A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 279 Why Are You Fussing Over him

James' voice died in his throat. He looked at the baby closely. How could he have spawned such an ugly son?

Maria drew closer, her attention all on the child. "The little guy is quite cute. Can I hold him for a while, please?" Even as she spoke, she glanced sideways at him to study his reaction to her every word. Before James could say anything, however, the little boy fidgeted. He stopped sucking his thumb and turned to Maria's direction with an excited hum.

Then, ignoring the man, Maria went ahead and plucked the child out of his hands. "I've heard talk that you have an illegitimate child. So it is true after all."

Charlotte smiled and didn't say anything. Maria was really good at playing tricks.

James refuted her with obvious displeasure. "I don't have a son."

Shaking the babbling baby in her arms, Maria pretended to be surprised at his denial. "You can't expect me to believe that you just found this baby on the street!"

James' mouth opened, obviously to voice out another refusal, but he couldn't utter a sound. How could he prove to this woman that the boy had indeed been found on the street by his grandfather? Maria asked another question then. "Does Alina know about this?" "Of course not." Why would Alina have to know?

"As your fiancee, she is quite pitiful," Maria commented

thoughtfully.

"He is not my son," he emphasized again.

The woman didn't take it seriously and crooned to the little boy in her arms. "This is your dad. Call him Daddy. Say, Daddy..." James gaped at her. Why was she being so silly? How could she expect a child barely two months old to talk and address anyone? He realized a moment too late that she was deliberately taunting him.

Maria looked up at him then, ignoring his sullen expression. "His mother should be very beautiful, right? Since he is so handsome!"

Charlotte held back her laughter and kept watching them. 'Maria is really good at praising herself.'

James sneered. "His face is all crumpled up; there's no way he could have beautiful parents."

Maria curled her lips and retorted, "He's still a baby and hasn't grown up yet. He will be a handsome man when he grows up, you'll see!" And even if he turned out to be ugly, it would only be because of the genes he had inherited from James.

"It has nothing to do with you anyway, so why are you reacting so violently?" James scowled, thinking how she always wanted to quarrel with him over the littlest things.

She had to calm herself down. "What violent reaction? I just don't want to hear a grown-ass man calling an innocent baby ugly. If you think he's ugly, then you can go ahead and make a good-looking child for yourself!"

His reply to that was somber, his tone low. "Make a baby with you?"

Maria froze for a moment. His grandparents and the maid were all in the same room. Why was he being so shameless?

Augustine's voice broke into their banter. "I agree. Lily, please take the baby. You two should go upstairs and start making a very attractive baby right away."

James and Maria gaped at the old man.

Before they knew it, the maid had approached them and took the child from Maria's arms. "Excuse me, Ms. Song. I'll take care of the child. Please head upstairs with Mr. Xi."

Maria glared at the maid with wide, shocked eyes. It took her a couple of seconds to recover, but then she took a deep breath and decided to pretend like nothing had happened. "Grandpa, Grandma, I only dropped by to visit you. Since there is nothing else, I'll be leaving now."

"Wah!" The only response to her farewell was Bob's wail of protest.

Maria panicked immediately and walked over to the maid. "Why is he crying? Here, let me hold him."

Noticing the panic on the woman's face, James' eyes darkened. "Maria Song, he is not your son. Why are you fussing over him?"

Maria's heart skipped a beat; she didn't know what to say to that.

Fortunately, Charlotte helped her out. "You don't understand. Only a mother would react like this. Even if it is not her own, a baby's cry will always tug at her heart. Maria, you should come and see this poor child more often from now on."

Her unexpected words reminded them of Arthur, and the atmosphere inside the room turned glum.

James only pursed his lips and kept silent.

Maria gently swayed the baby in her arms to quiet him.

"If no one would mind, then sure, I'll come here more often."

Augustine sat on the sofa. "Why would we mind? I would have let you take him away so you can raise him yourself. But I don't think James would agree. And we love the baby so much."

Bob was still crying, and Maria whispered to the maid, "Do you think he's hungry? Go and prepare some formula milk for him, please."

"Sure."

Then, worried that her lie might be exposed, Maria followed Lily into the kitchen with the boy in her arms.

James sat on the sofa with his grandparents. "I think Maria likes the child very much," Charlotte remarked casually. "In the future, you can bring him to see Maria more often."

James withdrew his gaze from Maria's receding back. "If she likes him, she can just come over often. I'm busy."

Inwardly, Augustine cursed at her idiot grandson. 'He's so dense he couldn't even see that I was trying to create opportunities for him to spend more time with Maria.'

Maria stayed with Bob and fed him with the formula milk until he fell asleep.

Then she gently put him inside his crib and left the room, closing the door behind her with great reluctance.

Since James was here, she didn't want to stay too long. After she returned to the living room, she said goodbye to the two elders. "Grandpa and Grandma, I have work to do, so I'm leaving now. I'll come to see you another day." "Okay, be careful while driving on the way," Charlotte said.

"Yes, I'll see you again soon."

Augustine glanced at his grandson, who remained lounging on the sofa. "Why are you still here? Leave!"

James wondered if it was his illusion. Why did it seem like his grandfather was getting more and more unfriendly toward him?

The man and woman walked out of the villa one after the other. Just as Maria was about to get in her car, James stopped her. "Wait."

She turned around. "What now?"

"Do you really like that child?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What does it matter whether I like him or not?"

That made him pause. What he had wanted to say was that if she liked the baby, they could give themselves a try so she could give birth to their own child. But when he saw how her eyes had instantly sharpened, his mood turned sour and he changed his mind altogether. "Nothing. Never mind."

Maria looked at him as if he were out of his mind. Why did he call out to her if he had nothing to say anyway? It was downright unsettling.

The reason why she wasn't able to prepare herself earlier was that James had driven a Rolls-Royce Wraith over. She hadn't seen this car before, and therefore had no idea that he was in the villa.

Now they entered their own cars and went about the understanding they had long established between them. James backed his Rolls-Royce first, and then it was Maria's turn. Thanks to this arrangement, they had never been in the same accident like that one time in the past.

After leaving the house, the two of them drove back to downtown and then went on their separate ways.

In order to avoid James from taking her company's orders again, Maria took on another project and specially sought a cooperation with Norman's company.

She'd like to see if James would persist on antagonizing her if it meant going against his rival.

Norman didn't give a damn about James at all, and no matter how capable the latter was, he couldn't snatch the order from DS Group again.

In the end, the project with Norman's company went along smoothly.

But two days later, Maria found herself in another dilemma. DS Group couldn't rely on Norman for survival, could it? If her operations kept up this way, then what was the whole point of starting her own company?