A Vengeful Ex-Wife novel Chapter 110

How did women compete with each other? They were not like men who usually resorted to physical fights. Most of the time, they didn't even need to argue. As long as a woman excelled in her beauty and charm, like having a flawless complexion, perfect figure, elegant aura, and confidence, she would definitely stand out. Outstanding women usually beat other women.

Maria was the best example. On whatever occasion she attended, she could easily steal the limelight from Alina or any other woman. She always became the center of everyone's attention.

And in tonight's auction, Alina obviously lost against Maria again.

Whether she admitted it or not, she felt miserable inside. James, who was sitting next to her right now, was her only chance to save her dignity. He was her only way to make everyone fawn on her.

Although Maria showed up in a high-profile way, she kept a low profile when she was inside the auction hall. She didn't even greet anyone. Completely ignoring James and Alina, she found her seat, sat quietly, and waited for the auction to begin.

James and Alina were in the first row while Maria was in the third row. Daniela was also present in the auction. She was in the third to the last row with Elaine sitting next to her.

The two didn't look good when they saw Maria. But since they were in a public place, they didn't do anything. They tacitly treated her as a stranger. A few seconds before the auction began, Ethan came in. He didn't see Maria, so he walked up to James and sat next to him.

Maria found the auction quite boring that she didn't even raise her bidding paddle for the first few items. She was about to doze off when something appeared on the stage that attracted her attention at once. In an instant, she sobered up.

The bid caller announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, the next treasure is a surprise from Mr. Jiang of YL Group. It is a valuable Paraiba tourmaline necklace called 'Angel's Tear.' This necklace is one of the collections of the royal family of T Country."

The necklace was called "Angel's Tear" because its tourmaline pendant was teardrop-shaped. It was one of a kind. What made it different from ordinary necklaces was that the tourmaline gave off a mysterious color. There seemed to be a magic in it that could intensely attract everyone's attention. Once you laid your eyes on it, you couldn't tear your gaze away from it.

All the women present in the auction got so excited. But since they had to care about their image in public, they could only express their love and longing to possess the said necklace through their eyes.

"The starting bid for this treasure is five million dollars," the bid caller announced.

"What? Five million is the lowest price? I have to think twice then," one woman said sadly.

Those women who were not that rich still hesitated. But those rich ones had already started to bid. "Six million dollars!"

"Seven million dollars!"

The price soared up so quickly. Before everyone could notice, the bidding price had already gone up ten times the starting bid when the last bidder shouted, "Fifty million dollars!"

That bidder was Alina.

Almost all of the women there turned and looked at her with admiration. They all thought that she deserved the necklace. After all, she was the most famous celebrity in H City, and she would soon be James' fiancee.

Alina enjoyed the crowd's attention and admiration as a matter of course. Actually, she didn't hesitate to place a bid because she was confident that James would pay for it. In her mind, even if she made it one hundred million dollars, it was just a drop in the bucket for him.

The bid caller called fifty million dollars twice, but no one placed a higher bid. It was not that they didn't have enough money. They just didn't dare to compete with Alina. After all, she was sitting next to James, one of the most powerful men in H City.

The bid caller was about to announce for the third time when a woman's voice was head. "Sixty million!"

The auction hall was in an uproar after the bid. Everyone was wondering who was bold enough to challenge Alina. To challenge James, to be exact.

They all looked in the direction where the voice came from, and their mouths agape when they found out that it was Maria.

People started discussing. The auction hall was filled with different voices.

One woman voiced out, "Why has Mr. Xi allowed a murderer to sit here and compete with Alina?"

"How do you know that she's a murderer?" her husband retorted in confusion. Another woman sitting next to them chimed in, "You've just moved to H City, so you don't know yet. Maria Song, that woman who bid sixty million dollars, killed her own son. It was in all newspapers several years ago."

The man was taken aback. He couldn't imagine such a gorgeous woman to be so vicious. 'What a pity!' he thought and heaved a sigh.

Alina didn't need to look back to see who had challenged her bid. Maria's voice was so familiar to her, and she hated it to the core.

Instead, she glanced at James beside her. He was resting his arm at the back of the chair and lazily supporting his forehead. He didn't have any reaction at all, so she raised her bidding paddle again and yelled through clenched teeth, "Eighty million dollars!"

"One hundred million dollars!" Maria offered immediately. She had definitely attracted everyone's attention this time.