A Vengeful Ex-Wife

Chapter 276 Passionate And Unrestrained

Maria nodded. "I'll wait for him here then!" There was a reception room on the floor of the CEO's office.

Summer ushered them inside. "All right, I'll find a chance to let Mr. Xi know that you're here."

"Okay."

Once the assistant left, Peggy moved closer and muttered, "Is your ex-husband always so ruthless to you? To actually require you to make an appointment first? Why didn't you slap him?"

Maria looked at her helplessly. "I haven't seen him yet, have I? At this rate, I might never slap him no matter how much I want to."

"Oh, that's right. Well, you'd better hit him when you see him later."

"Let's just stop talking about it, okay? If I know him, and

I do, he won't see me at all." If that jerk decided to make things difficult for her, she was sure that he wouldn't meet her.

Peggy took a deep breath. "So I guess it's safe to say that you love each other just as much as you want to kill each other."

Maria didn't answer. While the part about loving each other was pretty doubtful, it was rather certain that they wanted to kill each other.

An hour later, an assistant pushed through the door. "I'm sorry, Ms. Song. Mr. Xi has gone to see a client. If you have something urgent to discuss with him, please make an appointment first."

According to the assistant, even if there was something urgent, she still needed to make an appointment and wait, didn't she? Maria stood up. "It doesn't matter. Since Mr. Xi is quite busy, I'll talk about it to him later."

The word "appointment" had just effectively become taboo in her vocabulary.

After leaving HL Group, Maria went straight back to her company. She had made up her mind to forget about the project since it had already been taken away. Retrieving it would be impossible at this point. More importantly, she didn't want to have anything to do with James.

She might have been able to bear it once or twice, but she refused to do it over and over again.

"The project was bidden by another company at a high price," Peggy reported.

"Which company?"

"HL Group."

Maria fumed.

This was just too much. She became furious.

She grabbed her purse and stormed out of her office in her high heels with Peggy in tow.

"Where are we going?" Peggy asked, tugging at Maria's arm.

Maria turned around, eyes full of anger. "To put up a fight with James Xi."

"But he refused to see you, didn't he?"

"I'll meet him today no matter what!"

Peggy shut up and followed Maria.

At HL Group

As per her usual, Maria managed to reach the CEO's floor without a hitch. Summer blocked her way to James' office. "Maria, Mr. Xi said—"

"Summer." Maria shot the assistant a pointed look.

Summer sighed helplessly. "I'm sure you understand..." 'Mr. Xi did it on purpose.' She didn't want to be involved in this matter either, but James had been clear about not admitting Maria inside.

Maria narrowed her eyes. Understand? Of course she did. It was exactly because she understood that she was so pissed off.

She nodded subtly at Peggy's direction, and a silent message passed between the two. Peggy walked up to Summer and pulled her in an embrace, effectively getting her out of Maria's way. "Maria tells me that you're good friends! Since I'm also good friends with her, what do you say we go grab some drinks?"

Unbeknownst to the two uninvited guests, Summer used Peggy's interference to her own advantage. The moment she was hugged, she purposely stepped aside to let Maria pass. Then she whispered to Peggy, "You should follow her inside. Those two are bound to get into a fight." ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

"All right then, I'll treat you to a meal some other time." Then Peggy planted a kiss on Summer's cheek.

Summer was stunned. This Peggy character was quite passionate and unrestrained, wasn't she?

In the CEO's office

By the time Peggy caught up to Maria, she was striding over to the massive desk in the office and started to whack him with her purse. Gone was the elegant and dignified image she had always associated with her friend.

As she looked more closely, however, Peggy realized that the man taking a beating was probably the most handsome man she had ever seen in all her life. He was wearing a tailored black suit, a white shirt, a dark blue tie, and a platinum diamond mechanical watch on his wrist.

He had perfect features and an imposing aura about him. Even as Maria let loose on him, his eyes seemed to glint with pleasure.

He didn't resist at all, but he did tilt his face to the side in case it might get injured.

Then Peggy's eyes drifted over to Maria, who still hadn't stopped hitting the man with her purse. 'What if Maria destroys this extremely attractive man with her rage? That will surely be a pity, and a great loss for womankind.

No wonder Summer asked me to follow Maria inside.'

As Peggy contemplated whether to pull her away or not, Maria finally stopped. "James Xi, you did it on purpose, didn't you?"

He raised an arrogant brow at her. "Do you have any evidence?"

Maria was so angry she burst into mirthless laughter. What evidence was needed for such an obvious thing? She gritted her teeth and asked, "Would HL Group be interested in such an insignificant project anyway? You not only took away my project once, but also kept doing it. What do you want?”

James made a show of smoothing his clothes before asking, "Maria Song, who gave you permission to barge into my office? Who gave you the guts to hit me?"

"What's wrong with hitting you? I'm already being kind by not killing you off once and for all!"

Sensing that the situation was about to get out of hand again, Peggy quickly stepped forward. "Maria, why are you fighting him? That's not what you said just now. Didn't you say that you would take back those projects even if you had to sleep with him?'¹

Maria swiveled, confused. 'When did I say this?'

She looked back at James and noted his disdainful glare. "I never said that!" she denied vehemently.

Peggy chimed in again. "I mean, he really is a very handsome man. So do you want to sleep with him or not? If not, then I'll take one for the team!"

Maria gaped.

James, too, was rendered speechless.

The atmosphere in the office became awkward.

Peggy surveyed the room once and instantly regretted her words. 'Oh my God, did they misunderstand? I just wanted to prod Maria.'

In order to prove her innocence, she pushed Maria into the man's arms and said, "Go sleep with him, or such a handsome man will be taken away by someone else!"

Taking advantage of this opportunity, James wrapped his arms around Maria and whispered, "Throwing yourself at me?"

The faint scent of roses wafted from her hair to his nose. She might have indeed grown plumper, and he liked it. She felt so soft against his body, so nice to hold.

Maria was furious. "Didn't you see that she pushed me?"

"No. You are the only person in my eyes."

His sweet-talking was unwarranted, and while it surprised Maria, her next thought was that James was lying through his teeth.

She took a deep breath and said, "Let go of me first."

He didn't budge. "Under these circumstances, I'm afraid I have to return the enthusiasm."

"James Xi, I dare you!" He had stolen her projects, and now he intended to take advantage of her. This man was truly full of himself.

And Peggy was still there, too! Was there no end to his shamelessness?

"Get out!" James bit out tersely, and everyone knew he was talking to Peggy.

Peggy hesitated for a moment, wondering if leaving was the right thing to do.

She shifted slightly, and Maria immediately reacted. "Stop, Peggy! If this man dares to lay a finger on me today, we're going to fight him to death!"