Chapter 7 James' Ex-Wife

Seeing that, Ethan shut up right away. Then, with a shrug, he walked to the freezer and picked up a cold beverage. Ethan took a sip from the bottle and looked at James. "I heard that Norman Shen showed up recently. Last night, he took a woman covered in blood to the hospital. Who is she? What happened to her? Is she the same woman he brought to Alina's birthday party?"

James glanced at him coldly and asked, "What do I have to do with this?"

"Nothing, but I know you were there. Can't you just gratify my curiosity?" Ethan looked at James with puppy eyes. Rumor had it that Norman had specially brought a woman for James to see. Perhaps this woman also had something to do with James. As he thought of it, Ethan grew even more suspicious.

Ignoring Ethan's request, James sat in front of his desk and went back to his work. "If you have any questions, ask Summer." He didn't want to waste his time satisfying Ethan's curiosity.

Immediately, Ethan put down his drink and rushed out of the office to find Summer. Pulling her into an empty reception room, he asked, "Summer, please tell me. Who is the woman seen with Norman Shen? What happened to her last night?"

In the beginning, Summer wouldn't tell him anything, but Ethan soon assured her that it was James who had sent him to her. So she gave in and replied in a low voice, "She drank too much and had gastrorrhagia." 'Poor Maria. It was such a pitiful scene!' she thought to herself.

"You mean she had stomach bleeding from drinking too much? Wow! Did she do it for money?" Ethan had seen a lot of people who overdrank in order to make money and then suffered from gastrorrhagia. Some couldn't even get to the hospital and would die at the bar table.

"No, that's not the case," Summer replied assuredly. She knew it because she was waiting outside when everything happened. "Mr. Xi particularly ordered three bottles of brandy and made her drink them."

As he heard this, Ethan muttered in confusion, "James made a woman drink three bottles of strong liquor? Who the hell is she? Usually, James just throws out anyone who offends him! But this woman, who he forced to drink, is still in H City! This is so odd." It definitely didn't seem like James' style of doing things. This was smelling fishy!

Summer got closer to him and whispered in his ear, "She's Mr. Xi's ex-wife."

"His ex-wife? Holy crap!" Ethan's reaction was quite exaggerated. Jumping up from the sofa, he made a fuss. "His ex-wife is back?"

"Yes, you heard it right."

'James' ex-wife? How dare she come back now? And with Norman Shen?' Ethan thought with a frown.

When James divorced his ex-wife, Ethan was still a freshman in high school. He had heard many versions of the accident that took James' son's life back in the day. The cause of the accident was slightly different from version to version.

However, the conclusion from different versions was the same, which was that James' ex-wife wasn't taking good care of their son, and this led to the poor five-month-old baby's unexpected passing. Yet another speculated that she had killed her own son on purpose.

For a moment, Ethan wasn't sure whether he should praise this woman for her bravery or criticize her for being so heartless. She had killed James' flesh and blood and dared to come back to H City as if nothing had happened, not to mention that she hooked up with James' rival and was frequently showing up with him in front of her ex-husband.

As soon as he was done gossiping with Summer, Ethan rushed back to the CEO's office and asked, "James, why did your ex-wife come back?"

James cast a cold glance at him and gently reminded, "Ethan, you're a respectable man in H City. Why are you gossiping about a woman? It's early in the morning, and you're already so idle? Do you need me to give you something to do?"

Ethan was somewhat disappointed but didn't give up. Sitting down in the chair opposite to James, he asked again, "Do you think she came back to seduce you? You're now one of the top ten richest people in the whole world. Don't let her fool you, James!"

James didn't want to talk about that woman at all. His face grew even darker as he said, "Ethan, if you really have nothing else to do, you may go save a few extra stray dogs and collect more good deeds for your resume."

Ethan was a part-time veterinarian and was currently preparing for his postgraduate admission exam.

Frustrated, Ethan mourned, "Oh, James, don't mention it. Dragon passed away yesterday afternoon. I'm still heartbroken about it!"

Of course, James knew that Dragon was a pet dog, but he was not interested in starting a conversation about cats or dogs. Without saying anything, he lowered his head and got back to his work.

Realizing that he wouldn't get anything out of James, Ethan ran to Summer again. "I'm free this morning. Tell me what hospital James' ex-wife is in. I'll go see her in person!"

He was quite curious about the woman who once won James' heart.

After some hesitation, Summer answered, "Mr. Nan, I'm sorry, but I don't know either. Would you like it if I ask someone to check it for you?"

"No, thanks. I'll check it out myself. Please, go back to your work."

Ethan's interest in any news about Norman wasn't just because he was James' rival, but because both men were half-siblings from different fathers. This was a secret that few people in H City knew about, and Ethan was one of them.

At the Sunrise Private Hospital of H City, Maria woke up early in the morning.

The ward was quiet, and she saw herself alone. She remained conscious just in time to realize where she was, but due to her weakness, she fell asleep again shortly after waking up.

Sometime later, Maria woke up once more as she sensed someone staring at her. She opened her eyes and saw a handsome young man standing by her bed.

He looked at her with a blank expression and commented, "You're pretty enough!"

Maria was sure she hadn't seen this man in H City before. However, she remained silent and waited for his next words.

The man pulled out a chair and sat down next to the bed. "But of course, the more beautiful a woman is, the more vicious she is."

'Do you even know me? How dare you judge me and say I'm vicious?' Maria looked at him sharply and said in a hoarse voice, "You're not welcome here. Get out!"

"How bold you are! Do you know who you're talking to? Are you sure you're in a position to kick me out of here?" Ethan leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her, intentionally making himself indifferent. Despite her weakened body and deadly pale face, the woman lying in the bed couldn't hide the aura she emanated. This only got Ethan more curious about her.

"I don't care about who you are! If you don't leave now, I'll call the police!" Maria said, looking away from him.

Ethan was amused by her apathy. He couldn't help but laugh. "Why are you as difficult to deal with as he is?" No wonder the two of them got married. Like husband, like wife. Oh, no! Ex-wife.

After lying in the bed for such a long time, Maria felt uncomfortable and struggled to sit up.

Noticing her effort to get up, Ethan leaned forward to give her a hand but didn't expect the woman would grab his arm the moment he reached out. She pushed him so hard that Ethan landed with his face on the bed. It was quite an embarrassing scene for him.

"If you don't want to get out of here, you can't blame me for being rude to you, right?" Maria was currently in a bad mood and didn't feel like dealing with anyone politely.

Ethan raised his head and looked at his arm in shock. Standing up, he pulled it away from her strong grip and rubbed it. He couldn't believe he had just been knocked down by a woman, let alone a sick woman in a hospital bed. "Okay, Maria Song, I know who you are! For James' sake, I won't do anything to you!" Ethan roared, feeling embarrassed.

He drove to the hospital out of curiosity just to meet this woman. After only a few minutes in her presence, he had already understood how she came to be Mrs. Xi years ago. She was indeed more interesting than most of the beautiful but shallow women who surrounded James.

"So, are you a friend of his?" As Ethan mentioned James, Maria's features softened a little.

Noticing her change of attitude, Ethan nodded proudly. "Of course! James is a close friend of mine!"