“Firstly, I’d like to congratulate you, Miss Young. You have succeeded in making Christina leave me.” Matthew took a seat, his eyes dark and empty like his soul. “You’re becoming more and more ruthless, Rachel Young. I have to admit that I’m impressed.”“I...” Rachel felt wronged.“Did you think that I’d end up with you if you got Christina out of the picture?” The corners of Matthew’s lips curved upward into a smile as mockery lingered in the air. “We’ve known each other for 20 years, Rachel. Do you think I’m the kind of person to be fooled around with? Am I just another chest piece in your game? Why would I wait for so long if I had feelings for you?”“Why don’t you have feelings for me?”“Why should I?” Matthew glared at her. “Only those who fall head over heels would be blind to your tactics, Rachel Young. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them, and I know exactly what you’re doing. Let me tell you this. If not for Sean Young, I never would’ve noticed you nor looked you in the eye!
As the unit upstairs burned fiercely, a lot of the residents started to rush their way down. As he was sprinting up the stairs, it was hard for Michael not to bump into anyone.“It’s burning upstairs, don’t go!”Ignoring what the residents said, Michael ran all the way to Christina’s floor. Both Christina and Francis were nowhere to be seen.The door to her unit was locked and faint cries of a child could be heard coming from the inside. Using his shoulders, Michael tried to slam himself against the door but it was to no avail. As the cries grew louder, panic began to overtake him while fear crept up his heart.Not giving up, Michael desperately tried to knock down the door by ramming his shoulders into it and kicking it furiously. A resident who had been fleeing for his life stopped to persuade him. “The fire’s coming. You’d better run now or you won’t be able to make it!”Pushing the man away, Michael continued to ram the door down while yelling, “Christina! Christina Williams!”
Christina was still unconscious by the time she came out of the emergency room. Travis bawled his tears out while shaking her arms. “Wake up, Mommy! I’m so scared!”Michael gave the boy a hug as comfort. “Your mommy’s tired, Travis. She’ll be fine after a nap. I’ll be here with you instead.”Travis was a sensible boy, so he stopped crying when he was told that his mother would be fine, yet he did not let go of his tight grip on her hand. Seeing this, Michael felt his heart ache. How much had the boy gone through for him to be so sensible at such a young age? With that in mind, he instinctively placed his hands over theirs.A long time passed before Christina finally opened her eyes. “Mommy’s awake!” Travis leaped in joy. The first thing Christina saw when she woke up was Michael’s face. Somehow, the mere sight of him gave her a bad headache and she felt her energy draining away. “You… What were you doing at my house, Michael Larson?”“You’re awake, Christina! How do you feel?” Mi
John was the first to know about the explosion and personally made a visit to the hospital to calm the victims down.It was only natural for a bunch of journalists to follow after him. After all, he was the mayor, and paying a visit to the hospital would make leading news in the papers. As it was part of his job, John had wanted to check on the injured at first but never expected his daughter to be one of them.With her head bandaged by gauze, Christina looked extremely pale. Seeing her like that made John feel really sad as he held onto her hand. “Are you in pain? You should just focus on getting well and leave the rest to the government. Just let us know if you need any help and we’ll try our best to help you.”Noticing that the reporters were taking photographs, Christina held in her resentment toward her father and tried her best not to push his hand away. “Thank you, Mayor John.” After that, John instructed the hospital to do everything within their power to cure the patients
Serena had already anticipated him to say something she would not have liked to hear, yet she could not help but feel sad at how direct Michael was being.After all, she had placed the blame for her miscarriage onto Christina in hopes that this would guilt trip Michael into being in a relationship with her. If he felt that he owed her something, she would definitely slide her way into his life eventually.Reality proved that no matter how guilty he felt, he would never be able to overlook Christina’s position in his heart.Unable to control her emotions, tears flowed down her face, and at this time, she did not need to put on an act. “Are you for real, Michael?”“Yes, this is my decision.” Even Michael himself felt that he was being too cruel to Serena. After all, Serena had been innocent from the beginning. She was just another chess piece to his mother who used her to break up his relationship with Christina. Michael had wasted three years of his time to make it up to her becau
Fred made his way into the ward. “How’s your recovery going, Assistant Williams?”“Much better now.”“President Henderson had to fly over to America for something important. I’ve already told him about everything that happened here and he’ll be here the first thing tomorrow morning to visit you.”Fred paused for a second before he took out an agreement. “President Henderson also told me to relay a message to you. If you remember, you’ve signed a letter of employment with Henderson Corporation before. If you wish to breach the terms of the contract by refusing to turn up for work, the company has the right to sue you and demand a certain amount of money for compensation. Please think wisely and come back to work.”“But...” Christina did not know what to say.“President Henderson knows that you’re still recovering from your injuries and has allowed you to take paid leave. He hopes that you’ll be able to come back to work after this or the company will take you to court for your brea
“I have no idea. Perhaps he happened to pass by that area. What a dangerous situation! Luckily, Michael came just in time to save them, or there could have been serious consequences.”“Go and investigate what happened!” Matthew looked somber. “I knew something was going on between Michael and Christina. There must be something!”“They are… probably having an affair. Assistant Williams usually seems to have a strong dislike for Michael, and what’s more, she’s not the sort who will easily fall for someone.”Matthew knew that Christina was not the kind of person, but Michael could be. To him, Michael looked like a greedy person with evil intentions.Would Michael fall for Christina? That was absolutely possible. Casting Michael’s character aside, Matthew thought about Christina’s appearance. There was hardly anyone who could resist Christina’s beauty, right?He had to come up with an effective strategy to prevent Michael from cashing in on their relationship!While Matthew was worry
When Michael visited Francis in his ward with the packet of food, he got a cold shoulder from Francis as well.In a forthright manner, Francis said, “Thank you for saving Christina and me, President Larson. We’ll remember your kindness and return you the favor in the future. But at this moment, we don’t want to see you.” Michael’s face turned pale after he heard Francis’ words. He just silently accepted his words since he had no reason to get angry.Travis did not understand why adults spoke in such a strange way. “Granduncle, why did you say that we don’t want to see this mister? I’m happy to see him!”“Did you forget what Mommy has told you, Travis?” Francis reminded him.“I didn’t. Mommy told me not to talk to strangers.” Travis tapped his head.Michael’s gaze darkened. Did Christina already consider him to be a stranger at this point?Michael did not leave the hospital just because of Christina’s and Francis’s resistance. He continued to stay there and did not bother to go
In fact, Matthew was the one who planned this entire thing. He had been keeping a close eye on Rachel since she returned.He could let bygones be bygones if she was willing to settle down. However, the woman did not learn from past mistakes and once again partnered up with Serena to plot against Christina.Matthew went along with their plan. He even found someone to set this up to lure them into the trap.Christina’s due date was approaching after Rachel and Serena were taken care of. Michael began making preparations for Travis’ transplant operation.He hired the best hematologist and gynecologist before arranging for both Christina and Travis’ operation to take place in the same hospital.The delivery went smoothly. Christina gave birth to a baby girl, and Heather was over the moon.Everything had gone well, and it was about time to start on Travis’ operation. Christina was accompanied by Matthew and Rachel whereas Heather stayed close by the baby’s side. Michael comforted Chri
Besides, even if the plan failed, intentionally causing a pregnant woman to miscarry was not considered homicide by the country’s criminal law. The punishment was less serious as the behavior would be categorized as an assault occasioning bodily harm.Assault and criminal homicide were two completely different crimes.Rachel agreed to the suggestion. Scarface was indeed a ruthless man. He came up with this vicious revenge that would put Christina in pain forever.Upon agreeing on the details of the plan, Scarface and his friends from the streets proceeded to kidnap Christina. Rachel and Serena were told to sit tight and wait for the good news.Scarface had a well-thought-out plan and got his hands on Christina before long. Her head was covered with a black cloth as they forcefully pushed her into the van.Serena and Rachel were already at the agreed-upon location when Scarface instructed Christina to step out of the vehicle. The latter’s belly was round, and both of her hands were
Serena lost everything. She had no choice but to work as a bargirl to survive.Scarface was the person in charge of the bar she worked at. The ruthless man had pretty much slept with every woman who worked at his place. Naturally, Serena could not escape from that fate either.Serena was different from other bargirls. She came from a prestigious family and was highly educated. Even in dire straits, she still maintained a certain grace that made her stand out from the crowd.Scarface spotted her on her first day at the bar. He ordered his men to drag her into the private room and tortured her the entire night.She resisted in the beginning. However, without anyone to depend on, she had no choice but to give into Scarface’s tyrannical abuse.Several times later, he found himself attracted to her. Every night, he would ask for her instead of other women.Serena, who could not escape from him, gave in eventually. She even ended up becoming his lover.By doing so, she found someone t
“Just a little while ago.” Sean came closer. “Christina, we need to talk.”She nodded and followed him to the garden. He helped her to get comfortable on the bench. “Do you believe in fate?”She shook her head, unsure where this was leading. “I didn’t either as I’m a firm believer that hard work always pays off. But now I do.”He looked her in the eye. “I’ve been lost and struggled a lot since that incident, unsure how to face you. After considering this seriously for the past few days, I’ve finally mustered enough courage to meet you again.”A sigh escaped her lips. “Sorry, Sean. It’s all my fault.”“No! It has nothing to do with you, Christina. It’s my fault that my love is not strong enough. I discovered that Suzy is really great after spending the past few months with her. She’s just like you. She’s gentle, kind, pure, and adorable. I realized I’ve fallen in love with her.”This was not what he really thought.He loved Christina since the beginning of time and believed he
“That’s old history. We think Michael is actually pretty good.”“We? Who do you mean?” Christina teased.Ariel and Matthew had been spending a lot of time together lately. Christina went through that herself and understood the passion in her friend’s eyes. This silly girl was actually in love. She could not be happier for her.“Who else? Matthew, of course!” Ariel glared at Christina.“I say whatever’s on my mind, unlike you, who always keep everything to yourself and get stuck in dilemmas. Every good opportunity slips past you because of your indecisiveness!” “How can I not be? I promised to marry him but I’m now trying to convince him to marry someone else. Is this really the best thing for him? Will he be happy?”Ariel questioned after a brief silence, “Christina, let me ask you this. Who do you care for more? Michael or Sean?”Christina asked herself the same question too. She naturally cared more about Michael in the past, but she also started to develop a strong feeling f
The following morning, Serena hurried to the police station to file a report.The police treated this with high importance and warned her to be careful of Darren Cain as he was a vicious gang member who had served over a decade in prison.She became more frightened after hearing that. Immediately, she moved out of that house and rented a place somewhere quiet. As she was terrified, she stayed indoors for the next few days.Much of Christina’s stress was relieved without having to deal with Serena’s pestering.“Christina, John was at the last stage of cancer. It was lucky enough that he lasted until he did. This is his fate, so try not to get too upset.” Francis comforted the dispirited woman. It did not make any difference even though he was not the real Francis. He had long adapted to the identity after assuming it for so many years. Most importantly, Christina was still willing to treat him like a real uncle even after finding out the truth.“Don’t worry, Uncle, I’m fine.”
The harassment continued after the funeral. Serena went around spreading accusations and threatened Christina to give her money. Otherwise, she would report John to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for private corruption.If reported, the antique art collection would be seized and no one could get it!Christina became more frustrated after hearing that.She never expected John’s leniency toward Serena would cause her such a big problem. Matthew was infuriated by Serena’s unreasonable behavior. He suggested they could shut the woman up by teaching her a lesson. Sean shook his head. “That’s not going to solve the problem. Serena must’ve come prepared if she dares to stir up trouble. This is a lawful society. We can’t do as we wish.”“Are we actually going to pay her off then?” Ariel asked, “I think giving her money isn’t going to put an end to this. She’s certainly going to keep threatening for more!”Michael scoffed. “Why should we give her money? She can go
“I will, Dad, don’t worry. I’ll listen to Sister,” Suzy replied.“Christina.” John grabbed Christina’s hand in his own. “My greatest regret in this life is failing to take good care of you and your mother. I’m going to meet your mother soon. I hope she’ll forgive me!”Tears rolled down Christina’s cheeks. Men would speak kindly in the presence of death. She was unsure if Molly would forgive him, but she had long forgiven her father.He strained to pull Suzy and Christina’s hands closer together as he looked at them with pleading eyes. “The both of you must live peacefully together. Suzy, listen to your sister, and Christina, you must take good care of her on my behalf.”Christina looked at Suzy before nodding quietly. Then, John shifted his glance to Michael.“I’ve done many wrongs in this life. I betrayed my wife and disappointed my daughter. I hope you’ll do better than me. I’ll hand over Christina to you now. I’ll come back to haunt you as a stubborn ghost if you dare to wr
Suzy felt guilt-ridden and knew she was not in the position to demand anything from Christina. However, her mother had gone mad. She did not wish to see Christina continuing the fight with her mother.At a loss for what to do, she cried her heart out while in Christina’s arms.Sean felt a heavy feeling in his chest. He knew Christina too well after all the years they spent together. She was a soft-hearted person behind her stubborn facade. Seeing others in sorrow was her greatest weakness.There was no doubt she would choose to forgive Suzy and accept her as her sister.If that was the case, then the marriage between them was destined to fail. Christina would reject him for the sake of the child in her sister’s belly.At this moment, he was thinking of how everything was falling apart at this moment even after he had consistently pursued her all these years. He stood there in a daze for a long time before finally heaving a sigh.Perhaps this was their destiny. Suzy cried for a