THE DISABLED HEIRESS, MY EX-HUSBAND WOULD PAY DEARLY.-Chapter 345

Immediately, hearing what Penelope just said, without wasting another second, Cora felt something snap inside her chest. All the years of putting up with Penelope's nonsense, all the times she had bitten her tongue and tried to be the bigger person - it all came flooding out at once.

"Keep your mouth shut right now!" Cora said, her voice rising to match Penelope's energy.

"If you lack basic manners and don't know how to conduct yourself properly, that doesn't mean you should start disgracing yourself in public like this!" She pointed her finger directly at Penelope, not caring anymore about being polite or diplomatic.

"Nobody literally invited you to this table, nobody asked you to come over here and bother us, and nobody requested your presence or your opinions. You literally volunteered to come poke your nose into something that doesn't concern you in the slightest, so why are you standing here insulting people and blabbing up and down like some kind of crazy person?"

Cora's chest was rising and falling rapidly as all her pent-up frustration poured out.

"Like my boyfriend just told you very clearly, you are not welcome here at this table, so you need to stand up and leave us alone. And concerning that fancy wedding of yours that you're so proud of, let me make this crystal clear again - we are not going to come. Even if you send us a golden invitation delivered by angels, we are absolutely not going to attend your wedding."

At that moment, seeing that the humiliation was getting way too much for her to handle and that she was losing this battle badly, Penelope cleared her throat and tried to regain some control of the situation.

"Just look at these good-for-nothing people trying to act like they're somebody special."

At that moment, Penelope continued with her voice dripping with fake sympathy and condescension, like she was talking to some pitiful charity case.

"It was only because of my kind heart that I even bothered extending this invitation to you in the first place," she said, placing her hand dramatically over her chest.

"It was because I didn't want you sitting at home later, crying and regretting that you weren't able to attend one of the most sophisticated and exclusive weddings that's going to be taking place in this entire town. I didn't want you spending sleepless nights knowing that you missed out on the social event of the year and your life- that was literally the only reason why I really wanted to invite you out of the goodness of my heart."

Penelope's eyes narrowed as she looked Cora up and down with pure disgust.

"But now, looking at this whole pathetic situation, you're sitting here acting like you're untouchable, feeling like you're some kind of almighty queen or something, which is honestly very, very laughable to watch." She let out this bitter laugh that echoed through the restaurant.

"Since you're sitting there saying you don't want to come to my wedding, I have to ask - who really wanted to invite you in the first place anyway? Did I really want someone like you there just so you could come and stink up the whole place with your presence?"

Her voice got louder and more vicious as she continued her attack.

"Well, guess what? You're not being invited anymore, and you will never, ever be invited to anything I'm involved with again. And now that you're raising your shoulders and acting all high and mighty, it's giving me even more reason to teach you a lesson you'll never forget."

At that moment, without even wasting another second, Oliver's face transformed into this calm, confident smile that somehow managed to look both charming and completely menacing at the same time. He leaned back in his chair like he didn't have a care in the world, and when he spoke, his voice was so smooth and controlled that it made his words sound even more powerful.

"Well, it seems like both you and your fiancé here are really, really confident about yourselves," he said, his eyes moving slowly between Penelope and Richard. "You're both so cocky that you think you can literally do whatever you want to people, that you can look down on anybody you choose and treat them however you feel like treating them." He paused for a moment, letting his gaze settle on Richard, who had been standing there like a statue this entire time. "But I have to say, your husband-to-be seems like a very calm and reasonable person, because he hasn't said a single word during this entire conversation, which tells me that he's probably not really in support of what you're doing right now."

Oliver's smile grew wider, but there was something almost predatory about it now, like a cat that had just spotted a mouse.

"Since you're feeling so really, really confident about yourself and your connections, since you really think you're going to have this amazing, sophisticated wedding that's going to be the talk of the town and all that," he said, his voice getting quieter but somehow more intense.

"I want you to just sit back, relax, and watch what happens next. Because here's something that's going to blow your mind - even with or without your precious invitation, even if you never send us anything at all, Cora and I are going to end up being the most cherished and honored guests at your wedding."

At that moment, upon hearing what Oliver just said, Cora couldn't help but feel completely surprised and taken aback because she absolutely wasn't expecting to hear something this bold and outrageous come out of Oliver's mouth. Her eyes widened slightly as she processed his words, and she found herself staring at him with a mixture of shock and confusion written all over her face.

She really didn't want to contradict Oliver or start exchanging words with him right there in front of Penelope, especially since she was thinking that maybe Oliver was just bluffing or trying to intimidate Penelope with empty threats. The last thing she wanted was to embarrass him or make him look foolish in front of these people, because despite her confusion about this particular claim, Oliver had already proven to her beyond any reasonable doubt that he was quite reliable and trustworthy in so many other ways.

But this whole situation seemed very, very far out of their reach, completely beyond anything they could realistically accomplish. How could they possibly become honored guests at a wedding they weren't even invited to? How could Oliver be so confident about something that seemed absolutely impossible? The whole thing just didn't make any sense to her logical mind.