A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 412 The Overall Situation

James shot Maria an indifferent glance and asked, "Don't you know why?"

All she had to do was tweak her expression a little, act coquettishly, or shed tears, and all his sense of logic would go down the drain. How could he speak logically to her?

However, he didn't want to let her think that she would always win, so he pinched her chin tightly and pretended to look at her fiercely. "Do you really think that I don't dare to hurt you?" he growled. The reason he had come back so soon was because he was eager to settle accounts with her.

"I know you do. But... you only dare to hurt me in the bedroom, don't you?" As Maria spoke, her eyes flashed with complacency, and a smirk played at the corner of her lips.

James felt his heart aching in his chest. There were so many words bubbling up in his throat, but in the end, he swallowed them all down and simply said, "From now on, stay away from all those indecent men!"

Maria stared back at him fiercely. 'Indecent men? Is he talking about Norman, Lawrence, or Ethan? Humph. Whatever, did he forget that we've already broken up?" "No way! I'm single now. I can meet whoever I want, it's my choice!" she retorted.

'What did she say? She refused to listen to me, and even said that she's single?' A hint of danger flashed through James' eyes. Without thinking, he grabbed her wrist, dragged her to the bed, and threw her onto it. "Let me remind you who you are, and who I am to you."

"James Xi!" Maria called out in protest. Panic flashed through her eyes. Had he forgotten that they had just had sex in the car?

Ignoring her protests, James began to unbutton his shirt.

In the end, Maria had no choice but to give in to his advances. He didn't stop making love to her until she became docile and kept calling him "honey."

The next day was the anniversary celebration of HL Group, so James didn't leave H City right away.

As soon as Colby learned that James had come back to H City, he took action and arranged a small lunch gathering.

When James received Colby's invitation via Gary, he didn't refuse, thinking that this would be a good opportunity for him to pry some information.

That afternoon, he went to H City Hotel.

Four people sat in a luxurious private room. Apart from James, Colby had invited only two other men, who were both government officials involved in the financial industry.

At first, the four men mainly talked about the financial industry, but after a while, Colby began to lose his patience.

Although James didn't seem to be up to anything at the moment, Colby knew that he would take action against HM Group soon. The one who struck first would always have a better chance of winning.

Taking a look at James, who was talking about environmental protection with the two government officials, Colby stood up and walked over with two glasses of wine in his hand. "Mr. Xi, would you like a drink?" he asked with a smile.

James didn't refuse. He took the glass and clinked it against Colby's.

However, neither of them lifted the glass to their lips. Colby was thinking about how to start the conversation, while James was waiting for him to speak.

A few awkward seconds later, Colby decided to begin with cotton up James. "Mr. Xi, it's been almost ten years since you took over HL Group, right?" "Yes," James agreed.

"You know, your achievements really put mine to shame. I didn't take over HM Group until I was nearly forty years old!"

"Mr. Zheng, you're being too modest," James said. Since Colby wasn't going to come to the point directly, he didn't mind beating around the bush, either.

Colby shook his head. "Do you remember? When you first took over HL Group, you managed to cooperate with HM Group on a big project. At that time, I admired you very much. You were not only young and promising, but also a genius when it came to matters of finance!"

James continued holding the glass of wine with an indifferent expression, and didn't say anything.

He remembered that project well. Colby was the one who had taken the initiative to terminate HM Group's contract with its previous partner before signing a new contract with HL Group.

So, Colby was now trying to say that since he had helped James back then, James shouldn't do anything rash now.

However, he seemed to have forgotten all about how he had framed James later.

James had just taken over HL Group when he had fallen into Colby's trap. It was only with Augustine's help that he had managed to get out of it.

At that time, he had decided that he would never be as insidious as Colby. Instead, he wanted to become much stronger and trample on Colby by using aboveboard means.

Under his clever management, HL Group had climbed the ladder step by step. Now, it had reached such heights that it outshone HM Group. However, there was no such thing as eternal enemies in business; only eternal interests.

So, for the sake of interests, HL Group had signed a lot of contracts with HM Group. However, HM Group didn't have a lot to gain from these projects. As time went by, Colby became more and more unwilling to cooperate with James.

James had pushed HM Group into the perfect corner. Even if he destroyed HM Group now, the impact it would have on HL Group would be almost negligible.

Colby downed the wine in his glass and continued, "There is no bad blood between me and you. At most, we've had a few misunderstandings because of the two women. James, since I'm older than you, I used to treat you as my younger brother. I hope these trivial matters won't affect our relationship. In the future, let's put our interests first, like we used to. After all, fighting because of women is not worth it!"

Colby treated him as his younger brother? James wanted to laugh. He flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and said with a faint smile, "Mr. Zheng, you're right, but it's also important to consider the overall situation."

Overall situation? For a while, Colby didn't understand what he meant.

Pouring another glass of wine, he said, "James, the cooperation project between HM Group and HD Group will expire in the second half of the year. Before that, let's have dinner together and talk about that project in detail. What do you think?"

As he spoke, he handed the glass to James.

Glancing at the liquid in the glass, James nodded. "Sounds good." The annual profit of the cooperation project between HM Group and HD Group was could go up to several billion dollars. Obviously, everyone in the industry wanted to get their hands on it.

However, James was not so stupid as to think that Colby was doing all this to win his favor. Colby had always been a cunning fox. He must have already figured out a way to set a trap.

That was why James left the glass of wine untouched. Colby's smile shrank, but he pretended as if he didn't care about it and sat back in his seat, continuing the previous topic.

After the meal was over and all his guests left, Colby's face changed drastically.

'James can't even be bothered to show respect for me anymore. That guy doesn't know what's good for him!' he thought to himself.

After leaving the restaurant, James didn't go back to the company, but went to his manor instead.

Maria was sitting in the bedroom and putting on some make-up. A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes when she saw James walk in, but she didn't ask him why he had returned all of a sudden. James walked up to her and looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Free up your schedule tonight."

Maria, who was drawing on her eyebrows, kept silent.

"I need a female companion for HL Group's anniversary celebration," James continued. Obviously, he didn't want his female companion to be anyone other than her.

Maria paused and looked at his reflection in the mirror. "You can replace thousands of women to be your female companion in a minute. Why are you asking me?"

The anniversary celebration of HL Group had been planned a long time ago, and Maria had already heard about it.

James pursed his lips and said, "I don't want to bother looking for anyone else. You'll do fine. Where do you want Summer to send your dress to?"

Upon hearing his words, Maria had the urge to smash the eyebrow pencil on his face. "Do you think I look like your female companion?"

"You don't."

"It's good that you know it!" Maria retorted, rolling her eyes at him.

"But you look like my wife," James added slowly, tilting his head.

Maria's heart leaped in her chest, and for a moment, she was speechless. Finally, she replied, "You look like my husband. So what?" Even so, they still fought.

"Nothing. Since we look like husband and wife, we might as well get married!"

"I don't think we look like husband and wife, nor do I think it's a good idea for us to get married. Go and replace someone else. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to accompany you tonight."