A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 317 Please Have A Seat

James was obviously displeased. "Isn't it enough for me to guarantee her innocence?"

"It is," Mr. Huang's brother replied. "But please wait a moment, Mr. Xi. I'll discuss it with my brother first." Things were getting really tough here. Joslyn had clearly told him that Maria was the one who fired the gun just now.

He strode towards Mr. Huang, who was still bleeding as the doctors were treating him.

A man in the crowd couldn't help but comment, "What's the point of women acting so strong and stubborn? They still have to lie underneath us men in bed."

Upon hearing this vulgar comment, Ethan raised his eyebrows and looked at him. Following the man's gaze, he found that the comment was about Maria.

"Ha, maybe you're right, but it depends on who she is lying under," he said scornfully.

The man couldn't help retorting, "She isn't lying underneath you, that's for sure. Why are you rushing to her defense?"

"I'm not the one defending her. Did you see that guy over there?" Ethan asked, gesturing to another man with his eyes.

The man looked over and found a crippled man with only one leg. Bewilderment appeared on his face.

"Do you know what happened to his leg?" Ethan asked with a thin smile.

"What?"

"He said something nasty about Maria, so James crippled him. Do you know what will happen if James gets wind of your comment? You will face an even worse fate," Ethan said casually as he looked at the man's crotch.

The man's face turned pale, and he immediately fled the scene.

Watching his pathetic escape, Ethan snorted. Then, he approached Maria and glanced at the people behind him. "How can you let this lady stand here for so long? Don't you have any sense? Bring a comfortable chair for her right now!"

Maria's lips twitched, but she didn't say anything.

Someone obediently brought over a chair and placed it behind her. "Ma'am, please have a seat."

"Thank you, but there's no need." Maria waved her hand slightly. However, it was pointless.

She had barely finished her words when she found herself being pressed down onto the chair by James. "Sit!" he said sharply.

Maria looked up at him blankly.

She was the only one sitting now, which made her feel awkward.

Soon, Mr. Huang's brother returned. "I'm sorry, Mr. Xi. My brother has passed out, so I'll make the call. I think it's necessary to frisk her. If she was not guilty, then why would she refuse?"

Maria looked straight into his eyes and sneered, "As far as I know, there are more than a dozen women who haven't been frisked." Then, she turned to James coldly. When she spoke, her voice was low but clear. "James, it seems that he doesn't take you seriously at all because he doesn't want to do you this favor. In that case, just let him frisk me!"

Hearing what she said, Mr. Huang's brother broke into a cold sweat. He hastily explained, "That's not what I meant, Mr. Xi."

James' lips curled in displeasure. He took his phone out from his pocket and dialed a number. "Send someone to pick me up," he ordered. After speaking that one sentence, he hung up.

Just then, Lawrence walked over to them and asked, "Are you Mr. Huang's brother?"

The man nodded. "Yes, Mr. Lu."

"Are you in charge of the Huang family now?"

He shook his head. "No, my brother is still in charge."

"Do you know the lengths that your brother went to in order to invite James here today?" Lawrence asked, surveying the man with disdain.

Mr. Huang's brother's face changed slightly at this question. He hesitated, not knowing how to respond.

"James has never liked attending such events. Now that such an unpleasant incident has occurred, you should be apologizing to him, but instead, you have the audacity to suspect him."

"No. She's the one we suspect." Mr. Huang's brother threw an accusatory glance at Maria.

Lawrence sneered, "Is there any difference between suspecting his woman and suspecting him?" What an idiot,' he thought to himself.

Mr. Huang's brother wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and gulped nervously. Since his brother was still in charge of the Huang family's business, he didn't dare to act recklessly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Xi. I didn't mean to offend you."

James, who wasn't even paying attention to him anymore, didn't respond. He had one hand in his pocket and the other holding Maria's; his whole focus was on her and how she was feeling.

Ethan was someone who believed in treating people the way that they treated others, so he didn't bother to mince his words. "If you have the time to make things difficult for an innocent woman, I'm sure you have the time to conduct a proper investigation. You'd better carefully search the other guests. In the time you wasted here, the real murderer has probably escaped. If they had jumped into the sea, they would have swam back to H City by now. It's good that you are not in charge of the Huang family. Otherwise, the Huang family would've been doomed by now."

Mr. Huang's brother was utterly embarrassed at these words, and his face turned red.

As soon as the cruise ship reached the shore, a woman stepped onboard with more than a dozen bodyguards following her closely.

Opening the door of the cabin, Summer walked towards James with the bodyguards. "Hi, Mr. Xi, Maria. I'm here," she said with a reassuring smile.

James ordered casually, "Terminate the cooperation between HL Group and the Huang family. Remember to make an appointment for me with Director Zhang tomorrow. I want to have a cup of tea with me." "Yes, Mr. Xi!" Summer took out her phone and began to carry out his orders.

Mr. Huang's brother's face turned deathly pale. He wasn't even that worried about losing the cooperation with HL Group. It was the mention of Director Zhang that really petrified him. He knew that the Huang family was in deep trouble this time.

He took a look at the woman sitting on the chair again. She was pulled to her feet by James. They walked out of the cabin, hand in hand.

'Who is this woman? Not only did Mr. Nan and Mr. Lu defended her, but Mr. Xi protected her at all costs.

Is it just because she's Mr. Xi's woman?' he wondered to himself, narrowing his eyes.

Of course, he had more important matters to attend to right now. If his father found out about today's incident, and that he had singlehandedly ruined the Huang family's business, he would be finished for good. As soon as they got off the cruise ship, Maria took her phone back and said goodbye to Ethan and the others.

Once she was alone, she called Norman. "Mr. Huang's younger brother is also on the cruise ship."

Normal chuckled. "I know."

Surprise filled Maria, but it was soon replaced by resentment. "If you already knew that, why didn't you tell me?" she snapped. If it weren't for James, she might have been in big trouble today! "Because I knew you'd be fine." The truth was, Norman had also known that both Lawrence and Ethan would be onboard the ship. So even if James hadn't been around, the two of them would have looked after her and made sure that no harm came to her.

Of course, Maria didn't see it that way. She furiously said, "Norman, I could have died today!"

"But you didn't, did you? You're fine," Norman replied flatly. If she was really in trouble, she wouldn't be able to call him.

Maria pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. "You knew that James would help me, didn't you? You knew he would stand up for me."

"What do you think?"

he asked in reply.

Maria took a deep breath and suppressed all her emotions. In a muffled voice, she asked tentatively, "Mr. Shen, do you really think that I have such a high place in his heart?" "Don't you?" "Of course not! I just found out that he broke off his engagement to Alina a long time ago, but he never told me about it. I've always thought that I am nothing but a mistress to him. If I was really that important to him, why would he treat me like this?" Maria's grievances poured out of her before she even realized.

"If you weren't important to him, you wouldn't even have been able to become his mistress," Norman pointed out in an indifferent tone.

She opened her mouth to retort, but in the end, she couldn't replace the words to say.

"It doesn't matter whether he told you that he broke off his engagement or not. What matters is why he did it. Maria, the answer is obvious." Maria froze. Was it really because of her?

She felt flustered. "I might have been a small reason, but I'm sure he had other reasons for doing it."