A Vengeful Ex-Wife

Chapter 442 Love-starved

At the end of that month, Maria reported on the crime of Colby Cheng, CEO of HM Group. She did not even withhold her real name.

According to the document she had provided as strong evidence to his crimes, Colby had illegally lent eight billion dollars to LJ Group. Among the loans, the third and sixth loans, which amounted to one and three billion dollars, respectively, had been loaned for purely fabricated uses.

In addition, he took out four billion dollars from people's financial investment funds to other banks and recklessly lent the money to Tang Group, who had provided false guarantees. He had no compunctions about using people's hard-earned money into huge risks.

Most of all, he had done a number of evil things, such as driving the prices of real estate properties and letting people shoulder the exorbitant prices.

With James adding fuel to the fire, Colby and Clayton were soon placed under investigation.

The stock prices of their two companies continued to plummet, making the shareholders who were still waiting for them to return squirm as they watched their investments steadily become worthless.

In an almost comically stark contrast, Maria had won many awards, including "Outstanding Female Entrepreneur in H City," "One of Top 10 Female Economic Figures," "One of Top 100 Business Women in the World."

Tang Group had their glory days, but it was severely impacted by Maria's whistleblowing of Colby's fraudulent activities under her real name. Colby and Clayton had signed a lot of contracts together. After they were investigated, each of those projects began to suffer losses.

That summer, Maria had completely become one of the most influential business people in H City.

She was a hot topic of discussion during business dinners. "Maria Song will be coming later. That woman single-handedly brought down several big shots in H City. She is really awesome!"

From Qin Group to Jonathan, Gerald, Colby, and Clayton, she had managed to pull down close to eight CEOs.

"That woman is equivalent to the prosecutor of H City's financial circle. Amazing!"

"She must have a powerful backer—there's no way she could have pulled off such a feat by herself."

"Everyone knows that. Besides James Xi, she has Norman Shen and even Mu Group behind her." Most of the ten biggest conglomerates in H City were taken down by Maria, while the rest were all helping her. Wasn't she a legendary woman?

Just then, the door of the private room was pushed open, and in came Maria and James, the topic of their conversation just now.

Instantly, everyone turned toward the newcomers and started greeting them one after another.

Both the main seat and the one at the right were reserved forthem. Everyone was expecting James to occupy the main seat, but to their surprise, he didn't. Instead, he pulled out the chair and ushered Maria to the seat, then sat beside her.

This scene caused an uproar—it revealed James' family status. After that, more people started cozying up to Maria.

Maria forced herself to listen to the influx of flattery during the whole dinner. Before her smile froze, she dragged James out of the business dinner.

It was not until she was back in the car with James that she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Let's go walk by the river side and see the view," James suggested. Maria had been under a lot of pressure lately, so he wanted to take her for a walk to relax.

"Sure." As long as it got her out of that business dinner and the awkward toasts and pandering, she could go anywhere.

They went to the H River.

A gust of cool wind blew through the people on the river side, making the night pleasantly cool.

James and Maria were strolling leisurely, their fingers clasped together. For this particular couple, this opportunity to relax came very rarely for them.

The uncommonly good-looking couple drew more than a few eyes. Some people were even taking photos of them secretly, but the bodyguards following James and Maria stopped them.

Maria looked up at the sky and complained, "Bob is so heartless! He doesn't even miss us!"

"It's good that he doesn't rely on us all the time. That way, we can have more time to be alone with each other," said James with a smile.

Maria disagreed with him. "Bob will be sad to hear you say that."

"He won't. He will be even happier."

Before Maria could retort, her phone rang. It was Ethan. "Hello, Ethan."

"Maria, are you busy right now?"

"No. What's up?"

"I'm going home to get engaged," lamented Ethan in a mournful voice.

Maria sent a sidelong glance at the expressionless man beside her. He hadn't said anything about Ethan's engagement to her. "So suddenly? Congratulations, Ethan!"

Ethan sounded even more depressed after hearing those words. "I didn't call you to get your congratulations. I'm so annoyed right now, but I don't have anyone to chat with. You're the only one I can talk to about this, Maria."

"I see. Tell me, then, which family does she come from? I'll look into her background. If she's not bad, then you can accept her." It was actually a good idea to find a woman who could take care of Ethan.

"Heck, I don't even know who she is or where she comes from. And I don't want to meet her!" He was playing an online game when his grandfather told him about his engagement. By the time he had finished the game and could finally listen, his grandfather was done speaking.

Maria chuckled. "Go and meet her. Who knows, maybe she's a well-educated beauty."

"It has nothing to do with me. I'm not done playing around yet! Don't you feel sorry for me?" "Feel sorry for you? Why do you think you're pitiful?" Ethan was heartbroken. "Maria, I'm just in my early twenties, but I'm being made to accept a marriage of convenience for the sake of business. Worse, she is someone I've never met before!"

"That actually does sound pathetic. Come on, you can do it! Look at James, for example. He could love whomever he wants to love and marry whomever he wants to marry. He doesn't need a marriage of convenience at all. Wait, let me correct myself. He could accept a marriage of convenience if that's what he wants." She had almost forgotten about Alina.

James stopped in his tracks and glared at Maria, who was currently preoccupied with teasing Ethan.

Smiling, Maria blew him a kiss, and his face softened.

While Ethan prattled on endlessly on the other end of the line, James snatched the phone from her hand and said, "Can't you hang up and call your own wife instead?"

Ethan was momentarily startled to hear James' voice, but then he started wailing. "I don't have a wife!"

Maria blinked at James and gently reminded him, "Be nice! Don't treat a love-starved young man like this."

Upon hearing that, Ethan felt even sadder. "James, I'm hanging up!"

Maria put away her phone with a smile. "Why were you so mean to him?"

"What do you think?" asked James, gazing at her from the corner of his eye.

It was not easy for them to find time to be together like this, but another man wanted to steal some of this time by talking Maria's ear off. The truth was, Ethan got a nicer treatment from James for Maria's sake.

"Okay, okay. Let's have some ice cream." "Okay."

"I saw an ice cream show just now. Why can't I see it anymore?" Maria looked around in confusion.

James pulled her by the hand and said, "Let's head north."

"North? Where?"

James raised his head and pointed. "That way."

Maria suddenly realized. "Every time I see you, I become so happy that I lose all sense of direction. What's wrong with me?"

The darkness in his expression vanished when he heard these words. He hugged her using one arm and said with a smile, "I like this shortcoming of yours. You have to get used to it."

Maria wrapped her arms around his waist. "James, you know that you're a domineering man. You should say, 'You are perfect and without flaws in my eyes.'"

LARK COLE

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