Reborn as Mr.CEO's Fat Wife-Chapter 832: Late Night Negotiations

The unexpected tenderness left Benjamin Jones momentarily stunned, but he quickly regained his composure, so swiftly that Catherine Ford didn’t notice at all.

Once they got out of the car, the cold wind dispersed the brief ambiguity, and Catherine Ford sobered up as she walked against the wind toward the hospital.

Benjamin and Reed followed behind her.

As they neared the hospital, Catherine Ford glanced unintentionally at the man beside her. Despite both walking in the cold wind, while she shivered like a quail, Benjamin remained steady, making his already tall figure look even more imposing.

Catherine Ford, who had been in great turmoil, suddenly felt much calmer. She pinched her scarf around her neck and continued forward.

Shortly after entering the hospital, they heard some commotion.

Catherine Ford recognized several familiar voices amid the noise and followed it to find the Newmans surrounding her father and brother.

Compared to the Newmans, her family was clearly outnumbered and outmanned, especially since her father was not articulate. It was all the Newmans’ voices, with the occasional arguments from her sister and brother, but they were almost negligible.

It was then that someone cursed, "Your family gave birth to such a cheap bitch, and you still have the face to complain about our Foster hitting her? She deserved to be beaten to death!"

"Exactly, a woman like her who doesn’t abide by women’s virtues would have been drowned in a pig cage in ancient times!" other members of the Newman family chimed in.

Frederick Ford, who had been silent all this time, suddenly erupted, clearly provoked again.

Gabriel Ford was also infuriated, tearing at the other side while yelling, "Don’t you dare speak about my sister like that, I will tear apart your foul mouths..."

Bella Ford was frantically helpless, crying out, "Stop fighting, please stop!"

From a distance, Catherine Ford saw the chaotic scene and anxiously shouted, "Dad!"

The noisy crowd was momentarily silenced by her shout, and everyone turned to look in Catherine Ford’s direction.

Catherine Ford ignored everyone’s stares and ran straight to her father and brother. Seeing many familiar faces from the village, she was tense, "Stop fighting!"

"Sis, why did you come back? Who let you come back?" Gabriel, who was taller than Catherine by half a head, said this while stepping in front of her.

"If I don’t come back, do you plan to keep fighting them?" Catherine Ford glared at her brother, noticing multiple injuries on his face. Her father did not fare much better, his mature face was somber, only his eyelids twitched when he saw her.

Catherine Ford felt an immense wave of sorrow and softly called out, "Dad."

Mr. Ford responded and then looked towards the Newmans with some murky anger in his eyes, but he did not raise his hand against them in front of his daughter.

The Fords stayed silent, but the Newmans could not, especially when they saw the person in question, Catherine Ford, return. The leading Uncle Newman snorted coldly, "Didn’t expect you to have the face to come back!"

Catherine Ford looked at the man she had called Uncle Newman for many years, and then at the Newmans behind her, took a deep breath and said, "Foster knew about my pregnancy before we got married. Our marriage was just to satisfy our parents, with no real substance. During the first year I lived in Foster’s house, I paid the corresponding rent. I have done nothing wrong towards Foster. On the contrary, two and a half years ago, for reasons unknown, he laid his hands on me while drunk. Since then, I’ve asked him for a divorce and was refused. He has repeatedly apologized but never changed, and a month ago, we filed for divorce and are no longer entangled."

"You’re lying! How could our cultured and prestigious university-educated son ever hit you for no reason? It must be because you did something wrong. And with how outstanding and sensible Foster is, why would he casually marry some secondhand goods just to please the family?" Mrs. Newman screamed furiously.

Catherine Ford forcefully closed her eyes, listening to the woman she had called "mother" for over three years publicly insulting her as "secondhand goods," feeling nothing but derision. Her gaze suddenly turned sharp as she looked back, "Does Aunt Newman really not know the reason? Or should I tell everyone about it?"

"You wouldn’t dare!" Mrs. Newman shouted subconsciously.

"Sister, speak up, I want to see if the Newman family can still face slandering you everywhere after this!" Gabriel joined in just as Mrs. Newman finished shouting.

"You little rascal, you’re just asking to be disciplined." Hearing this, the Newman Brothers were about to pounce on Gabriel to continue the beating.

Catherine Ford pulled her brother back, "Aunt Newman, I’m still calling you ’aunt’ out of respect. My dad hit Foster, and you can sue him..."

After she finished speaking, she swept her gaze over all the Newmans. They all paused, even Bella Ford couldn’t help but tug at her sleeve, "Catherine, don’t spout nonsense. What if they really sue Dad?"

Hearing this, the Newmans looked at Catherine Ford with mockery. Catherine’s gaze grew colder, "My dad hitting Foster was understandable, and it’s a first offense. Even if you sue him, he would at most get a warning from the court, or at worst, detained for fifteen days. But it’s different if I sue Foster."

"You cheap bitch, how dare you sue my son? You think you have something on him?" Mrs. Newman trembled with rage, and Mr. Newman looked at Catherine Ford furiously.

The other Newman family members took the documents from Catherine Ford’s hand. They were initially indignant after hearing her words, but as they looked through the documents, each of their faces changed.

In their memory, Foster was a well-educated, ambitious, perfectly mannered child, a distinguished graduate. Clearly, it was Miss Ford’s fault; she cheated, the child wasn’t even Foster’s, forcing such a good kid to hit someone. Now the Fords had even come to their door to hit Foster; this was outright bullying their Newman family.

And nobody thought Foster would actually hit a girl. But after listening to Catherine Ford’s words and seeing the injury reports in her hand, the group was nothing but shocked.

Seeing this situation, Gabriel Ford snatched the documents from one of the Newmans, and Catherine Ford hurried to stop him, "Gabriel, don’t look!"

But it was too late. Gabriel opened the documents, and both Mr. Ford and Sister Ford took a look. In just a moment, Gabriel’s eyes reddened, and Bella Ford was so shocked that she stepped back, while Mr. Ford clenched his fists, staring at the Newmans, "Are you even human?"

Before, the Fords had heard about their daughter being beaten and were furious, but they had not seen it for themselves. However, these medical injury reports were making it hard for them to breathe.

After Mr. Ford said these words, many of the Newman relatives felt guilty and lowered their heads, but Mrs. Newman did not. Seeing her own family become silent and even start to look apologetic towards Catherine Ford, she knew that if they acknowledged this incident today, her son’s reputation would be ruined, and it would be hard for him to marry in the future. She stiffened her neck, "Catherine Ford, you are truly malicious, actually fabricating such things to slander my son. How could someone like my son possibly be capable of beating you up like that? It definitely wasn’t him who did it! Besides, everyone knows what kind of temper Foster has; would I, his mother, not know? And even if my son really did something wrong, it was because you, an immoral woman, drove him to it!"

Catherine Ford, after listening, was both angry and amused, having witnessed what it meant to be shameless.

But none of this surprised her. When she was eight months pregnant, Mrs. Newman once went to Swallow City under the pretense of taking care of her daughter-in-law for three months.

However, during those so-called three months of care, the mother-in-law did not so much as cook a meal or pour a glass of water for her. On the contrary, it was Catherine, with her large belly, who cooked for her every day, even the day before she was due to give birth. Moreover, because she couldn’t move around during her confinement period, Mrs. Newman would openly and secretly curse her, bragging about how she got back to work the very day she gave birth to Foster.

At that time, Catherine felt very disheartened, but because she had a sham marriage with Foster to begin with, she didn’t expect any care from Mrs. Newman and didn’t take it to heart. It was only when the other party found taking care of the baby really tiring and sneakily returned to Newman Village that she breathed a sigh of relief.

And Foster would always try to appease her at that time, saying that his mother had worked hard all her life and it was only right for her to enjoy some blessings.

Now she thought about it, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

After Mrs. Newman finished her tirade, some of the Newmans indeed began to doubt the authenticity of the report, or even if Foster did lay a hand on her, it was because she provoked him. But Catherine Ford didn’t care about their opinions at all. She looked indifferently at Mrs. Newman, "Whether it’s fake or not, the court will have someone verify it. Moreover, the injury report is only part of the evidence. I have brought a lawyer with me today."

Having said that, Catherine Ford looked up at the tall man standing in the shadows not far away.

Benjamin Jones had been worried that Catherine Ford, being small and frail, wouldn’t be able to control the situation, but he didn’t expect this woman to have such a strong side. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly as he stepped out of the shadows, and as the Newmans turned to look at him collectively, he said, "Greetings, everyone. My name is Benjamin Jones, Miss Ford’s attorney."

"You... you..." Mrs. Newman, facing the man with the imposing presence emerging from the shadows, was both anxious and angry, totally unable to comprehend that Catherine Ford was actually serious.

"Mr. Newman’s violent actions against Miss Ford have caused substantial harm to both her body and mind. The veracity of Miss Ford’s injury report and Mr. Newman’s assault video have been confirmed by the prosecution. As Miss Ford’s legal representative, I have the right to sue Mr. Newman," said Benjamin Jones, ignoring Mrs. Newman’s reaction, speaking in a calm and measured tone.

Benjamin Jones himself stood tall at 1.86 meters, with a handsome appearance and an aloof demeanor. His manner of speaking was consistently serious, carrying a persuasive power.

The Newmans, who had some doubts about the authenticity of the injury report, immediately believed him upon hearing his words. At the same time, the way they looked at the Newmans’ parents became stranger; some of them even took a big step back to keep their distance from them, as if getting close would contaminate them.

If Mrs. Newman could still make a fuss under Catherine Ford’s watch, after seeing Benjamin Jones, hearing what he said, and being intimidated by his imposing aura, she was suddenly rendered speechless, her mind only filled with the thought of her son being sued and going to jail...

"No, you can’t sue my son!" Mrs. Newman panicked as she watched her family and friends either slipping away or retreating backward.

"This is not for you to decide," Benjamin Jones responded indifferently, glancing at Catherine Ford.

Mr. Newman was somewhat smarter than Mrs. Newman. Seeing that the momentum was lost and following the lawyer’s gaze to Catherine, he suddenly softened his tone, "Catherine, Foster is young and made a mistake this time. Your father has already punished him by sending him to the hospital. Considering that we’ve been family, could you please spare Foster this time? Your uncle apologizes to you!"

"Young? He’s almost thirty and you call that young? If I beat someone to death, can my dad also tell people I’m underage and didn’t know any better, asking them not to fuss over a kid?" Gabriel Ford’s voice choked as he just looked at Catherine’s medical examination report.

Mr. Ford didn’t speak, but his attitude was firm: they would sue.

Bella Ford started to speak, then stopped and sighed softly, "Catherine, don’t be afraid, our family supports you."

"Sister..." Catherine was originally worried her sister, having married into a Newman family in the village, would stand in her way, but instead she ended up protecting her and offering her support.

"You are so silly. Sure, we quarrel now and then in our family, but we are still family no matter what. How could you be so foolish? So, you have a child? At worst, you would’ve just been scolded by mom. Why did you go and fake a marriage, especially with such a heartless brute..." Bella couldn’t help but scold her sister, and then, still unsatisfied, cursed at Foster.

Catherine’s eyes reddened. She had been too timid and muddled before, always thinking that exposing the truth would bring shame to the family and that her mother would blame her like others. Yet, she never expected that the ones who would really protect her would be her own family.

"How dare you curse my son like that, Bella Ford, I’m going to tell you..."

"Shut up!" Mrs. Newman, furious and about to confront Bella as the insults towards her son became more scathing, was shouted down by her husband.

Mrs. Newman looked at her husband with a sense of grievance, "You old fool, my son is being cursed like this and you’re still shouting at me. You’re a disgrace to the title of village chief!"

Mr. Newman gave his wife a cold look, and Mrs. Newman, intimidated by his stare, shrank back and for once, kept silent, turning to Mr. Ford, "In-law..."

"Our Ford family has no in-laws like you," Mr. Newman barely started his sentence when he was bluntly retorted by Mr. Ford.

Mr. Newman chuckled awkwardly, "Mr. Ford, it’s true that Foster did wrong, and I apologize on his behalf to your family. But we all belong to the same village and have watched the two kids grow up. No one expected things to come this far. Going to court would just hurt feelings. How about this: you state your terms and if it’s within the Newman’s capacity, we’ll do our best to meet them."

Catherine had just heard Mrs. Newman curse her husband, but after hearing Mr. Newman’s words, she knew that his years as village chief were not in vain.

She looked up in the direction of Benjamin Jones, and the man nodded towards her.

Catherine had no intention of pursuing this lawsuit in the first place: firstly, lawsuits are truly troublesome, and right now caring for Alice while working was already hard enough; secondly, Mr. Newman being the village chief meant her family would still have to live in Newman Village, and a complete fallout would do no good; thirdly, she didn’t want to owe Benjamin anything more. Achieving her goals smoothly without shedding blood was her mission for the evening.

And Benjamin understood her.