"And you are?" The elder stood up when he saw Kirk. The aura that Kirk exuded was one of a kind. Even the elder, who'd been through a lot in life, was overwhelmed by Kirk's presence. "Kirk Morrison." Kirk entered the room, his eyes already locked on Caroline. Seeing that she was just fine, he averted his gaze to look at the Hackett family's elder. "You're Kirk Morrison?" Someone was unimpressed. "You're Kirk Morrison my arse—" That person barely finished his sentence when Kirk's glare made him shut up for good. "He's Kirk Morrison all right." Aiden cleared their doubts. "He's Kirk Morrison just because you claimed that he was?" someone mumbled in protest. "Have you forgotten that I've met Kirk before?" Aiden said, his voice loud and clear as he looked at Kirk. "The head of the Sorkin family has seen him before too. You can ask Damien Sorkin if you don't believe me!" Only then were those people in the room reminded of that time when Aiden met Kirk in person. All of the
"I told you that I'm no longer the head of the family the moment you drove my daughter out." Aiden's voice rang loud and clear so that everyone could hear him. It was then that the elder realized that the issue regarding Cheryl wasn't settled just yet. He had to get Aiden back on his side, so he said, "It was a joke. Cheryl knew that Kirk had Ms. Evans back. She did us a favor. She's a part of our family. How could we chase her away?" He emphasized his point again by saying, "It was all a misunderstanding. Right, everyone?"The other members of the Hackett family didn't object. "Yeah! It was just a misunderstanding!" they spoke as one.Only Theodora and Moira were recalcitrant. Cheryl managed to catch a glimpse of them in the sea of faces and noticed that the two women clenched their jaws adamantly. However, their expressions changed as they smiled the second they sensed Cheryl's gaze. Theodora even pinched Moira to remind her to recompose herself. Cheryl smiled dryly at
If it was discovered that she was the one who'd created the false evidence, Theodora and Moira would be driven out of the family for sure. Theodora's husband had passed away a long time ago, so she had no one to depend on in the Hackett family. If the Hacketts found out that she played a part in framing Cheryl, no one would have her back. The longer Theodora stared at Cheryl, the more panicked she became. "Great! We've cleared the misunderstanding!" the elder exclaimed as he approached Kirk. "You don't visit us often. Since you're here …" He then paused to check the time and said, "Why don't you have dinner with us? It's already half past ten." Kirk, too, checked the time. Then, his expression changed slightly, and he told Charles, "Stay here to clean up the mess." "Sir—" Charles started to protest, but Kirk was already nowhere to be seen. "What's the matter?" the elder asked, puzzled as to why Kirk had to rush off. Charles didn't feel like answering the question. Inste
Nightshade continued stomping his feet as if he were a naughty child. Meanwhile, Sean had had enough of Nightshade's tantrums. Turning to Kirk, he said, "Kirk, I need to get some air. You need to find a way to settle this." With that, he headed straight for the door, leaving Kik, Caroline, and Nightshade in the room. Glancing at Caroline, Nightshade grinned and said, "You're Caroline, right? It's all thanks to you that Kirk left this place. You could say that I owe you one." Caroline approached Nightshade with her eyes trained on him the whole time. Her unblinking gaze made him frown uncomfortably. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked. But Caroline ignored him. Then, she walked in a circle around him several times and kept quiet as she did so. Nightshade was so confused that he asked Kirk, "Is something wrong with your wife? Why is she staring at me like that? Has she fallen in love with me?" The longer he talked, the more exaggerated his words became. Kir
"I don't know," Caroline told Sean. "Ask her when you're home." Sean didn't know what to say anymore. Caroline had no intention of helping him, it seemed. After he left, Nightshade said, "I don't intend to stay here and be the third wheel. Don't worry, though, I'm a man of my word." Kirk and Caroline stared at him in silence, dubious. The suspicion in their eyes said it all. It made Nightshade panic, and he said, "I told you, I won't break my promise. What's that look on your faces? I swear you two look the same with that expression." Caroline and Kirk froze. Nightshade clicked his tongue and added, "My, my! Your faces look identical even when your expressions change. Forget it! Staying here won't do me any good. I'll suffocate from all your lovey-doveyness if I stayed here any longer." "We—" Caroline wanted to retort, but her protest was briefly cut short by Nightshade's inquiry. "Right. My pay for being your bodyguard should be quite handsome, right?" The question wa
"Besides, it's been a long time since those two took orders." "Do you know where they come from?" Caroline asked. Caroline hadn't spoken a lot to him for some time, so even if Kirk didn't know much about the two assassins, he wanted to seize the chance to prolong their conversation. "No, I don't," he said. "But I've heard things about them." Caroline instantly caught that something was off and said, "You've heard of them before? I thought you never bothered to gossip." Kirk cleared his throat awkwardly. "They're legendary assassins, after all. Do you want to know more about them?" Caroline nodded. "Sure."Finally, Kirk's frown disappeared as the gears in his brain started working to come up with a story. He started, "It's said that these two assassins are husband and wife that were childhood sweethearts. They lived in poverty when they were young and resorted to stealing to make a living. "One day, they were caught, and the boy was beaten half to death."Later, they r
Caroline looked at Corrine strangely. "I just… That's not what I meant." Corrine froze when she realized that she'd overreacted. Then, she laughed it off and said, "Thank goodness. My superiors when I worked abroad were highly sensitive about their private affairs. They'd get annoyed if someone showed too much concern for them."She continued, "I'm sorry for overreacting. You can tell me straight away if I'm going overboard. There's no need to hide your discomfort from me." Caroline smiled. "No, I think it's fine this way. It makes me think that there are still thoughtful people in the world." Corrine secretly heaved a sigh of relief after making sure that Caroline wasn't taking things too seriously. She then smiled and walked out of the elevator. However, the moment Corrine left, Caroline stopped putting on a show. A grave look fell on her face as she headed to her office. She then took out the documents containing Corrine's information. After scanning it a couple of tim
Caroline couldn't focus on work the entire evening. When it was time to get off work, she dashed out of her office on time.The staff were surprised to see her leave so early. "Ms. Evans' getting off work so early today." "Yeah! Maybe she's going on a date." "A date? Isn't she married?" "Married? I think she's getting a divorce. Why haven't we seen her husband pick her up after so long, then?" "You're right. I remember it now. She sure seems rather odd these days. Maybe she's really getting a divorce. It's fine, though, since she's a big shot now. It'd be such a shame if her current boyfriend was just an ordinary staff in a random company.""Wouldn't it sound strange if our boss' husband was just an ordinary corporate slave?" Some people started frowning at the thought. But just as they were in the heat of the argument, they heard someone's voice come from behind them."There's nothing wrong with that. Sooner or later, Caroline will turn into an ordinary person just l