A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 175 You Are Awesome

Maria was taking off her necklace when she heard his question. Suppressing the urge to throw the jewelry on his face, she answered, "Right, I hung out with all three of them. Now it's your turn to enjoy my company. Are you happy, Mr. Xi?"

James stood up from the sofa and walked to the dressing table. As he leaned over, he pinched her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Can't you say something nice?"

"Of course. What do you want to hear, Mr. Xi? You are awesome! Great! Splendid!"

James wished he could sew her lips together. Squeezing her chin tightly, he said, "You're such a liar! It's time to teach you a lesson."

"So what now?" she asked provokingly.

The man pulled her up so she could face him. However, Maria deliberately avoided making eye contact with him.

James tried to force her to look at him but to no avail. "I'll teach you a lesson later, then!"

"Mr. Xi, weren't you pissed off at me last time? Why are you here?"

James stared blankly at her. As far as he was concerned, it was Maria who was pissed off at him first, not the other way around. He wondered if she had amnesia. "I want you to apologize to me." "For what?"

"For the trouble you caused on Tang Group's foundation anniversary." James racked his brains to figure out a way to punish her for what happened in the event, but this only led him to a terrible headache. Hence, he decided to give up and simply demand an apology.

Maria sneered, finally looking him in the eye. "Yes, I did. But what if I don't want to apologize?"

"Just do it so we can move on."

The way James said it made Maria feel as if he was begging her to apologize to him. But why should she do as he wanted?

Maria refused and pushed the man away, beginning to drive him out. "I'm tired, Mr. Xi. You can leave."

Not giving her a chance to kick him out, James held her in his arms and leaned his head to kiss her red lips.

Maria felt helpless. After spending a whole day on the road, she was really exhausted. There was nothing she wanted to do more than to go to bed.

She managed to push him away again before muttering, "Please, I'm really tired."

The weariness on her face was quite obvious. James' eyes darkened as he asked, "What did you do today?" He wondered what could have worn her out in this way.

"I drove."

"Didn't I tell you not to drive? You're not good at it."

She thought his words sounded ridiculous. Although he obviously didn't love her, he still pretended to care. "And how am I supposed to go out if I can't drive myself?" "I'll arrange a driver for you."

"No, thanks. You can go home now, Mr. Xi. I'm going to bed." Breaking free from his arms, Maria headed to the bathroom.

Distressed, James realized this was the third time she kicked him out. He thought perhaps the kindness he had been showing her lately was making her bold.

While Maria took a shower, she vaguely heard the door outside being closed. Once she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she realized she was indeed alone in the room.

She smelled the light scent of tobacco in the air and sneered. 'What kind of place does James take my hotel room for? Whenever he wants to have sex with me, he comes here, and after he's done, he leaves. He doesn't even have the decency to stay overnight.'

Once again, Maria felt small in front of him.

She didn't want to feel this way, but reality kept slapping her in the face, leaving her with no choice but to surrender to her own helplessness.

It was getting cold in H City at night. James leaned against his car and smoked. He didn't leave until he saw the lights of Maria's hotel room go off.

Since that occasion, Maria's life had returned to normal. She hadn't seen James in the coffee shop or Fairview Villa for several days.

She couldn't help feeling disappointed. Yet, she didn't take the initiative to go after him either.

In a private room at some restaurant, Maria showed up in a long black dress and high heels, as she usually liked to wear. It was obvious that she carefully put on some makeup and took her time to dress up beautifully. As a result, she looked stunning.

Trying his best to hold back his desire, Jonathan filled the woman's glass with wine. "Ms. Song, it's so difficult to get you out for dinner."

Maria blinked as she replied gently, "Mr. Jiang, since we met last time, I've been looking forward to having dinner alone with you. This is a really rare opportunity. I think we should toast to it."

Her words were exactly what Jonathan wanted to hear. "Ms. Song..."

"Mr. Jiang, please call me Maria." Maria looked at the man seductively as she clinked glasses with him.

Jonathan, in turn, was fascinated by her beauty. He couldn't stop smiling at her. "Okay, okay. Maria, then. What a beautiful name! Let's have a toast!"

"Mr. Jiang, if I hadn't known it before, I wouldn't have guessed that you have a grown-up son like Kent. How did you manage to take such good care of yourself? You look about the same age as James!" 'James?' Jonathan was flattered by her comment. Although he was in his fifties, Maria had just compared him to a man who was twenty years his junior. Regardless whether she meant it or not, he really appreciated hearing that.

After a while, Maria got close to Jonathan and suggested, "Mr. Jiang, there are many people here. How about we take this conversation somewhere else?"

Promptly understanding what she was implying, Jonathan boldly put his hand on her waist and asked, "Should I pick where we go?"

Maria agreed, "Okay, but make sure Mr. Zheng doesn't know it. I didn't tell him I came to see you."

"No problem. Just a minute." Jonathan released her and sent a message to his secretary.

It didn't take long for the two of them to leave the restaurant and get into their respective cars as they headed the same way.

In the vehicle, Maria dialed a number. When the call was connected, she said coldly, "I'm going to the hotel now. Post that thing online. Ensure it reaches as many people as possible." "Yes, ma'am."

Jonathan was the first to arrive at the hotel room his secretary booked for him.

As soon as Maria rang the doorbell, he hurriedly dragged the woman inside and pressed her against the door. When he was about to lean for a kiss, Maria pushed the man away and said, "Mr. Jiang, I'm sorry. I'm a neat freak. Would you mind taking a shower now? Or shall I go first?"

"Well, how about we take a shower together?"

The smile on Maria's face remained intact as she said, "Sure!"

At that very second, Maria's phone rang. She quickly fumbled for it in her bag and swiped to answer. "Hello, it's me. What did you say?"

Jonathan saw as her smile vanished, giving way to an anxious and then tearful expression.

Once she finally hung up the phone, Maria started to cry copiously.

The man's heart sank. Sitting down beside her, he asked softly, "What's wrong, Maria?"

The woman stood up and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Jiang. I have to leave now."

He was shocked to see his prey about to flee. After a long time lusting for Maria's beauty and intelligence, Jonathan wouldn't allow her to escape that easily. "Calm down. Tell me, what happened?" She bit her lower lip, hesitating to say anything.

Anxious, Jonathan insisted, "Tell me, and I'll help you!"

"Here is the thing. I just started a company, right? James invested eighty million dollars in it. Lawrence twenty million, and Colby promised to invest fifty million. The day before yesterday, Colby gave me thirty million, but the rest of the money hasn't been transferred to my account yet. Unfortunately, the most important project of the company depends on this amount to be carried out. I don't know what to do!" Maria explained in tears.

Jonathan held his breath.

It was, after all, twenty million dollars. Not two million.

He wouldn't hesitate to give Maria two million just to have a one-night stand with her.

But the problem was that now she needed ten times that sum. He had to think it over.

Maria studied the man's expression discreetly. Noticing his hesitation, she took her handbag and walked towards the door. "Colby is abroad now. It will be too late if I wait for him to come back. I'll go replace Lawrence. Mr. Jiang, we'll have to hang out some other time!"