A Vengeful Ex-Wife

Chapter 345 Sole Sponsorship

The cake was packed in a matte black box, and before the staff tied a ribbon on it, Maria stuffed a VIP card into the slit of the packaging. Finally, Ethan pulled on some white gloves and carefully placed the cake in the back seat of the Harkim. Then, when he was satisfied it would be safe, he got into the driver's seat and started the car.

Two cars filled with photographers and their big cameras followed him. After all, it was their assignment to cover the whole process from when the cake was sold to its delivery.

However, on the way to the specified address, Ethan received a call from Maria. "Ask the photographers behind you to stop following. The winner of the cake doesn't want to be on camera. You can complete the delivery yourself."

"How can someone be so low-key?" Ethan wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I've never heard of her name before, and neither has James." But one thing was clear: the person living in that mansion was either rich or powerful-or both.

"Okay.” After dismissing the photographers that were tailing him, Ethan went straight to the destination.

When he arrived, he rang the doorbell. Shortly after, a crisply-dressed maid came to the door. "Is there a Ms. Wang here?" he asked politely.

"Are you the one delivering the cake?" the maid asked straightforwardly.

"Yes."

"Just give it to me."

Without so much of a shrug, Ethan bounded over to the car to pick up the cake. ''I'll help you bring it inside, " he offered. After all, the whole thing cost five million dollars. It was the least he could do.

But to his surprise, the maid refused. "No, thanks. I got it."

"Alright then." Ethan carefully handed the cake over to the maid. "Be careful. It's a little expensive." A single bite was worth tens of thousands!

"Okay, thank you!" The maid quickly shut the door on him, leaving Ethan alone on the doorstep.

Ethan took a step back and looked at the mansion in admiration. This buyer was really low-key!

Later that afternoon, James sent away the masters while Maria kept herself busy. Finally, James grew impatient waiting for her and had more than a dozen people clean the coffee shop for her. Only then was he able to drag her away from work.

However, Maria had promised to invite Sandra to dinner. When Sandra realized James would be joining them, she turned pink with embarrassment. "Let's have dinner some other time. I don't know Mr. Xi too well, so I'm a little shy."

"Oh, don't be!" Maria said reassuringly, trying to coax her into having dinner with them. "You won't have to worry about a thing since Ethan is there too."

"It's okay, don't worry about me! We can go shopping together sometime."

"Well, alright."

After sending Sandra away, Maria arranged for Mike to take all the employees out for a midnight snack before finally settling into the passenger seat of James' car.

In the back seat of the car, Ethan was playing on his phone. "I'm so tired," Maria wailed.

James glanced at her and said, "We'll go home and rest right after dinner."

"Okay."

Maria looked back at the young man who was fixated on his phone from the rearview mirror. "Ethan, did you see the buyer?"

"No," he said with a shrug.

"Whoever the buyer is, she's really mysterious. I only saw the maid." Well, it was all indeed very mysterious.

"What is the name of the place again?" James asked.

"Golden International. And it's also owned by HL Group," Maria answered.

'Golden International?' It suddenly dawned on James who this mystery buyer might be. He had heard that she lived there, and she was more than capable of paying the five million.

But James didn't think she would do such a thing.

Maria glanced at him curiously. "Do you know who the buyer is?"

"I'm not sure." His brows creased as his mind raced.

"Who?" Maria persisted.

James kept silent.

Maria pouted in frustration. "Why aren't you saying anything? Is it a man or a woman?"

"The consignor is Ms. Wang, a lady. What do you think?" If it was who James thought it was, then everything else she listed was fake, other than her gender and address.

"Fine." Maria decided to drop the subject for now. She decided to find it out herself.

They enjoyed a hearty dinner. Ethan and Maria drank some wine, while James, their designated driver, didn't drink.

When James and Maria got home to the villa that night, she took a quick shower and sank into bed.

When James came into the bedroom, he found Maria sound asleep.

The following morning, Maria calculated the cafe's profits the previous day. In addition to the five million, she had earned several hundred thousand dollars.

This covered the revenue generated from the coffee and desserts and rent of the venue, as well as other sales.

She pondered over this before finally picking up her phone to text James. "You must've spent a lot of money in hiring them, didn't you? Let me pay you back."

"No, it was on me."

"I know. But I can't let you pay for all of it!" In her eyes, HL Group was already famous enough, and they didn't need to advertise.

"If you really insist on paying me back, I'm in the office. Come here now. Let's talk."

Maria was speechless.

It was snowing outside! Should she go or not? But at the thought that he was right across the street, Maria stood up decisively and walked out of the coffee shop.

Minutes later, she was in the HL Group building. When she passed by Summer's desk, Summer wasn't there.

"Isn't Summer here?" she asked Gary casually.

Gary shrugged at her helplessly, looking a little lost for words. "She's here, but... Well, she's busy on the phone...l think." "Okay." It didn't occur to Maria that Gary's expression was riddled with worry. Without thinking about it too much, she waltzed straight into James' office.

There she found James working on his computer. When he noticed her coming in, he stopped typing.

"I am here to talk with you, Mr. Xi." Maria was wearing a long, ankle-length down jacket. When she came in, she let it drop to the floor, revealing a thin dress underneath.

"Take a seat, Ms. Song." James calmly pulled out his phone and shot a quick message to Gary. "Turn up the heat for me."

Sitting opposite him, Maria rested her chin in her hands and stared at him. "I earned more than five million yesterday. I'll give you half, okay? Otherwise, I will feel like I owe you."

Raising his eyebrows, James asked coyly, "Really?"

Maria snorted. "Of course. I'm not heartless."

"I don't want money." It was true. He didn't care about the money.

"Then what do you want? As long as I can afford it, I'll give it to you."

"I'll tell you what I want." He motioned for her to come over to him.

Maria strode over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, sighing. "I know what you want. That's all you ever want to see me for."

The man took advantage of the opportunity to pull her towards him, until she was forced to sit on his lap. "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes and kissed him on the cheek. "You wanted a kiss, right?"

"No." With the woman on his lap, he went a little out of control and his hands began to rove.

Maria leaned helplessly on his shoulder and moaned slightly.

James bit her lower lip. Maria didn't try to pull away.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. James frowned.

Maria hurriedly shrugged him off and stepped away. "Let's continue this tonight at home. It must be urgent if they knock on your door."

After all, she wasn't here for anything important. She knew his assistants wouldn't bother him unless it was something significant.

Just then, Gary burst in to the office. "Mr. and Mrs. Xi, something's happened to Summer!"

Maria initially frowned at the way Gary addressed her, but when she heard that it had to do with Summer, her expression changed. "What's wrong?"

-This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.