A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 216 Norman's Phone Call

James swiveled. "Maria Song, you really..."

Maria promptly turned her back on him and went into the kitchen.

Once again, he watched her departing back with gritted teeth. Then he took a couple of calming breaths. He would teach her a lesson later.

After putting the plates into the dishwasher, Maria changed her mind. The possibility of James agreeing to loan the Song Group money was close to none. Oh, she could ask him, of course, but she doubted that he would agree. That man drew a clear line between business matters and personal affairs.

She had no choice but to give up asking him for help on this one.

They eventually finished tidying up the place, but Maria didn't appear to have any intention of speaking her mind, so James went on to take a shower.

While he was in the bathroom, Maria took out her phone and sent a WeChat message to Norman. "Good evening, Mr. Shen. There's something I need to talk about with you. Are you available?" Several moments passed, but Norman didn't reply; he must be busy at this time.

After taking a shower, James called out to the woman who was staring at her phone dully, "Go to take a shower." "Oh. Okay." She casually tossed the device on the table and entered the bathroom. James was in the process of putting on his pajamas when her phone rang.

He walked over to check who was calling, and saw Norman's name flash on the screen.

His eyes darkened. Why the hell was Norman calling her this late?

Without another thought, James picked up the phone and answered it.

Norman's gentle voice came from the other end of the line. "Hello, Maria. Do you want me to loan money to the Song Group? Have you forgotten everything they did to you back then? Are you sure about this?" James didn't speak, but his gaze turned icy cold. So Maria had chosen to go past him and run to Norman for help.

The memory of the day she had returned to H City surfaced in his mind. Norman had told him then that he would marry Maria.

The relationship between these two had always been close. They seemed to be in rare contact with each other, but in the few times that they were together, Norman was always extremely good to Maria. When he was with her, he didn't look like his usual ruthless self at all.

James' heart unexpectedly filled with jealousy.

"Hello, Maria, are you listening? Hello?" Norman removed the phone from his ear and stared at it in confusion. His phone appeared to be working properly, and the call was still connected. James hung up without uttering a single sound, his expression terribly ominous.

Maria was still under the spray of the shower when he pushed the door to the bathroom open. He strode over to her, not minding the water, and pressed her against the wall. His eyes were burning with fury as he stared her down.

Maria was both shocked and alarmed at his actions. "What are you doing?"

He was fully clothed, and was effectively getting himself wet again. He didn't seem to notice, however. "What is it that you've been itching to ask me the entire night?" he demanded.

She swallowed. "Nothing. I wasn't going to ask you anything." She had already sent a message to Norman anyway, so there was no point in bringing up the matter to James anymore.

Then in one fluid motion, James turned her around and pushed her front against the wall. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, "I'll give you the last chance."

He knew how Maria had flirted with other men, but this was the first time he felt so furious at the thought.

"What is wrong with you, James Xi?" Why was he being like this? Couldn't he at least let her finish showering first?

"Tell me!" He pulled her hands behind her, locking them in a vise grip and preventing her to move between his body and the cold, hard wall.

Maria struggled nonetheless, all to no avail. "Let go of me first!" she shouted.

James ignored her words and didn't move an inch. He wouldn't let her go unless she told him what he wanted to hear.

She cursed under her breath. "Fine! I did have something I wanted to speak with you about, but let go of me first! Let's talk this over properly."

He finally relinquished his hold, and Maria turned to face him, shivering. "I'm cold," she declared, making her displeasure known.

James silently turned off the shower and picked up the bath towel from the rack. He wrapped her with it haphazardly before locking her once again in his arms. He had said he wouldn't let her go, and he meant

it.

"What is wrong with you? James, why are you mad?"

Judging by her words, he realized that she wasn't planning to tell him at all.

His demeanor turned even colder. "This is your last chance," he said slowly in a deep voice.

Maria stared at him with wide, wary eyes. She wondered belatedly if he had perhaps accidentally received Norman's response. What if Norman had called and James answered? Norman had the habit of getting to the point of business as soon as the line connected. He wasn't a big believer of pleasantries and small talk.

She swallowed a huge lump of air before asking tentatively, "Did you use my cell phone?"

"Yes."

James didn't deny it.

"Did Norman call?"

"Mm." He wasn't denying this either.

Maria's heart sank, but she still fond his reaction weird. "Why are you so mad anyway? Norman called to talk about business, didn't he?" It was even more baffling to her.

"You're my woman now. Why don't you ask me for help? Just what are you thinking, Maria Song?" James asked.

She gaped at him. He did have a point, but there was no way she would agree with him so easily. "I know you well, that's why I wouldn't ask for your help. I refuse to humiliate myself like that."

"You feel humiliated to ask me for help? Did I ever make you feel that way?" "Didn't you? Didn't you say that I was a second-hand woman?"

'You want to rake up the past, don't you?' James thought. "You said you were fooling around with me first."

Maria knew she lost this argument, but she wasn't backing down. She glared up at him. "James Xi, are you going to argue with a woman like this?"

He met her glare in silence, before issuing her another reminder. "If you don't take this last chance I'm giving you and speak, then just forget about it." He pulled at the bath towel around her body.

Realizing what he intended to do, Maria pulled back the towel. "Stop being so unreasonable! You're just bullying me since you lost the argument." "Yeah, yeah, I'm bullying you. What are you going to do about it?"

Her eyes widened into saucers, and her jaw fell. She raised a hand and pointed a finger at his face. "You..." How could he say that with such a self-righteous expression? She had never met any person who would act this way except for James.

That night, James had sex with her again and again.

When morning came, the first thing Maria did was to call Norman back and explain what had happened the previous night. "Hi, Mr. Shen, I wasn't the one who answered your call last night. What did you say, exactly?"

Norman chuckled. "Was it James then?"

She didn't know how to answer that. People were right to call Norman terrible. He knew perfectly well whom she had been with last night. "Yes."

"So, do you want me to lend money to Song Group?"

"Right."

"With their current situation, they need to secure a loan of about two to three billion dollars. Unfortunately, I can't promise you anything in that respect."

Maria's heart plummeted. "Why not?" Norman had always been there to support her. It never occurred to her that a time would come when he wouldn't be backing her up.

She wondered why. She knew for a fact that it wasn't because of the daunting amount of money on the line.

Norman smiled. "No particular reason."

It was just that, if he readily agreed to help her with this matter, then how could he gauge Maria's position in James' heart?

As far as anyone could see, there were only four conglomerates in H City capable of lending the Song Group billions of dollars at the drop of a hat, without any pressure applied on either party.

HL Group was one of them, of course. And then there was Norman's company. The third one was Colby's HM Group, and the last one was the Mu Group.

He had refused, and they both knew that the HM Group wouldn't be agreeable either. Maria had never established any connection with the Mu Group, so that would bring her back to James.