Leah was scared to death. She finally saw Gwyneth show her true colors.Leah was imprisoned in the basement for as long as Zane was on a business trip. She was locked up in a cellar by Gwyneth for half a month. Being injured, she was not fed and similar to a criminal, she was only given a few sips of water to drink. Every night, Gwyneth held a whip, made Leah kneel in front of her, and lectured her. Leah had to do as told to survive.She tried to escape and defend herself, but Gwyneth replaced all the housing staff with her people. The home Leah once knew became a living hell.Finally, Gwyneth released Leah upon Zane's return. Gwyneth had sent Leah away to the hospital as she had a high fever from the infections of her wounds. Gwyneth even lied to Zane that she got bullied in school, hence the wounds.Zane went to the hospital to visit Leah. Much to her dismay, her father did not even care about her but reprimanded her for picking a fight with others."Look at yourself. What hav
"You know, spreading her legs in exchange for cash.""Wow… why did she come here to Salem then? She's polluting our environment.""What else? Her reputation was so awful that people kicked her out. She had to move to a new place for more opportunities."As Gwyneth heard all the mockery, she could not believe her past that had not been brought up for many years and that she had almost forgotten, would be exposed there."Enough!!"Finally, she could not take it anymore. She gritted her teeth and said, "Show me the evidence! How dare you accuse me of something I'm not? I'll sue all of you for defamation! You'll be hearing from my lawyer, just you wait!"Gwyneth knew she could not stay any longer. She picked up her purse and reached for the door, but Sage’s men got in her way."Wait a minute, where do you think you're going, leaving and coming in as you wish?" Sage asked with one eyebrow raised.'Are you thinking of leaving after hitting someone? Do you think I'll let you get away
Sage iced Leah's swollen hands on the way to the hospital as she shook her head."How did you end up getting hurt for beating someone else up? Look at your hands, they're so badly swollen," said Sage.Hunter felt embarrassed for Leah as Leah smiled naively. "That was my first time beating someone up. I have no idea either. But hey, that woman's face was ten times more swelled up than my hands!"Sage looked up at Leah. Although her hands were swollen, she was looking more alive and refreshed than ever.Hunter noticed that too, as though the gloomy clouds above her head finally disappeared, and her traumas were slowly recovering.Sage caressed her cousin's head, "Are you satisfied now?"Leah nodded happily.She leaned over her cousin's shoulders with ice on her hands as she spoke, "Sage, I hated that woman’s guts. She caused my mother's death, took my father away, and bullied me for years. Although violence is not a solution, when I saw her disgusting face, I thought of the times
If it was someone else who told her that, Tilly would not believe them, but those words were coming from Seth.Scoffing bitterly, Tilly replied, "I am just a D-list celebrity with no connections whatsoever. I can't possibly cause any damage, and I'm well aware of that. Miss Sage, what about the second option?"Sage replied, "Take the time you need to recover, and I will have the best surgeon in town fix your face. The company will cover all of your medical expenses. As for Zane and Gwyneth, what goes around comes around, and karma will hit them hard when the time comes. As for you, I will make the arrangements if you want to terminate your contract or withdraw from the entertainment industry.""Or if you'd choose to still believe me and stay at Norah Entertainment, we will do our best to help you gain fame and popularity, but of course, you'd need to put in the effort, too. But at least, you wouldn't have to worry about not having any income," Sage added.Tilly stared blankly at Al
Leah did not go easy on Gwyneth.Gwyneth who had gotten plastic surgery, her face was covered with bruises and blood all over, almost disfigured.She wanted to complain to Zane and hoped that Zane would back her up, but at the sight of her bloodied and disfigured face, a startled Zane ran away from her.Seeing how Zane ran away from her as if he had seen a ghost, Gwyneth became fumed with anger. She had a lot of pursuers, but how did she end up together with a coward?The Norahs were all good-for-nothings.Gwyneth swore that she would return the humiliation that she had received from Leah and Sage earlier.Holding back her anger, Gwyneth visited the plastic surgery hospital to get her face fixed. She made a call to Zane in the hospital, crying, as she complained to him that Sage and Leah had teamed up to bully her, and she wanted Zane to take revenge for her.Zane did feel bad for running away from his wife. Now that his wife's disfigured face was not in his sight, Zane was not
"You…" Yeva got up, went upstairs, and complained to Braxton, "Dad, did you hear what Sage said to me?""There, there."Comforting her daughter, Braxton looked at Sage with a face of scorn and said, "Sage, why are you being such a party pooper on a happy day like this?"Braxton then asked Yeva, "Have you given out your wedding invitations to Sage and Leah?""Oh, here they are."Yeva handed the invitations to Sage and Leah. The cover of the invitation was rather pretty, but the handwriting inside the card was just horrible.Shaking her head, Sage could not even bring herself to finish reading the writing. She thought to herself, ‘Why didn’t Yeva decide to print out the words instead?’Just when Yeva was going on happily about her wedding arrangements, someone barged into the house."Miss Sage, Mister Zane is here!" Noticing that Zane looked furious, Zamora quickly raised her voice and announced Zane's arrival to Sage.Braxton greeted, "Zane, you're here. I was just about to sen
Yeva accidentally slipped out a chuckle at the sight of Zane's ridiculous and pathetic behavior.Finally getting himself off the floor, Zane seethed in pain as his fury sprung to life. "You brat, get the hell over here! How dare you hit your mom!""She is not my mom. My mom is already dead!"Leah shouted at the top of her lungs.Zane froze. He was shocked that his daughter who had always listened well to him was actually yelling at him."You… you've finally lost it, haven't you?"With her eyes reddening, Leah, who was standing behind Sage, walked up to them. "Is it me who's gone mad, or are you guys the ones?""Dad, Gwyneth is not my mom. My mom is Ryleigh Tessa. Do you even remember her name? Or how she looks? Do you even remember how she ended up dead?"At the sight of Zane flinching after being frightened, Leah chuckled softly, but her laugh was filled with sarcasm and scorn. "You don't remember any of it, do you? Well, I would've guessed so. Seeing how you haven't been real
With no intentions of backing down, Leah bored into Zane's eyes.In a sarcastic tone, Sage said, "Uncle Zane, didn't you always say that girls were nothing but a waste of money? Since you have a precious son, why do you still care about what Leah does? You should have done your job as a father back then. Look at you now? And you dare to say that you're her father? Think about it, Uncle Zane, do you even have the right to be her father?"Zane was quivering in anger. He was sure that Leah and Sage had teamed up to purposely go against him.Braxton stood by and watched the 'show' reach its climax. At the sight of his brother who was wordless with rage, he suddenly found the entire situation hilarious.Braxton thought that Zane was finally being hit by karma, and this was what Zane got for showing off his new girlfriends to him back then.If one were to play with fire, one would eventually get burned."Braxton, did you hear those brats? Are they supposed to be talking to me this way?
Sage heard of the saying, 'Marriage is for happiness, and so does divorce.'Based on Wikipedia, the definition of marriage was, 'Marriage is a long-term contractual relationship between a man and a woman based on equal consent.'Someone once said, 'Marriage is like a siege. Those outside wanted to break in, while people inside wanted to break out of the siege.'Sage and Jace had been through marriage once. In their first marriage, they were both losers. This time, they were both determined to win. They wanted to live their lives well. Even if their passion were to fade in the future, they would never leave each other. There were eight couples in line ahead of them. Sage and Jace were the ninth.Jace was eager for their turn. He counted carefully and then said with a smile, "It's nine again. It's a good day for this number."Jace suddenly came up with a good idea, "Let's have a daughter and call her Little Nine, okay?"'Did he just come up with that? How brave,' Sage thought and
The ninth of September arrived quickly.Sage was worried that Jace would not be able to get up on time, but Sage turned out to be the one who overslept. Sage had not slept all night because of a certain someone. She was so sleepy, while Jace was full of energy.Jace carried Sage to the bathroom to wash up and brush her teeth. "Open your mouth. Ah…"Sage squinted as she saw the terrible dark circles under her eyes. She turned around in anger and bumped Jace's head.Jace was caught off guard and felt dizzy from the impact. He rubbed his head. "Dear, aren't you hurting yourself by doing this…""Look at my dark circles. They're so ugly. How am I supposed to take pictures? Sage complained in anger.Jace squinted and rubbed his eyes. "Let me see. What's ugly?"He held Sage's face and observed it. "What's ugly? It's not ugly. My wife is the prettiest in the world!"Jace did not care about the toothpaste foam all over Sage's mouth and kissed her anyway.Primrose opened the door and
Jace made Sage stay up all night. Sage was so sleepy that her eyes were closing."Sleep. I'll wake you up later."Jace leaned down and kissed her forehead. As he closed his eyes, he remembered something and sat up sharply."By the way, we have to wear white shirts for tomorrow's photo session. We haven't prepared the shirt…"Jace rolled over and jumped off the bed right after saying that. Sage could not stop him in time, so she turned on the lamp helplessly. She leaned over the bed and waited for Jace in silence.Shortly after, Jace came back with two shirts. His eyes were shining. "Dear, you've prepared for us?""Yeah." Sage nodded weakly. "I've got them ready. I've had Zamora iron them for me."Jace could finally put his mind at ease. "What about the documents and identifications…"Sage pulled open the drawer of the bedside table and took out the papers and documents she had prepared ahead. "It's all here."Sage looked at Jace. "Everything is ready. You've checked three time
Sage spread out the notebook and looked at the blurred handwriting. She slowly read it out loud, "Step one, conquer her with sweet talking. Use sweeter and flirtatious words that would make people blush. Forget about modesty and shame in bed. It's best to whisper them into her ears…"Sage read the notes with a straight face, making Jace so embarrassed that he could hardly keep his feet on the ground.Jace strode forward with a stiff face and tried to snatch the notebook away. Sage was quick to dodge and continued reading with her head down."Step two, be aggressive at your offense. Focus and remember this, being rough yet gentle. You can use props such as blindfolds, ties, handcuffs, and so on…"Sage's face turned red while reading it. As the images popped into her mind, she had to stop reading.Jace was about to go crazy. He buried his face in his hands, unable to look up at Sage."Where did you learn all these?" Sage threw the notebook at Jace. "Rough yet gentle? Are you seriou
'Electric drill? Seriously?!' Jace thought and got a headache.Seeing that Sage was about to open her mouth again, he panicked and kissed her directly to shut her up.Dean was stunned by Jace's quick action. When he saw the couple kissing in the light, he suddenly raised his hand and hit his head.'I must be on the set… Who else would be so shameless as to kiss in public like that?' Dean thought.Sage finally calmed down after a long kiss. Jace breathed a sigh of relief and picked her up. He told Logan, "I'll leave the other guy to you!""Oh," Logan responded. Then he picked Dean up like a kid and walked out the door.Jace was tired and sweaty by the time he arrived at the hotel. Sage was already soundly asleep. Jace put her to bed and took off her shoes, socks, pants, and clothes. He stripped her clean.Sage drank a lot and was reeking of alcohol. Jace did not want to wake her up, so he did not carry her to the bathroom and bathe her. Instead, he wet the towel with hot water to
In the words of the commentators, the basketball game was very smooth. The national team played well! At last, the national team defeated the opponent team by a score of 106-73.The crowd was thrilled that the national team had won the game. The internet was buzzing with excitement too. There were several hot searches about the national team's victory. The topic #RisingStarJim made the headlines too.Sage had lost her usual composure. She was following the fans and shouting wildly, cheering for the victory.Perhaps this was the power of sports. It made the audience exhilarated and trembling with excitement. Jace looked calm on the outside, but he was actually quite excited on the inside.Sage was cheering in excitement. She jumped up and down like a child while hugging Jace. Jace followed and laughed with her too.They were planning to leave after the game, but Sage was really happy and stayed for the team's celebration party. Sage even asked Jim for his teammates' shoe sizes and
"Is that so?" A trace of interest flashed in Jace's eyes.Sage did not understand, so she asked, "What does a small forward do?"Jace explained, "The small forwards are typically the tallest and most athletic of all players. They are responsible for scoring points and defending. The main goal of strong shooters is to score and create opportunities for teammates. In other cases, they would operate as off-ball specialists. They would wait for teammates to pass the ball, catch the ball, and shoot to score."Seeing Sage's confused look, Jace added, "James and Durant, for example, are playing as small forwards.""Oh!" Sage immediately understood after hearing the name of these famous basketball stars. Her eyes lit up. "Isn't that amazing?"Jace saw the sparkle in her eyes and found her really adorable. He said, smiling, "It is. Basketball is all about teamwork. Small forward is probably the most versatile of the five main basketball positions and carries multiple functions in the game.
The next morning, Sage, Jace, and Dean went to the basketball arena for the World Championships after breakfast.It was the men's basketball world championship, where their country's basketball team was up against another country. By the time they got to the arena, many people were in the audience.The staff guided Sage and the group to their designated seat in the family section.As soon as Dean sat down, someone next to him called out his name. Dean seemed unsurprised by this. He even smiled and waved at them. After that, he gestured for them to be polite and silent. It was not Dean's first time watching his younger brother's basketball game live. Many of his fans knew that Dean's younger brother was playing on the national team. They especially came over to get closer to him. Some were Jim's fans too. They knew Dean was Jim's brother, so they would greet him.After listening to Dean's explanation, Sage's businessman side as the owner of Norah Entertainment appeared again."If
Jace muffled his laughs and relaxed in the night light. He said, "I have to work harder, or someone will call me old.""Hey." Sage knew he would get back at her.She rolled over and lay on top of Jace. She played with his chest and said in a muffled voice, "I have a new nickname for you."Jace responded, "Hm?"Sage looked up at him. "Vengeance."Jace was stunned and soon broke into a peal of laughter. Sage leaned on him and felt the rise and fall of his breathing. As his chest resonated with his laughter, Sage followed along with his laughter. Both of them were laughing like fools. Sage and Jace lay flat on the bed after laughing nonstop. They opened up and improved their intimacy so much. As a result, their whole body and mind were very relaxed tonight. "Hey..." The two spoke in unison, exchanged a glance, and smiled again.Sage said, "Go ahead."Jace looked at Sage and muttered, "I'll say something, but don't get mad at it.""Just say it." Sage looked at him.Jace though