A Vengeful Ex-Wife novel Chapter 126

Maria understood totally. She realized that Colby was really a cunning man. After thanking Norman, she called Colby. She was upfront with him, telling the businessman that Norman's company had projects in the development phase, but had no plans for releasing any of them now.

Colby was satisfied with her answer. He knew the answer already, and was just testing Maria. He apologized and told her he must have heard wrong. The man figured Maria would accept his apology and be none the wiser.

But Maria was no fool, and so she gracefully accepted his apology. The two ended the call, but with very different views on things. Maria now knew where she stood with Colby.

In the dead of night, the woman gritted her teeth and ignored the pain all over her body. She dragged herself out of bed and staggered to the bathroom to wash her hands. The sanitizer was sticky and smelled, but it could prevent infection.

After all that, she still didn't feel that good. She slowly walked to the nursing station and found the nurse on duty. She smiled and said, "Excuse me. Could you change my bedding, please?"

That should have been done by cleaning staff during the day. The cleaning staff were off duty. But Maria lived in a VIP ward and was nice to the staff, so the nurse had no reason to refuse.

'Okay, Ms. Song. One moment please. "Thank you!"

Maria slowly made her way back to the ward. The nurse followed her in, carrying a new four-piece bedding set and changed the sheets and covers for her.

After that, Maria climbed into bed and closed her eyes, surrendering herself to sleep.

The next day, the living room of the Song family had been brought to life by the guests. They were excited. Lorenzo was supposed to propose to Carolina today.

In order to keep her reputation and dignity in front of Lorenzo's parents, Elaine even called Alina over, because she was Mrs. Xi-to-be.

As soon as the Lan family saw Alina, they knew what the Song family meant. Had they known about this, they would've called Judy and asked her to join them too.

But the Lan family didn't want to make that much of a big deal out of it, so they didn't call Judy.

The parents of Lorenzo and Carolina made conversation. The four chatted in the living room, and the younger generation were sitting together, gossiping among themselves.

Somehow, Alina and Daniela managed to bring up Maria.

Daniela sneered. "Maria doesn't know her place. She used to wear second-hand clothes that my sister and I didn't want. She even called Mr. Xi to—" She stopped abruptly.

Alina was uneasy. She didn't like the idea of James and Maria being mentioned in the same breath. She asked Daniela, "What happened? Why did you stop?"

Daniela was emboldened, and continued her litany of complaints. "We went to a clothing outlet, and Maria got Mr. Xi to pay for a coat worth two million bucks. She also brazenly walked out of the store with the purse I liked. She's just using him for his money. I don't mean to blame you, Alina. You're going to be his fiancee. You should teach Maria a lesson. Don't let her take Mr. Xi away from you."

Carolina didn't like the way her sister was talking. She frowned and said, "Daniela, let's stay out of this. It's between Mr. Xi and Alina."

"But I can't stand Maria! She's so arrogant. Who does she think she is?" Daniela rolled her eyes. Daniela got quite upset whenever she thought about Maria.

Lorenzo gave Carolina a look. "Oh come on, Carolina. You know how crass Maria is. You can dress a beggar in expensive clothes, but she won't stop being a beggar, right?"

He didn't have the chance to bitch about Maria during working hours. Now that he finally found an opening, he couldn't resist. "Maria asked me to wash Mr. Xi's water mug. She deliberately left her lipstick mark on it. She's done other things, too, and Mr. Xi wouldn't punish her. Alina, you have to work harder!"

Their complaints shattered Alina's good mood. She asked uncertainly, "You said Maria used James' mug?"

"Yes, You know Mr. Xi has a serious case of germaphobia. Maria used his mug. He should have tossed the mug in the trash." But he didn't. After asking Lorenzo to disinfect the mug, James continued to use it.

Daniela couldn't stop harping on Maria. "That woman is impossible!"

Alina gritted her teeth, but she had no choice but to suffer through it. Carolina and Lorenzo were set to be engaged by the end of the year, a week after James and Alina's engagement party.

The CEO didn't look happy at all, and Summer was too frightened to utter a word.

She tried to think of countless excuses to leave the awkwardness behind, but she could scarcely force herself to say anything. At last, James said, "Leave!"

"Yes, Mr. Xi!" With his permission, Summer left the office as fast as she could.

It was getting dark outside. With a cold face, James picked up his phone and called Lawrence. "Let's go out for a drink," he said when he heard his friend pick up.

Lawrence replied in an apologetic tone, "Sorry, James. I can't make it tonight. Maria's getting discharged from the hospital. I have to drive her back."

James didn't expect the rejection.

Wasn't she seriously injured? Why was she leaving so early? He couldn't understand what Maria was up to.

James asked icily, "I heard you're investing in Maria's company?"

"Yes, Maria's got a startup. I put up eighty million. She'll be the legal representative, shareholder, and chairman of the company." James couldn't find his tongue again. He always knew his best friend was rich, but he didn't know Lawrence was so generous. They'd been together less than three days, right? And he was willing to invest eighty million dollars in Maria's company.

No wonder Ethan called Maria the enchantress.

Lawrence urged from the other end of the line, "Hey, I gotta run. Maria has a short fuse, you know. I don't want to keep her waiting. Bye!"

Si

Ophelia Q