Chapter 203 Ronald Was Arrested
When the door opened, the first thing James noticed was how wet her eyes were. Half of Maria''s
face was swollen, and she looked to be in much pain. His heart tightened without his bidding. He
walked into the foyer and took her in his arms, lowering his face and nting soft kisses on her hair.
Maria smiled against his neck. "It looks like my fighting skills have truly be worse. How could I
have let myself be kidnapped by Ronald?"
"That''s only because he cheated and pulled out a weapon on you." Ronald had the audacity to
abduct someone in broad daylight. James wondered whether he was too bold or stupid.
Maria clung tightly to his neck, then pulled back to look him in the eye. "James, if I seek retaliation
against him, whose side will you take?"
He nced once again at the red handprint on her face, his eyes taking on a sharp glint. James
decided then that Ronald had to be taught a lesson. Still, he made his answer vague. "On the side
of justice."
He knew better than anyone that Maria had been pretending since he had stepped foot into the
room. She wasn''t as weak as she made herself to be.
James needed to make sure he didn''t get tangled up in her schemes; he had to hold himself back
every now and then.
Maria stifled the urge to curse him and buried her face in his chest instead. "I see."
He lifted her up and carried her over to the bed, smoothing her hair after carefully depositing her on
the mattress. "Don''t go anywhere in the next couple of days. I''ll have Summer deal with things at
the coffee shop."
"James." Shey on her side and propped her head on one hand, staring at him.
"Yes?"
"Do you know what Judy Lan and her nephew have done to me?"
"What are you talking about, exactly?"
Maria knew that there was no need to keep up with the act. "Back when we were still married, she
always wanted to kick me out of the Xi family. You should know at least that much, even if I never
told you, right? This time, before Sandra called Summer up, I asked my employee, Mike, to run to
yourpany and ask for your help. He was refused by none other than Lorenzo."
This hade as no surprise to her; of course Lorenzo would never help her when she was in
danger. That made Maria want him to disappear from HL Group all the more.
James'' eyes darkened, but he remained silent.
"Well, you don''t have to do anything if you don''t really care me. I won''t mind. I''m quite used to it,
actually."
"I will deal with Lorenzo, but not now." The people employed under him were all valued highly within
the industry. Of course, Lorenzo was no exception. More importantly, he had taken a lot of
assignments throughout his career; James could not afford to fire him so suddenly.
"Of course. Okay then." As long as he had given his word, Maria didn''t feel the need to push him
too much.
But he had more to say on the matter. "You should know that I won''t easily give up the services of
talented people for a woman. I never let personal affairs derail my business."
It meant that he wouldn''t be dealing with Lorenzo just because she asked him to.
Maria chuckled. "Ah, James. HL Group is truly blessed to have you as the CEO." He was calm and
reasonable.
"No," he refuted, surprising her. "I''ve already made too many exceptions for your sake, so you need
to think long and hard about how to please me."
She narrowed her eyes, wondering if there was something more to thatst part of what he had just
said. Maria eyed him pensively before asking, "Does this mean that you will never pull strings for
me in the future?"
"Exactly, especially when mypany gets dragged into the situation." In truth, he didn''t care much
if it were just him, but he refused to get anyone from HL Group in trouble.
Maria''s heart broke at his words.
Not that it worried her; the final winner of this battle was yet to be decided. A word or two from
James could not intimidate her at all. She would definitely think of a way to make him pull strings for
her someday.
He left shortly after that, but not before giving her a few more reminders.
When she was alone again, Maria did not rest. She still had a lot to take care of, and going to bed
was not an option.
Meanwhile, chaos reigned in the Tang family vi.
Miranda and Alina paced and fretted anxiously, like ants dancing on a hot pan.
yton stormed into the house, having rushed home from another city. "What the hell happened?"
A wave of relief washed over Miranda after seeing him. "Ron went to Maria Song''s coffee shop and
made some trouble. Now he''s locked up." She was confident that yton would find a way to get
the man out.
"Damn that arrogant brat!" His daughter''s issue had barely been settled and now it was his son
causing problems.
"Stop cursing him already, yton. The most important thing right now is to get Ron out of jail."
That ce was a miserable hole, and her darling son had never been under such circumstances in
all his life. The mere thought of Ron cowering in that dirty ce distressed Miranda immensely.
Her son might be a huge pain in the ass, but he was still her child. She would save him no matter
what.
The Tang family might be considered as rtives by marriage by the Xi family at this point, but
yton didn''t want to bother James. He pondered his choices before finally saying, ''TH try making
a few calls."
He would run to the Xi family only when he was out of options.
He proceeded to dial contact numbers one after another, but his pleas were all in vain. Ronald had
broken thew, and he was now being detained as a criminal. He naturally didn''t meet the
conditions for bail, and for the moment, there was nothing they could do besides await his trial.
Investigation was still ongoing, and the case would have to go through various procedures before
an official trial. Ronald would remain in detention the entire time.
yton ryed the news to Miranda, who began to wail and almost fainted.
"Why are you crying?" yton roared at her. "He''s still alive!"
That managed to shut her up, and she tried to calm herself. Then she turned to her daughter, who
had been silent since the beginning. "That Maria Song is insisting on suing Ronald. Alina, you must
borrow Mr. Xi''s legal team again! If he helps us, I''m sure Ronald will be fine."
"No way! You can go and talk to James yourselves." James might get annoyed with her if she
bothered him too much. She had already used hiswyer when she had sued Maria before.
Miranda looked at her daughter in disbelief. "Alina, Ronmitted that crime for your sake! How
can you just abandon him like that?"
Alina jumped to her feet. "Yes, yes, I know he did it for me! If you want to make James hate me so
badly, then fine, I''ll go!"
"Why are you saying this?"
Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
"I already borrowed hiswyer for Maria''s case, and while it has never been pursued, I caused
James a lot of inconvenience for it. How can I have the nerve to do that all over again?" More to the
point, James didn''t like her one bit, and she knew it. She had been trying so hard to change her
image in his eyes, she needed to stay away from this issue. It would be far better if her parents
approached James by themselves.
"What are we supposed to do then?" Miranda shrieked. "Am I supposed to beg Maria Song for
mercy? Huh! She can dream all she want, but that will never happen!"
"I''m going upstairs!" Alina announced. She didn''t want to get involved any further, and her mother''s
voice was grating at her nerves.
yton watched his daughter go and turned to his wife. "Alina is right. Stop panicking. We can go
find James if nothing works in the end." After all, he was to be that man''s father-inw. He was sure
that James would do them this favor as a show of respect.
Little did they know that Maria had already consulted
herwyer about the case. Ronald''s crimes consisted of uwful use of weapons and kidnapping.
For the first crime, he could face up to three years in prison.
For the second crime, he might be sentenced to more than five years to ten years.
Either way, Ronald was sure to spend a considerable amount of time in prison.