Chapter 2 Hooked Up With Mr. Shen

Although he could sense the provocation in Norman's tone, James was still indifferent as he answered, "Then, Mr. Shen, congratulations in advance!"

From afar, the two men could look as either friends or foes. It would be hard for an outsider to distinguish.

As Norman heard James' response, he smiled without saying anything.

Since they didn't have much in common, they promptly separated in order to socialize with other guests.

As soon as Alina dragged Maria to a corner, she loosened the grip on her wrist. With a cold look in her eyes, she stared at Maria and asked, "Why did you come back to H City?"

Maria rubbed her aching wrist and explained, "I didn't plan to, Alina. It was Mr. Shen who asked me to accompany him to the party. I couldn't refuse him, so I came."

'Humph! How could I not come back? I would be a murderess for the rest of my life if I stayed away forever,' Maria thought to herself, concealing her true feelings. Her sudden return to H City seemed unexpected to a lot of people. At the moment, Maria wanted to get Alina's guard down so that she could deal with her later.

Despite the softness in Maria's voice when answering the question, her timidity was long gone. Alina failed to notice this as her only focus was on finding out why Maria had returned so abruptly.

"You used to be mute. When did you recover?" Alina asked.

With a smile, Maria replied, "Right. I happened to meet a doctor who was able to cure me. Alina, don't you think I was lucky?"

After a few years without seeing each other, Maria looked even more gentle and delicate, far from the bold look suggested by her glamorous dress and makeup.

"James and I are about to get engaged soon. I advise you to forget what happened between you two in the past, or I'll make you disappear from H City for good." Maria could hear the obvious threat in Alina's voice.

'They're about to get engaged...' From an angle that Alina couldn't notice, Maria sank her freshly manicured nails into her palms, but her face remained unaffected. "Alina, please don't worry. I divorced Mr. Xi a long time ago. I don't hold on to any fantasy about him anymore. If there's nothing for me to do in H City in the next few days, I'll leave soon."

Alina nodded with satisfaction. "Good. At least you're still wise to know your place. Now, if you're done here, just leave. You're not welcome to my birthday party!"

"Okay! I'm leaving right now," Maria answered without any hesitation.

The next moment, several young ladies from high society came out of nowhere and surrounded Maria. A woman approached her contemptuously. "Oh, Maria Song! How did you manage to hook up with Mr. Shen?"

"In my opinion, Mr. Shen is dating her just for fun. How could a gorgeous man like him take a fancy to someone else's ex-wife?"

"You are absolutely right! Maria, what's the use of a murderess like you dressing up so nicely?" This time, a woman in a blue evening dress walked over to Maria and pinched her chin, raising it to look into her eyes. "I advise you to stay away from Mr. Xi and Mr. Shen from now on. You bitch don't deserve to even dream about men like them!"

As soon as their eyes met, Maria recognized the woman in front of her. She was Stella Qin, Alina's confidant and the youngest daughter of the Qin family's head.

Maria didn't say a word while she listened to their insults.

Realizing that Maria wouldn't respond, Stella Qin took two steps closer and provoked her further. "You know that Mr. Shen and Mr. Xi are sworn enemies. Yet you still dare to shamelessly hook up with Mr. Shen. You're doing this to attract Mr. Xi's attention, aren't you?"

Stella Qin looked at the other woman, and her jealousy got the best of her as she raised a hand to slap Maria in the face. "Bitch! You like to pretend you're this poor thing, but I'll show you...Ouch!"

Maria grabbed Stella Qin's hand still in motion and knocked her head against the wall, neither heavily nor lightly. Therefore, the expected slap sound never came, and it got replaced by Stella Qin's cry of pain.

Several people, including Alina, looked at the scene stunned. Alina couldn't believe that it was Maria who did this.

After Stella Qin's head hit the wall with a bang, she was in so much pain that it took her a long time to come to herself again.

Taking advantage of Stella Qin's helplessness, Maria pressed an arm against her neck and laughed hard. "A lady should never resort to force, but to reason. Miss Qin, when you wanted to slap me just now in front of all these people, was your intention to show them how rude you truly are?"

Maria didn't want to waste too much time or energy on Stella Qin. She was just a harmless fish in a pond, not her real target.

But despite her willingness to bear anything others had to say about her, she wouldn't allow being touched.

Alina was the first to come to her senses. Relying on her position as both Maria's cousin and James' fiancee-to-be, she scolded Maria in a low voice, "Let go of Stella!"

At the sound of her voice, Maria sneered in her heart. She was doing this to as a warning to Alina. And now, she wouldn't let go of Stella the second Alina asked her to. So, without releasing her immediately, she warned Stella Qin with a blank face, "This is the last time you try to touch me!"

Alina's face darkened as she realized Maria had ignored her. This time she had gone too far! "Let go of Stella now!" insisted Alina.

At that moment, Stella Qin had recovered completely from her shock. The throbbing pain on her head, however, only got her more furious. As she was still pressed against the wall, she struggled to free herself but failed. "Maria, let go of me at once, or I'll make you suffer!" she yelled.

Listening to her bark, Maria let go of her and patted the dust off her hands as if she had just touched something filthy. "I would like to see you try!"

The moment she saw herself free, Stella Qin rushed to stand behind Alina. Covering her bruised forehead with her hand, she said, "Alina, look what she did to me. It's your birthday party, but she came only to cause trouble. Let the security throw her out right away!"

Maria smoothed her neat hair and told them, "Don't bother. I'm leaving now!"

The only reason she had shown up to the party was to let people know that Maria Song was back in H City, and better than ever.

Over half of the most wealthy and powerful people in H City attended Alina's birthday party. After all, she was the most famous female personality in town. Obviously, Maria's goal had already been successfully achieved. So for what reason would she stay any longer? She wasted no time and walked towards the exit after that.

Noticing that she was about to leave as if nothing had happened, Stella Qin didn't want to let her go so easily. "Maria, stop!"

Compared to Stella Qin's blind rage, Alina was surprisingly calm as she stopped her friend. "Stella, calm down!" Alina knew that Maria's return was definitely not as simple as it looked. She must be up to something.

In fact, Alina had always thought that Maria was quite cunning. Otherwise, how could she defeat her two sisters and marry James back then?

Alina was determined to investigate Maria's intentions. She was going to be engaged to James soon and didn't want anything unexpected to happen before that.

After Maria walked out of the hotel, she got in a black limited edition car. Taking the back seat, she took off her high heels and leaned back with her eyes closed, deep in thought.

The tall figure in her mind was getting clearer and clearer. In the past few years, he had become more mature and charming than he used to be.

Soon, Maria opened her eyes and shook off those thoughts. Stretching out her hand, she took a cigarette and a lighter from Norman's storage box in the car. She skillfully lit the cigarette and rolled down the window to blow out the smoke.

As the smoke curled up, the woman's every move seemed quite elegant behind it.

In the silence, her phone rang all of a sudden. It was a call from Norman.