A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 82 She Couldn't Die

First, James pinched her chin and ripped her dress, but then he dared to grab her hair and pull it back. If Maria hadn't retaliated, his fist might have been the next thing to hit her.

At that moment, James touched the cheek Maria had just slapped and glared at her. This woman really had the guts to challenge him like no one else would.

As James kept silent, Maria continued, "I have a temper too. If you dare to tear another dress of mine in the future, I'll burn your entire wardrobe! If you pinch my chin again, I'll slap you in the face. If you pull my hair, I'll pull yours too! Hmm..."

All of a sudden, Maria was caught off guard as James' mouth came down on hers.

With his dark eyes filled with rage, the man bit on her red lips hard.

The pain was so intense that Maria couldn't replace her voice or make a sound.

'What a pervert! James Xi, you're a real freak!' Maria thought.

With one hand, James held her by the waist, and with the other, he grabbed the tie he had put on the back of the chair. Looking into the woman's frightened eyes, he tied her wrists together. As Maria thought James would throw her to other men again, he pushed her against the table and did whatever he wanted to her himself.

In the following hours, Maria suffered a lot. Even the security guards outside Fairview Villa could hear her occasional screams.

It was only at two o'clock in the morning that the man walked out of the villa with his short hair a mess while smoking a cigarette. Wearing a shirt he had casually found in the closet upstairs, he had the same trousers he had on when he first came in.

He didn't even bother to fix his hair before getting in his car, even though it looked like a bird's nest.

In the Harkim, James exhaled some smoke and pulled out his phone to call the head of security. With his voice slightly hoarse, he commanded, "Send me one of your men. I'm in the car." Within two minutes, a security guard trotted towards the car. Then he sat in the driver's seat and drove James away from Fairview Villa.

The lights in the villa remained on all night long.

By the time Maria woke up, she looked at the luxurious chandelier in the living room's ceiling and wondered whether she was dead or alive. Gradually, the memories from last night rushed back to her, and soon she realized she was alive.

Somehow, she had managed to survive James' torture.

After a long time, she finally moved her body, but as expected, she felt pain everywhere.

In fact, it would be odd if she didn't feel hurt. James had seemed determined to give her a hard time.

Looking around, she saw the complete mess it was left in the living room and dining room as a result of the fierce lesson James had taught her there.

Last night, after James had put on his trousers, he ruthless told her before walking out, "Maria Song, remember that even if HM Group gets the project in the end, it was you who traded your body and dignity for it!"

Indeed, she had traded all those things for the cooperation between HM Group and HL Group, not to mention the trust Colby would place in her afterward.

However, Maria believed it was worth it. She had no regrets.

After all, the man she gave herself to in exchange for everything was none other than James Xi.

Although the process had been a little insufferable, Maria didn't care about it as long as she achieved her goal.

She might have risked James taking his game a little too far and killing her, but she had to go through with it in order to gain Colby's trust, which was a fundamental part of her plan.

Lying in the bathtub with bruises all over her body, Maria slowly sank to the bottom.

She felt as if she was back to the day she and James got divorced.

She recalled the downpour, the H River in the city, and every nasty word she had to endure as she watched the blood mix with the rainwater on the ground.

Suddenly, her chest constricted, and she felt it was hard to breathe.

If she died then, would it relieve her from her pain? Would she go on to a more beautiful world, with no sorrow or cruel people expecting for her on the other side?

Would she finally reunite with Arthur, who was waiting for her to continue to love him in heaven?

The sound of whipping and a woman's mockery reached her ears.

At the same time, she could also hear the baby crying, calling her softly, "Mommy!"

'Arthur! Arthur! No!' she called for him inwardly. Because of her Arthur, she couldn't die yet!

Awakening from her nightmare, the woman sat up from the bottom of the bathtub. She looked pale as she struggled to get out of the water. With her long wet hair hanging loose over her body, she leaned against the bathtub, gasping for air.

At that moment, the first thing that crossed her mind was to take her pills. So, she urgently looked for them.

She remembered that she had left her medicine downstairs.

Crawling out of the bathtub, she wrapped herself in a bath towel and rushed downstairs.

Her long hair fluttered in the air as she moved, leaving drops of water along the clean floor.

With her hands trembling, she grabbed her purse from the table in the living room and pulled out her medicine. Paying no attention to whether she got two or three pills from the bottle, she swallowed them dry at once.

She lay prone on the table as the memory of Arthur's cries and his blood on the floor still echoed in her mind.

Her head then began to throb as if it was about to explode. This was the only side effect of her medication, but soon it would pass.

The lights in Fairview Villa remained on. After sunrise, the front door was pushed open from the outside as two men in suits walked into the villa led by a middle-aged man, whose hair at the temples was starting to turn grey.

Looking at the mess on the first floor, the middle-aged man sighed and turned around, ordering the men behind him, "Just put everything in there." "Yes, Mr. Zhou."

The other two men put several paper bags on the table in the living room and then left.

John glanced at the stairs, took out his cell phone, and called two housemaids to clean the first floor. As for the second and third floors, they would remain on standby waiting for the woman in the villa to leave first.

Honestly, Maria didn't want to stay in Fairview Villa in such a state. She had planned to ask someone to bring her some clothes, but before she could make a call, she received a text message from John. "Ms. Song, your clothes are in the living room."

Without hesitation, Maria went downstairs and took the bags with international brand logos printed on them.

Fumbling through the bags, Maria found a dark green high-waisted dress, black high-heels, jewelry, and even accessories! They were all from world-famous brands. A sarcastic smile showed on her face upon that realization. After a one-night stand with James, she got an outfit worth a million dollars. Undoubtedly, she had gained more than she could have imagined.

At that moment, a small box in the last paper bag caught her attention.

It was a box of morning-after pills.

Maria held her breath as she stared at the box.

She knew exactly what that medicine was for. She wasn't stupid.

Putting her emotions aside, she decisively took two pills.

After Maria got dressed, she realized that some of the bruises on her body were still exposed, but she didn't mind them. Once the car that came to pick her up parked outside, she got downstairs and decided to go straight to the hotel.

The housemaids who John had called happened to arrive just in time to see Maria heading out. Although they greeted her warmly, she nodded coldly in response and left. Maria didn't have a good impression of all of the housemaids.

As soon as Maria left and the Fairview Villa was cleaned, the whole place was restored to its normal, as if nothing had happened at all.

Meanwhile, in HL Group, gossip was running wild.

The employees kept chattering and whispering to each other on the company premises since early in the morning.

As the subject referred to James, several people would only dare to spread the news in the lounges or tea rooms for fear of losing their jobs in case their boss overheard them.

However, it was by chance that the gossip reached Stella's ears.