### Chapter 7: Doesn’t That Bastard Feed You?
anwhile, Maxine Rhodes stared at the pinned number in her contacts, one she hadn’t called in a long ti. Her fingertip hovered in the air for ten minutes before she finally steeled herself and pressed the call button.
The call was answered almost instantly. A lazy, theatrical female voice, its tone deliberately put on, ca from the other end. "Hello? Who is this?"
"Susie, it’s ..." Maxine’s voice was cautious. "I heard you’re back in the country?"
"Yeah. So what? What do you want?" The voice on the other end was stiff.
"I... I know I was wrong." Maxine’s voice was placating. "I booked a table at your favorite hot pot place. I ordered the spicy tallow broth, plus extra-large portions of tripe, fatty beef, and shrimp paste—all your favorites. I’m begging for forgiveness."
The other end of the line went silent for three seconds, followed by the sound of a desperately suppressed gulp. "...Hmph! Fine! But if the tripe isn’t crispy, I’m walking out!"
Half an hour later, steam billowed through the hot pot restaurant.
Susie Sumrs, wearing a cream-colored sweater with her hair in a topknot, sat with her arms crossed, scowling at the person across from her. "Maxine Rhodes, why are you so skinny? You look like a refugee! Doesn’t that bastard Benjamin Sterling feed you?!"
Seeing the obvious concern on Susie’s face, Maxine felt a prickle in her nose and had to fight back tears.
When she first got together with Benjamin Sterling, Susie had been firmly against it, saying he was too controlling and that there was sothing untrustworthy in his eyes. But Maxine had been blinded by what she thought was love. Egged on by Benjamin’s constant attempts to sow discord, she and Susie had a huge fight and parted on bad terms.
After that, Susie went abroad to clear her head, and the two slowly drifted apart. But Maxine truly regretted it! Susie, however, had been ignoring her ever since.
"I broke up with him," Maxine said quietly.
Susie snorted, picking up a large slice of tripe and dunking it in the crimson broth. "Broke up? You said the sa thing last ti. And what happened? He made one phone call, and you went scurrying right back. What round is this?"
"It’s for real this ti!" Maxine imdiately held up three fingers, as if taking an oath. "And besides... I’m married. To soone else."
Susie’s eyes widened in shock, and she nearly choked on the tripe she’d just put in her mouth.
She put down her chopsticks and said sternly, "What on earth has been happening to you? Spill. Now."
Maxine proceeded to tell her everything that had happened recently.
Susie’s eyes grew wide as saucers as she listened. Then, with a loud BANG, she slamd her hand on the table, rattling the dishes and drawing stares from the other diners.
"Son of a bitch! That goddamn piece of trash, Benjamin Sterling! We’re settling all our scores, new and old. If I don’t see him and that green-tea sister of his shoveled into a garbage incinerator, then my na isn’t Susie Sumrs!"
Maxine’s expression softened. "Okay, okay. We’ll do whatever you say."
Susie scooped up so shrimp paste, blowing on it to cool it. "But this guy you flash-married... he’s not so romance scamr pretending to be rich, is he? You can’t let yourself get fooled! Tell his na. I have to do a thorough background check for you."
Amused by her friend’s intensity, Maxine chuckled and said, "His na is Ethan Hawthorne."
Susie nearly choked on her shrimp paste again. She swallowed hastily and demanded, "Who did you say?! Ethan Hawthorne?! You don’t an *the* Ethan Hawthorne, do you? The business tycoon of Kingsland, Ethan Hawthorne?!"
Maxine nodded lightly.
"Holy shit!!" Susie gave her two thumbs up. "Maxine Rhodes, you’re incredible! You really know how to make a splash! You leveled up from the city dump straight to a world-class museum! With a powerhouse like Ethan Hawthorne backing you, forget your parents—even if Benjamin Sterling summoned eighteen generations of his ancestors, they wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair on your head."
"We signed a contract, though," Maxine explained. "It’s a mutually beneficial arrangent."
Susie visibly relaxed and leisurely fished out a slice of fatty beef. "Who cares about a contract? No one knows what the future holds."
She suddenly leaned closer, winking at Maxine. "So... Mrs. Hawthorne, when are you going to bring your dreamboat husband out to et your side of the family? I’m dying to properly vet this legendary tycoon!"
Maxine picked up a freshly cooked slice of beef and stuffed it into Susie’s mouth. "Just eat your hot pot."
Susie yelped, "Hsss—Hot, hot, hot! Maxine Rhodes! Are you trying to murder your best friend?"
anwhile, at the Sterling Group.
Benjamin Sterling was leisurely sipping his coffee.
He glanced at his silent phone for the umpteenth ti, his brow slightly furrowed.
’Is Maxine taking this whole "playing hard to get" thing a bit too far? She hasn’t even reported back to about the project eting.’
He finally lost his patience. Deciding to graciously take the initiative and call her himself, he snatched his phone and dialed her number.
It rang several tis before he was t with the rciless dial tone of a disconnected call.
Benjamin Sterling froze, his brows knitting together. ’I took the initiative to call her. How dare she hang up?’
In disbelief, he called several more tis in a row. The calls went from being hung up on to a recorded ssage: "The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable."
A surge of indignant anger flared in his chest. ’How long is this woman going to keep up her tantrum?’
Benjamin Sterling slamd his phone onto the desk. "I refuse to believe she can just slip through my fingers like this!"
That evening, Maxine Rhodes pushed open the door to her unit in Cloudview Apartnts, and a warm, yellow light spilled out.
Just as she was slipping off her high heels, Ethan Hawthorne erged from the study, a docunt in his hand.
"The Caelus Project..." he began, leaning against the doorfra as his gaze settled on her. "Did you intentionally bring it to the Hawthorne Group’s attention?"
Maxine hung up her coat, a knowing smile playing on her lips as she turned to face him. "Mr. Hawthorne, you certainly get news fast. Have you already sealed the deal?"
"We signed the letter of intent this afternoon."
Ethan Hawthorne took a few steps closer. "I rember soone ntioning they had a wedding gift for . I take it this was it?"
"Mhm," Maxine said, raising an eyebrow. "Don’t you like it?"
"Quite the contrary." Ethan Hawthorne’s eyes looked particularly deep in the light. "I like it very much."
’My woman,’ he thought, ’is every bit as clever as she is formidable.’*****
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