Chapter 104 Almost Drowned
"Yeah, they''re here. My father invited a lot of his own friends. They''re chatting as we speak."
"All right. Please go ahead. I won''t take too much of your time." Putting aside Kent''s private life,
Maria saw Ethan''s figure on him, sunny and energetic.
After all, they were both young men in their early twenty''s.
As host of the birthday party, Kent was indeed quite busy. He didn''t talk much with Maria and
socialized with his other friends.
Maria looked around. Ronald wasining he was bored, having apparently failed to charm the
girl he was flirting with. Alina was still chatting with several people by the swimming pool. Norman
and Mr. Jiang were talking, as well.
When no one noticed her, Maria put down the champagne flute and slipped away from the party.
The Jiang family vi was brightly lit. She walked inside and found the bathroom.
After a while, she emerged from the bathroom and hung a right. However, after taking two steps, a
man stepped from his post just around the corner and said, "Hello, ma''am, what can I do for you?"
Maria seemed to be startled and hurriedly answered, "Can you help me? Mr. Shen brought me
here, but I needed a restroom and now I''m lost."
"It doesn''t matter, ma''am. Please follow me." "Okay, thank you!"
Maria followed the bodyguard, looking around. She noticed a high-definition monitor installed
overhead.
When they arrived at the entrance to the garden, the bodyguard gestured to her, indicating she
should enter the garden. "Here you go, ma''am."
Maria thanked him and made her way to where Norman stood.
As soon as she reached him, a scream came from the swimming pool. "Ahhh!"
Another sound immediately followed the scream. Sploosh! Everyone was curious and looked in that
direction. Someone had apparently fallen into the pool.
If Maria was right, that was Alina.
Immediately, the party erupted into chaos. Someone yelled, "Help! Alina Tang fell in the pool!" "Alina
Tang? James Xi''s fiancee-to-be?" The onlookers exchanged nces with each other, discussing it
in hushed voices. Mrs. Jiang trotted over to the pool area and gave an order to the people shrouded
in darkness. "Save her!"
Several bodyguards rushed out from the
shadows and jumped in one after another to save Alina.
The pool was long and deep. When the bodyguards rescued Alina, she was already unconscious.
Knowing who she was, Mrs. Jiang was more than a little flustered. Ronald waded through the crowd
and shouted in panic, "Alina! Alina! What''s wrong with you? Alina?"
Many guests were startled and had no clue what to do.
Someone said, "Ms. Tang is unconscious. You should check for a pulse to see if she needs CPR." It
was not only a pleasant female voice, but also the voice of reason.
The bodyguards were rooted to the spot. They didn''t darey a finger on her.
Ronald kicked one of the bodyguards. "Didn''t you hear what she said? Help my sister!"
The bodyguard was cowed by him and quickly bent down to save Alina. He listened for a pulse, and
then put his mouth over hers, pinching her nose first, while he blew air into her lungs. It wasn''t long
before she coughed, expelling all the water she swallowed.
The woman who advised everyone on Alina''s condition took out her phone gracefully and covertly
snapped a few pics. Then she left the crowd quietly to appreciate her handiwork.
Norman came out of nowhere and found her. "You just never stop, do you?"
"Of course. After all, I haven''t given up on James yet." Maria sent the photos she had taken to
James through the WeChat app and added some text. "Look! Check out what your woman did at
the party tonight! She''s not as faithful as she says."
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With a smile, Norman asked, "Did you find anything on your self-guided tour of the vi?"
"Besides luxurious amodations and designer decor? Not a thing!" She was telling the truth.
"You''re ying a dangerous game. The Jiang family and Colby Zheng are both hard to deal with.
You should get James to help. Go easy on him." But Maria had six years to think about this. She
was apletely different woman than she used to be. Less passive, less willing to take someone''s
shit. And more cagey and charming to boot.
Maria didn''t expect James to reply immediately. She put her phone back in her purse and asked,
"And James isn''t? I think he''s the hardest man to get to." That was true. Colby, the Tang family, and
the Jiang family together were not as arrogant, proud, quick to anger, and powerful as James.
One hand in his pocket, Norman patted her head with the other. His smile was still warm and gentle.
"I hope you get out of all this with your hide intact."
But Maria couldn''t smile back to him. She didn''t forget what she promised to Norman. She had
underestimated James'' influence on her.
After a long time, she finally found her tongue to answer Norman, "I will. Trust me." Her reply was
not just meant to ay Norman''s fears. It was a vow she made to herself.
Jerome nodded and said, "I trust you. Let''s go. The person I''m looking for isn''t here."
"Okay."
When James saw the messages from Maria on WeChat, it was already an hourter. He looked at
the two photos, remaining motionless and calm.
He replied, "Do you think we''re still living in ancient times?"
Maria didn''t want to answer his reply, but she couldn''t help herself. She replied, "If I were her, I
would have jumped into the river andmitted suicide from the shame!"
In ancient times of course. But it was the modern day, and Alina wasn''t kissing that bodyguard.
Instead, he saved her.
James didn''t know how to answer her for a moment. Maria was pretending to be innocent and pure,
and he knew she was up to something. "You''re not innocent or pure. Especially if you''re wearing
what I think you''re wearing."
Every time Maria attended a party she wore a tank top or backless dress. She would only dress
formally when it was an actual business meeting. James knew her well enough.
James received her reply right away. "Think I should undress, then? There''s a lot of bite marks.
Someone might see." There were still teeth marks on Maria''s back, thanks to James the freak.
Reading her message, James couldn''t help coughing. Those teeth marks were all from him. The
man started to get hard reading what she wrote.
Last time in Fairview Vi, in order to teach her a lesson, he deliberately bit her back to make her
remember the pain.
Now that this woman mentioned it, he started fantasizing.
Before he could reply, Maria sent another message. "Mr. Xi I thought you would want to keep an
eye on your fiancee-to-be. Looks like you''re too busy for that!" Another one came in. "Mr. Xi, did you
enjoy the flesh feastst time?"
James was overwhelmed by her text messages.
A few minutester, he tossed his phone aside and went to the lounge to take a cold shower.
Feeling the cold water chilling him to the bone, James thought Maria was too mean. ''Wow, you did a
number on me, huh?''
Alina fell into pool quite by ident. Kent''s two female friends, both less than twenty years old,
identally bumped into Alina when they were teasing and chasing each other. Alina lost her
bnce and fell into the pool.
After they calmed down and saw what happened, the younger one was frightened to death.
The parents of the two girls rushed to the hospital to see Alina, who was totally fine now.
Alina was in an extremely bad mood. She chewed the two girls out in front of their parents. They
had embarrassed her.
Because of who she was, the two families decided not to yell back. They just kept apologizing.
When James showed up in her ward, Alina was all sweetness and light. Her bad mood vanished
without a trace.
As soon as James arrived, the two families left with their daughters.
When they were finally alone in the ward, Alinained to him. "James, I''m going to these
parties to save your rep. But I couldn''t have imagined someone would push me in the pool. I almost
drowned!"