A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 337 I Want A Reward

"No," the female employee said, shaking her head and wiping her tears. "Here's the thing, Ms. Song. I've been following up a project of HM Group for about two months now. They already agreed to hand it over to us, and we're so close to sealing the deal. However, I got a call from them just now saying that... they don't need us onboard anymore."

After working hard on the project for two months, she had been about to happily sign the contract, only to be told without warning that the project had been handed over to another company instead. "We did preparatory work on it for three months, and I followed up on it for two months after that..." All in all, she had spent almost half a year on this project, so she couldn't reconcile herself to the fact that it had been given to another company.

As soon as Maria heard the mention of HM Group, she understood what was going on.

"It doesn't matter. This is not your fault. There are a lot more opportunities out there, and the next one will be better. Don't give up!" she said in a firm but comforting tone.

She already knew what project this employee was referring to, and although it was a sizeable project for them to take on, it was just a small project for HM Group. Colby wouldn't be so idle as to keep an eye or it, so it had to be Rosa who was behind this.

'How dare she lay her hands on my business?' she thought irritably.

Still unconvinced, the female employee said in a hurry, "Ms. Song, I've worked really hard on it and followed it up-"

Maria nodded. "I know. I'll explain the situation to your manager later. From now on, you'll be responsible for the mall project with Song Group."

"Okay, thank you, Ms. Song," she replied gratefully.

"Okay, get back to work!" Maria said. The employee nodded and quickly left the fire escape staircase.

Now that the two of them were alone, Peggy finally looked at Maria and asked, "Maria, do you know what happened?"

"Yes. From now on, HM Group will not cooperate with us anymore. What's worse, they will deal with us," Maria replied. It was not a big deal though, since HL Group began to cooperate with DS Group. Two days ago, James had even given them a big order.

Furrowing her brows in confusion, Peggy asked, "Why? Doesn't Colby trust you anymore?"

"That's one of the reasons. The other reason is his wife." As the general manager of HM Group, Rosa held a lot of power.

"Did Colby's wife misunderstand the relationship between you and him?"

"Yes." Maria didn't elaborate further, because her mind was racing with possible ways to fight back.

It turned out that she had been too slow to make a move this time, so Rosa had seized the opportunity and struck first.

The best way to deal with the problem was to face it head-on and fight back in the same way!

Maria took out her cell phone and dialed a number. As soon as the call was answered, she ordered, "Go and replace out which project Rosa Qiao has been working on recently and what the progress is." "Yes, Ms. Song."

Later that afternoon, she received the report of the information that she had asked for.

After glancing through it, she called James. It rang a couple of times before the call was finally answered- not by James, but by Summer. "Hello, Maria. Mr. Xi is in a meeting right now. What's up?" she asked in a low voice.

The meeting had to be a very important one if James didn't want to pause it to answer the phone. At the same time, it was obvious that he didn't want to miss Maria's call, either, because he had asked Summe to answer it for him.

"Well, there's something I need his help with, but there's no hurry. Let the meeting finish. Ask him to call me back when he's free," Maria replied. She didn't want to rush into anything in a hurry, and this matter had to be dealt with in a calm and patient way.

"Okay. The meeting is supposed to end in an hour. I'll tell Mr. Xi later," said Summer.

"All right, then. Carry on."

"Bye."

Summer quietly returned to the meeting room and set the phone down on the table beside James, who was busy talking to several distinguished guests.

James glanced at the phone out of the corner of his eye before continuing with his work.

Two hours later, Maria received a call from James. Picking it up, she asked, "Is the meeting over?"

"Yes. I'm on the way back to the company now," he replied, pinching the space between his eyebrows.

"Okay. Well, it's nothing too important. I just want to ask you for a favor," Maria said tentatively. Every time she called him, she would ask him to do her a favor.

"Go ahead," James said.

"Do you know Mr. Zhao of Zhao Group? I want to have dinner with him. Can you set up a meeting for me?" "Well, I know who he is, but I'm not that familiar with him. Why, what's up?"

"We were supposed to sign a deal with HM Group for one of their projects, but someone blocked it at the last minute," Maria explained honestly.

"So?"

"I want to give her a taste of her own medicine. I asked someone to dig into it and found out that HM Group is set to cooperate with Zhao Group on a project."

"Ah, so that's why you need to meet Mr. Zhao. But as far as I know, he's on very good terms with Colby's wife."

"Really?" Maria sounded frustrated.

"Yeah." He wondered if the one Maria was going to deal with was Colby's wife. He wondered what kind of feud there was between these two women. Was Rosa trying to sabotage Maria's company because she misunderstood the relationship between Colby and Maria?

In his eyes, this was the only reasonable explanation.

Taking a deep breath, Maria finally said, "You know what, it doesn't matter. I still want to give it a try. What if it works?" Maria didn't want to give up so soon. 'Rosa won't be in charge of one project only. If I fail to sabotage this project, I can continue and ruin the next.'

As for James, he couldn't help but appreciate her persistence. "Fine, but I want a reward."

Maria snorted. "You can't get a reward unless I get what I want. If I fail, you'll have to make me happy, or I'll be depressed."

Hearing this, James chuckled. "It seems that I shouldn't have agreed to help you. Is it too late for me to take back what I said just now?"

"It is! The day you had the hotpot, you became my man. It's too late for you to run away now. Just accept your fate!" As Maria spoke, she leaned against the chair and looked at the green plant not far away with a smile.

James raised his eyebrows and was about to continue the banter when someone came to him. With a sigh of resignation, he said, "Fine. I'll ask Summer to set up the meeting. We'll talk about it later." "Okay. Thank you," Maria answered chirpily.

He kept silent for a moment before saying, "I don't like you saying those last two words."

Maria was a little stunned. 'Last two words? "Thank you?" But why?'

Without giving her a chance to speak, James added, "Don't say that to me from now on. I'm hanging up."

The call was promptly disconnected.

That night, Maria met with Mr. Zhao for dinner as planned, and the result was as expected.

It turned out that Mr. Zhao was an old friend of Rosa, so he didn't care about Maria at all. If it weren't for James, he wouldn't even have agreed to this dinner.

What was more, Maria didn't have anything in common with him, so the dinner came to an end sooner than usual.

After bidding him farewell, Maria stood outside the restaurant and looked at the night sky, feeling a stab of frustration.

A black car stopped in front of her. The window of the back seat rolled down, revealing a familiar face.

Seeing him, she opened the door and got in. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a business meeting tomorrow, so I want to go home early and rest," James explained.

She nodded and leaned back in the seat. It was evident from her face that she was in a bad mood.

He grabbed her hand, and she shifted closer to him naturally, leaning on his shoulder.

"Is this a huge blow to you?" he asked quietly.

Of course, Maria knew what he was referring to. She shook her head and replied, "No. I'm just contemplating a problem." No matter who she was dealing with-Alina, Judy, or Rosa-she was in a passive state. If she didn't attack first, she would only lose in the end.

"What?" he asked.