Ch. 211..220

This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 211

“Don’t be angry. Take a seat.” Tim pulled out a chair for Tina.

Thud! She flung her bag violently onto the table. “How could I not be? I could have ended Sonia today. Once she’s gone, I won’t have any troubles in the future. But you—”

“Toby is at the hospital,” he cut her off.

Tina was visibly shocked. “What? He is at the hospital?”

“Yes, that’s right. Plus, he was right outside the operation theater, and he clearly saw me entering. Think about it, if I were the surgeon, and Sonia lost her life in the end, don’t you think he’d get suspicious and look into it?”

Learning about the unexpected news, she bit her lip. “You’re right. We can’t kill her right away. Still, you could have aborted her baby. Why didn’t you do it?”

She shot the man an angry glare, but he calmly poured a glass of water for her. “Don’t worry. We have plenty of chances to do that. Do you not trust me?”

“I’m just worried that if this drags on, Toby might acknowledge the baby and remarry her,” she replied with her fists clenched.

A smirk crept up to Tim’s face. “You’re overthinking. Toby thinks differently from Sonia. He knew that the child was his, and he personally waited outside the operation theatre for her surgery to end. From there, you could tell that he’s not particularly fond of the baby. That’s why your worries will not come true.”

“Better be sorry than safe! Don’t forget what I have told you before—his true love is Sonia,” she answered solemnly.

His eyes sparkled. “By the way, I have never asked you the reason behind your envy and hate for Sonia. Since she has divorced Toby and it does not look like she’d rekindle the relationship, not to mention that Toby will not get back together with her even though he still loves her, why, then, are you so worried about her?”

Upon hearing that, she dodged his gaze guiltily and remarked impatiently, “You shouldn’t have asked that question.”

She would never tell anyone about the fact that she’d pretended to be Toby’s pen pal, especially to Toby and Tim. If she accidentally let that slip, God knows if Tim would start to suspect if she was truly the person who saved him back then.

“Is that so? Oh well, whatever.” He shrugged in a manner that looked uninterested.

Just when she was about to sigh in relief, she was struck by his other question. “Oh, right, Tina, do you still remember when exactly was our first encounter?”

Panic flashed across her eyes. “Why the sudden question?”

“Nothing. I was just feeling a little nostalgic.” He took a sip of tea and smiled while she was frustrated and angered by the ambush. Why would a grown-up feel nostalgic for no reason? Is there something wrong with him?

Regardless, she kept a smile on her face and replied, “Of course, our first encounter was the day I saved you.”

Hearing that, Tim gently tapped his fingers on the table and said nothing.

Tina’s heart immediately tightened, and the smile on her face almost fell apart. Clutching her hands, she suppressed the panic in her and replied calmly, “Isn’t that right?”

Seven years ago, when they first met, he excitedly told her that he had finally ‘found her’.

At that time, she expressed that she did not know him, but he said it was fine; after all, that was only their second encounter. From the clue, she guessed that their ‘first encounter’ must be the time she had ‘saved him’. Therefore, it was impossible to give the wrong answer.

Tim suddenly broke into a smile. “Of course, you’re right—our first encounter was the day you saved me.” Intentionally, he emphasized the keywords.

Tina was oblivious to the change in his tone and breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Out of nowhere, however, he added, “Do you remember the place where you saved me?”

Her heart that had just calmed down started to beat anxiously again. She could almost kill him for the anxiety he stirred. More than that, she was gripped by nervousness and fear.

What is he implying? Why is he suddenly asking me those questions? Could he have found out that I was faking my identity as his ‘savior’, and he is now trying to sound me out?

She paled at the thought of the possibility. Suddenly, she was at a loss because of the panic. This time, she had no answer to his question, for she had no idea where his savior had saved him. She was even more clueless about the situation in which he was saved, something that he had never told her before as well. As such, how could she possibly answer him?

But she couldn’t just ignore his question because that would be an indirect admission of her pretense. After giving it much thought, she finally offered a safe answer, stating, “I’m sorry, Tim. I can’t really recall the details.”

Yes, she merely said that she forgot about their first encounter; she did not admit to not knowing. Therefore, he must not be able to tell whether she was lying.

Just when she was losing whatever’s left of her confidence, he grinned and said, “That’s fine! It’s normal to forget the details after ten long years. You were too young at that time, anyway.”

When Tina realized that he did not suspect her account, she exhaled in relief. Looks like I took the right step. Following the startling episode, she wrapped her arms around his and said, “Tim, why don’t you tell me again? Where did we first meet? I promise I won’t forget about it again.”

“Sure.” He stared at his feet to hide the chilling look in his eyes. “We first met at a theme park. At that time, I fell down and injured myself. When I couldn’t walk, a human trafficker came up to me and wanted to kidnap me. It was you who showed up and scared the man away.”

Ah, so that was what happened. Tina narrowed her eyes and slapped her thighs in her act. “Tim! After you brought it up, I could recall some memories. You’re right. We first met at a theme park. I did not know how I got the courage to confront the human traffickers. Now that I think of it, I can still feel the fear.”

“You were courageous,” he complimented her with a smile, but his eyes suggested otherwise. They were full of darkness and contempt. Did she actually fall for a story that I made up? Guess a fake is a fake after all.

When she confirmed that it was his usual beam, she could finally get some breathing room. It seemed that Tim did not suspect that she was pretending. He had asked all the questions out of nostalgia. Otherwise, he would have immediately called her out instead of tolerating her lies.

While thinking, she picked up the glass in front of her and took a huge sip of water. Then, she stood up and excused herself. “Tim, um, I need to meet with Toby later. I’ll leave now.”

She could not afford to stay around any longer. If he suddenly popped any tricky questions, she’d get herself into bigger trouble. After all, she could not successfully make up lies each time.

“Okay.” He stood up at the same time while nodding, so she hurried out of the room. He looked on as she left until she disappeared into the corridors. Then, he wiped away the smile on his face and replaced it with a cold and murderous look.

“Tina, how dare you pretend to be my guardian angel? I’ll make you pay for it,” he mumbled in a menacing voice. Indeed, he was partly to be blamed for taking Tina for someone else, but she should have known better. She should have known if she had saved him before.

Even so, she did not correct him. Instead, she shamelessly pretended to be the guardian angel and received his favors without any feelings of guilt. This deception was humiliating enough to make him vow to take revenge on her. Staring at Tina’s teacup, Tim flashed a wicked smile. Next, he sent a text to Sonia.

The moment Sonia read his text, her brows crinkled up into a furrow.

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This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 212

Charles, who was peeling apples at the side, saw Sonia’s expression and came over to express his concern. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“Look at this.” She proceeded to pass him her phone. “I will make Tina pay for her actions. Tim.” After reading the message out loud, he stared at her wildly. “Baby, this is a text from Tim Lancaster. How did he get your number?”

“It’s easy to get hold of someone’s personal number nowadays. You just need to search around,” she muttered nonchalantly, but her frown deepened. “I’m more concerned about the contents of his text. He said he wanted to make Tina pay. Could he have been telling the truth in the ward? Is he really going to take action on those who hurt me?”

He tightened his lips. “Whatever. If he wants to make her pay, let him be. That might benefit us as well.”

“True.” Sonia nodded.

He returned the phone and said, “Alright now. Don’t reply to him. You shouldn’t forget that we still do not know of his intentions—whether or not he truly wants to take revenge on Tina. If he was lying, that text could be bait to trick us. So, we should just put this aside.”

After his explanation, she concurred. “Don’t worry. I understand.”

Next, she deleted Tim’s text from her phone while Charles munched on his apple. “By the way, I have donated that ring on your behalf.”

Her eyes flickered after she heard the remark, followed by a nod of the head. “Okay.”

“I’ll leave now. I’ll pick you up again two days later for the auction.” Charles threw the apple core into the bin and dusted his hand, after which Sonia smiled at him. “Got it. You should get going now.”

“Bye.” He waved at her and headed toward the entrance.

Now that she was finally alone in the office, she picked up a pen from the penholder and started to bury herself in piles of documents. However, it was right then when someone knocked on the door. “President Reed!” It turned out to be Rebecca, and she did look rather frantic.

“What is it?” Sonia stopped writing and stared at her.

Rebecca scanned the area and found a glass of water on the table. She had no time to ask before she downed all the contents.

“Uh…” Sonia was about to say that the glass of water was hers, but upon hearing the gulping, she held her tongue and shook her head in amusement. “Why are you so thirsty?”

“Don’t get me started! I ran all my way here.” She placed the cup on the table and answered Sonia after catching her breath.

Sonia’s eyes turned round in surprise. “You ran all your way up here? Are you saying that you ran here using the Finance Department’s fire exit staircase?”

“Yeah! I came here from the fire exit staircase. I have something urgent to ask you, so I didn’t bother to wait for the elevator.” Rebecca pulled out a chair across from her and took a seat.

Noticing that Rebecca had a layer of perspiration on the forehead, Sonia beamed and handed the woman a tissue. “Wipe your sweat.”

“Thanks.” Rebecca accepted the tissue.

She stood up and collected a clean blanket. Then, she poured Rebecca a glass of water from the water cooler and placed it in front of the guest. “By the way, you said you had an urgent question for me. What was that about?”

“It’s Paradigm Co.’s debts!” Rebecca threw the crumpled tissue into the bin and put on a serious expression. “President Reed, who’s that Mr. Johann? He went ahead and settled our loans across all the banks. I was so shocked when the banks called to inform me.”

Sonia was confused by the information. “Wait, what are you talking about? Who’s Mr. Johann, and why are our loans settled?”

Seeing Sonia’s reaction, Rebecca blinked. “You don’t know him?”

Sonia shook her head. “I haven’t heard of this Mr. Johann you’re speaking of.”

“That’s odd! If you don’t even know him, why would he settle all our debts? The repayment statement clearly stated that he is a close acquaintance of yours. Obviously, he settled the debts for you. Why wouldn’t you know him then? Could he be your… secret admirer?” At this point, Rebecca looked envious. “If he’s really a secret admirer who forks out such a huge amount for you, I think you should just accept his love.”

“Ugh! What nonsense are you talking about?” Sonia frowned deeply. “Rebecca, are you saying that Mr. Johann has settled all our bank loans? Do I understand it correctly?”

“Yes. From now on, Paradigm Co. is no longer in debt. In the future, our revenue will belong to us instead of the banks,” Rebecca confirmed with joy. However, Sonia did not look happy at all. Her flaming red lips were tightly pursed.

A stranger came out of nowhere and helped to repay all of Paradigm Co.’s loans. This was not a free lunch for Sonia. Instead, she suspected that this was a trap. Who’d be so generous as to give away a billion?

“Is there any information on the repayment?” She scrunched up her eyes.

At the same time, Rebecca slapped her forehead. “Yes! I almost forgot about it. Give me a second. I’ll hand it to you.”

As she spoke, she extracted a stack of papers with the repayment information from the file and gave it to Sonia.

Yet Sonia did not immediately read it. “Did you announce the settlement of bank loans publicly?”

“No. I told you the first thing.” Rebecca shook her head, much to Sonia’s relief.

“Great. You can go back to work now. Keep this a secret for now. Do not announce it loudly. We’ll make a decision after I look into the person behind this.”

“Sure.” Rebecca agreed and left.

Then, Sonia started to flip through the stack of information in the hope of finding some clues about the mysterious man who had settled the loans.

Soon, she got her wish granted when she found the symbols ‘Z-H’ on one of the pages. Immediately, she understood who her benefactor was. Without losing even a second, she searched for the contact named Z-H in her WhatsApp. This time, she did not message him as usual; she made a WhatsApp call to him.

At the Fuller Group, Toby was in the middle of a meeting when a ringtone interrupted the meeting discussion. His eyes narrowed in displeasure. “Whose phone is that?”

No one dared to speak up in the room.

The silence angered him even more, and his tone became icier. “I remember I told you guys to set your phone on silent mode in meetings. Are you ignoring my instruction?”

In the face of his fury, a hand finally shot up in the air. “President Fuller, um, it is not our phones. Your phone is the one that’s ringing.”

Toby was taken aback. “Mine?”

“Yeah.” The brave attendee nodded.

It was then Toby put away the files in his hands and moved to the meeting table from the screen. There, he found his phone ringing.

It was the ringtone he set for in-app calls. Usually, no one would contact him via WhatsApp. He was rather unfamiliar with the ringtone, which was why it took him a while to realize that his phone was ringing.

His expression softened as he picked up the phone to check for the caller. To his shock, he saw that Sonia had contacted him.

Why would she contact me at this time?

“Let’s take five. I need to take a call.” Then, he left the meeting room with the phone in hand, leaving behind a room of attendees who were murmuring.34325

“Look, that’s how bosses behave. They set the rules for us that they never follow. Didn’t he ask us to set our phones to silent mode during meetings? We all did, except for him.”

“Yeah! He also told us not to pick up calls during meetings, and he’s the only one who breaks the rules. What’s with the double standard?”

“From the looks of it, he must have received a call from Miss Reed.”

“It must be. Just look at the tenderness in his eyes.”

Outside of the meeting room, Toby was oblivious to the gossip behind his back. He strolled to the corridor, staring at the ringing phone with hesitation in his eyes, furiously debating if he should take the call or not.0

He was worried that he’d expose himself once he picked up the call.

Yer, in the end, he slid a finger across the screen to pick up the call. “Hello?”

This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 213

Sonia fell into silence after hearing the hoarse male voice from the other end of the phone.

I never expected Z-H’s voice to be this terrible!

Not only that, judging from his voice, he seemed to be older than her, possibly a man in his forties. Generally, men this age either had a beer belly or suffered from hair loss.

The thought that she had potentially slept with a forty-year-old bald male with a beer belly made her feel nauseous. Toby was immediately concerned after hearing her dry heave. “W-What’s wrong?”

In a panic, he almost spoke to her in his real voice. Thankfully, he managed to get a hold of himself and switched back to the ‘forty-year-old’ voice.

Due to the nauseousness, she missed the change in his voice. She shook her head weakly. “I’m fine. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Johann.”

When she called him Mr. Johann, he immediately understood her purpose of calling.

“Are you calling me about the bank loans?” He lowered his gaze.

Sonia took a deep breath and put on a somber expression. “Yes. I want to understand the reason behind you doing that for me.”

“Didn’t I tell you before? Since you’re the mother of my child, I will take responsibility,” Toby replied, still trying hard to maintain his altered croaky voice.

She pursed her lips stubbornly. “But I told you before that I don’t need your help.”

“That’s your problem. I choose to take responsibility at my end,” he said to counter her statement.

She had nothing to reply to his argument. Of course, she could ask him not to take any responsibility, but she could not stop him from doing so.

“Whatever. If you want to, suit yourself. Anyway, don’t you think it’s a bit too much of a responsibility for you to repay my loans? It’s like, a few billion.” She grimaced at the mention of it.

Not many could offer a few billion to settle the loans of others. To her surprise, he chuckled. “It’s just a few billion. It’s not even worthy of mention to me.”

“I-It’s not worthy of mention?” Sonia almost choked.

He grunted coolly. “Yeah, it’s not much.”

The market valuation of Fuller Group was in the hundreds of billions, and his personal wealth was around 80 billion, half of it from Fuller Group, and the other half derived from his other assets. Therefore, it was right to say that he was filthy rich.

Sonia admitted that she was rather envious after hearing him dismiss the few billions as ‘not much’. Indeed, one should never seek to compare with the others, for that was a source of unhappiness.

Ah, if only Paradigm Co. was in the position to offer another firm a few billion without batting an eye, she would have been so elated.

“Mr. Johann, even if you think it’s nothing, a few billions is too much for me. Even if you see it as a way to so call take responsibility, that amount has crossed a line. So, sir, please get someone to cancel this transaction. If you really want to take responsibility for me, maybe it’s better to only give me an apartment or a car.” She rubbed the middle of her forehead worriedly.

Anyhow, she could not possibly benefit from his few billions worth of giveaway.

Both of them were to be blamed for the one-night-stand, so she could not accept his goodwill without feeling burdened.

“I’m sorry. The money has been transferred, and the banks have erased the records of your loans. I guess I can’t take my money back,” he informed her calmly of the reality.

She bit her lip. “How could that happen…”

“Since this is a done deal, you don’t have to feel uneasy about it. I willingly paid it off for you. It’s not like you asked for it, so don’t feel burdened. Alright now. I have an ongoing meeting. Talk later.”

As if he was afraid that she’d insist, he quickly ended the call.

On the other end, Sonia let out a sigh when the call screen vanished.

It seems that I can’t return his money anymore.

Even so, she would not accept the money. With that in mind, she composed a message.

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‘I’ll see that as your personal loan. Once Paradigm Co. becomes profitable, I’ll pay you back.”

Toby had just walked up to the meeting room door and was about to open the door when his phone buzzed in his hand.

He paused and checked his phone to find a message from Sonia.

When he clicked into it, what awaited him was a message that made him frown again. Indeed, no matter how hard he tried to persuade her, she would not accept his help.

Oh well, if she wants to pay me back, let her do it. It would take years from launching Paradigm Co. to turning it profitable until she could afford to pay a few billion.0

At that time, it would be a miracle if she could even locate Z-H.

He flashed a faint smile and tucked his phone away to rejoin the meeting.0

At Paradigm Co., Sonia called Daphne in and told her, “Get the heads of departments ready for a meeting.”

Since she had figured out the identity of her benefactor, knowing that it was not a trap, it was time to announce it to everyone.

Plus, she believed that she could weaponize this knowledge against Asher Dafoe. After all, she was the one who managed to settle the loans of the company, while he did nothing. She could get everyone in the company to side with her.

“Yes.” Daphne nodded and left to make the arrangements. Soon, Sonia stood up and moved to the meeting room.

A few days after the turn of events, it was the auction day.

At night, Sonia was dressed up in an evening gown and put on full makeup. She departed for the event venue with Charles.

When she arrived at the hotel entrance, she saw Zane running toward her just as she got out of the car. “Sonia, you’re really pretty tonight!”

He scanned her from head to toe with astonishment in his eyes.

She tucked away a curl of hair near her ears and smiled. “Thank you. Oh, right, why are you here? Are you not going in?”

“I’m here waiting for you guys,” he replied.

Charles, who had just got out of the car, rolled his eyes at the answer and huffed. “No one asked you to wait.”

Zane fired back aggressively, mocking, “Yeah, no one asked; I willing waited here. But I did not wait for you—I waited for Sonia. You just happen to be with her.”

“You—”

Sensing a fight coming, Sonia immediately stopped the two. “Alright, alright. Stop it. Look, people are coming and going. Don’t you feel embarrassed? Okay, let’s go in now.”

Once Sonia intervened, the two men quickly dropped the confrontation. Charles was adjusting his tie when his phone buzzed.

He checked his phone and lifted a brow. “Baby, it’s a call from Carl. It’s a little noisy here with all the cars, so I’ll go elsewhere to pick up the call. Wait for me here.”

“Sure, go ahead.” She nodded.

Before moving aside, Charles did not forget to give Zane a glare, to which the latter replied with a smirk. “When did I step on his toes? He’s really weird sometimes.”

Sonia snorted. “Well, sorry, Zane. Charles is a bit…”

“It’s alright! I’m not mad about it.” Zane waved and suddenly thought of something. His face turned serious. “Oh, I heard that Paradigm Co.’s loans are all settled. What happened? Where did you get the money for that? Could you have negotiated some fishy deals?”

She was speechless at his odd guesses. “How is that possible? It’s that guy. He settled the debts for me, saying that he wanted to take responsibility for me and our child.”

A realization dawned on Zane. “Ah, so it was him! Everything makes sense now. That dude is rich. His personal assets alone are worth tens of billions. A few billion is nothing to him.”

“He’s that rich?” Her jaw almost dropped to the floor.

Although Mr. Johann once told her that he was rich, she never had expected him to own that many assets on top of his company’s net worth.

She inhaled sharply, and she could not bring herself to imagine the extent of his wealth. Regardless, she finally learned that Mr. Johann was as rich as Toby Fuller.

“Yeah, he’s the wealthiest among us all. Have I not told you before?” Zane stared at her, but she responded with a sneer.

“Yeah, you never told me that he’s a forty-year-old man.”

“Pfft!” Zane almost burst out in laughter. “How are you sure that he’s in his forties?”

“I could tell from his voice! Two days ago, I made a WhatsApp call to him. His voice sounded hoarse and croaky; it was terrible. I’ve only heard such voices from creepy middle-aged men. That’s why I suspect that he is one.” As she explained, a look of disgust filled her face.

This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 214

Zane held his stomach and couldn’t stop laughing when he heard Sonia’s assumption. Toby is equivalent to an oily and slick man in his forties who is middle-aged and balding? My, oh my!

He couldn’t stop laughing when he thought of Toby being an ugly, middle-aged man. Sonia turned to look at Zane curiously, who was about to die laughing. “Why are you laughing like this? Was I wrong?”

“No, no, no.” Zane waved his hand. “You are not wrong; you are right. He is indeed more than forty and bald. His belly is also quite big, while his eyes are also tiny. In short, he’s hideous.”

Hearing his description, Sonia couldn’t help but shiver and hurriedly stop him. “Okay, stop it. I can’t stand it any longer.”

Most people were superficial and enjoyed the beauty, and she admitted that she was also one of them. In short, she really couldn’t accept that she had had a relationship with such a man. Even if it had been so long ago, she still felt sick to her stomach.

“Fine, fine, I won’t talk about it. I’ll stop now.” Zane rubbed his cheeks that hurt from laughing and nodded repeatedly.

Sonia pursed her red lips and said, “I don’t know how you can be friends with such a person. Both of you look completely out of place together.”

“I told you. We’re just acquaintances.” Zane shrugged.

At this time, Charles came back after answering the phone. Sonia looked at him, then asked, “What did Carl say?”

“He said he’s already back and is also going to attend the auction tonight, so we’ll see him at the banquet when the auction is over.” Charles put his phone in his pocket.

Sonia nodded. “That’s fine and all, but didn’t we agree for him to call us when he comes back so that we can pick him up at the airport? Why didn’t he call?”

“His plane is late. It took half an hour more for him to get off the plane. If we went to pick him up and then come over, we would be late, so he might as well just come over. Anyway, let’s go in first, Baby,” Charles replied. Hearing that, Sonia agreed, and so the three of them walked toward the hotel and entered the auction venue.

Sonia and Charles sat in the back rows while Zane was up at the front, so after entering the auction venue, the three of them were separated. Soon, Sonia found her own seat according to the invitation, and as soon as she sat down, she felt someone looking at her. She stiffened for a moment and looked around to find out who was looking at her.

But after looking around, she did not notice anyone doing that, so she simply gave up.

In a private booth on the second floor of the auction venue, Toby left the windows and returned to the sofa with his cane and sat down after Tom came in.

“Something wrong?” Toby picked up the auction booklet and read it. Tom stood behind him and said, “President Fuller, the Gray Family is here. They want to come in to say hello to you.”

“No need. We’ll meet at the banquet after the auction,” Toby turned the page and said indifferently.

Tom nodded. “Alright, then I will let them know right away.”

Heh, it’s obvious that the Gray Family just wants to come and sit in here because they don’t want to sit in the hall with the others. After all, this private booth represents one’s powerful identity. Although the Gray Family is prestigious, their influence is far from being able to sit in the private booth of this auction, so they must wait to come in here.34327

After Tom went out, Toby intended to go over to the window again, so he closed the auction booklet. He was about to put it back on the shelf when it slipped and fell on the floor, and the pages of the originally closed booklet flipped again.

Toby frowned and bent down to pick it up. Just as he did so, his eyes widened. “This is—”

He had noticed a familiar ring printed on the page: it was his and Sonia’s wedding ring!

The female version was a little different from the male version, but the difference was not too big, not to mention it was the one and only unique ring design in the world. Thus, that was why he recognized it at a glance.

He hurriedly looked at the information of the donor below, and sure enough, the name ‘Miss Reed’ was printed there. At that, his face suddenly turned gloomy.0

She actually donated the wedding ring and participated in the auction!

For a moment, a wave of anger rose up in Toby’s heart.

He did not throw away his wedding ring, and it was still in the drawer inside his room. Yet, she, however, took it out for sale.

Feeling betrayed, he stood up and went to the window to once again stare at Sonia, who was on the first floor. As for Sonia, she again felt eyes on her, and this time she could clearly feel that the other party did not have a good opinion of her.

“Baby, what’s wrong with you?” Charles, who was a few seats away, saw the restless Sonia and hurriedly asked across the room.

Sonia wanted to say that someone was looking at her again but then thought that it was pointless to say it because it was probably impossible to find that person, so she simply shook her head. “I’m fine; I’m going to the bathroom.”

She had finished checking out the booklet, and she was uninterested in the items being auctioned, thus naturally, she did not care that she would miss something good if she left.

“Okay, but do come back quickly,” Charles reminded.

Thus, Sonia nodded, got up, and left her place. In the washroom, she came out of the cubicle after using the toilet and came to the sink to wash her hands.

At this time, she heard a flushing sound, and immediately after that, she saw through the mirror that the door of a cubicle behind her was being opened. Soon, Tina came out from inside and met Sonia’s eyes in the mirror. She obviously didn’t expect to see Sonia here either, so after looking surprised, she smiled and nodded. “Miss Reed, what a coincidence.”

“It’s quite a coincidence.” Sonia nodded slightly back.

However, Tina was dissatisfied with her attitude, and after staring at Sonia coldly, she also walked to the washstand to wash her hands.

At this time, Sonia had already washed her hands, so she took some tissue from the side and began to wipe her hands.

As for Tina, she looked at the hand sanitizer near her and realized it was already empty. Feeling upset all of a sudden, she looked at Sonia and asked, “Miss Reed, will you hand me the hand sanitizer beside you, please?”

“No.” Sonia wiped her fingers and refused without hesitation.

We are enemies, so why should I hand her something?

Tina didn’t expect Sonia to refuse so quickly without giving her any respect, so she bit her lip angrily. Then, she thought of something, and she coldly smiled before she stepped toward Sonia and pushed her away, occupying the washstand where Sonia had just stood.

Sonia also did not expect her to do this, so after being pushed, she hurriedly held the edge of the washstand in time, avoiding the near tragedy of falling.

“Sorry, Miss Reed. I didn’t mean it. You shouldn’t take it personally, right?” Tina rubbed her hands and apologized, but her eyes were filled with malicious intent.

As Sonia stared coldly at Tina, the latter felt uncomfortable, and her expression stiffened. Suddenly, Sonia lifted the bag in her hands and smashed it against Tina’s head.

Tina was unprepared, so it hit her squarely on the head, and her hair was messed up. Not only that, but her makeup was ruined, and pain shot through her head.

“Sonia, how dare you hit me!” Tina was trembling, gritting her teeth and glaring at Sonia.

Sonia drew more tissue and slowly wiped the cosmetic residue on her bag. Her voice was clear and cold as she replied, “Sorry, Miss Gray, I didn’t mean to do it, so you shouldn’t take it personally, right?”

The familiar words made Tina’s face redden. Clearly, she had just said this to Sonia, yet Sonia had used it to retort her.

This was clearly a slap in her face!

This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 215

Seeing how angry Tina was, Sonia smiled in happiness. “What? Are you upset, Miss Gray? Just now, you treated me like this, but I didn’t get angry. But now you’re angry after being treated in the same fashion. You’re too petty, Miss Gray. I don’t think you can be the Fuller Group president’s wife.”

“Who said I’m angry?” Tina squeezed her palms, took a deep breath to calm down, and retorted with a sharp voice. She knew Sonia was deliberately pissing her off.

I will not fall for it! I will let Sonia know that I’m more suitable than anyone else to become the president’s wife of the Fuller Group!

“Not bad, not bad.” Sonia applauded. “Miss Gray is such a benevolent lady. I really admire you. Since you’re no longer angry, then I will take my leave.”

After saying that, Sonia dropped the tissues in her hand, went past Tina, and walked toward the restroom door. After two steps, she suddenly stopped again and turned her head toward Tina with a meaningful smile. “By the way, Miss Gray, your current look is very nice, especially this dress. It’s very suitable for tonight’s banquet.”

Sonia’s gaze fell on Tina’s fur shawl, as well as the small crocodile skin clutch in her hand. At that instant, a trace of ridicule flashed in her eyes. Previously at the dress store, she and Rebecca deliberately discussed that the outfit matched well with the accessories in order to set a trap for Tina.

In the end, Tina took the bait and came wearing the outfit. Clearly, there would be a good show later at the banquet. Thus, Sonia smiled and left the bathroom.

After she left, Tina touched her face and looked at the dress on her body, smiling smugly. “Hmph, I knew I would look gorgeous.”

With that, she put down her hands and wanted to wash them again. After all, she had just touched the cosmetics on her face. However, just as Tina turned back to the mirror and saw herself in it, she grimaced and shouted, “Ah!”

Just now, she didn’t look at the mirror, so she didn’t know how she looked at the moment. Now that she looked at it, she realized that when Sonia said she looked good, the latter wasn’t really sincere at all but was being sarcastic.

Other than the dress on her body, she was simply in a terrible state. Her makeup and hair were messy and horrible. In fact, she completely looked like a crazy woman, which must have been caused when Sonia hit her just now.

Tina looked at the mirror and said with resentment, “Sonia, you just wait! I will definitely kill you and that child you’re carrying. Otherwise, I might as well not be called Tina Gray!”

At the door, Brenda, who was about to come in to use the restroom, heard these words and quickly took a step back. She pursed her slightly thin lips, her imposing face filled with disgust. “This Gray woman is the precious descendant of Triforce Enterprise, yet she’s so vicious. How ridiculous.”

She coldly glanced at the restroom door, then turned around and walked away, not willing to use the restroom anymore because she was too disgusted.

When Sonia returned to the auction venue, Charles asked worriedly, “Baby, why are you back so late?”

Lifting her dress, Sonia sat down and said, “I ran into some trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” Charles suddenly got nervous. “Baby, you are okay, right?”

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“Don’t worry. I’ve already taken care of it.” Sonia smiled at him.

Charles nodded. “That’s good. By the way, the next auction item is yours.”

Hearing these words, Sonia had her eyes narrowed for a moment. That was fast.

Soon, an antique was taken away from the stage, and the next auction item was sent in for display. The big screen behind the auctioneer revealed more detailed information about the ring, but it concealed the full identity of the donor. Only the words ‘Miss Reed’ were written where the donor’s name should be, acting as a kind of privacy protection for the donor.

However, some still guessed the identity of the donor correctly. After all, in the large city of Seafield, although there were many with the last name Reed, the only famous one was from Paradigm Co.0

“It’s the wedding ring of Sonia and Toby!” Tina looked at the ring spinning around on the big screen and her eyes reddened with anger. The previous owner of the ring was Sonia, who had actually donated her wedding ring.

And Toby hasn’t even given me any ring?! This is ridiculous!0

Tina’s heart was frenzied with jealousy. “Dad, I want this ring.”

Titus naturally knew how the ring was donated and frowned disapprovingly. “What do you want it for? It’s someone else’s. If you want it, go get a new one from Toby.”

“Toby won’t buy one for me.” Tina clenched her hands.

It was not like she hadn’t hinted at Toby to buy her a set of matching couple rings, but Toby said that one ring was enough and that buying more than one didn’t mean anything. He also said that he would buy it for her when they got married.

Still, they were not formally engaged yet, so the wedding would have to wait until next year at least. Sadly, she did not want to wait, and she would rather have a ring worn by Sonia since at least that was what Toby bought.

Titus could not go against Tina, so he could only nod and let her bid later.

The auction for the ring began with a starting price of 200,000 because the main diamond was a rare pink one, so the price was naturally higher.

“300,000!” Tina immediately raised her sign.

Toby, Sonia, Charles, and Zane all heard her voice, and they all had different expressions on their faces. The latter three of them were surprised, and Toby was puzzled.

Why is Tina bidding for this ring?

Then, Toby pressed the bell.

The auctioneer received the message and immediately offered, “The guest in private booth 1 on the second floor has added 100,000. Does anyone else want to increase the price?”

When Tina heard someone bidding against her, she looked up at the private booth on the second floor. However, the window of the box was closed, so she couldn’t see inside and didn’t know who was there. Therefore, she bit her lip in anger and shouted, “400,000!”

She also immediately added 100,000 without the slightest hesitation; it could be noted that she was determined to get this ring.

Toby frowned and rang the bell again. Later, the auctioneer reported, “The guest in the private booth has increased his bid to 500,000.”

Tina shivered with anger and gave the booth a fierce glare. “600,000!”

“Baby, Tina and the guest on the second floor seem to be fighting for this,” Charles said to Sonia.

Sonia nodded and also looked at the second floor. “I don’t know who the person on the second floor is and why they seem to want the ring as well.”

Although Sonia was surprised that Tina wanted to buy the ring, she could more or less understand her logic behind it.

After all, this ring was bought by Toby, so Tina might want to take it for herself. However, she was not sure about the guest on the second floor.

“Baby, I want to have fun too.” Suddenly, Charles spoke up playfully.

Sonia raised her eyebrows. “What do you want to do?”

The corner of Charles’s mouth curved up as he raised the sign. “1 million!”

On hearing this amount, all the auction participants were instantly shocked.

Although the ring was worth a lot of money, it was only worth 500,000 at most. The mysterious guest on the second floor and Tina had bid for 600,000 to 700,000, which most people already thought was too high and not worth it. Therefore, they didn’t expect that another person with a lot of money would appear, directly bidding for 1 million.

“Charles, what are you doing? You’re crazy!” Sonia looked at Charles in shock.

Charles made a shushing motion to her. “Don’t worry, Baby. I know what I’m doing.”

Seeing how he appeared to be serious instead of pulling her leg, Sonia sighed. “Forget it then. I won’t care about what you do, but just don’t go overboard!”

“Okay, okay.” Charles waved his hand.

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Even Tina had figured out that the person who called the bid to a million earlier was Charles, and she guessed that he must be planning to buy it for Sonia. Hmph, she snorted silently. Not in your wildest dreams! Raising her paddle again, she shouted, “1.2 million!”

Next to her, the edge of Titus’ eyes twitched and he hurriedly tried to stop her, saying, “That’s enough, Tina. Stop increasing the bid because this ring isn’t worth that money at all.”

“I don’t care,” she snapped through gritted teeth, her eyes turning red. “I can’t let Sonia get what she wants!”

Frowning, Titus was about to say something when another man shouted, “1.5 million!”

This voice… Sonia thought when she heard the voice, and her face lit up. “That’s Carl, Charles. It’s Carl!”

“I know it’s that rascal,” Charles answered with a nod and raised his paddle. “1.7 million.”

I swear there’s no one I hate more than Charles and that guy who called 1.5 million! Tina thought furiously. I must be cursed to run into them today! Gripping her paddle tightly, she made up her mind determinedly and added three hundred thousand to the bid. “Two million!”

An uproar broke out in the crowd, and Toby knitted his brows in his private suite on the second floor, thinking, What’s up with Tina? Why does she want the ring so badly? “Three million!” he said, pressing down the button.

The auctioneer sucked in a deep breath and announced the new bid with a shaky voice, resulting in another round of surprised gasps from the crowd.

Who’s this big shot that’s able to add a million to the bid just like that? They wondered in amazement and turned their heads to the first private suite.

Narrowing his aged eyes, Titus began to suspect that the one in the first private suite might be Toby, and he was very unhappy about the fact that Toby didn’t allow them into his private suite. After all, I’m his future father-in-law, he thought. Isn’t he worried that I’ll be unhappy if he did that?34329

“3.5 million!” Charles called a bid once more.

The next second, Carl shouted as well, “Four million!”

“4.5 million!” Zane, who wasn’t bidding all this while, joined in suddenly.

Shaking her head, Sonia uttered, “This is crazy. All of you have lost your minds!”

“No worries, baby,” Charles assured. “Can’t you tell that we don’t even want to buy the ring, but just want to pull a prank on Tina?” he asked with a smirk as he swayed the paddle in his hand.0

Rolling her eyes, she replied, “Of course I know what you guys are up to, but don’t forget about the person on the second floor. It goes to show that he must be kind of influential if he can afford a private suite in an auction. He’s definitely not someone we can offend. If he ends up as the one buying the ring instead of Tina, then you guys would have offended him by raising the bid deliberately.”

“Don’t worry about that because we have already offended him a long time ago. The young master of this auction is a friend of mine that I met in university, and I already checked with him who’s the person in the first suite beforehand. Toby’s in there.” Shrugging, he added, “Since Toby is on Tina’s side, getting either of them will be a win for us.”

Surprised, Sonia asked, “Toby?”

“Yeah,” he answered with a nod.

Biting her lip, Sonia was puzzled and felt complicated. So, the one who started the bidding war with Tina is Toby, but why does he want to buy this ring? she wondered. What is he going to do with my wedding band? Give it to Tina? That’s impossible, she concluded and shook her head as she shot down the thought.

Normally, a guy wouldn’t give his ex-wife’s ring to his current fiancée, so she reckoned he must have other motives. However, she couldn’t figure it out, and neither did she want to ponder over it. It was a ring she didn’t want since a long time ago anyway, so she had no reason to think about why someone else was buying it.

“Five million!” Toby bid again from the second floor.

Initially, Tina wanted to raise her paddle again, but Titus held her hand down firmly and looked at her with a somber expression. “I’ll break your legs if you dare to raise the bid again.” She’s the only one silly enough to waste millions on a ring which belonged to someone else, he thought angrily. This is too much even if she’s jealous of Sonia and doesn’t wish for Sonia to keep the ring from Toby.

In the end, the intimidated Tina could only watch as the mysterious person on the second floor won the bid for the ring.

Discussions erupted amidst the people. “The guy upstairs bought a ring for five million! Is he a fool or what?”

Soon, the ring was delivered to the second floor, and Toby stared at the ring in the velvet pouch with an unreadable look in his eyes. When Sonia left the Fullers, she didn’t take anything with her except for this ring, and now it was returned to him in such a manner. From now on, Sonia will have nothing that has any connection to me anymore, he thought as he closed his palm around the ring tightly, and a sharp pain stung his heart.

The auction ended very quickly, and everyone left the venue for the banquet hall upstairs. After everyone left, Toby got up from the couch and hobbled out of the private suite with the crutch. The moment he stepped out, he saw Tina and Titus walking toward him.

With her eyes widened in disbelief, Tina gasped, “Toby… so it’s true that you won the bid for the ring!”

“Yes, I did,” he admitted graciously with earnest eyes.

With a little effort, anyone could easily find out that the person in the first private suite was him, so there was no need for him to deny anything.

“But why?” Tina uttered, biting her lip and staring at him with tears in her eyes as though he had betrayed her. “Why did you buy that ring? Are you planning to return it to Miss Reed?”

With Titus’ eyes fixed on him as well, Toby furrowed his brows and answered, “Nothing like that. It’s because that ring has the Fullers’ emblem engraved on the inside when I bought it back then, and it would be bad if someone with ulterior motives got their hands on it.”

This was really one of the reasons he bought the ring. The other reason was, he indeed didn’t want someone else to have this ring. The thought that the ring might end up with Charles, Zane or another man sent an inexplicable frustration through his heart.

Tina, however, didn’t know what was on his mind. Her tears stopped flowing down her cheeks the minute she heard his explanation. “Really?”

Taking the ring out of his pocket, he then handed it to her and said, “You can take a look at it if you want.”

To his dismay, she really took the ring from him and inspected it. Although he was the one who offered the ring for her inspection, he was still indescribably annoyed when she did it because it showed that she didn’t believe him. Most importantly, she had mentioned in her letter that she would trust him, but in hindsight, Toby didn’t think she had ever trusted him.

While he pursed his lips, deep in his own thoughts, he heard Tina cry out in surprise, “There really is an emblem here!”

Keeping away his emotions, he answered curtly, “Of course.”

“I’m sorry for misunderstanding you, Toby. I thought you bought the ring for Miss Reed,” she said and returned the ring to him.

Bursting out in a hearty laugh, Titus chirped, “Everything is alright now that you’ve cleared the misunderstanding.”

“Yeah,” Toby answered absentmindedly and took the ring from her hand. Subconsciously, he rubbed all around the ring with his thumb and came to a sudden realization that he was doing it because he was disgusted that Tina had made the ring dirty.

“Toby?” Tina called out, waving her hand in front of him, and he was pulled back to reality.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I should be the one to ask you that. Why are you suddenly in a daze?” she asked, looking at him.

Lowering his gaze, he answered calmly, “Nothing. Something was just on my mind. By the way, why do you want to bid for the ring, Tina?” He placed the ring into his pocket again and looked at her with interrogative eyes.

In reply, she hung her head woefully and muttered, “It’s all because you don’t want to give me a ring and said that I’ll only get one when we’re married. So, when I saw the ring Miss Reed donated and remembered that you have the other one with you, I thought I could make it a pair with yours if I buy it and take it as though it’s a gift from you. That’s why I tried to bid for it.”

This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 217

I see, Toby thought, nodding. I thought she was picking on Sonia.

“I have to tell you off about this, Toby,” Titus said with a straight face, giving him a displeased look. “Although Tina isn’t officially engaged to you, the news that she’s your fiancée was already announced during the party which was ruined by Sonia. Since she’s already your fiancée, you should at least give her a ring. People will make a joke out of her if she’s got nothing from you.”

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“Stop it, Dad. Toby has his own ideas, and we shouldn’t force ours on him,” Tina said hurriedly, tugging at Titus’ sleeve. Then, she cast an apologetic look at Toby as though she was afraid that he would be angry. “I’m sorry, Toby. Don’t take my dad’s words to heart.”

“That’s okay, but Mr. Gray is right. I should give you a ring,” Toby replied composedly.

The reason he hadn’t given her a ring this whole time was because he simply didn’t feel like giving her one. That was why he brushed them off with the excuse that he would give it at the wedding. While even himself couldn’t explain why he didn’t feel like giving her a ring, Titus had a point—if he still didn’t put a ring on Tina even after she was his fiancée, everyone would belittle her.

“Toby, are you for real?” Tina asked, beaming at him.

When he saw how happy she was, his heart softened. “Yes.” She’s the woman I love, and I promised that I would make her happy for the rest of her life. I can’t just deny her a ring simply because of some inexplicable emotions that I have.0

“You’re so amazing, Toby!” Tina cried, throwing herself into his arms.

Feigning annoyance, Titus glared at her and said, “You left me for a ring. Husbands are more important to girls than their father!”0

“Dad!” Tina exclaimed, spinning her head around at him and pretending to be embarrassed when in fact she had exchanged a look with him. That was a look which only the both of them understood what it meant.

In fact, both of them came to look for Toby with a motive. Before coming upstairs, they already found out that he was the one in the first private suite, and they came up with this plan to make Toby promise that she would give her a ring to cement her title as his fiancée.

Unexpectedly, their plan worked, and Toby didn’t even object.

“Should we pick out a ring tomorrow, Toby? I would like a ring from DR. Even though that brand is considered a lower-end luxury brand and the prices are generally not expensive, I still want it because the brand only allows a man to buy one ring from them in his lifetime.” Lifting her head to look at him, she asked, “Is that okay, Toby?”

When Toby heard the phrase ‘a man could only buy one ring’, he knitted his brows tightly together and his first reaction was to turn down her idea. Despite that, when he saw the anticipation in her eyes, he suppressed his urge to reject her in the end and nodded instead. “Sure.”

“Thank you, Toby!” she said happily and hugged him tightly.

On the other hand, Toby merely gave her a lopsided smirk, and instead of feeling equally happy, he felt frustrated. A few seconds later, he peeled her away from himself gently and said, “Let’s go to the party. Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin are probably waiting for us there.”

“You’re right, let’s hurry there now,” Titus agreed with a nod.

The Laughlins were a more influential family than the Grays, and even though they were not comparable to the Fullers, the Grays still had to show them some respect and not offend them.

While everyone was toasting with drinks and socializing in the brightly-lit banquet hall, Sonia was looking around the room with a glass of juice in her hand as though she was searching for something.

With a plate of snacks in his hand, Charles came over and passed it to her. “I finally managed to shake off that pesky Zane. I wonder what’s wrong with him recently. He’s Toby’s friend to begin with, but he kept swarming around us instead of hanging out with him. What’s worse, we couldn’t even chase him away! It’s really annoying.”

“It’s okay, he’s not mean and has a nice, friendly personality. It’s kind of easy to get along with him,” Sonia said with a smile as she took the snacks from him.

Even though she didn’t know why he kept coming to them, she knew for sure that he was not their enemy.

“Let’s just forget about him. What were you looking for earlier, darling?” Charles asked and took a sip of his wine.

“I’m looking for Carl. Since the auction began, I’ve not seen him and only heard his voice,” she answered, rubbing the middle of her forehead.

“I’m really happy to hear that you miss me so much, Sonia.” A man’s gentle voice rang from behind her.

Immediately, a smile spread across her face and she spun around to see the young man who was less than six feet away from her. Taking a step closer to him, she exclaimed, “It’s really you, Carl!”

“It’s me alright,” he said with a smile and nodded. Opening his arms, he took her into a warm and tight hug. Carl then rested his head on her shoulder and snuggled her gently. “I missed you so much, Sonia,” he whispered softly, sounding a little choked up.

Delighted, Sonia stroked his head and said, “Yeah, I missed you, too. Let go of me now. Everyone’s watching.”

“No, let me hug you a little longer,” Carl said and held her tighter instead of releasing her.

Shaking her head helplessly and thinking that he was still a child, Sonia simply let him be.

Next to them, Charles rolled his eyes, thinking, This brat is always pretending to be a little pup to fool her and get intimate with her. Despicable! Despite his despise for Carl, he had to admit that he was rather envious of him because he could hug Sonia in such a way. If he was the one who tried this with her, she would have pushed him away at once. Snorting bitterly, he threw his head back and finished his wine in a gulp.

At the same time, Toby, Tina and Titus were already in the room, and they saw Carl hugging Sonia tightly through the crowd. Toby’s eyes squinted, and his grip on his crutch tightened as his expression turned glum and a storm began to brew in his eyes.

Carl actually came back, he thought. And the first thing Sonia does is hug him so tightly. She really enjoys having all these men around her, doesn’t she?

Feeling the cold air radiating from the man next to her, Tina stole a look at Toby and saw the jealousy in his eyes. A dark cloud appeared in her eyes and she said, “Toby, the one hugging Miss Reed is Carl Lee, the same person who destroyed my banquet together with her, isn’t he? I thought he already left Seafield, but he showed up again and is even hugging Miss Reed now. As Miss Reed’s boyfriend, Mr. Lane is simply watching from the side without stopping them. What do you think is going on between the three of them?” A malicious smirk appeared on her face, but she rubbed it off very quickly.

With a stony look on his face, Toby found the scene of them hugging each other to be so glaring that he had the urge to march up to them and separate them. In addition, he wanted to warn Sonia that she was not allowed to be so intimate with another man. However, he knew clearly that he had no right to do so.

“That’s their business, and whatever is going on between them has nothing to do with us,” he uttered coldly and looked away as he continued to walk forward with Tina trailing after him hurriedly.

In the meantime, Charles placed down his empty glass and pulled Carl away. “That’s it, you’ve hugged her long enough.” After Carl cast him an annoyed look, Charles met his gaze and added, “Don’t forget that everyone knows me as Sonia’s boyfriend. What will they think if you hug her for so long?”

Surprised, Carl looked around and sure enough, he saw many people criticizing them and making assumptions about the relationship between the three of them. When they saw him looking their way, they quickly acted as though nothing happened and looked away nonchalantly.

But the moment he retracted his gaze, the people continued criticizing them, and there were many mean comments about what a wanton woman Sonia was and how she was hooking up with different men.

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The comments reached Sonia’s ears as well, but she just smiled and didn’t take them to heart because she had heard such things countless times.

Confused, Carl looked at her smiling face and asked, “Aren’t you angry, Sonia?”34351

She took a sip of juice and replied, “There’s nothing to be angry about.”

“They’re speaking so badly about you.” Narrowing his eyes, Carl scanned the gossip-mongers as though he wanted to memorize their faces.

Chuckling, she answered, “Just let them say whatever they want. I can’t possibly seal their mouths, can I? Furthermore, I can’t be angry at so many people.”

“But I am!” A spiteful look flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared the next second. These people who insulted Sonia… I won’t let any of them off!

Not knowing what was on his mind, Sonia patted him on the shoulder and said, “It’s alright, I know you feel unjustified for me, but you shouldn’t be bothered since I’m not even angry about it. Just let them be. They’re simply a bunch of gossip-mongers, and we don’t have to stoop to their level.”0

Grinning, Carl nodded. “Alright.”

“I’m going to get another glass of juice,” she said and placed her empty glass on the side before heading off to the drinks corner, leaving Carl and Charles alone.

Resting an arm on Carl’s shoulder, Charles asked in a hushed voice, “Rascal, are you going to do something to these people?”

Throwing his arm off his shoulder, Carl replied coldly, “Of course. I have to teach them a lesson since they have the nerves to insult Sonia.”

“I’m with you on this, but don’t overdo it. If they become suspicious of Sonia—”

“I got it,” Carl interrupted while looking at him.

Charles patted him lightly on his shoulder and said, “Good, Sonia’s coming back now. Don’t reveal anything.”

“Yeah,” he muttered as Sonia came over with a glass of mango juice in her hand.

Smiling, she asked, “What are you guys talking about? I saw from afar that both of you looked very serious.”

“We’re just discussing your birthday gift,” Charles said, laughing loudly.

Going along with his answer, Carl nodded. “Yes, Sonia. What would you like for your birthday?”

“My birthday is in June next year,” she said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “There’s still half a year to go and you’re already discussing what to prepare as my gift. Don’t you think it’s too early for that?”

“Not at all,” Carl replied gently, shaking his head. “Some gifts have to be custom-made ahead of time.”

“Exactly, darling,” Charles agreed.

“Are you guys discussing what to get for Sonia for her birthday? Count me in as well,” Zane interrupted suddenly as he joined them.

Charles rolled his eyes at him and said, “What’s Sonia’s birthday got to do with you?”

“Of course it does since she’s also my friend,” Zane answered, sticking out his chest.

Snorting, Charles snapped, “Let me correct that. Your friend is Toby Fuller.”

“So what if he is? There’s no limit to the number of friends I can have, and I’m also Sonia’s partner in work, right?” he said and winked at Sonia.

Charles sulked and had no words to retort all of a sudden, but Carl narrowed his eyes and asked, “Sonia, what are you working on with Mr. Coleman?”

“It’s something important, but I can’t tell you the details just yet,” she answered, smiling.

The feud was between the Reeds, the Grays and the Colemans. Therefore, there was no need to tell Carl about it because it would just cause him unnecessary worries. However, his eyes turned gloomy and he appeared crestfallen at the fact that she refused to tell him.

“That’s right, Sonia. Let me bring you to meet some important figures of the trade,” Zane offered suddenly.

At first, Sonia’s eyes sparkled, but then she scrutinized him dubiously. “Why are you being so kind and helping me to extend my network?”

“Take it as my thanks because you babysat Douglas the last time. Alright, let’s go now and don’t keep them waiting.” Then, he grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her away.

Even though Charles was unhappy, he didn’t stop him for the sake of Sonia’s career, but Carl stared at Zane with a somber expression and asked, “Hey Charles, since when did he become so close with Sonia?”

He knew Zane as Toby’s friend, and there weren’t many exchanges between him and Sonia before, but how did he become so close with her in just a little more than two months? In addition, he really didn’t like the way Zane looked at her.

“Maybe it’s because of the partnership,” Charles answered, swirling the wine in his glass.

Turning to him, Carl asked, “And what partnership is this, exactly?”

Spreading his palm, Charles said, “You shouldn’t try to find out more about this. Since Sonia doesn’t want to tell you, I won’t go against her wishes as well. Let’s go, I’ll introduce some key figures in the entertainment industry to you.”

In the meantime, Sonia was able to meet many bosses and collected a lot of business cards with Zane as her introducer. Although many of them gave her their business cards because of Zane, there were also some who were impressed with her self-presentation.

Whilst there weren’t many of them, it still made Sonia very happy. At the very least, she was able to present herself well enough for the big bosses, and she believed that it would help her greatly in future partnerships.

“Sonia, I’m going to the washroom. You—”

“I’m going to the lounge area. I’ve been standing for a long time and would like to sit down for a while,” she broke him off with a smile.

Nodding, Zane said, “Okay, I’m going now.” He placed his wine on the tray of a waiter who was passing by and turned to leave the room.

After Sonia put the business cards into her handbag, she headed toward the lounge, but she had barely taken a few steps when a sarcastic voice belonging to a woman said, “Oh, isn’t this Sonia Reed? Why are you alone by yourself? Where are all your boyfriends?”

Hearing that, Sonia pursed her lips and spun around, facing Cynthia and Tina with an expressionless face.

Tina tugged at Cynthia’s arm and said, “Don’t say that, Cynthia.” Then, she gave Sonia an apologetic smile. “Miss Reed, I apologize on Cynthia’s behalf. I’m sorry, she didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just because she’s an outspoken person.”

“Outspoken?” Sonia snorted. “Do you know what that means? It simply means that she meant what she said and wasn’t just shooting her mouth off. The fact that you called her an outspoken person instead of disagreeing with her shows that you actually agree with the things she said. Therefore, why did you even apologize? Don’t you think that’s a little too pretentious of you?”

“Miss Reed, how could you say something like that…” Tina uttered, biting her lower lip and looking as though she had been accused. “Even if I said something wrong, you shouldn’t have called me pretentious.”

“Exactly,” Cynthia echoed, raising her chin. “She just used the wrong word. Do you have to be such a bully? Also, did I say anything wrong? You were acting so intimate with so many men—”

“Are you envious?” Sonia interrupted, crossing her arms across her chest as she looked at her with ridicule.

Blood rushed to Cynthia’s face and she shouted angrily, “Who are you calling envious?”

“If you’re not, then why are you trying to stir up an issue with me using Zane and the rest? You don’t have to use the men around me as an excuse to start a fight with me,” Sonia snapped.

“I-I…” Cynthia stammered, tongue-tied as her eyes burned with fury.

Sweeping her disdainful gaze over them both, Sonia added, “I would suggest you girls to think of a better excuse before coming to pick a fight with me next time. Otherwise, you’ll only make a fool out of yourselves.”

With that said, she twirled and wanted to leave the scene, but Tina bit her lip and grabbed her arm all of a sudden after malice flashed in her eyes.

The moment her hand touched Sonia’s arm, she acted as though she was shoved and staggered backward in horror before falling to the floor on her bottom. The glass she was holding shattered to pieces and the wine spilled all over her dress. Suddenly, the entire room fell silent and everyone turned their heads to look in their direction.

Seeing that everyone was looking their way, Tina raised her head and looked at Sonia with a tear-streaked face. “Miss Reed, you’re too much. You didn’t have to push me just because I bumped into you.”

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This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 219

In the beginning, Sonia was confused about why Tina suddenly fell, but she immediately figured out that she had feigned the fall herself and was now trying to frame her for it. thus, she chuckled and gazed at Tina with an icy look in her eyes as she asked, “And when did I push you?”

“Could I have fallen by myself if you didn’t push me?” Tina lifted her head and met her gaze angrily.

However, Sonia snorted and retorted, “Well, that’s actually possible. Who knows? Maybe you fell by yourself and you’re trying to set me up now.”

The second she finished speaking, Cynthia pointed a finger at her and yelled, “How dare you say something like that, Sonia Reed?! You’re the one who pushed Tina, but you turned around and accused her of falling by herself just to set you up. Who would risk getting hurt to do such a thing?”

“She’s right.” The people who were watching nodded in agreement, and the edges of Tina’s lips curled up ever so lightly as a smug look appeared in her eyes.

Let’s see how you wriggle yourself out of this, Sonia, she thought.

“You heard them,” Cynthia said, her hands on her hips. “Nobody thinks that Tina would do something like that. Moreover, I saw with my own eyes that you were the one who pushed her. What do you have to say now?”

“I—”

Sonia was about to speak up when a deep, male voice cut her off. “Tina!”

“Toby,” Tina whimpered. With tears in her eyes, she gazed at the man rushing toward her and extended her hand toward him.

After he helped her up, he looked at her dirtied dress and frowned. “What happened?”

“Yeah, Tina. Tell me what happened here.” Titus, who arrived with Toby, wanted to understand the situation as well. He threw a dirty look at Sonia. Clearly, he suspected that she was the one who pushed Tina to the floor.

Sonia merely rolled her eyes and snorted instead of saying anything.

Tina sobbed while she was in Toby’s embrace. “Earlier, Cynthia and I saw Miss Reed, so we came over to say hi to her, but she accidentally pushed me.”

“What do you mean she accidentally pushed you?” Cynthia barked indignantly. “Why are you still trying to make things look better for her at a time like this? Just tell President Fuller directly that it was Sonia who pushed you down on purpose.”

Toby turned to Sonia and saw that she was very composed; she didn’t seem to be flustered at all. From that, he knew that there was another side to the story in this situation.

However, to be fair, he still asked, “Sonia, did you push Tina?”

Before she could answer, Titus snorted and interrupted their conversation. “Toby, Cynthia witnessed everything. Why are you still asking her that question?”

“That’s right, President Fuller. But I’m not the only one. Everyone else saw it as well,” Cynthia said while pointing at the people crowding around.

The people weren’t expecting that she would drag them into the mess, so they were mad at her. Nevertheless, with Toby at the scene and the fact that Tina was his fiancée, they didn’t want to offend her. After all, offending Tina was as good as offending Toby himself.

Compared to getting on the wrong side of Tina, they would rather put Sonia on the spot instead. Thus, they quickly bobbed their heads, expressing that they had really witnessed the incident.

For some unknown reason, the sight of the crowd nodding sparked an inexplicable fire of fury within Toby, and it showed on his face. However, the people merely thought that he was really mad at Sonia because he believed that she was the one who pushed Tina.

Even Tina jumped to the same assumption, so she twisted her head around to throw a triumphant smile at Sonia when the others weren’t watching.

Upon seeing that, Sonia grinned wryly and thought, The villain is really happy, huh?

“What do you have to say, Sonia?” Toby asked flatly with his eyes fixed on her.

Titus was obviously disgruntled when he heard that. “Toby, why are you still letting her defend herself when the people here saw that she was the one who pushed Tina? Just send her to the police immediately!”

Toby frowned slightly, but other than that, he showed no other signs of having heard Titus. He simply kept his eyes on Sonia, for he wanted to hear her say that she didn’t do anything like that. Unexpectedly though, she played with her fingernails as she smiled slightly. “What should I say? And who would believe my words? Will you?”

Toby’s lips moved, and the words ‘I will’ almost slipped out. Still, his rationality took over him at the last second, and he dropped his gaze without saying a thing.

Just then, three strong voices boomed through the crowd simultaneously. “I believe her!”

The crowd turned to the source of the voices, and they saw three men with different looks and height, but all equally dashing, marching toward them. The aura they carried was so intimidating that the crowd opened up a path for them automatically.

The three men were none other than Charles, Zane, and Carl.

Like guardians angels, they strode up to Sonia and stood in front of her protectively before giving everyone a glare with their sharp eyes and declared loudly, “We believe that she didn’t push anyone!”

Even the onlookers had to admit that they were intimidated by the arrival of these three men, and some of them hung their heads out of guilt. Of course, there were also some ignorant daredevils that started discussing among themselves in hushed voices, saying that Sonia was so well-practiced in controlling men that all three of them could be on such good terms with each other even when she was flirting with them all at once.

But the majority of the people with such comments were women, and they all sounded jealous. It was obvious to anyone who saw them that they were envious of Sonia. Undeniably, they wished to be just like Sonia—loved and protected by so many outstanding men. Of course, Tina was one of them as well.

She always knew that Sonia always got along well with men, so she devised a scheme and impersonated Sonia to snatch Toby from her after she learned that Sonia was the one writing to Toby.

Initially, she thought that Sonia would have nothing left after she snatched Toby away from her, but to her dismay, the men revolving around her grew in number with Toby out of the picture.

This is so unfair! She was so angry that her eyes were bloodshot, and she was biting her lip.

On the other hand, the look on Toby’s face was unpleasant, and an incomprehensible feeling of enmity rose up in his chest the second Charles, Zane, and Carl showed up.

Furthermore, this sense of enmity intensified when a delighted smile broke out on Sonia’s face after she saw them arriving. He even had the urge to strangle all three of them.

“So what if you believe her? Everyone here saw that she pushed my daughter. What can the three of you prove?” Titus yelled, his face livid.

Tina gripped Toby’s sleeves tightly and sniffled aggrievedly in his arms. Right then, someone else joined the scene—the organizer of the banquet, Michael and Brenda.

Brenda approached the scene while holding her husband’s arm and glanced at Tina, who was in Toby’s arms. Then, she asked with a stiff smile on her face, “What’s happening here?”

“You arrived at the perfect timing, Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin,” Titus said. He shot Sonia another dirty look before telling everything that happened minutes ago.34353

After listening to him, Brenda nodded and said, “So that’s what happened. If I understood it correctly, everyone is now debating if Miss Reed really pushed Miss Gray, right?”

“Yes,” Titus answered solemnly while nodding. “But I believe that she was the one who pushed my daughter. Even Cynthia herself said that everyone had seen it.”

In response, Sonia merely smiled without saying anything. Charles, on the other hand, kept the argument going, a displeased look on his face. “So you’re just taking her word for it?”

Carl stood forward as well. He had a stony look on his usually gentle face when he spoke. “I believe Sonia isn’t a person like that, and I know her very well. If she was the one who pushed Tina, she would have admitted it. Since she didn’t admit to it, it only means that it wasn’t her.”

“Yeah, I think Sonia didn’t push Tina as well. On the other hand, Tina has past records of staging an act before,” Zane added. He was glancing at Tina with a half-smirk.0

Upon hearing that, Tina burrowed deeper into Toby’s embrace, appearing to be terrified. Titus pointed his finger at Sonia and her friends while shouting, “Don’t you dare slander Tina!”

This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr Chapter 220

“You can’t just simply say that these young men are slandering Miss Gray or not. You need proof. What do you think, everyone?” Brenda asked with a thoughtful smile. She then released Michael’s arm and took a step forward.

Seeing that she had a point, everyone nodded, and Tina’s heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach when she saw the smile on Brenda’s face. Immediately, she had a bad premonition, which made her tense up.

Sensing the abnormality in her, Toby lowered his head and asked in concern, “What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m alright,” she uttered stiffly. “It’s just that I’m hurting a little from the fall earlier. Can you please bring me to a doctor, Toby?”

Her instincts told her that she had to leave this place as soon as possible, or something beyond her control would probably happen.

Subconsciously, Toby wanted to tell her that he could take her to the doctor after this issue was resolved, but when he looked into her pleading eyes, he nodded in agreement in the end. Then, he helped Tina up and was about to turn to leave when Sonia saw them.

She narrowed her eyes and stopped them emotionlessly. “Wait a minute, why are you leaving before everything is cleared up?”

“Exactly. Sonia is the person you guys accused of pushing Tina, and she’s still standing here without any plans of leaving. So, why are you guys in such a hurry to go instead? Could it be that you’re guilty of crying wolf?” Charles said.

As Zane and Carl nodded, a hint of sarcasm appeared in Brenda’s eyes.

Tina turned around. Her eyes were red and she whimpered, “We’re not leaving. I just want to go to the doctor’s because I’m hurting. Toby can vouch for that.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, Toby said, “We’ll be back after a visit to the doctor’s.”

“Who knows how long it will take you at the doctor’s.” Carl pointed that out, and he folded his arms across his chest.

“He’s right. You don’t have to visit the doctor yourself. What will you do if it worsens the injury? It’s better to just call a doctor here. Is that all right, Mrs. Laughlin?” Zane turned toward Brenda.

“Of course it’s all right,” Brenda said as she waved for a server and instructed him to get a doctor here.

There was no time at all for Tina to stop her, and she could only watch in vain as the server left the room. She was burning with rage. I knew it! These people here are picking on me and putting me on the spot on purpose!

“Miss Gray, you don’t look too happy. Are you unhappy that we called a doctor for you? That’s not right. It’s fine if you don’t thank us for trying to take care of you, but you’re even getting mad at us now. That’s too much of you.” Charles criticized Tina directly while looking at her as though she was an insensible child.

Even the onlookers chirped in. “Yeah, Miss Gray. You’re in the wrong this time.”

“You…” Tina muttered. She was hopping mad with anger.

Beside her, Toby patted her shoulder and said, “That’s enough, Tina. They’re right, you shouldn’t be angry over this.”

“I…” She trailed off, her body shaking with anger. Am I angry because of this? The reason I’m so mad is because these people stopped me from leaving! Nevertheless, she couldn’t say what was on her mind, so she shut her mouth as she tried to suppress the anger inside.

Soon, the doctor arrived. With so many pairs of eyes on her, Tina couldn’t turn the doctor away, so she had to let him inspect her.

After giving her a checkup, the doctor said, “There’s nothing serious with this young lady. Just a minor scratch on her arm. Nothing a band-aid can’t do.”

“I got it. Please send the doctor out,” Brenda instructed the server who brought the doctor in.

After they left, Sonia flipped her hair and said, “All right. The drama is over now. Since there’s nothing serious with Miss Gray, let us continue from where we left off earlier and figure out exactly how she fell so we can be done with this sooner.”

Cynthia snorted and pointed at Sonia’s nose. “No matter what you say, the truth is that you’re the one who pushed Tina.”

Toby threw a frosty glance at Cynthia, thinking that she was a detestable person, but he simply couldn’t explain why he disliked all these people who accused Sonia.

“Cynthia is right,” Titus added. “There’s nothing much to be said about this. Mrs. Laughlin, you must have sent her the invitation since she was able to get in here, but I think you should throw out people like this who are lacking in ethics, lest they ruin this banquet.”

With furrowed brows, Toby said, “Mr. Gray, we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of the matter yet.”

“Of course we already did. Cynthia already said it so clearly, and so many people here had also seen it with their own eyes. Are you trying to cover up for your ex-wife, Toby?” Titus asked. His eyes were widened with disbelief, while Tina sniffled sadly beside Toby.

Feeling frustrated, Toby loosened his tie and replied in his husky voice, “I’m not covering up for anyone, but you need proof for everything. So what if someone had seen it? Where is the evidence?”

When Sonia heard it, she looked at him in surprise. She was shocked that he could actually say something that was actually fair. But this is unlike him, she thought. Doesn’t he always trust Tina unconditionally?

Titus snorted. “Toby Fuller, I think you’re just trying to protect your ex-wife.” Turning to Sonia, he continued sarcastically, “I really didn’t know that you can be that good at your ways with men. You already have so many men by your side, but you’re still trying to get your ex-husband—”

“What did you say, old fart? Don’t make me hit you!” Charles roared. He was fuming mad as he raised his fist and was about to lunge forward.

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“Don’t do it, Charles!” Sonia shouted.

Zane held Charles back as he tried to reason with him. “Don’t act impulsively, Charles. I know you’re angry, because I’m angry as well. Still, that’s not reason enough to hit someone else. We didn’t see how Tina fell, but everyone will witness it once you hit someone, and that will just mean more trouble after that.”

Even though Carl found it a pity that Charles wasn’t able to teach Titus a lesson, he already decided that he would do it himself after returning.

Still oblivious to the fact that he had been targeted, Titus staggered backward fearfully and then pointed his finger at Charles furiously. “The nerve of you to raise your hand at me, you b*stard. Mrs. Laughlin, didn’t you go through the guest list before sending out the invitations? Why did you invite these sorts of people?”

Brenda chuckled. “You’re right. It’s my fault that you guys are invited because I didn’t go through the guest list beforehand.” All of a sudden, her smile faded and her face turned stern. “Someone, throw the Grays out of here!” she ordered loudly.0

Upon hearing that, everyone was shocked, and there was soon an uproar. Why were the Grays being thrown out instead of Sonia and her friends?

Even Sonia and her friends were puzzled. When Brenda first started to speak, they thought that they would be the ones to be thrown out, but not even in their wildest imagination did they think that it would be Titus and Tina instead.0

After Toby stole a look at Brenda, he lowered his gaze as though he had understood the situation. Rubbing his forehead in exasperation, he then released his hold on Tina. “I’m really disappointed, Tina!” he said abruptly.

“Toby…” Tina muttered. Panic-stricken, she tried to grab his sleeve, but he avoided her grasp, and her heart sank. My instincts were right, she thought. There was something off about Mrs. Laughlin’s smile earlier, and sure enough, the situation now has completely spiraled out of my expectations and control.

With a crestfallen expression, Titus asked, “Are you kidding, Mrs. Laughlin?”

“Of course not,” she answered with a smile as she met his eyes.

The muscles on Titus’ face twitched. “May I ask you for the reason, please? We’re the ones who suffered an injustice, yet you want to chase us out instead. If you don’t give us a reason, your family will lose its footing in society and our families will be enemies from now on.”

“Is this a threat to me, Mr. Gray?” Brenda asked in return, a frosty smile plastered to her face.

“I wouldn’t dare to,” he answered stiffly. “But I just find it unfair.”

“Don’t worry. I’m always fair in everything I do, so I have my reason for chasing you out, and one of it is your daughter,” she answered, then she turned to gaze at Tina.

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