She Outshines Them All

She Outshines 358

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At 2 in the afternoon, Maria drove to the bus station to pick up Joel and his family.

Upon seeing Maria and her seemingly brand-

new car, Joel exclaimed, "Wow, it's been over ten years, and Maria has grown up and become so beautiful. Plus, she has a car now. Impressivel

"So, you must be Maria?" Joel, Isla, scrutinized Maria from head to toe, enviously saying, "I heard from the family that your mother is missing and that "I didn't expect you to be living

so comfortably with the Donovan family, dressed well and driving a nice car. I'm so jealous!"

Instead of getting angry, Maria smiled, replying, "I feel very lucky, too.

"My biological parents favored boys over girls, but my current parents and siblings treat me like a valued family member. They've given me everything, Isla intended to provoke Maria, but it backfired. She said with a hint of jealousy, "Maria, I heard Joel used to treat you really well. Now that you're doing “Just remember, no matter how good the Donovan family is to you, they're not your relatives. We are your closest family."

Maria cursed them internally, thinking, 'What have you done for me?'

When Maria was sold by her biological father, they all envied him, saying things like, 'Maria isn't even pretty, and she's not very bright either, yet she s When Maria's biological parents rescued her, the Stevens family made

snide remarks, "Wesley and Claire are so foolish, spending money on a useless girl when their family is so poor. No wonder they can't keep their weal Now that Maria's family is doing well, the Stevens family dared to say they had been good to Maria. They were truly shameless.

Maria felt resentful but kept a smile on her face. "You're right. I'm here to show my respect to you all."

She opened the car door and said, "You must be hungry, right? I've already made reservations at a restaurant, and after we

hotel." eat, I'll take you to your

Joel's eldest daughter, who looked around seven or eight, didn't greet Maria and just climbed into the car as soon as the door opened, stepping on the leather seats and tearing into the chocolate on the seat.

Joel and Isla didn't stop their children.

Isla held their youngest son and followed into the backseat, saying, "It's fine if we're hungry, but the kids can't hold out. It's definitely time to eat."

Joel frowned, looking around. "Where's the rest of your family? Why didn't they come?"

Suppressing her disgust, Maria replied, "Today is Monday. Everyone else is at work. I took a day off to pick you up.

"My brothers, Arthur and Alaric, also took a day off to welcome Grandpa and Grandma and Gavin."

The last sentence was a lie.

Brandon was actually the one who went to "welcome" Gavin and his family.

Joel wasn't happy. "Why did two men go to pick up Gavin and only one woman came for us?"

Since Maria was a woman and Arthur and Alaric were men, their presence surely weighed differently.

Maria sighed, “I planned to go pick them up, but they insisted on having two men come because they had a lot of people. Arthur and Alaric couldn't he

"They have so many rules," Joel

scoffed, then asked, "You said your family moved into a villa. Why don't you let us stay at your place? Do you think we'll embarrass your family since we come from the county?"

Maria explained, "Gavin also wants to stay at our house.

"Our villa is quite large, but with so many people in our family, plus Grandpa and Grandma, it's really too crowded for all of us.

"Also, Brandon doesn't allow you to stay at our house. You know Brandon's temper. Even we can't persuade him.

"Maybe I can give you Brandon's number, and you can talk to him directly."

Thinking of Brandon's cold and ruthless demeanor, Joel felt a chill run down his spine and

quickly said, "No! Since he doesn't welcome us, we won't go. Staying at a hotel is fine."

With that, he got into the front seat and opened a drink for himself.

Only then did Maria take her place in the driver's seat and drive away.

Not far behind, Athena, driving her own car, listened in on Maria's conversation with Joel's family through Maria's phone and silently shook her head. Joel's family was indeed quite picky and arrogant.

If they weren't dealt with thoroughly, they would surely try to take advantage of the Donovan family later.

Half an hour later, Maria led Joel's family into a large hotel and took them to a luxurious private room for dinner.

The meal primarily featured seafood.

Dishes of shrimp, abalone, crabs,

and tuna were served one after another, causing Joel's family to gawk in disbelief. Joel's daughter couldn't wait to reach out to grab pancakes and shrimp right away.

et

Joel scolded her daughter. "Put on the gloves and don't grab the food with your hands."

Seeing both the adults and the children lacking manners, Maria lost her appetite.

"Isla, I already ate at home before coming out, and this is all for you. Please enjoy it," Maria said.

While pretending to sincerely serve food to Joel's family, Maria secretly thought how lucky she was to have insisted that Athena not personally entertai

What was even more terrifying was that if Athena got entangled with them, it would be a disaster.

Maria had been dealing with such people since she was young and was used to it. It was better for her to bear this burden.

Joel remarked, "This meal must cost as much as our income for several months. After we move to Kitmore City, we won't make this much in a month."

Joel added, "Have your parents thought about what jobs they can find for us? As you can see, our children are too young. We can't have them do any Conversation from Maria's side and kept shaking her head.

She messaged Maria. [Take photos and post them on Facebook, bu This way, we can lure Joel's family to also take photos and post the Maria was, after all, a straightforward person who rarely did such t