novelxo His Ex wife is a billionaire Chapter 626
Chapter 626
Bevis felt like his niece Evadne had clamped onto his jugular with her sharp tongue, the pent-up rage in his chest threatening to burst forth like an erupting volcano.
Thaddeus had a warm glow in his heart, seeing her stand up for him, but he didn’t let it go to his head. He still looked at Evadne with concern, gently squeezing her hand as a signal to hold back in front of Emeric.
“Evadne, that’s enough,” Emeric’s face darkened as he spoke.
“Uncle Bevis, I thought you’d turned over a new leaf when you came with such fanfare to visit my dad today.”
Evadne’s l*ps curled with a cold sarcasm. “But as it turns out, you came to settle scores. You made a mess, and my dad got sick trying to clean it up for you. If everything is going to be wrong regardless, might as well go all in. Why don’t you pay back that five million you owe? For someone of your stature, that shouldn’t be a penny short.”
Evadne’s words were a vindication for the Ashbourne family. She had thrown Bevis’ grandstanding right back in his face!
Bevis’ mouth twitched uncontrollably, his rage searing through his hair as if about to catch alight.
“Evadne!”
Emeric was overcome with fury, his head throbbing with pain, his hands shaking uncontrollably beneath the covers.
“Evadne, stop. Mr. Emeric doesn’t look good!” Thaddeus noticed Emeric’s pallor and whispered urgently to her.
Bevis, seeing his chance, suddenly burst into tears, heedless of his image.
“Emeric, my heart aches! I have no dignity left as an elder. I might as well be dead!”
Myra and Aviana rushed to Emeric’s bedside, their hearts in knots with worry that he might have another episode in front of Bevis.
“Alright. Bevis, that issue, I said I won’t pursue it, and I won’t,” Emeric gasped, his voice a shadow of its usual robustness.
Evadne’s eyebrows raised in distress. “Dad!”
“Now. I have no face to show these kids, and at the company, I’m a laughingstock.”
“Don’t worry, I promised I wouldn’t demote you, and I’ll stand by my word,” Emeric managed to say, his hospital gown soaked with sweat, struggling to appear normal.
Bevis was tearfully grateful but inwardly sneered.
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Emeric’s loyalty was his strength but also the ultimate credit card in Bevis’ pocket, to be exploited over and over again.
He was Emeric’s only brother, which was one thing.
Had he not saved llana, battered and barely alive on that beach, where would his brother have found his life’s great love? How else could he have built such a storybook marriage, blessed with children?
That was the leverage Bevis had over Emeric.
Though Emeric forgave him, he had to give an account in front of the children and said. with a grave face, “But this is the last time. The company isn’t mine alone. As a manager, you have the authority to manage funds, but never to claim what’s public as your own. If this happens again, I won’t help you. I’ll be impartial and unforgiving. Do you hear me, Bevis?”
Evadne couldn’t understand it.
Emeric, the iron-fisted titan of commerce, didn’t need to please anyone, nor did he tolerate any miscreants.
But why, oh why, did he tolerate this
He was practically a saint!
failure of a brother?
“Emeric, I was foolish. Next time, I’ll set an example and not make the same mistake! Get well soon, I won’t disturb you any longer.”
Emeric, satisfied with giving Bevis peace of mind, prepared to leave.
“Emeric, let me see Mr. Ashbourne out,” Suri offered warmly.
Bevis left the room with a triumphant smile. He hadn’t gone far when Suri’s voice rang out, “Stop right there.”
Bevis turned, unprepared, and was met by Suri’s icy glare as she rapidly approached hin
Smack!
Before he could react, Suri’s hand flew up and struck him hard across the face!
“Why did you hit me?” Bevis’ eyes bulged, his cheek bearing the humiliating imprint of her
hand.
“You know why,” Suri said, her beautiful face now steely with anger. “I should have slapped you the day Emeric was hospitalized because of you. I should have confronted you then and torn that wretched mouth to shreds!”
They were alone, and Bevis let his sneer show. “Oh, thinking you’re the lady of the Ashbourne house? You’re just like those other women, a mere diversion for my brother.
You can play the part thanks to Emeric’s late wife, who gave you this chance to strut
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around.”
Suri’s eyes blazed with hatred, not at the insult to her but at the disdain with which he spoke of Mrs. Ashbourne.
“Beast!”
She raised her hand again, but this time Bevis was quicker, grabbing her wrist and shoving her back, nearly sending her tumbling to the ground.
“Ha! Delusional woman, I’d spare you for my brother’s sake, but you think too highly of yourself?”
Bevis spat at her contemptuously and left without looking back.
Suri stood there, clutching her bruised wrist, shivering with indignation.
“Suri!”
Evadne and Thaddeus, worried, had followed. They had seen everything that had just happened.
like
“Suri, how could he treat you like that?” Thaddeus’ eyes blazed with anger, a chill
emanating from his towering frd?
Suri offered a wry smile and shook her head.
Thaddeus’ knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, his muscles tensing beneath his tailored suit. “I’ll confront him for you,
set things right!”
“Child, don’t be rash!”
Suri hastily grabbed Thaddeus’ arm, shaking her head vigorously. “This isn’t your fight. And with your status as CEO of the Abernathy Group, it’s not worth tarnishing your reputation over such a scoundrel!”
This time, she didn’t address him with the formality of “Mr. Abernathy,” but rather as “child.” A surge of warmth washed over Thaddeus, yet his concern deepened. “Suri, you’re family to Evadne, and that makes you family to me. I couldn’t care less about my reputation when it comes to seeing you wronged!”
His heartfelt words left Evadne teary-eyed, her slender arms wrapping tightly around him, her heart melting.
Suri’s voice was choked with emotion, but she managed a grateful smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry, Suri, I won’t let you be wronged.”
Evadne’s eyes sparkled fiercely. “This time, I won’t rest until he bleeds dry. I’ll take his
name in vain!”
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Thaddeus was puzzled.
Her anger had muddled her words. Take his surname? That would still leave her an
Ashbourne.
Suri spoke soothingly, “Evadne, your father is still unwell, and his condition is fragile. That outburst nearly set him off. It’s best if you stay your hand for now, at least until he
recovers.”
“Suri, I just don’t understand what Emeric is playing at!”
Evadne’s frustration was palpable. “He’s just coddling Bevis! Since when is my dad so blind? To watch his own brother act like a parasite, nibbling away at the family fortune! If loyalty means turning a blind eye to injustice, then it’s nothing but complicity!”
“Emeric isn’t a fool; it’s because of your mother that he’s been so patient with him!”
In her urgency, Suri let sl*p more than she intended.
“My mother? What’s her connection to Bevis?” Evadne clutched at Suri’s arm, determined to uncover the truth.
Suri bit her l*p.
Mrs. Ashbourne had passed away when Evadne was too young to comprehend such matters. Emeric had always skirted around any discussion of her, leaving Evadne with little knowledge.
To Evadne, her mother was a beautiful enigma.
Now, sensing a breakthrough, Evadne was relentless in her quest to learn more.
“Suri, please tell me!”
Evadne’s face flushed with urgency. “Why is it? Why am I, her own daughter, not entitled to know her? Don’t you see how cruel that is?”
“Bevis saved your mother’s life.”
The revelation left both of them stunned. “What?”
“You needn’t be so surprised; what’s meant to be, will be. It’s fate.”
Suri’s steps were heavy as she settled into a chair, her gaze clouded with distant memories. “I only know so much, having joined the Ashbourne family even before Myra and Aviana. I’ve been by your father’s side longer, so I’ve heard a few more stories. As far as I know, your mother wasn’t a native. Where exactly she came from, I can’t say. Emeric treasured her, guarded her fiercely. Her past is perhaps the Ashbourne family’s deepest
secret.”
“My mother was a foreigner?” Evadne was bewildered, her thoughts in disarray.
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Thaddeus shared her astonishment.
Yet Evadne and her brothers did not bear the features of mixed heritage, suggesting Mrs. Ashbourne also had local ancestry.
“Bevis has always enjoyed deep-sea fishing. It was thirty years ago, on one such trip, that he found your mother on the northern coast and saved her.”
Suri sighed softly. “The details are murky to me. I only heard that your mother was found battered and near death on the beach, like a mermaid washed ashore. Regardless of whether Bevis acted on a whim or was moved by her beauty, it was he who brought her back to the family home in Skyrim. And it was his act of rescue that led to your mother meeting Emeric, falling in love, and eventually to the birth of your brothers and you.”