A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 230 Clayton's Plan

In the Tang family villa

The atmosphere was a far cry from the lively mood in the Xi family residence. Miranda silently plucked a piece of food for her weeping daughter. "Eat first. Don't starve yourself."

"I have never offended James' grandparents. Why are they so against me? Maria Song must have spoken ill of me behind my back!" Alina sobbed and whimpered to her food. This year had not been kind to their family. Ronald was still in prison.

And tonight, Alina had return from the Xi family villa bawling her eyes out. Clayton and Miranda lost their appetites, distressed at Alina's situation. "There's nothing wrong with you, Alina. You have the perfect face and figure. I don't know why they don't like you."

Clayton ignored his wife's nagging and kept smoking.

"Dad, I don't want to put up with it anymore!" Alina suddenly declared. "I must teach her a lesson!1'

If Maria weren't in the picture, James' grandparents wouldn't treat her like that.

Clayton still said nothing.

He was in a worse mood, so Miranda didn't press him further. She chose to deal with her daughter first. "Don't worry, Alina. Sebastian and Judy are on your side, and you are engaged to James. I'm sure Maria Song won't be able to do anything to jeopardize your position."

"You keep telling me not to worry, but Maria has moved into James' manor. How can I not worry?" Alina's voice rose, and her tone sharpened.

Miranda could only heave a sorrowful sigh.

Clayton chose that moment to finally speak. "You should call Mrs. Xi."

"Why would I call her at such a time?"

Hatred flashed in the patriarch's eyes. "Tomorrow, HM Group will be hosting a banquet. Maria is the vice manager of the company, and the person in charge of the HD Project. She would certainly be in attendance."

"So what?"

"James has never been interested in these sort of events. Even if he may make an appearance, he will leave soon."

"What are you getting at?" Miranda asked, getting more confused by the minute.

Clayton leaned back casually against his chair. "I will give Mr. Jiang a call later. He has been dying to take his revenge on Maria, but he never got his chance. You can contact Elaine as well. The Tangs, the Songs, the Xis, and Mr. Jiang...we will all band together. Maria has no hope of ever standing against us."

Jonathan alone was desperate to ruin the woman, not to mention a number of other people who had been harboring grudges against her all this time. They would finally get to trample on her at the party. Norman would surely not take part in the event, and neither would Lawrence. James probably would, but only briefly. There would be nobody there to come to Maria's rescue.

Alina still wasn't following. "Dad, we can't just kill her in public, you know that. What's the use her being there?" "Of course we can't kill her. But hasn't Maria been acting high and mighty? We will remind her of her place.

I will let you vent out your anger by thrusting her into communal hatred by everyone around her." Maria would never be able to escape such a widespread animosity.

"Stop worrying," Clayton said to his daughter. "There are many people who are more than willing to finish her off; we're not the only ones. Mr. Jiang himself was quite vocal with his desire to kill her, don't you remember?"

A part of him wanted to keep Alina in check. Her youth and arrogance might get her into a difficult situation.

Miranda pondered her husband's plan and decided that it would work. "Do you remember how your aunt taught that bitch a lesson last time during the family feast? Didn't Maria cower and leave, all embarrassed and humiliated? Tomorrow will be the same as that time."

Alina did remember. "All right, I got it," she nodded. They had no better options at present anyway. They might as well give this plan a try.

"Now eat your dinner. Tomorrow you will dress yourself up and become the most beautiful woman in the party, the only woman worthy of being James' wife." Miranda started to put food in her daughter's bowl again, this time with more enthusiasm.

Alina picked up her chopsticks. "Thank you, Mom."

"Silly girl, it's New Year's Eve! You can't be anything else but happy tonight."

"Okay."

In the Golden Mansion, Maria was checking her wounds. They were almost healed now, so she decided to take a shower.

She came out later in a bath robe, and found that James had already taken a bath. In fact, he had been waiting for her in the bedroom, clad in his gray pajamas.

Maria eyed his still damp hair. "Isn't there a problem with the bathroom door?"

"Yeah."

"Then where did you take a shower?"

"In the bathroom. I just left the door open."

She let out a soft snort, amused at his reply. Then she realized that there was no one else in the house, so she could take a bath without closing the door.

James took her hand and led her out of the room. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"You'll know when we get there."

Maria narrowed her eyes at his back.

A few minutes later, James finally stopped. He pushed the door to a room and ushered her inside. They were in his private cinema.

"Would you like to watch a movie?"

"Sure."

James didn't have to do much. He just picked a movie on his mobile phone and projected it on the huge screen.

They settled on the double sofa, and next to it was a coffee table laden with fruits and snacks. Maria leaned on his shoulder and munched on the cherries. "When did you prepare all these fruits and snacks? Why didn't I see them earlier?"

"John took care of it."

"Oh, so John is also here?" She hadn't seen him since she'd returned.

"All the time."

"Oh. Okay."

The movie was an American blockbuster, and even as it played, messages kept popping up on James' phone, invading the upper tab of the screen.

They were all about work. Maria spat cherry seeds into her hand and asked, "Aren't you afraid I might see some confidential information regarding the company?"

He was unperturbed. "Not at all."

"Aren't you worried I might sell the information to rival companies?"

"You can go ahead if you dare."

Maria pulled back and stared at his face. As it happened, she actually had the guts to do just that.

They resumed watching, but a call went through a few minutes later. Ethan's name flashed on the screen, making James frown.

He swiped to answer and Ethan's voice boomed all over the room. "James! I have something nice to share with you. Check it now!"

Ethan was almost certain that James and Maria were currently together, so he had made up his mind to be a good friend and give the couple a little encouragement.

He ended the call just as suddenly, not bothering to wait for James to say anything.

Maria reached for a bag of potato chips and inspected it. The labels were all in a foreign language, but the one she had picked appeared to be tomato-flavored. She opened the packet and put a chip in her mouth without a care in the world.

She moved her eyes back to the screen. Ethan had sent James a video clip.

It started out fairly normal and innocent-a beautiful woman was swimming gracefully in the pool. She had such a perfect figure, even Maria couldn't help but marvel at it. She leaned close to whisper something to James. "This is the kind of gorgeous bombshell that all men dream of, right?"

He rolled his eyes and elected to ignore such a worthless question.

Soon after, a man came into the scene, approaching the woman. They chatted for a while before he jumped into the water. And then he was holding the woman in his arms and kissing her passionately. Maria thought it all quite ordinary still, until the man started to peel the woman's swimsuit off her body.

Maria's jaw hung open, the chips inside her mouth forgotten. She stared with wide eyes as the scene became steamier and more erotic.

James scowled. He imagined shaking the life out of Ethan as he wondered if this sort of pornographic material truly counted as "something nice."

Then came the voices. The heroine in the video was moaning breathily through the screen, and the next thing Maria knew, a click sounded and the room went dark.