Spoiled By The CEO: Why The Wife Is Kinda Sweet? novel Chapter 289

Anything that Laura showed a trace of liking, he raised his tag right away.

The Beton Group was in real estate and construction properties, and was a national forerunner in that industry, so they had a lot of financial power.

As the only son of the Chairman, Edward naturally didn’t want for money.

Normally, when it came to chasing girls, Edward didn’t care about how much money he spent. So long as the girl was happy, he used as much as he want.

Today, though, he’d come across Max.

Everything he wanted, Max upped the ante on.

He could have taken it before, but as things went on, the prices were getting more and more insane.

As if it really was just numbers instead of actual money.

Edward had money, but money wasn’t supposed to be spent this way.

A bracelet only worth five hundred thousand was forcefully upped to thirty million by Max.

If he hadn’t known that it was Max Nixon, the renowned young punk of Eqitin, he’d have suspected he was getting scammed.

Laura was seeing that something was wrong, too. She glared at Max where he sat above them, then turned back to talk Edward out of it.

“Never mind, Edward, if Mr. Nixon wants it that badly then let him have it! We’ll take a look at what comes after.”

She didn’t understand, though, that there were some moments where a man just had to stand his ground for the woman he loved.

Edward had already started to sense that Max was only raising the stakes with him for Laura, sitting right next to his side.

After all, they weren’t seated together, but Edward’s seat was directly in front of Max and gang. He couldn’t have ignored the burning gaze on his back even if he tried.

Thoroughly provoked, Edward didn’t listen to Laura and raised the stakes.

After all, if he gave up now, that would mean admitting that he lost.

No man would give up while he could still compete.

After all, at a time like this, in their eyes they weren’t buying a bracelet. They were buying their manly pride.

Then Max gave up right after he raised the price again.

Edward froze to the spot.

What happened to their manly contest?

What’s up with the lofty Mr. Nixon stopping at thirty-five million?

He looked over in astonishment and saw Max sneering at him, mouthing two syllables exaggeratedly.

Dumbass!

“...”

Laura saw his mouth move too, her expression changing.

Even a complete moron could tell that Max was just messing with him!

Lowering her voice, she said to Edward, “That bracelet is just too expensive. He’s clearly just trying to sabotage you. Let’s stop it here!”

Edward forced a smile.

“It’s fine. You like it, right? It’ll be worth it for your smile. It’s just a bit of money. No need to care about that much.”

He felt like he was getting ripped off, but he absolutely couldn’t say it.

Compared to losing face, these millions were nothing.

Laura bit her lip.

She furrowed her delicate brow, hesitated, and said, “I know Mr. Nixon from before. He must have some misunderstanding of our relationship to go after you like this. Want me to go explain things to him?”

She really didn’t want a rift driven between Max and Edward over her.

Edward turned to look at her.

A light smile floated up his handsome face.

“Then there’s even less reason to go. I’m glad to have a rare chance to have someone misunderstand our relationship. How could I let you explain things?”

Laura floundered.

Edward hurriedly laughed it off. “Just a joke. Don’t mind me.”

Laura forced a few chuckles, still a bit irritated at Max’s behavior.

Seeing that, Edward patted her hand.

“Don’t take it seriously. We’re out here for fun. Worst comes to worse, if he tries it again, I’ll stop raising.”

Laura breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

Meanwhile, Natalia had seen everything and snickered, “What, Mr. Nixon, you’re not jealous, are you?”

Max’s face changed and he sputtered, “Nonsense, I’m not jealous; who does she think she is? I don’t even know her, why would I be jealous?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, who was it that ran over to save her and clear her name? Now you’re trying to sabotage some other man’s efforts to court her? If that’s not jealousy, I don’t know what is.”

Max’s face took a blow at those words.

Gritting his teeth, he said with a low voice, “That’s quite a lot of assumptions you’re making, Natalia. I’m just trying to make some extra income for our auction. What’s that have to do with jealousy? Besides, I only helped her out seeing as she’s one of your people, you know? Some friend you are turning it on me instead of being grateful!”

Natalia looked at the way he had to keep his temper down and found it all really amusing.

“All right, since you’re saying that, I’ll show my gratefulness by investigating her relationship with Mr. Beton over there. I’ll tell you afterwards.”

Max had no words.

Next to them, Louis had to chuckle too.

But compared to Max’s flamboyancy, he was a lot more mature about it.

“If I remember things correctly, didn’t we have an officer in the barracks by the name of Davies? He had a daughter who had a lot of fun with Max back then.”

Natalia could hear some gossip forming and leant over to listen.

Max’s face changed completely, though, and he turned to glare at Louis, threatening, “Don’t say it!”

Louis grinned. “Well, it’s not some big secret. Archie knows it too. Even if you don’t say it now, Archie will tell her when they get back.”

After a brief pause, he added, “Besides, don’t you like her? What are you feeling guilty about?”

Max was struck dumb momentarily.

Archie then said slowly, “Oh, right, I remember that officer. His daughter went by Laura too, didn’t she? But our family moved out of the barracks the earliest, so I can’t remember all the details. Still, I recall that the Nixon family was the last to move out, and the officer was one of old man Nixon’s men. It’s natural for Max to be closer to them.

The McCarthy, Bissel, Kawn and Nixon families were called the four great families not just because of their immense power and wealth, dominating Ambario, but also because each of their ancestors had been wartime heroes, so many of their descendants also worked within the military.

It wasn’t until these two generations that they turned towards the business sector.