Chapter 436 Murder Attempt
Chapter 436 Murder Attempt
On their wedding night, Maria sat on the bed and waited patiently for two hours. When there was still no sign of James, she got up, took a relaxing shower, and changed into her pajamas.
By the time she finished putting away all the food and gifts and tidying up the room, it was past midnight. She soon dozed off without realizing.
Perhaps it was because the events of that day had taken a toll on her that she slept like a log that night, and only stirred when it was already eight o'clock the next morning. Blinking her eyes sleepily, she reached out and touched the other side of the bed. Judging by how neat and flat that side was, James hadn't come back last night.
Maria went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she stepped out of the bathroom, however, she was surprised to see that she was no longer alone in the bedroom. After being stunned for a moment, she whispered, "You're back."
James gave Maria, who was still dressed in her pajamas, a disinterested once-over before sitting on the sofa without saying anything.
Maria didn't know what else to say after that, so she awkwardly sat down in front of the dressing table and began to apply beauty products for her morning skin-care routine.
The room was terribly quiet. Twenty minutes later, when Maria turned around, she found James leaning against the backrest of the sofa with his eyes closed, as if he had fallen asleep.
She grabbed a thin quilt and walked over to him to
tuck him in.
When she leaned in close, he suddenly opened his eyes, which were red and bloodshot.
Frightened, she jumped back and explained in a panic, "I... I thought... I thought you were asleep." She was too embarrassed to tell him that she was just trying to tuck him in.
James ignored her, stood up from the sofa, and began to take off his coat.
Maria was not so stupid as to think that he was getting undressed because he wanted to sleep with her. She put down the quilt and asked, "Shall I bring an outfit for you?"
James finally opened his mouth. "Sure."
Maria nervously went to the closet and brought back a tailored black suit, a dark blue tie, a dark blue gem brooch, a collar clip, and a handkerchief.
James wordlessly took the items from her. While he was changing into the clothes, she picked out a watch for him.
"May I help you tie the tie?" she asked casually, even though the truth was, she had learned it specially for him.
"Okay."
With his permission, Maria stood on tiptoe to straighten his tie, and tied it carefully. Once she was done with that, she put the watch that she had carefully selected on his wrist.
The movements of the two people were in perfect harmony, as if this was a routine they had gone through so many times before.
After tidying his suit and his hair, James left the bedroom first, without waiting for Maria. Once the bedroom door was closed, Maria began to clean up the mess that he had left behind in a hurry.
Although there were plenty of maids in the house to do such things, she wanted to do something for him.
When she finally got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast, she found James sitting there and drinking coffee. Augustine and Sebastian were sitting silently in the living room with long faces.
She nodded to them and greeted, "Good morning, Grandpa, Dad! I'm sorry I got up so late."
As soon as Augustine laid eyes on his granddaughter -in-law, his face brightened a little. He waved his hand and said, "I know you have been very tired recently. Just have breakfast! I'll ask James to take you out today."
Before Maria could say anything, James, who was drinking coffee, opened his mouth and refused in a flat tone. "I can't, I'm busy."
"You..."
Seeing that Augustine was about to lose his temper, Maria immediately said, "It's okay, Grandpa. James is busy with his work. I'm sure there will be plenty of chances for us to go out together in the future. There's no hurry."
Augustine snorted and looked at James. "Did you hear that? You're lucky enough to have such a good wife like Maria. Be nice to her. Work hard and give me a great-grandson as soon as possible!"
Maria's cheeks turned bright red, and she awkwardly lowered her eyes. Why was he mentioning a great-grandson all of a sudden? She chose to stay silent, as if she hadn't heard him, and sat at the dining table to have breakfast.
James didn't disappoint his grandfather. He did take time out of his busy schedule to get Maria pregnant.
That was how she had given birth to Arthur.
Recalling the little boy's face was too much to take. Maria took a deep breath and stopped dwelling the past. She didn't dare to think further than that, and forced herself to turn her attention back to work.
Keeping busy with work was the only thing that could make her forget all those hurtful memories.
In the sunny afternoon, a silver-gray car sped down the wide road, heading for the airport of H City.
The road was almost deserted, but all of a sudden, two cars appeared out of nowhere, zooming towards the silver-gray car. One of them was about to crash right into the car, but the driver quickly turned the steering wheel, managing a narrow escape.
Fortunately, the silver-gray car did not suffer any damage, except for a small dent.
The driver hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zheng. That car was coming in the wrong direction—Mr. Zheng, get down!"
There was a loud bang as a tiny item broke through the window and zoomed towards Colby, who was sitting in the back seat of the car.
Thanks to the driver, Colby ducked just in time and dodged the bullet, which disappeared through the rear windshield.
He knew that this was a murder attempt.
The two cars that had been coming in the opposite direction just now had taken a sharp U-turn, and were now following right behind them. A few more gunshots sounded in the air, and the tires of the silver -gray luxury car were blown out.
Colby was shocked that these men were bold enough to use guns in broad daylight.
Now that the silver-gray car had effectively come to a stop, the driver hurriedly took out his phone and called the police.
A few more gunshots resounded through the air, followed by the sound of footsteps. Two masked men walked up to the window of the driver's seat of the silver-gray car and knocked roughly.
The driver carefully rolled down the window and asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Is Colby Zheng in the car?" one of the masked men asked.
The driver didn't say anything.
In the back seat, Colby kept as still and as silent as he could.
But when the driver felt the cold hard touch of the gun against his temple, he fearfully threw his hands up and shouted, "Yes, yes!" Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
The next moment, the gun aiming at the driver's head was shifted to target the man in the back seat. "Go to hell!"
At this critical moment, Colby said, "Wait a minute!"
The hand of the masked man paused on the trigger. "Do you have any last words?" "How much did they give you? I'll pay double, no, triple the price!"
The two killers exchanged glances before answering, "They gave us two hundred million dollars."
Without any hesitation, Colby said, "I'll give you six hundred million dollars to let me go. And if you tell me who hired you, I'll give you another one hundred million dollars."
"Okay. How are you going to give us the money?" one of the killers asked with a greedy smile.
His partner tugged at his clothes and whispered, "We have to call our boss first. After all, they have given us a lot of money."
Colby interjected, "You don't have to call anyone. How about this? I'll give you even more money if you agree to kill the person who sent you to kill me. You're making money by killing people. It's smarter to take orders from the person who gives you the most money, right?"
"Well..." The killers were still hesitant to accept his offer.
Taking a deep breath, Colby continued, "I will give you two billion dollars. And I can arrange for you to leave H City safely after the job is done."
Hearing this, the two killers widened their eyes and whispered to each other. "Holy shit, two billion dollars! Anyway, that woman is very stingy. How about we just agree to this offer?"
"No. Let's call her first and ask if she is willing to raise her offer. Won't we get more in this way? Tell me her phone number."
The other killer took out his phone and, looking at the screen, read out a series of numbers.
Colby's face changed dramatically when he heard the phone number. Until now, he had been certain that it was Maria and James who had sent people to kill him, but it turned out to be Rosa.
At this moment, the blaring of a police siren approached, getting louder and louder by the second. In a panic, one of the two killers fired his gun at Colby, while the other one grabbed his shirt and dragged him away to hide.
The bullet narrowly missed Colby.
When the police arrived, the driver gave them his testimony.
Colby cancelled his business trip. Instead of waiting someone to pick him up, he just took a taxi back to the company.
On the way, he called someone and asked them to investigate Rosa's recent bank transactions.
In the CEO's office of HM Group
A crisp slap sounded. Rosa covered her cheek and looked at Colby in disbelief.
"Are you crazy? Why did you hit me?"
"Rosa, I didn't expect you to be so vicious!" Colby said through gritted teeth.
"What do you mean?"