A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 422 Failure

Ronald wouldn't have been so scared if it had been anyone else. However, he was about to face Maria Song, the person who had sent him to jail for nearly two years. He didn't want to lead that kind of life anymore.

After Ronald left, Clayton thought for a moment and then called Mr. Guo to give him a reminder.

In DS Group

Just as Maria was entering the company, two people blocked her way. She smiled as she looked at them and said, "Ah, Mr. Tang and Mr. Guo."

Mr. Guo straightened his tie and returned the smile. "It's really hard to meet you without an appointment, Ms. Song. I apologize for interrupting your work like this."

Maria walked forward and said, "Let's talk in my office!"

"Okay! Ms. Song, after you!"

Maria led the way to the elevator. Behind her, Mr. Guo exchanged a look with Ronald, and the two of them followed her.

In the office, her secretary served the visitors cups of tea. Ronald placed the contract they had signed on the table and said, "Maria, I know that we've had our differences in the past, but I haven't offended you recently, have I? You can't do this to me, right?"

Pretending to be surprised, Maria picked up the contract and asked, "What do you mean, Mr. Tang?"

She rifled through the contract before saying, "Is the contract no good?"

Ronald only stared at her without a word, but his mind was churning. How could the contract be good? Tamping down the urge to curse the woman before him, he explained patiently, "Our agreement was that we would split the profits by the rate of 6:4. Why did it become 9:1 in this contract? Besides, the price has been changed!"

With a puzzled look, Maria asked, "Ronald, that's what we agreed on at that time. Why would you sign your name on the contract otherwise? What's more, you were the one who wrote down the price and the rate by yourself. What do you want to do now? Perhaps... you can't afford these terms?"

Ronald's jaw dropped. Her words were pushing him into a corner.

Mr. Guo knew beforehand that Ronald was tricked by Maria. Now, he only needed her to admit that she had tampered with the contract so that things would go his way.

He turned toward Ronald and said in a soothing voice, "Mr. Tang, please calm down first. Ms. Song, I think we both know what happened to the rate in this contract. To put it bluntly, this isn't a good thing, right? Have you ever seen a rate of 9:1 ?"

Maria didn't answer him. She stood up, went to a drawer, and took out several contracts. She put them in front of the two men and asked coldly, "Yes, I have."

The two men looked through the contracts in front of them. There were contracts signed by DS Group with HL Group and Fosun Entertainment Group. In the division of profit section of each contract, the same split was stated-9:1. Of course, with ninety percent of the profit going to DS Group.

Maria continued, "You haven't seen 9:1 split rate before? Ronald, please don't try to play tricks on me. Otherwise, your father will think I'm deliberately targeting Tang Group."

His calm demeanor finally marred by a scowl, Mr. Guo argued, "Mr. Xi is your husband, and his company is yours. I don't know the relationship between you and the CEO of Fosun Entertainment Group. As for you and Mr. Tang..."

"I was his cousin! Although that association was all in the past, Mr. Tang has agreed to help me for the sake of our previous family relationship."

Ronald stared at the woman, disbelief written all over his face. He didn't think she could pull such a duplicitous trick with a straight face. "Help you? What the-" "Ronald Tang!"

Before Ronald could curse, Maria whirled around to snap at him.

Mr. Guo asked calmly, "Ms. Song, I take it that you won't admit to it because we don't have any evidence, is that right?"

Maria raised an eyebrow, a smug glint in her eyes. "Mr. Guo, I don't understand. You want me to admit to what, exactly?"

Mr. Guo said, "I don't know how you managed to do it, but Ms. Song, it won't do your reputation any good if word of this manages to leak out, right?"

The woman seemed to be a little angry. "Mr. Guo, it's easy to replace a stick when you mean to beat a dog. Just tell me frankly. Do you want to break the contract?" Break the contract? How could he break the contract that easily? The huge amount of liquidated damages alone would be enough to put Tang Group under. "Please don't get me wrong. Ms. Song. If you don't admit it, we have no choice but to take DS Group to court," Mr. Guo said in a seemingly regretful tone.

Maria flashed him a fierce smile. "Go ahead. I'm not afraid of being accused of what I haven't done. I'm starting to think that Tang Group is playing tricks on a small company like DS Group."

'A small company? Isn't she being a bit too modest?' With the protection of HL Group and Shen Group, DS Group showed a nearly exponential growth in the past two years alone. She had even won the H Brocade project recently, thereby cementing a place for DS group in H City's business community.

Ronald and Mr. Guo spent more than an hour in Maria's office, but they had no choice but to return after failing their mission.

As they listened to the recorded conversation with Maria, Clayton glared at Ronald, who was wearing a confused expression the entire time.

Before the recording had finished playing, he growled through gritted teeth, "Maria Song is cheating! I've been in the business for so many years, but this is the first time that anyone has ever dared to pull a fas one on me!"

"Dad, let's sue her!" Basing on the terms of this contract, they estimated that Tang Group could lose three hundred million dollars-and that was just a conservative figure.

"Do you think I don't want to? But where is the evidence?" Maria had been extremely careful with her words. If Ronald weren't his son, Clayton would have believed Maria after listening to the recording. "So, should we just take this lying down?" Ronald was not convinced.

Clayton didn't even dignify his comment with a response. That woman was the reason why his daughter couldn't speak and why she would never have the chance to be a mother. Now his son, who had gone through a lot of hardships to get his life back to normal, was tricked by that same woman.

No one in the world had a greater motive to want that abomination gone from this world than Clayton Tang.

However, he needed to plan for the long term if he wanted it done.

That night, Ronald finally left the company and got into his car. It had been an exhausting day in the office, so a visit to a bar was just what he needed to relax.

As soon as his car pulled out of the company's garage, a car drove alongside his. The window of the passenger seat slid down, revealing Maria's smiling face. Ronald immediately rolled down his window. "Maria?"

He looked past Maria and identified the driver as James.

The two cars remained side by side because of their same speed. Maria leaned out of the window and yelled at him, "Ronald, do you want to know what's going on?"

Of course, Ronald would like to know why the original rate of 6:4 was changed to 9:1. He and his father had tried to figure it out for a whole day, but to no avail.

The woman's smile widened into an aggressive grin. "There is something called the magic pen. You did write 6:4, but the numbers disappeared after some time. Then, I was able to change it to whatever rate I want."

Ronald gawked at her. Now that he thought about it, the pen that he used to sign the document at the time was provided by Maria's employee. However, there was one more thing that he couldn't understand. "Who changed the rate in my copy of the contract?"

Since the numbers would disappear, new figures would have to be written down eventually. The fact that the rate in DS Group's copy was changed came as no surprise because the document was in Maria's hands all along.

What about his copy? It had been in his office all this time. Who had written the new numbers on it?

Maria smiled mysteriously. "Didn't you write it yourself?" Of course, there was no way she would answer that question.

Ronald could only glare at her in indignation. He didn't do it!

'That treacherous bitch!'

The Harkim sped up and drove ahead of him. Maria's infuriating smile soon disappeared from his sight.

Ronald wanted to catch up with her, but his driving skill was not on par with James'.

Inside the Harkim, James asked helplessly, "Magic pen?"

Maria flipped her long hair. "Yes."