The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

“Ugh…” Whitney endured the pain with a frown. As she barely had any energy left, she couldn’t escape him.

Looking aggrieved, she said, “I’m just your wife in name who’ll be a stranger to you a year later. Yesterday, I made

you angry, and you warned me, and today you didn’t come to pick me up. You’re clearly punishing me. Were you

expecting me to throw away my pride and call you to drive me home? Is that it? I could’ve returned on my own, but

my phone ran out of battery. It’s not like I got myself lost on purpose. You were the one who didn’t want me to rely

on you, Charles, and I know I can’t because how else am I supposed to live without you a year later? Sooner or

later, I’m going to have to familiarize myself with the route to work. The route will be etched into my mind after I

make a few more mistakes.”

The sting on her cheek lingered as she endured the pain Charles inflicted on her by pulling her hair.

Intensely aggrieved, Whitney continued, “Why are you doing this to me, Charles? I know I was wrong. I won’t ask

about your past with Gwendolyn again. I know I don’t deserve to learn about your past and that I can’t be

compared to her in your heart, but I’m doing my best, too. I pursued you for five years after moving to Chanaea

from Tayhaven. It’s not like I’m asking you to like me. I merely want you not to treat me so harshly. This way, I’ll still

have a positive image of you in my mind after I leave you in a—”

Without warning, Charles tossed his umbrella away, pressed her head toward him, and kissed her lips.

His kisses were domineering.

Whitney felt as though she had been struck by lightning.

Her mind went blank. Even her breath was almost stolen by that unexpected kiss.

Charles… is kissing me? Is he crazy?

She hammered her fist on his chest, but she was too weak to cause any harm to him.

Charles hugged her tighter, attacking her olfactory senses with his scent.

No pedestrians or vehicles passed them by on the secluded street.

There was only Charles’ luxury car illuminating the two embracing figures.

Even the cold, rainy air seemed to have become sweeter due to the kiss.

The passionate kiss lasted for a few minutes until Whitney fainted in his arms.

“Whitney?” Charles stared at his pale face, then removed his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. He carried

her into his car and drove back to the Newton residence.

Jasmine was startled when she saw Charles carrying Whitney into the house. “What happened to Whitney? Why is

she so pale? Was she kidnapped? Is she hurt? Didn’t you bring an umbrella with you, Charles? Why are you wet as

well?”

Charles could not be bothered to answer any of her questions. He turned to Manuel and ordered, “Get the family

doctor.”

“Will do, Mr. Newton.”

Charles brought Whitney upstairs and placed her on the bed before unbuttoning her shirt to change her clothes.

A moment later, he ceased his impatient movements upon realizing something and didn’t move again for a long

while.

Right then, Jasmine came over to check up on them.

Immediately, Charles said, “Help me change her clothes. Her suitcase is in the far left closet.”

He then exited the room with a grimace, his long eyelashes concealing the panic in his eyes.

Jasmine was confused. “What? Whitney’s your wife. Why are you so embarrassed about helping her change her

clothes?”

Bang!

The only response she received was the loud slamming of the door.

“Seriously, who treats their wife like this?” spat Jasmine before carrying out her brother’s request.

She grabbed a set of pajamas from the closet and helped Whitney change into that.

A while later, the family doctor arrived and took Whitney’s temperature.

As she was drenched in the rain for hours, she caught a fever, which was unsurprising, and her body was

particularly weak because she didn’t have dinner.

The doctor hooked her up to an IV drip with a nutritional solution and fever medicine inside. It was the most

effective way.

Charles escaped from the room to prevent others from spotting him losing his cool.

He went to the study and shut the door to calm himself down.

The rain was still pouring from the sky with no end in sight.

The raindrops split the glass windows into cracks. The atmosphere in the study was heavy.

Charles leaned against the window and smoked a cigarette, his face contorted.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss he had shared with Whitney on the side of the road.

His heart was still pounding, and he couldn’t calm it down.

Why did I… kiss her? I never thought I could do something as ridiculous as that. It was like I was possessed. I only

wanted to stop her incessant chatter. I never thought I would ever have romantic feelings for a woman other than

Gwendolyn. However, at that moment, I really did feel something for Whitney. I’ve loved Gwendolyn for over a

decade, yet I didn’t kiss her even once. Instead, I shared my first kiss with Whitney…

Exasperated, he extinguished the cigarette and removed a white wine with high alcoholic content from the shelf.

Then, he returned to the window and drank while admiring the rain.

He tried to numb his nerves and stop himself from overthinking.

As Whitney was exhausted, she didn’t wake up until the next morning.

When she did, the scent of oatmeal wafted into her nose.

Jasmine had just entered the room with a bowl of hot oatmeal. “You’re awake, Whitney. You scared me last night.”

Whitney sat up weakly and leaned against the headboard. With a hoarse voice, she asked, “How did I get back?”

“Charles carried you back.” Jasmine laid the bowl on the table. “Tell me the truth. What happened between you and

Charles?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Whitney. He didn’t pick you up from the company and made you take the subway back

home, so you got lost. And I was the one who changed your clothes because he asked me to. Something’s going on

between the two of you.”

Whitney looked down at the pajamas she was wearing and felt relieved. Her head was still spinning, but she could

remember Charles kissing her on the side of the road last night.

Her cheeks burned slightly. “It has nothing to do with him. It was my fault. I handled something… poorly two days

ago, which ticked him off.”

A resigned sigh escaped Jasmine’s lips. “You don’t need to cover for him, you know?”

“I’m not…” Whitney smiled weakly, a sincere look in her eyes.

Jasmine sighed again. She couldn’t bear to tell Whitney the truth.

I can’t stand how Charles is treating her. If he weren’t my brother, I would’ve admonished him as hard as I could.

He can’t even help his sick wife change her clothes! And he didn’t visit her once or ask the doctor about her

condition. Instead of taking care of her, he stayed in the study the entire night as though he was avoiding the

plague. It’s like he doesn’t care about his wife at all. How did someone as heartless as him find a wife as wonderful

as Whitney? He doesn’t deserve her who’s willing to go along with him no matter what he does.