Chapter 182
“After all these years together, when have I ever hurt you?” Laver protested.
Lavern’s accusation made impatience flicker in Marina’s eyes, as if her caution were a personal attack on him.
“Mr. Ross, are you addicted to acting now? Stop pretending to be all sentimental in front of me. It doe If anything, it just makes me sick. Why don’t you go put on your show for Shawna and Yara instead?”
Marina looked at Lavern, her eyes full of undisguised disgust.
h me one bit.
Lavern took a deep breath, clearly agitated. He didn’t want to get into another fight with Marina, and he wished she’d stop paying so much attention to Yara.
“Shawna really won’t be showing up in front of you anymore. I gave her enough money to clear all her debts. She promised she’d leave Sicester for good once she’s back on her feet,” Lavern said.
Marina didn’t even bat an eye, her voice steady as she replied. “That has nothing to do with me.”
Lavern furrowed his brow hard, finally lowering his head.
“Marina, nobody’s perfect. Please, give me another chance. I promise this kind of thing will never happen again. Shawna will never set foot in Sicester again. Can’t we go back to the way we used to be?” Lavern pleaded.
As Lavern spoke, the receptionists at the front desk nervously watched Marina for any sign of her mood, but Marina’s expression was as calm as ever, with not a ripple of emotion showing.
Everyone thought that after seven years together, Marina had too much invested to walk away, no way she’d leave now.
But after everything that’s happened lately, most people can see Marina’s true feelings.
Lavern was the only one still clinging on.
His whole “wanting everything his way” act was honestly just sickening.
Seeing Marina stay silent, as if she was actually considering it, Lavern jumped at the opportunity and begged. “Marina, please, just give me one more chance.”
Saying that, he dropped to one knee and brought out an engagement ring from his pocket.
The ring was designed just like their wedding ring, only the diamond was much bigger than the one they’d had before.
Suddenly, a crowd gathered around, some clapping, some making a fuss, all trying to hype things up.
“Marry him! Marry him!” they shouted.
Marina’s pretty brows knit together in disgust. She just felt utterly repulsed.
At the entrance, Daron walked into Ross Group. And as he saw Marina surrounded by a crowd, his expression darkened.
Marina picked up the ring from Lavern’s hand, and the crowd went wild, cheering and hollering.
Daron’s gaze darkened, and he turned and walked away.
Lavern’s eyes
lit
up with surprise and delight when he saw Marina take the ring.
“Let me put it on you, Marina,” he said, still kneeling.
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Chapter 182
Lavern started to get up, ready to slip the ring onto Marina’s finger.
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But Marina just turned away, and with a careless flick, she slid the ring onto the finger of the woman nearest to her, the one who’d been cheering the loudest.
“You look way more into this than I am. Why don’t you marry him instead?” Marina said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
The woman was so stunned that she stammered, not sure whether to laugh or cry.
“M–Ms. Finley?” the woman stammered, still in shock.
Marina looked totally unfazed. She grabbed her briefcase and headed for the elevator, not even bothering to look back as the crowd just stared, dumbfounded.
Lavern stood there, dumbstruck, staring at Marina’s retreating figure. He sucked in a sharp breath and blurted out angrily.
“Marina! Everyone’s been saying you and Daron are way too close. Tell me, have you been hooking up with him behind my back this whole time?” Lavern demanded.
The moment those words left his mouth, the whole room went dead silent.
Marina whipped around to face him, her face darkening with fury.
Right then, she finally got why in those romance novels, the name of the white moonlight, the one you could never forget, wasn’t something you just tossed around.
Because hearing his name come out of people like Lavern’s mouth felt like a straight–up insult.
Lavern watched as Marina turned back, her expression shifting the moment Daron was mentioned. The jealousy hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving him breathless.
Marina strode right up to him and set her briefcase down on the front desk.
“Don’t ever let me hear you say his name like that again. You’re not even worthy to be compared to him,” she said, her voice icy and full of contempt.
The tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Either one of them could blow up at any second.
Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, most of the people who’d been cheering for Marina to marry Lavern had already slipped away.
But there were still a handful of drama chasers who couldn’t bring themselves to leave, determined to stay right at the front lines for all the juicy gossip.
Lavern’s expression twisted, his chest rising and falling with raw emotion.
“So you really did sleep with Daron? Was he the guy you were talking about last time too?” Lavern de and dripping with jealousy.
Lavern felt a stabbing pain in his chest, like his heart was being ripped apart.
He locked his gaze on Marina, eyes blazing with rage.
ded, his voice sharp
“No wonder he helped you out at the auction. So you two were already sneaking around behind my back,” Lavern shot out,
his voice laced with accusation.
Marina didn’t let him finish. She slapped him hard across the face.
“He’s not the disgusting creep you make him out to be,” she snapped.
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Chapter 182
His check was flaming and swollen from Marina’s slap.
He stepped toward her, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
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Marina grabbed a small potted plant off the front desk, eyeing Lavern and debating which spot to aim for, somewhere that’d hurt enough to make him remember, but not enough actually to put him in the hospital.
Lavern furrowed his brow, eyeing the plant in Marina’s hand, and froze where he stood.
He still looked a little intimidated.
He used to think Marina would never actually go through with
But now, there was no doubt about it.
Marina would definitely smash that plant right over his head without a second thought.
“Of course. You spent seven years with me. Someone like him would never go for a woman like you,” Lavern sneered.
As he said it, his eyes glinted with a taunt that made Marina sick to her stomach.
“Marina, let’s be real. No guy wants a woman who’s spent seven years with another man. Even if someone marries you just for your status as Ms. Marina from the Finley family, nobody’s ever gonna love you like I do,” Lavern sneered, his voice dripping with arrogance.
Marina shot Lavern a look of pure disgust and chucked the potted plant right at that smug, nasty face of his.
“Lavern, you seriously make me sick!” she shouted.
Lavern gave a cold, bitter laugh, his eyes burning with anger.
Just then, Daniel strode in from outside. Catching sight of the heated argument between Marina and Lavern, he quickly stepped between them, protectively moving Marina behind his back.
“Ms. Finley, are you okay? Did he do anything to you?” Daniel asked, stepping protectively in front of her, his concern. obvious.
Marina shook her head, and just seeing Daniel there helped her calm down.
“No,” she said.
Lavern knew he was no match for Daniel, and he never actually planned to lay a hand on Marina anyway, so he backed off.
But as he walked away, he gave Marina a lingering look, like he was still trying to convince her to change her mind. “Marina, if you come back to me, we can still make things work, Lavern said, his voice low and
“No one in this world loves you more than I do,” he insisted, sounding almost desperate.
pleading.
Marina let out a cold laugh. “If your idea of love is getting another woman pregnant right before our wedding and then throwing it all in my face, then spare me that kind of love. I want nothing to do with it.”
She’d rather marry a stranger in some arranged deal than ever look back or take Lavern back. There was no way she was going down that road again.
