A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 366 A Daughter

Maria would have loved to stay on the island for longer, but real life had to intrude. A week later, she and James went on their separate ways-one went back to H City, while the other flew to the US. Maria didn't tell James what she was supposed to do in the US, only that it was not a leisure trip. He was busier than her, so he didn't accompany her.

James had two residences in the States, but Maria opted to stay at a hotel.

Maria stood on the veranda of her hotel room, staring out the view as she listened to the person on the other end of the call. "Ms. Song, we have been observing them for half a month now. Apparently, they're supposed to go out to the park tomorrow morning, so there's our chance."

Swirling the wine in her glass, she answered curtly, "I don't have much time. Don't make me wait too long." Her son and her work demanded her attention, so she couldn't stay overseas for a long time. "Understood. Well make our move as soon as we replace an opportunity."

"Thank you."

With that, Maria ended the call. Jet lag kept her awake despite the lateness of the hour, so she made a video call to James.

Once the call was connected, she saw that James was currently having his lunch. Without a word, he propped up the phone and continued to eat.

"Where is my son?" She couldn't hear any other sound in the background. 'Isn't Bob there with him?'

Unhurriedly, he swallowed his mouthful of food and explained, "I'm flying to S Country later, so I didn't bring him with me."

"Oh. How long will you be staying there?" she asked in a casual tone.

"Three days."

Three days. She should be able to go back by then. "Ah. Go ahead with your work, then. I don't have anything else to say." "I just missed you and Bob,' she thought to herself.

"Give me an explanation when you get back." She didn't give him any details about her trip to the US. He was sure it had nothing to do with business, so he was curious about it, to say the least. "What do you mean?" Maria asked in confusion.

James raised his eyes from his lunch and leveled her an indifferent glance. "Who's the lucky guy you're seeing over there?"

Realizing that he was joking, she answered mischievously, "I have to give you a heads-up. I have a daughter here!"

James stopped eating and stared at the camera expressionlessly. "I'm trying to have a nice lunch." He was warning her.

"Carry on with your meal, then. I'll clean up and go to bed." Maria didn't explain. It was past midnight in her time zone, anyway. She really should rest.

James seemed to be lost in thought. "Did you give birth to girl and boy twins back then?"

Maria burst into laughter. "Mr. Xi, you are thinking too much. Your family doesn't carry that gene. If I really gave birth to opposite sex twins, what would happen?" "Genes can mutate." Anything was possible.

Maria didn't know how to answer that.

Come to think of it, his words made sense.

But really, he was overthinking things. She only gave birth to Bob back then. "I was just kidding. Have a good meal. I'm hanging up."

"Okay, come back early."

"What's going on? You miss me?" she teased him.

Looking deep into her eyes, he asked, "What do you think?"

"I'm guessing that you miss me desperately."

"Yes. And I can't wait to sleep with you."

Maria was shocked by his shamelessness.

Three in the morning came, yet her eyes remained wide open. Unable to resist the impulse, she sent James a simple message. "I can't fall asleep."

"That's normal."

"Has your flight left?"

"Yes. I have already arrived." He had just gotten off the plane and was on his way downtown.

"Well, go on with your work. I'll try to sleep."

"I will call you once I'm done with work," he promised.

Maria's heart melted as she looked at the words on her screen. "Okay."

She put down her phone and eventually drifted off to sleep with Bob and James on her mind.

The following morning, she was awakened by the sound of her ringtone.

Seeing the caller ID, she swiped the answer key and asked, "How's it going?"

The sound of a child crying came through. The man on the other end said, "It was a success."

"Okay, bring her here. Don't hurt her." After all, she was just a child.

"Got it."

Maria went to the bathroom to wash up and called room service for breakfast.

While she was having her breakfast, the doorbell rang again.

She dabbed at her mouth and stood up to open the door. "Come in!"

A man was standing outside the door and holding a little girl in his arms. The girl was about four or five years old. She sported two pigtails on her head, and her eyes were red-rimmed from crying.

As the door closed behind them, the man gently set the girl down on her feet. The child stared wide-eyed up at Maria and hiccupped.

Squatting in front of her, Maria smiled and asked in English, "Are you Ines?" "Who are you?" the girl asked with wariness. "You can call me Auntie. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Your father and I are friends. I just want to take you out to have some fun."

"I want my mom." Tears started pouring out of her eyes anew.

Maria was not in a hurry. She picked up a toy she had prepared in advance and handed it to the girl. "I asked someone to buy it for you. What do you think? This is called Lu Ban Lock." In fact, she didn't know the toy's name in English.

There were a wide assortment of toys on the table. After her initial suspicion of Maria, the girl realized that the lady meant her no harm. She carefully took the toy from her and said, "Thank you." "You're welcome. Go on, you can play with it. I'll just finish up my breakfast." Maria stroked her little head and went back to the dining table.

In HM Group

Rosa was currently under intense public scrutiny because of the fraudulent donation charges against her.

To escape being sentenced to prison, she spent a huge sum to get people to replace a suitable scapegoat.

At the same time, Peggy's incident dealt a heavy blow to HM Group, and Rosa was left to deal with the consequences. As a result, she had never been busier.

Little did she know that another disaster was waiting for her. "Ma'am, Ines is missing."

Her blood ran cold at the news. "What do you mean by missing?"

"I'm sorry. I took her to the park earlier to soak up the sun. At one point, I needed to go to the ladies' room, but Ines didn't want to go with me. When I came back, she was nowhere to be found." Rosa's knees suddenly lost their strength, and she collapsed into the office chair.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she began to take deep breaths to calm herself down. "Did you call the police?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll ask people to look for her." After ending the call, Rosa immediately barged into Colby's office.

"Colby!" She pushed her way into the office without preamble.

Inside the room, Colby was talking on the phone. Paying no attention, Rosa launched into an agitated fit. "Ines is missing!"

Colby hastily ended the call and asked with a frown, "What happened?"

Rosa relayed what the babysitter had told her.

Colby rose to his feet. "Didn't you send bodyguards to protect her?"

"Both of the bodyguards with them were attacked. Colby, it looks like the person behind this was well prepared." Rosa took a deep breath and tried to think rationally.

The incident left Colby in a black mood. He thundered at Rosa, "I asked you to stay there and take care of the child, but you insisted on coming back. Look at what you've done!"