Chapter 141: James Strangles Amelia
Bathhouse, massage room.
A fat man wearing only underwear was forced to kneel on the ground by a man in black.
James walked in with a cold aura and sat down in a chair, looking down at the man on the ground. "So you're the one who gave Zaid inside information?"
"I didn't force him to buy. He wanted to follow my lead. I lost money too."
Except, the money he lost wasn't his own.
The man thought James was here to settle the score for Zaid and immediately recited his prepared speech.
James gave the man in black a look, and he immediately struck, landing several punches on the man's stomach, beating him until he collapsed on the ground, crying out in pain.
"It really has nothing to do with me—"
He was still being stubborn.
He'd already taken the money and was afraid that if he talked, they'd make him give it back.
James let out a cold laugh and expressionlessly gave Carl's subordinate another look. The man hit even harder.
Last night after Mia left, he'd called Zaid again to ask why he'd started trading stocks.
Zaid said it was a new friend he'd met at the mahjong table. He hadn't believed him at first, but the guy said he had inside information, and sure enough, he did make money.
So he was tempted.
After tasting success twice, he trusted the guy completely.
Then the guy mentioned inside information again.
He believed it, borrowed money from everywhere, wanting to make a big profit, but ended up losing everything.
When he didn't know what to do, the guy told him gambling was an easy way to recover his losses.
The guy had recovered all his losses through gambling, so Zaid got excited and was persuaded to go along.
He didn't expect to be so unlucky—not only did he fail to recover his losses, he lost everything. Red-eyed from gambling, he borrowed from loan sharks.
Even after explaining all this, Zaid hadn't realized he'd fallen into someone's trap.
James hadn't said much at the time. After hanging up, he had Carl investigate.
The key figure Zaid mentioned was the man right in front of him.
"I'll talk..."
The beaten man confessed everything: "A woman contacted me, gave me money, told me to get close to Zaid, become his friend, and gain his trust."
"She also told me to get Zaid to buy stocks, and after he lost money, to talk him into gambling big to recover his losses."
"Who is this woman?"
James was indifferent to the man's wailing.
"I don't know."
Seeing the man in black about to hit him again, the man kept shouting: "Don't hit me, don't hit me, I really don't know."
"She always contacted me with burner phones, always at night, sitting in her car. She paid me in cash. I really don't know who she is..."
Seeing James still staring at him coldly, pushing him to his limit.
That look scared the man into thinking desperately. Suddenly remembering something, he quickly added: "Wait, wait, I have a photo of her hand on my phone."
He'd seen her wearing a nice watch and secretly took a photo, thinking of buying one to please his mistress.
But when he looked it up later, it was ridiculously expensive.
James signaled the man in black to release him and let him get his phone and hand it over.
He took it and looked at the photo on the phone.
Looking at the watch and hand.
This watch was limited edition worldwide, and Amelia happened to own one.
What was her goal?
...
Amelia was sitting in her office chair directing her assistant to arrange decorations when the office door was forcefully pushed open from outside.
Amelia looked up at James, who was radiating cold anger, and signaled her assistant to leave. After she closed the door, Amelia spoke with mocking contempt.
"Didn't you have the court send me a restraining order a few days ago? Why are you coming to find me yourself now? Have you missed me after not seeing me for a few days?"
Since that night when he said he wouldn't even be friends with her for Mia's sake.
Even though she didn't want to admit it, she had to admit that James had really changed his heart.
Taking those photos back then was just her habit of keeping insurance.
She hadn't really planned to use the photos to threaten James.
At the time, she'd been too confident.
That confidence had also made her fall.
After realizing she and James really had no chance, and he dared to embarrass her repeatedly and make things difficult for her.
She wouldn't let him have it easy either.
She knew very well how to make someone suffer.
So she decided to give the photos to Mia.
Didn't he love Mia and refuse to divorce her?
The more he didn't want it, the more she wouldn't let him have his way.
She'd calculated that he would come find her.
She no longer needed to maintain her image in his heart, and she didn't care if he knew.
She just hadn't expected that instead of coming to find her, he'd have his lawyer file for a restraining order!
"Amelia, why did you set up Zaid!"
James ignored Amelia's sarcasm, his eyes coldly fixed on her face.
Amelia was slightly stunned.
Looking at James, he clearly already had solid evidence.
Before, she would have worried about him finding out, but now...
So what if he knew? What could he do to her?
"What do you mean set up? I didn't force him."
"Besides, nothing happened to him, right? He just owes three million dollars. Didn't you solve it without batting an eye?"
Mentioning this, anger rose in Amelia's eyes.
Back then, she'd been too confident, thinking James wouldn't divorce only because of the child.
She'd tried every way to get rid of her child.
After being humiliated by Mia at the company, she'd accidentally learned that Mia's health wasn't good.
So she began setting this trap.
She'd put money into it, luring Zaid into the trap.
Her goal was to make him owe a huge debt and go to Mia.
With her poor health, she couldn't handle the stress at all. Without the child, James would naturally divorce her.
But she hadn't expected Zaid to contact James directly.
And he'd solved the three million dollar problem without even frowning.
It was one thing for him to support that useless Mia, but he was even so generous with her family.
Although her plan had failed, God was helping her.
Even though Zaid hadn't stressed out Mia, her child still ended up having problems.
That child was removed.
She saw James misunderstand Mia, so she bribed the doctor, just asking her not to tell the truth, and she could get a large sum of money.
Money moves hearts, and the doctor finally agreed.
She'd painstakingly planned everything, thinking victory was assured, but in the end lost because of James's heart!
It was James who made her taste defeat.
She couldn't just let this account go!
"James, you're acting all righteous and questioning me—don't you think that's ridiculous?"
James looked at the now-strange Amelia before him.
It was hard to connect her with the little girl in his memory.
She actually said it was ridiculous for him to question her?
"Ridiculous? If it weren't for your scheme, I wouldn't have had to rush to handle it and miss stopping Mia from removing the child."
"James, the person who removed the child was Mia. If you're going to blame someone, blame her. What does it have to do with me?"
James looked at this woman who had indirectly killed his child, showing not a trace of guilt and even saying it had nothing to do with her. His eyes suddenly turned cold.
He suddenly moved closer to Amelia, his intimidating coldness making her shrink back.
James didn't want to waste more words with her. His eyes dark and threatening, he warned coldly: "Amelia, this is the last time."
"From today on, if you dare hurt Mia in any way again, I definitely won't let you off."
...
That evening, Mia kept her promise and moved back to Luxe Haven. She went straight to sleep in the guest room.
Since she'd just moved back, James didn't force her.
As long as there was a trace of her in the house, he felt at ease.
But for several days in a row, though he could see her, she wouldn't say a word to him.
No matter what he said, she acted like she couldn't hear.
This evening, Mia had just come out of the bathroom after showering when James picked her up around the waist.
She was about to struggle.
Remembering the agreement required fulfilling marital duties, she gave up struggling.
She let him carry her upstairs and press her into the master bedroom's large bed.
When he kissed her, she turned her face away, avoiding his kiss.
Between them, there was only obligation.
Kissing was something only people in love had.
He took her fiercely, deliberately pushing her.
Mia kept resisting him.
When it ended, both were exhausted.
She'd wanted to rest a bit before going to the guest room, but fell asleep without realizing it.
Waking in the middle of the night, Mia directly pulled away the large hand around her waist, got up, and went back to the guest room to sleep.
The next morning, Mia changed clothes and came downstairs from the guest room.
James sat at the dining table with breakfast for two laid out.
He'd specifically had the servants make it, all things she loved to eat.
"There's still time. Eat breakfast before going to the company."
Mia looked up, staring at him coldly. "James, this is just a place where I'm staying temporarily."
"When I finish paying you back, I'll move out immediately. During this time, I won't spend a cent of yours. And stop playing these games with me—it just makes people sick."
After speaking, she slammed the door and left.
Last night he'd lost control, exhausting her badly.
He got up and followed her out. "I'm going near your company anyway. I'll give you a ride."
Mia completely ignored him.
His car kept following beside her, but she didn't look at him once and walked into the subway station herself.
James was worried and followed.
After leaving the subway station, she first went to a pharmacy to buy morning-after pills.
Last night, he hadn't used protection.
She knew what he was thinking.
Obviously, he really liked children.
He also really wanted another child.
But she didn't.
She took the pills with water, decisively.
After taking that final step with James, he'd never let her take pills.
Usually, he took precautions.
During her safe period, or occasionally when he lost control, he'd use other methods.
Her unexpected pregnancy was also because contraception hadn't been thorough enough.
This was the first time she'd taken morning-after pills in all their time together.
She hadn't expected to feel unwell. Right after taking them, she felt nauseous and couldn't help throwing up.
Afraid that vomiting would reduce the effectiveness, she took out another pill and swallowed it.
Mia suppressed her discomfort and walked forward.
A thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead, her vision went black, her legs went weak.
Before she fell, a large hand supported her. "Are you okay?"
Hearing Benjamin's voice, Mia used his strength to steady herself and shook her head. "I'm fine."
Benjamin supported her, glancing at the morning-after pills that had just fallen from her pocket when she stumbled.
"Get in the car and rest for a bit."
It was still several hundred feet from here to the company.
Mia really wasn't feeling well, so she nodded and got in the car.
Benjamin didn't get in. He looked back at the pharmacy two or three hundred meters away and walked over.
Soon, he returned.
Silently, he handed her vitamin C and water.
Mia reached out to take them. "Thank you."
She took the vitamin C with water.
Vitamin C could reduce the side effects of the pills. After taking it, she felt a bit better.
"Benjamin, thank you."
She didn't take his car to the company. After feeling better, she opened the car door and got out.
Her parachute appointment had already caused gossip—she didn't want to cause him more trouble.
As soon as she got out, she saw James's car stopped behind theirs.
James had stopped his car here intending to wait for Mia to come out of the subway entrance. He hadn't expected to see her getting out of Benjamin's car.
Ever since learning that Mia had been with him before, the scene before his eyes stung him, his eyes filling with darkness. He pushed open the car door and strode over.