Chapter 252 ne Crash
"All right, thank you, John."
"You''re wee, Ms. Song." Stoic as ever, the man then turned around and left.
Maria had lunch and then went to her own room.
She had no idea when James had done it, but a lot of limited edition dolls and blind boxes had been
sent over. There must be a hundred of them at least, sitting neatly in a corner and waiting for her to
unwrap them.
Maria settled in afortable position on the carpet by the bed and began to go through the boxes
one by one.
She had been sitting there for a good while when Summer called.
"Maria, I was busy just now so I missed your call. What''s up?"
Maria had called the assistant around lunch time. "Is James going on any business trips any time
soon?"
"Yes, he has to go to N Province the day after tomorrow."
"How long will he be gone?"
"It''s just a one-day trip."
Maria pondered this for a moment. "Well, are there other business affairs that might keep him away
from town for two days or more?"
Summer understood what the woman was asking. She looked through James'' schedule and
checked. "He''s leaving for the US in half a month. He should be there for at least three days."
"I see. Okay, thank you." "Maria, do you want to go with him on a business trip, by any chance?"
''A business trip with James?'' Maria smiled derisively. "Nope."
"Oh, All right then." They chatted some more before ending the call.
For some reason, Maria was no longer in the mood to open the boxes after that conversation.
Instead, she picked up her phone and dialed another number. "Did you find anything?"
"Yes. We learned that Alina Tang is looking to seal the deal in two days. We''ve already asked
someone to buy some time."
"How much does that person want?"
"He asked for ten million, but Ms. Tang offered to give him eight million."
''Eight million dors?'' Alina appeared to be desperate to please James'' grandparents at this point.
"Give him nine million and take it."
"Understood."
Augustine''s birthday party was just around the corner. If Alina wanted to marry into the Xi family,
she needed to secure the patriarch''s approval first. Of course, Maria wouldn''t just stand by and
watch the other woman pursue her goal without doing anything about it.
James wouldn''t be overseas until two weekster, and she had a n in her mind.
When her ankle was almost healed, Maria left the manor.
Then she asked Summer to mention to James that she was nning to travel abroad.
James and Maria had no contact in the days that followed her departure from the manor, and he
never asked anything pertaining to her trip.
On the day Maria was going abroad, Summer burst into James'' office in a panic.
"Mr. Xi, bad news!"
James raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"
"It''s Maria. Something happened to her."
He put down the document he had been looking at and sat up straight. "Make yourself clear."
Summer swallowed, her eyes red with unshed tears. "Maria is travelling abroad. The ne she''s on
crashed when it took off."
''The ne crashed?''
ne crashes were no joke, and in most cases, there were no survivors. James rose from his chair
and strode over to Summer, his face dark. He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "What did you
say? What happened to Maria? Say it again!"
Veins were standing out around his temples.
"Something happened to Maria," she repeated.
"Where is she?"
His grip was starting to hurt Summer, and she paled. "All of the passengers were taken to the
hospital near the airport."
James let go of her then, with so much force he practically threw her on the floor. And then he was
rushing out of the office.
A lot of people witnessed as the usually cool and dignified Mr. Xi sprinted out of the elevator with a
panicked expression. He ran to his car and sped out of thepany premises, leaving his
employees looking at each other, shocked and bemused.
News of the ne crash had already exploded through the media and the Inte. So far, the victim
count had already reached 56. It was all over the radio and TV.
It haunted James all the way to the airport, no matter if he was stopping at a red light or cruising
past giant LED screens onmercial buildings.
He drove fast, reducing the hour-long drive to the hospital in half.
A doctor led him to what looked to be a ward and said, "I''m afraid the identity of the dead has
already been confirmed to be Maria Song. Unfortunately, she acquired some major burns from the
crash, and her face waspletely destroyed. She lost too much blood, and that was ultimately
what caused her death."
The doctor left after saying that. James remained standing outside the ward for two minutes before
taking a deep breath and opening the door.
A person was in the bed. No, more specifically, a body was in the bed. A white cloth had been
draped to cover it.
He walked quietly to the bedside and stood still, gazing down at the shrouded figure. Everything
was happening so fast, he had thought that Maria was just ying a trick on him again.
"Maria Song," he called in a hoarse voice.
He was met with silence, of course. With his lips pressed into a thin line, James reached out to pull
the cloth off the body.
His hand trembled, and it hovered in the air for a moment.
The doctor had said that her face was ruined. She would probably be unrecognizable now.
Maria had always cared about her appearance. He was sure that she had never expected her face
to meet such a fate upon her death.
He braced himself and pulled the cloth in one clean motion. The sight that greeted him was indeed
horrible, perhaps enough to send people to a faint.
But this was James Xi, and he had gone through a lot of horrible things in his life.
The body was that of a female, this much was obvious. It was still in a hospital gown, which was
stained with blood all over.
His hands clenched into fists. He had no choice now except to face the truth, and James almost lost
his mind.
His breath came in short pants, and a heavy lump was choking his throat. He braced his arms on
the bed and hung his head, his eyes shut tight as he screamed Maria''s name over and over inside
his head.
''How can you leave without my permission?''
When he opened his eyes again, they were wet and bloodshot, and his gaze happened to fall upon
the woman''s hand.
Something was wasn''t right.
Maria had fair hands, and she had always sported a perfect manicure. This woman before him, on
the other hand, had very short nails, and her skin was quite dark.
James blinked twice as something clicked in his mind, and he stood up straight. He took the white
cloth all the way off the body and inspected it with sharp and renewed eyes.
The height wasn''t right, either.
The sorrow he had been feeling gradually morphed into anger. He whipped out his phone and
dialed Summer''s number. She was still sobbing when she answered, "Yes, Mr. Xi?"
"Who told you that Maria was dead?"
The cold edge in his voice jolted Summer out of her grief. "Someone called me. He said he was part
of the hospital''s staff. He said they had a patient named Maria Song."
Someone from the hospital called her? "Where was Maria going?"
"Switzend."
James closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Summer, have you even seen the
news?"
He flipped the white cloth over the body again before turning to leave the ward.
''You''re dead meat, Maria Song!'' he promised to himself. He would definitely kill her with his own
hands this time!
Summer finally realized that there was something wrong. "I''m sorry, Mr. Xi, but I haven''t really..."
Maria had just died, how did he expect her to pay attention to anything else, much less the news?
James drew a frustrated breath. "The ne that crashed was headed for M Country."
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