A Vengeful Ex-Wife

Chapter 397 Break Up

Envy filled Maria at the sight. Since when had these two got along so well with each other? 'Is it because I've been too busy to take care of my own child?' she wondered to herself, feeling her heart ache.

However, James didn't hug Bob. Instead, he picked up a pistachio and asked him, "Will you eat this again?"

Bob only stared at the pistachio and did not speak.

James could see that the child was not convinced, so he set aside the pistachio and swatted his son's buttocks for the third time.

The baby's cries almost broke Maria's eardrums, but she couldn't interrupt the conversation between father and son at that moment. She could only watch her son and feel sorry for him.

"Boston Xi, if you keep crying, I will throw you out!" James scolded harshly, his face turning thunderous.

His father called him by his full name, so Bob knew that he was furious. After sniffling for a few more moments, he shook his head and quietened down.

Maria watched this exchange in confusion. What kind of communication was this? Threats and intimidation? All rights © NôvelDrama.Org.

Just then, James stooped down to take Bob into his arms, patting and coaxing him. "From now on, you're a man, so you can't cry like that anymore."

Maria rolled her eyes. Her son wasn't even a year old yet. How could he be a man?

A burp escaped Bob amid his sobs. After a while, he looked over his father's shoulder to Maria and stretched out his hands for her to hold him.

"Baby, you finally remember me!" Feeling a little out of her depth, Maria took her son into her arms.

Bob rested his little head on her shoulder and kept stealing glances at James every once in a while.

"Why are you peeking at me?" James asked with a slight frown.

Maria said, "What's wrong with you? Will it cost you anything to have your own son look at you?"

"I mean, if he wants to look at me, he can do so openly." Why was his son peering at him so sneakily?

Maria snorted. "Do you think he would dare look at you openly?"

"He dared ask me to hold him, so why wouldn't he look straight at me?"

In the next moment, Bob stood up and stretched out his hands toward James. "Daddy, hug!"

Maria's jaw dropped. He had been in her arms for only two minutes. Why did he want his father to hold him again?

James took his son back into his arms.

To their surprise, Bob kept changing back and forth between "Daddy, hug!" and "Mommy, hug!"

The next time James was holding the child, he suddenly wrapped his arms around his father's neck, and his cute little face drew closer to his.

James thought nothing of it and assumed that his son just wanted to kiss him.

Bob did manage to kiss him. However, he took it one step further, moving toward James' mouth and biting him hard.

Her eyes wide with stunned horror, Maria quickly said, "Baby, you can't bite your daddy like that!"

However, the baby remained blissfully unaware and continued to clamp his little teeth on his father's lip.

James tried pinching his little face gently, but Bob was like a dog with a bone.

Maria had to pull him back by force, which managed to make Bob loosen his teeth.

However, it was too late. The skin on James' lip tore under the baby's small teeth. He still didn't have all of his teeth, but James didn't expect them to be so sharp.

The man glared at the innocent little boy. "You're such a little baby. How dare you play tricks on me?"

It must have been Bob's revenge for what James had just done to him. He didn't have to wait for years to strike back; once James had dropped his guard, his son bit him hard and then hid in his mother's arms, the very picture of angelic innocence. Really, his son is too cunning for his age!

Maria couldn't help but laugh as she saw blood beading over the small marks. "You think too highly of the child."

Was he really overthinking things? He didn't think so.

Balancing Bob over her hip with one hand, Maria reached out with the other to give him a piece of tissue. "Wipe the blood from your mouth."

James obediently blotted his lip and said, "Give him to me. I'll take him upstairs to play with him."

'He wants me to give Bob to him? No way!' She was afraid that James would hit the child once they were left alone. "Let me do it. You must be busy with your work. I'll take care of Bob."

"Don't be so protective of him," James commented in a displeased tone.

"I will definitely protect my own son." Maria ignored him and went upstairs.

Like a behaved little child, Bob lay his head over his mother's shoulder. When his eyes met James' gaze, however, the little devil gave him a smug-looking grin.

James only watched them steadily climb the stairs.

Since he had experienced his father's punishment, the little boy never attempted to eat anything secretly again. Every time he wanted to eat something, he would point at the item as a wordless sign that he wanted to eat it.

If he was able to eat it, then he would be allowed some; otherwise, the item would be moved somewhere out of sight.

At three o'clock in the morning, the exhausted Maria finally fell asleep. After taking a shower, James lay down beside her. Bob was lying fast asleep in his crib.

The night was blessedly quiet. James closed his eyes to try to sleep, but Maria's phone on the bedside table suddenly rang.

Maria was immediately awakened by the noise. James' eyes flew open.

Afraid of waking up her son, she picked up the phone and placed it on mute. A glance at the screen showed her that Norman was the one calling her.

Glancing to check whether her son was still sleeping, she swiped on the screen to take the call. "Hello?

"I was ambushed. Come over with some people. Hurry up!" Norman's voice sounded very weak, and he ended the call without saying goodbye.

Maria bolted upright, realizing that something bad had happened to Norman. Ignoring her exhaustion, she got up to get some clothes to change into.

The moment she stepped on the carpet, her legs gave out on her that she nearly fell on her knees. If she had known that this would happen, she wouldn't have let James tire her out like this.

James overheard the conversation and also got up. "Maria," he started to say with a frown.

Maria looked back at him. "I have to go out," she replied, her tone brooking no argument. Then, she hurried to the walking-in closet.

James followed close behind, his frown deepening as she looked around for suitable clothes. "Norman has so many professional killers on his payroll. Does he really need you to save him?"

Maria took out a matching black tracksuit and looked at him. "He was ambushed, okay?"

"You can't go!" He couldn't let her risk her life for Norman anymore!

Maria froze for a moment, but then she wasted no time in changing into the clothes she had picked.

Maria swiped a black rubber band from a drawer, hastily gathering her hair into a bun on the top of her head.

Done with her preparations, Maria gave the angry James a glance and whispered, "Take good care of

Bob."

With those parting words, she walked out of the closet.

James grabbed her by the hand as she passed him by. "Maria, do you really have to go?"

"Yes." She wouldn't turn a blind eye to a dying person, let alone Norman.

He was seething with frustration. She had refused his proposal several times now, yet here she was, throwing caution to the wind to save another man. James would be lying if he said that it didn't hurt.

Struggling to free herself, she snapped, "Let me go! I don't have much time!"

But the man remained unmoved. Both of them glared at each other; they were matched in terms of stubbornness and persistence.

Taking a deep breath, Maria threatened, "James, it's a matter of life and death. If you don't unhand me at this moment, I will be very angry."

"No!" Why would his woman try so hard to save another man?

Through gritted teeth, she blurted out, "If you can't accept that I need to pay back the man who saved me, then let's break up!"

'What did she say?' he asked himself.