A Vengeful Ex-Wife

"Once James finds out that Norman is his brother from the same parents, he will definitely tolerate him and let their feud go. Perhaps the fight between brothers could be avoided entirely."

However, Gabriella remained unmoved. "Norman's surname is Shen, not Xi. That should be enough proof that he's Mitchell's son. I don't care whether he wants to fight with James or not, but I think that my sor doesn't need you pleading on his behalf for such an advantage. He would not let James bully him easily. The same goes for James."

Sebastian tried reasoning with her again, but his voice sounded more anxious. "As long as you admit that Norman is my son and James' younger brother, then maybe the fight doesn't have to happen. Don't you want our children to live a happy, peaceful life?"

Gabriela finally lost her temper and lashed out in a raised voice, "So now you want to avoid fighting? Why weren't you like this back then? If it weren't for that woman, do you think we would be in this kind of situation?"

At the mention of Judy, Sebastian's guilt weighed down on his heart even heavier. In a soft voice, he reassured Gabriela, "She's in prison now, and I already know what kind of person she is. Gabriela, I was unfair to you. It was all my fault. Give me a chance to make it up to you, okay?"

"No!" Gabriela firmly refused. "Regardless of the state of my relationship with Mitchell, I will never marry you again."

"Gabriela!"

After rearranging her features into a semblance of calm, Gabriela faced Sebastian squarely and finally said, "I admit that Norman is not Mitchell's child. So what? The fact only makes me feel more disgusted by you. Nothing happened between me and Mitchell- not only before I married him but also after our marriage. What about you and Judy?"

Gabriela's revelation rendered Sebastian speechless.

Without waiting for his response, Gabriela stood up and left, leaving Sebastian rooted on his spot in stupefaction.

Maria was still busy with work in her office that night when she received a call from Peggy. "Hello, Peggy."

Without preamble, Peggy asked, "Maria, do you know Mr. Xu?"

"Yes, I do. What's wrong?"

Peggy said helplessly, "I provoked him, so he had me locked up. Maria, he wouldn't let me go, so I had no choice but to call you."

Maria's brows furrowed slightly. "I see. Tell him that I want to go shopping with you. If he still refuses to let you go, you can call me again." Because of that incident where Mr. Xu accidentally drugged Maria, he had one of his fingers cut off by James. However, it seemed like the man hadn't learned his lesson yet.

"Okay! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. Call me any time if you need help."

"Got it!"

After hanging up the phone, Peggy asked someone to tell relay Maria's message to Mr. Xu.

In less than two minutes, the man who had insisted on sleeping with her walked her out of the bar with a smile.

Peggy's head reeled at the man's about-face. Here was proof that Maria had become a force to be reckoned with in H City. She only had to drop her name and tell people that she was her friend in order to be set free.

Once again, Peggy was filled with admiration for her friend.

In HL Group

James threw a project contract on the desk and said in a cold voice, "Investigate this. Look into Fosun Entertainment Group at all costs. Even if you have to use force, you must find out the person behind that company."

He would like to meet this person face to face.

Heaving an inward sigh, Summer answered promptly, "Yes, Mr. Xi."

At that point, Fosun Entertainment Group was an unstoppable company in H City. It was a mere entertainment company in the beginning, but its business had already expanded into the fields of clothing, cosmetics, real estate, and other industries. Recently, the company even dared to harm the interests of HL Group and making it suffer a considerable loss.

Intriguingly, no one outside the company knew who the CEO was. This seemingly mythical person's identity remained a mystery-a fact that infuriated James.

"Put the stress of the investigation on Norman. Maybe he's involved in it somehow," James said.

"Got it."

In few days, HL Group and Fosun Entertainment Group reached an agreement. On the day of the contract signing, people from HL Group insisted on meeting the CEO of the other company. To everyone's surprise, Fosun Entertainment Group backed out of the project because of this condition.

Soon, the news of Fosun Entertainment Group's plan to acquire HM Group started to spread, showing how aggressive it was in its ventures.

HM Group's stock price had been on a constant downward spiral ever since its CEO, Colby Zheng, had been placed under investigation for fraudulent activities. Moreover, many of its branch offices had been closed down. Even so, the company couldn't be acquired that so easily. By releasing the news, Fosun Entertainment Group issued a challenge to all of the big shots in H City's financial circle.

What made James even angrier was that Fosun Entertainment Group had gotten their hands on insider information from HL Group in advance and won the project released by HL Group in the competition with its peers.

Even after James had thoroughly investigated the matter, he did not find a traitor within his company. It was extremely confusing.

Everyone guessed that the person in charge of Fosun Entertainment Group was probably a hacker. Maybe that person was skilled enough to hack into HL Group's database and extract insider information. While in a business dinner, Maria received a call from Edith, Colby's secretary. "Hello."

The woman's agitated voice assaulted her ears. "Didn't you say that if I listened to you, Colby would divorce Rosa and marry me?"

Sweeping a glance across the dozen or so people gathered at the dining table, Maria said calmly, "Let's talk about it face to face after my business dinner is finished."

Edith suppressed her temper and replied, "Okay, but I can't go out right now since my child is asleep. Come and find me!"

"Okay."

At about ten o'clock in the evening, Maria drove to a gated community. It was not a high-end residential compound, and the security guards at the gate were sleepy, so she easily entered the gate. After reaching the correct unit, she rang the doorbell, and Edith opened the door.

Her bodyguards did not enter and instead waited by the door. When Maria came into the house, Edith said, "See? Not only didn't Colby marry me, but he also made me move from a high-end apartment to this dump!"

Edith was anxious because several parties were investigating Colby. For now, he didn't allow her to go to the company, so she couldn't help but overthink at home all day long.

Maria looked at the sparse furnishings of the shabby apartment. She declined to sit down when asked. She didn't intend to stay for long. "As far as I know, he is divorcing Rosa. I think they're in the process of finalizing the divorce procedures. Besides, Rosa has become a wanted criminal. Her days as Mrs. Zheng are numbered."

"A wanted criminal?" Edith was not aware of this information.

"Yes." Maria exhaled and slipped her hands into her pockets. "Colby must have given you a lot of money, right? If you don't want to be implicated in his crimes, just break up with him and leave this city!" The offer was a sincere one. After all, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Colby would be arrested any time soon. If Edith continued to stay here, she would still be involved even if she was staying in an old, shabby community instead of a lavish apartment.

Edith vaguely knew these things. "Maria, I beg you. For the sake of my child, please don't let them put Colby behind bars."

Maria chuckled without humor. "He broke the law. It's not up to me whether he would be thrown to prison or not."

"But if he is in prison, how can I have my child registered without a father? Maria, you broke your promise!" Edith didn't expect Colby's crimes to be so serious.

Maybe it was because Maria used her real name when she reported it. If anybody else had been the whistleblower, the matter would have been swept under the rug eventually.

Maria looked her in the eye and said, "Edith, we agreed that as long as you cooperated with me, I would let Colby divorce Rosa and make it possible to have your child registered. I didn't promise you anything else. Besides, Colby hasn't been thrown into prison yet, so there's still hope. Why are you so agitated?"