A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 324 Put On A Play

In the past, Colby had always trusted Maria. But ever since the news that Maria and James were back together had been released in a high-profile way, he knew that he must be a fool to continue to trust Maria.

The sky was starting to get dark when Maria got into her car. She received a call from James at this moment.

After hesitating for a moment, she answered the phone. "Hello."

"Let's have dinner together."

"I have something to deal with now. How about another day?" As she spoke, she stepped on the gas and drove out of the parking lot.

James was about to say something when he saw the familiar car pulling out of the parking lot. "What is it that you have to deal with?"

"I have an appointment with someone. I'll explain it to you later. Bye." Maria hung up without giving him a chance to respond.

What she didn't know was that James had already arrived at the gate of her company and seen her driving away.

Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, James pursed his lips. Her response was a little strange and hurried, as if she was hiding something. With obvious displeasure, he followed the red Porsche without hesitation.

After a while, he realized that the Porsche was heading towards a famous community. It was the most high-end real estate project developed by HM Group.

'HM Group...' When James realized what she intended to do, his face darkened.

At this moment, still unaware that she was being watched, Maria parked the car in an inconspicuous position, turned off the engine, and got out of the car.

It was a cold and windy day, the kind that called for generous layers and boots, but she was only wearing a thin, sophisticated black dress, and black high-heeled shoes to match.

After parking his car at a reasonable distance, James turned off the engine and quietly observed the scene.

Standing alone at a considerable distance from the Porsche, she lifted her phone to her ear and spoke to someone. After a while, two men came out of seemingly nowhere and started harassing her. James' hand immediately shot to the handle of the car door. Naturally, his first reaction was to go to her rescue. But just before he opened the door, he realized that something didn't add up. Maria was a woman who was more than capable of protecting herself, so it was much more likely that she was directing and acting in a play all by herself.

Thinking of this, he slowly leaned back, clenched his fist, and continued to watch silently.

Two streaks of light appeared on the road, growing longer and longer before a Rolls-Royce Ghost came into view, with its headlights on full beam. The headlights shone on the woman, casting a glare on her face that made her features indiscernible. She suddenly turned around and began to run towards the car, followed by those two men.

A loud screech cut through the silence of the night as the driver hit the brakes, just in time for Maria to run into the car, haphazardly putting her palms down on the bonnet.

Seeing her face clearly, the man sitting in the driver's seat opened the door and got out.

Mr. Zheng?'1 Maria, who was a little disheveled and trembling in panic, looked slightly stunned.

"Maria, what are you doing here?" Colby asked calmly.

Maria's posture was slumped, and she continued to tremble, perfectly playing the part of a damsel in distress. Her eyes were wild with panic as she explained, "A friend of mine lives here. I came to see him jus now, but he wasn't home. When I came out, I couldn't get a taxi, so I just kept walking down the road, but these men kept following me."

Colby looked in the direction she was pointing in and saw two men fleeing the scene desperately.

He nodded. "It's okay now. They're gone."

Maria swallowed hard and nodded, as if she was relieved. "Mr. Zheng, where are you going? Can you give me a ride?"

Colby glanced at a villa not far away and said, "I live nearby." If this had happened in the past, he would have assumed that it was a coincidence.

But now, things were different.

Maria seemed to be surprised. "I didn't know you lived here too, Mr. Zheng." As she spoke, her face contorted in pain, and she reached out to touch her arm. "Ouch, my arm is injured. Can I go to your place to apply some medicine?" She rubbed the arm lightly, drawing his eyes to the obvious scratch that was there.

Colby could tell that although she was bruised, it was nothing serious.

When a woman said such words to a man this late in the night, it could only mean one thing.

In the end, he was tempted. Her disheveled hair and her pouted lips made her look sexy. Paired with her thin black dress, which kept swishing around in the cool breeze of the night, she looked ripe for the taking. How could he resist?

He drove her to his villa and invited her in. Just when the two of them were about to enter, Maria's phone rang. It was a call from James.

A hint of panic flashed through her eyes when she looked at the screen of the phone. Fortunately, Colby was busy taking out his key to open the door, so he didn't notice it.

Pausing a few steps away from him, she picked up the phone. "Hello," she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"Maria," James greeted. His voice sounded the same as usual.

Trying her best to suppress the unease, she replied, "Yeah, what's up?"

'Til give you one minute to come out." There was an icy coldness in his tone that left no room for negotiation.

Maria felt her heart twist uncomfortably in her chest. By reflex, she wanted to turn her head around and take a look, but she knew that she couldn't afford to. "What is it?" she asked, biting her inner cheek. The night was dead silent.

"There are fifty seconds left,"

James warned. "If there is nothing else, I have to go." With that, Maria decisively hung up the phone. She was at the cusp of succeeding. How could she give up now?

Besides, wasn't this exactly what she had always wanted to see-James suffering?

Standing at the doorway with the door wide open, Colby pretended to ask casually, "Who are you talking to? Is something wrong?"

Shaking her head, Maria turned off the phone and put it away. Then she answered indifferently, "There's a man who has been hitting on me recently. He asked me out for a drink, but I refused."

She didn't know whether Colby bought her lie or not, but either way, he just smiled and invited her into the villa without saying anything.

When James dialed her number again, he found that her phone had been turned off. A wave of fury surged within him.

'Maria, how dare you?!'

Thinking of the possibility that she might be having sex with Colby right now, he had the urge to barge into the villa and kill both of them.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Then, he dialed another number and ordered indifferently, "Release a negative article about the HM Group. Make it blow up as big as possible."

Inside the villa, Colby was applying some ointment on Maria's arm. "It's not serious, but you shouldn't get it wet for the next two days."

"Thank you, Mr. Zheng."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Maria saw a figure appear at the corner of the second floor. She suddenly hugged Colby, who was packing the medical kit, and said softly, "Mr. Zheng, I want to leave H City. Can you help me?" "Right now?" Colby asked in surprise.

"Yes," she answered firmly. "James has complete control over me. I just want to escape and never see him again."

It was not until the figure on the second floor disappeared out of sight that she released her grip on Colby and blinked pitifully. "He released the news about me and him on purpose. I want to-" Before she could finish her words, Colby's phone rang.

He glanced at her with furrowed eyebrows before taking out his phone and answering it. "What's up?"

"Mr. Zheng, something happened to the company!"

Colby's face instantly darkened, and he stood up abruptly. "I'm coming right now."

Seeing him put away his phone with a cold look, Maria was a little flustered. "Mr. Zheng, are you going out?" "What a coincidence! Did James do something?' she wondered.

"Yeah. I'm going to the company."

Her tone was full of regret as she said, "What bad timing. Well, let's talk about it another day. Thank you for your help, Mr. Zheng. If it's not too much trouble, please give me a ride to the downtown area." "Okay." Whatever it was, it must be a big deal, because Colby walked out absentmindedly of the house in a hurry.

After locking the door, the two of them got into the same car.

Colby dropped Maria at the road not far from DS Group. As soon as the Rolls-Royce Ghost disappeared around the corner, the sudden screech of brakes sounded beside her.

Maria reflexively jerked her head around, just in time to see James unfastening the seat belt and opening the door of the driver's seat. After climbing out, he slammed the door behind him.

Seeing the burning anger in his eyes, Maria took a step back, contemplating whether to run away.

But he roughly grabbed her and pulled her into the car, not giving her a chance to escape. Maria almost tripped in the process, but he held her waist to prevent her from falling to the ground. In the car, James grabbed her by the neck and asked, "Are you challenging my patience?"