Chapter 416 Misunderstood The Rtionship
"I don''t want to listen to your exnation. Don''t worry, I won''t disturb you anymore," Maria said.
James clenched his jaw, and a terrible expression came over his face. His grip on her wrist
tightened unconsciously, causing her to wince in pain.
"Elina is the CEO of the branchpany here, and she is also a former ssmate of mine. Since
she has just taken over thepany and isn''t familiar with the work yet, I''m training her in person.
As you know, I''m staying at the hotel. All the senior executivese to my suite for meetings. Elina
just happens to be one of them. You only know one side of the story, Maria. Don''t let anyone sow
discord between us and ruin our rtionship," James said firmly, sensing that she was jealous.
"Is that all?" Maria''s tone was indifferent, and it was clear that she didn''t believe him.
Anger shed in James'' eyes. "Don''t you have confidence in your own man? Or don''t you have
confident in yourself?"
"All right. You want to give me an exnation?" Maria said impatiently, trying to control her anger.
She didn''t want to fight with him in public. As she spoke, she gently pulled her wrist out of his grip
and smoothed her clothes. "Then tell me, who on earth was that bouquet of flowers for? As long as
you tell me the truth, I''ll let it go."
"It was for you," James answered seriously.
"Then why did you give it to another woman just
now?"
It was not until then that James finally understood why she was so angry, and he calmed down a
little. "Just now, I ran into Elina by chance. She said the bouquet looked beautiful and wanted to
take a closer look, so I gave it to her."
Every word that came out of his mouth was the truth.
However, Maria couldn''t ept it at all. She turned around in silence and strode away like the wind,
leaving James speechless.
This time, he didn''t try to catch up with her. He just stood still and watched as she climbed into a taxi
and disappeared from sight.
Then, he reached into his pocket and took out his phone, which had been vibrating, and slid the
answer key. "It''s me."
"Mr. Xi, I saw you with Mrs. Xi just now and didn''t want to disturb you, so I left. Shall we talk about
the rest of the work tomorrow in thepany?" Elina''s tone was calm as usual.
James inadvertently nced at the trash can nearby, and saw two children reach into the trash can
and pull out the bunch of flowers. "From tomorrow onwards, all the work will be done in the
company, including the meetings. Inform all the senior executives to note to the hotel to see me
unless necessary. The same goes for you," he said calmly.
For a moment, Elina was dumbstruck. Then, after a tentative pause, she said, "Yes, Mr. Xi."
After hanging up the phone, James dialed Cooper''s number. "Hand over your work to someone else
as soon as possible ande to T Country for a one-month business trip."
Cooper was a little confused by the abrupt change of ns. "But James, aren''t you already handling
the business there?" What sort of work was in T Country that both of them had to be there?
"Maria misunderstood the rtionship between me and Elina. She''s pissed off," James answered
tly.
"Ah..." Cooper finally understood what was going on. It was indeed a headache. Or, to be exact, it
was a headache for his brother.
After leaving in a huff, Maria took a taxi to the airport. On the way, she called the hotel reception and
asked them to send her luggage, which she had left behind, to H City by express delivery.
A week before the public bidding of the H Brocade project, HL Group, Mu Group and Song Group
all voluntarily quit one by one. Atst, only DS Group and HM Group were vying for the project.
The development of this bidding war was particrly interesting. It was such a big project, but the
bigger enterprises that were most likely to seed had all quit in advance. For a time, this was the
topic that was at the tip of the tongue for everyone in H City.
The result of the bidding would be decided by voting. On the day of the voting, Maria, Colby and
Rosa all arrived at the appointed venue.
Colby seemed to be well-prepared and confident. Sitting in the meeting room, he kept chatting with
the rest of the people there.
Just before the voting session began, Maria made a phone call before turning off her phone and
entering the meeting room.
There were more than a dozen voters present. They all discussed among themselves in low voices
beforeing to a unanimous decision.
Just as everyone was about to press the voting button, an employee rushed in and whispered
something in the ear of the government official who was in charge of the bidding war. The official
looked at Colby, and his lips gradually turned into a frown.
A bad feeling rose in Colby''s heart. Just as he feared, the next moment, the official said, "Mr.
Zheng, at such a critical moment, how could you...? s! You''d better solve your own problem first!"
Both Colby and Rosa froze in shock. "What''s the matter?" Colby asked nervously. Howe he
hadn''t received any news yet?
But as soon as he finished speaking, his phone rang. It was a call from his assistant. "Mr. Zheng,
bad news! Someone filed a real-name report using ourpany of maniption of ounts.
The report also says that Ms. Wang''s child...is your illegitimate son."
Colby''s mouth went dry, and he almost forgot how to breathe. When his eyes fell on the calm face
of the woman sitting opposite him, he gritted his teeth in fury. It had to be her.
With such a fiasco, the result of the bidding war was obvious. Colby was used of being in two
scandals at the same time, one rted to work and the other rted to his private affairs. No matter
what the truth was, people lost hope in him and changed their minds about the voting.
In the end, DS Group sessfully defeated HM Group and won the H Brocade project.
Although Colby and Rosa were already prepared for the worst after hearing about the scandals,
they still couldn''t control the sharp fury they felt when they actually heard the result being
announced.
But they had no time to question Maria, because they had to go back and deal with those scandals.
After returning to hispany, Colby spent a lot of money on hiring a PR team which was working
for a top celebrity, to help HM Group weather through this disaster. Not long after, HM Group
released an official statement saying that both the news about the maniption of ounts and the
illegitimate son were nothing but malicious rumors.
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The statement further exined that HM Group was currently being audited by a third party, while
the so-called illegitimate son was actually the child of Colby''s secretary and his driver.
Maria curiously scrolled through thements below the news. There were many people who were
still suspicious of HM Group, but there were also many others who blindly believed their statement
and supported them.
Pursing her lips, she put down her phone and turned her attention back to her work. Now that DS
Group had won the H Brocade project, she was even busier than usual.
When the day of Carolina''s wedding rolled around, Maria chose not to attend the wedding, but she
did ask Peggy to help her send a car and a red envelope containing arge sum of money to
Carolina as a wedding gift.
Later, she heard that after the wedding ceremony, ine, Chandler, and his former mistress-who
was now his girlfriend-had had a big fight in the hotel.
Chandler had offered ine a big sum of money to leave H City, but she had refused, so the two of
them were in a stalemate for the time being.
Maria just smiled to herself when she received the news.
She learned that James hade back from abroad when she received a message from him
saying, "I''vended safely in H City. Don''t worry about me."
She scoffed to herself, thinking about how ridiculous he was. When had she worried about him?
What a self-centered man!
Later, at around dinner time, James called her three times in a row, but she didn''t answer the phone
on purpose.
At about ten o''clock that night, Maria''s phone rang again. This time, it was a call from Summer.
"Summer, haven''t you gone to bed yet?"
"No, Maria. Have you?" Summer asked tentatively.
"No. What''s up?"
"Well...here''s the thing. Mr. Xi is drunk, and he keeps calling your name...”
"He can go wherever he likes, but if he dares to show his face here, I''ll kill him." As soon as she
finished speaking, she hung up the phone.
She was almost certain that this was another one of James'' tricks. She didn''t want to be fooled
again.
"Maria, wait..." Realizing that the call had been disconnected, Summer lowered the phone from her
ear and looked at the screen, dumbfounded.
She shifted her eyes to the back seat cautiously. "Mr. Xi..."
The man who was leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed opened his mouth and said,
"HQ Road."
Summer couldn''t figure out why he wanted to go to his grandfather''s house, but she didn''t dare to
ask him. She just turned to the driver and asked him to drive to HQ Road.