A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 34 Burning Shame

Not only that, before James left the private room, he also grabbed her phone from the table. He opened the door and strode out, never once looking back.

Her ragged dress lay on the floor, completely ruined.

Everything was quiet for a few minutes. Maria understood why James had torn her dress. He didn't want her to leave the private room. He didn't want her calling for help, either.

But he had underestimated her.

Lorenzo was badly injured. He was about to walk out of there with James, when the door to Maria's room opened.

It was her, alright. James looked at her and his eyes narrowed.

She was now wrapped in a black cloth. The bites on her neck were still visible, but she wasn't naked.

She had cannibalized the curtain to make this impromptu outfit.

Before coming out, she managed to dislodge the curtain and its rod and wrapped herself in it.

Seeing James was ready to leave, she fought down the complex emotions in her heart and stared at him. She opened her mouth to say something.

Her eyes met James's. He knew this wasn't going to go well the moment the woman's red lips were parted.

"Hey James. So you couldn't last longer than a minute, huh? I know some ED experts I could put you in touch with. I'll make an appointment for you." She seemed unusually attuned to James' feelings, and she didn't feel mortified at all.

Lorenzo couldn't believe his ears. How could Marie say things like that? And in public, no less! It just made him hate Maria more.

All the other patrons were highly amused. So the mighty James Xi finished early. Only one minute, too! Astounding! The cafe got quite noisy after that, with hushed whispers and laughter.

But no one got loud about it, or took pictures. The few that did were handled by the waiters, who either shushed them or escorted them off the premises. Most of them just exchanged meaningful glances with each other.

James' headache had spread to his temples. Maria must be doing this on purpose. He didn't care if she had forgotten how good he was. But to humiliate him in public like this? That was too much! It was a burning shame for a man.

He strode towards the woman, who stood there with a smug face.

Seeing the man approaching her, Maria got frightened.

Without hesitation, she turned and ran back to the private room and locked the door from inside.

Soon enough she heard a knock on the door. "Come out here, Maria. You and I should talk!"

There was a trace of irritation in his cold voice. Maria was not that stupid. If she went out to talk with him right now, she'd probably be thrown into the street naked.

In fact, she knew James too well. After catching her, that was precisely what he'd do. She didn't intend to put herself through that.

James swore inwardly that he would never set foot in this coffee shop again!

Not only would he never come here again, but he'd also ban the twenty thousand employees of HL Group as well.

"James Xi, if you're a real man, just bring me some clothes. Then I'll go out and face you."

Buying clothes for her? He decided to let her dream on.

James had no more time to waste on her. He knew she wouldn't come out. Besides, he only had a couple minutes to spare. There would always be another time. Plenty of chances to teach her a lesson she wouldn't forget. Today, Maria had humiliated him so badly and he couldn't let that slide. The man turned around and strode away.

After confirming he was gone, Maria gave her credit card to a waitress and asked her to buy some clothes for her in a nearby shopping mall. Then she came out of the private room after getting dressed. She checked the surveillance video of the coffee shop and it was true-James had taken her phone away.

It was just a phone. She wasn't about to go after James to get it back. Besides, if she really went to his office, she was afraid she might not make it back out in one piece. HL Group was his turf, after all. James had waited three days for Maria to show up and claim her phone. But she didn't. She had gotten a lot of phone calls, but he didn't care. He just turned the volume off so he wouldn't be disturbed. He didn't care who was calling her.

After the phone died, he asked someone to charge it and let it continue to vibrate in his drawer.

The next day, Maria's phone quit vibrating. James figured she had acquired a new phone and reported the old one as lost.

James had tried to crush this woman's spirit so many times. But each time she rose above it. The rage in his heart surged stronger and stronger.

He was a wreck, but he still had to meet a client. That was the first time he did that while under the sway of his emotions.

He was meeting with the representatives of a credit-rating agency. Three employees were sent to meet him-two men and a woman.

The woman was dressed in a black business suit. Her wavy long chestnut hair was casually draped over her shoulders. She was all decked out. Fake lashes, heavy makeup, red lips, the works.

She reminded him of another woman he knew like that. She wore the same kind of black suit, long wavy hair, and red lipstick.

As soon as James sat down, he got back to his feet again. "We'll have to do this another day," he said, half-hysterically. "And find some more professional people, will you?"

The conference room quieted down. The others exchanged glances, but no one said a word. They watched James walk out of the meeting room.

The three employees from the credit-rating agency talked among themselves, theorizing about what on earth had offended this business tycoon. They just couldn't figure what the problem was. They settled tentatively on the woman's perfume. Except for that, they really couldn't find any other problems.

Summer jogged to catch up with James and asked gingerly, "Excuse me, Mr. Xi. Is there anything wrong?" She had worked for James Xi long enough to figure out when he was in a bad mood. Ignoring her, James strode into the elevator.

When they got out of the elevator, the man said to her, "From now on, Maria is not allowed inside the offices of HL Group. And don't let anyone in who looks like her either!"

Summer gaped. A series of questions came to mind. Did that credit-rating representative resemble Maria? How could Mr. Xi be so childish? Was he irritated by her?

Later, the female employee left and the creditrating agency sent a male employee along. As expected, this time, James had no problem, and smoothly handled the contract negotiation with the agency. Later, the female representative for the agency dumped her bottle of perfume, replacing it with a different brand. Word got around that James didn't like that perfume. So her co-workers did the same. It spread from office to office till no one in the city was using that particular perfume. Sadly, it did impact the company that manufactured the perfume. The latest quarterly report showed a shocking drop in sales.

Maria sat on the second floor of a restaurant named Black Pearl.

She had an appointment with a client today. Because this client was very important, she specifically chose this high-end restaurant. Coincidentally, as soon as she sat down and ordered the food, she saw Alina and James walk into the restaurant arm in arm. Alina spotted her right away. "James, Maria is over there," she whispered. "Shall we go say hi?"

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