, she still ended up asking, “Who was the woman you were talking to in the

“What woman?”

it up that he thought back on it and answered, “I think she’s from the logistics department you work

Logistics department?

Logistics department?

faces of the colleagues in her department

the logistics

“I don’t remember.”

woman was saying,