A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 261 Deceived

Alina opened her mouth to defend herself, but Augustine quickly cut her off. "That's it then. Ms. Tang, I appreciate your kindness."

"Mr. Xi, this really isn't..." Alina flushed with embarrassment. She turned to the man standing next to her. "James!" He had been silent this whole time.

James said flatly, "You're not a professional yourself. You might have easily gotten yourself duped. Just let it go, Grandpa won't hold it against you. I'll have someone investigate the matter later." Alina hung her head, unable to utter another word. Since she had been dismissed-more than once-there was nothing more she could do.

All the other guests looked at her strangely for the remainder of the night.

Even Judy herself gave her the cold shoulder. After a casual pat on the back, she completely ignored Alina. Instead, she stuck next to Charlotte and looked after her mother-in-law quietly. In the end, Alina fled to the bathroom to regain her composure.

When she came out, she bumped into Sandra, who had been waiting for her. She blocked Alina's path. "Why if it isn't the esteemed Ms. Tang who gifted Mr. Xi a fake antique in public."

"Tell me the truth!" Alina demanded with an angry glare. "Did Maria Song replace my original gift?"

Sandra was unfazed. She had been wanting to take revenge on this woman for a long time.

She hadn't meant to knock Alina into the swimming pool, but the bitch had slapped her and her friend. It was indeed a blessing that Maria had granted her this opportunity to humiliate Alina. "I don't know what you mean. What I do know, though, is your grand ambition to take the title of Mrs. Xi from Maria. I can't even imagine where you got the guts to do so. How can a woman who can't even appease Mr. Xi's grandparents ever hope to compare with Maria? After all, she's kind and beautiful, and a total opposite of the likes of you." Sandra slowly approached as she said her next words with deliberate provocation. "You're just some cheap scum who could only afford an antique as fake as yourself."

"You!" Alina tried to slap Sandra, but the latter was quick and able to dodge. "Just try and hurt me, you bitch! See if I don't ask Maria to teach you a lesson again! She said that if you dared to lay a finger on me, she's going to send you to the hospital and make sure that you stay there for another couple of months."

Alina fumed, unable to retort as the words hit home. Sandra turned and walked away from her. Alina jolted back to her senses and tried to catch up to the other woman, determined to teach her a lesson herself.

Unfortunately for her, Sandra was wearing flat shoes, in contrast to Alina's high heels. She soon disappeared from Alina's sight.

Unwilling to let her rage go untended, she tried to look for Sandra throughout the party, to no avail.

Unbeknownst to either woman, Augustine had been standing in a nearby corner and had overheard their conversation.

On top of there being a fake antique, why had Maria just sent an identical item? It turned out to be all in the purpose of humiliating Alina in public.

Now that he knew the truth of the matter, Augustine wasn't the least bit mad at all. In fact, he was quite satisfied with the outcome.

He was firmly on Maria's side, through and through. Just as his wife had put it, Maria needed to be resourceful or she would risk making the same mistakes from the past.

John glanced at the old man who appeared to have become lost in his thoughts. "Excuse me, sir. Do you still want to go to the bathroom?"

"Of course. Do you expect me to ruin my prostrate?"

The butler bowed and assisted Augustine in silence.

Over the course of the night, something occurred to Alina.

She told James, "I've been deceived."

The man glanced at her briefly and said nothing.

"Listen, when I made the deal, there was something wrong with the POS machine. The transaction got delayed for ten minutes before proceeding successfully. Those ten minutes probably had something to do with the fake antique. Maybe they switched the items then! And Maria Song definitely cooperated with them to pull it off."

James pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, I understand. I'll have someone look into it."

"Okay. Please, you must let them prove my innocence." Given tonight's debacle, Alina knew her chances to win over James' grandparents had gone from slim to nothing.

"Fine."

Later, after taking Alina home to her family, James headed to another dinner party.

He was not at all surprised to replace Maria when he walked into the restaurant. She still had his bodyguards tailing her, after all.

She had also heard that he was to be in attendance, so her expression remained neutral when she caught sight of him.

Maria was the hostess of this little gathering, and the guests of honor were Mr. Du and the CEO of another large company. James only came because Mr. Du had called him; they were in the middle of a project where HL Group also happened to be involved.

When the table was laid, Maria ended up sitting opposite to James, and next to Mr. Du.

Their conversation was about environment protection, but then someone asked out of the blue, "How is your son, Mr. Du? Has he recovered?"

Mr. Du's face quickly turned worried. "He's not in a good condition at all. He has uremia and needs a kidney transplant. These days, it's very difficult to replace the right organ donors." His son was only 18 years old, and the only thing keeping him alive at the moment was his frequent dialysis treatments.

Mr. Du's family had spent millions of dollars to save his son's life, but they had never managed to secure a suitable donor.

A thought clicked inside James' head. He tapped the armrest of his chair twice and cocked his head at the man seated beside him. "Mr. Du, I remember from your last physical examination that your blood type is B. I wonder if your son shares the same blood type."

"Yes, he does," Mr. Du answered hurriedly. "Do you happen to have resources in the area, Mr. Xi?" He was excited when James breached the subject. He was aware that this young man was far more powerful than him, so he might have his own ways in replaceing a kidney donor sooner.

James' eyes flitted over to the woman across the table. Maria was a little stunned when their eyes met, and she wondered why he was looking at her in a strange way.

What he said next brought her enlightenment on this, but also a heavy dose of dread. "If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Song is also type B, and I don't know her to have any chronic illnesses. You want to strike a cooperation with Mr. Du, right? Why don't you...?"

While Mr. Du's excitement now mixed with pleasant surprise, Maria found herself slowly spiraling down to hell.

No, more to the point, James had just intentionally thrown her to hell.

Mr. Du turned to her, struggling for a moment to replace the right words to say.

Maria ignored him and narrowed her eyes at James. She had a good guess as to what he was trying to do. He wanted her to bow to him like she had done many times before. If she apologized to him, he would forgive her and have someone else take care of Mr. Du's problems.

And if she still refused to yield to him, she might have to lose one of her kidneys, which could prove dangerous to her in the future.

Well, he was going to be in for a surprise, because she was about to defy his desired expectations. She quickly adjusted her mood and smiled at Mr. Du. "If my conditions meet the requirements, Mr. Du, then I would be happy to donate a kidney for your son."

She sounded genuine and relaxed about the whole thing, making the others' expressions change.

For his part, James' face took on a cruel and malicious edge. "Maria Song!" he snapped in a low voice, his tone laden with threats.

Nobody seemed to notice as Mr. Du wept on the spot. "I would gladly turn over twenty percent of the shares of Du Group to you in return for this favor."

Twenty percent of the shares; the annual dividends

alone would amount to hundreds of millions of dollar i A parent's love was always touching.