At the hospital, Chloe was out of danger after some emergency medical treatment. But she looked frail and pitiable.Chris held her hand that wasn't hooked to the IV drip and looked at her sorrowfully. Chloe's health had worsened immensely in a short amount of time. "I'm sorry, Chloe. It's my fault Marina turned out like that."He didn't know the whole story, but he was sure Marina had done more horrible things than he imagined. Chloe wouldn't have been so angry otherwise. Chloe smiled weakly. "It's okay, I'm fine. You don't have to blame Marina. She's just a kid.""She's the mother of two children. She's not a child anymore. I'm aware of what kind of person my daughter is. She has always blamed you for what happened to her mother."Chloe grasped Chris' hand. "I can understand how she feels. She lost her mother at such a young age. It's natural for her to hate me. I don't blame her.""Sometimes, I wish you'd at least get angry at her. I'd feel better that way. I'll ask her to s
Chris saw that Ethan didn't respond, so he added, "Donating her bone marrow is different from donating her kidney. No harm will come to her body. I know she's still mad about what happened during the kidnapping. "But they're mother and daughter, after all. She shouldn't hold a grudge against her mother. Let me meet with her. There are some things that I need to say to her in person.""Mr. Carlton, I'm not holding her captive. Her phone is accessible. You're here because she isn't willing to meet with you, right?"Ethan exhaled some smoke with his head tilted upward. "Since she has already decided, I don't want to trouble her with more issues. She suffered significant psychological trauma in that kidnapping."The conversations between them had always been short and straight to the point. But Chris had no choice but to lay his pride down for Chloe's sake. "Ethan, I know you don't have feelings for Marina. You're marrying her because you want our family to back you, right?""That'
Olivia lazed around on the island for a few days. She did nothing but sleep and eat the whole time. The quality of her life improved immensely. She walked around the beach barefooted while carrying a bucket in hand. She would grab any sand crabs she saw with tongs. Snowball wanted to help her, but the sand was too hot for her, so she moved away. Olivia went to the livestock area after she had caught quite a few sand crabs. She poured the sand carbs out, which caused the farm animals to chase after them. Her mood improved as she looked at the lively animals. Then, she went back to her room to shower in preparation for dinner. She happened to get a call from Colin."Olivia, how have you been?""I've been pretty well. I've been eating, drinking, and sleeping well. I don't have to worry about getting kidnapped either.""That's great. I just wanted to inform you that your father has arrived at the destination safely. The doctors on the island have just examined him. His body is
After he hung up, Ethan looked at all the new leads before him. In the time Olivia was out of town, he had gotten to investigating the whereabouts of Toxic Hive and about the past. He found the hometown of Paul Cruz and Clara Foster. According to what his people found out, the child had been gone for some days. From the pictures provided by the villagers, the child looked a lot like Belle and had some of Paul's features. Paul and Clara had also disappeared from Aldenvine. Even though he couldn't bring the child back, their existence was proof enough. Someone had pinned the blame on Jeff. The claims about Belle having his baby and Jeff forcing her away, which caused her to suffer from mental illness before she ultimately committed suicide didn't hold up to scrutiny. Someone had plotted everything, even before Jeff's traffic accident. But it didn't seem like the person wanted to harm him. Their main objective was to destroy his relationship with Olivia. The person went to great
There was a hidden tunnel under the cherry blossom tree in the garden of the Moriarty residence. Colin jumped into it. At a certain underground base outside of the city, Colin was seen in a black outfit and a mask. Scanning his fingerprint, he entered the base. He walked down a long dimly-lit flight of stairs where the air smelled like mold and rotten corpses. He walked through a door, and the scenery behind it was completely different. There were advanced mechanical devices glowing with blue lights and robots everywhere. His identity was being verified at the door. A robotic voice said, "Verified. Welcome home, Leo."Colin quickly walked forward, but someone pressed something against his head. A woman asked, "Where did you take the old man?"The gentleness he usually showed for Olivia was gone. He swung his elbow hard toward his back with a sullen face. The woman dodged instinctively. He used the opening to grab the woman and got behind her. With one hand, he grabbed her
Olivia took it easy for two more days. As long as her phone was on, Chris' messages would keep coming in, so she turned it off. She lay in the soft and spacious bed as she looked at the horizon.Although the island was a great place, she kept thinking of Ethan's words. She wondered when he would come and take her back to the city. She was eager to go back. She had time to wait, but the same couldn't be said for Jeff. It was almost time for his operation. She called Ethan again."What's wrong?" Ethan sounded tired. "I want to go back now, Ethan.""Give me some time. I'll come get you myself." "But … I want to go back now.""I need some more time." Ethan couldn't let her know what he was doing. He could only guarantee her safety after he cleared out all the threats in the city. "But if there's something you have to do, you can tell me," Ethan said patiently. Olivia didn't want too many people to know about Jeff's condition, so she didn't tell him."It's nothing. I'm just
Brent found it strange that Chris hadn't come looking for Ethan in the past few days. "Did Mr. Carlton give up?""He'll never give up until the last moment. He knows I won't budge. He's probably thinking of other ways." Ethan was sure no one could locate Olivia if he didn't go to the island. She must be safe. Brent handed him a bulletproof vest and said, "Mr. Miller, you should wear it just to be safe. The knife wound on your chest hasn't completely healed yet.""Okay."Ethan looked at the cloudy sky. The sunlight was completely blocked out. The world looked dark and gloomy. Brent, who was driving, said irritably, "It's so stuffy. It's probably going to rain soon. Rain just dampens the mood.""It's good to have some rain. It'll cleanse the filth from this city."Ethan couldn't help but call Olivia when he thought about what he was about to do. It was how things used to be. Her voice would calm him down.Olivia had just finished feeding the ducks. She had been chased around
Reality proved that a former long-distance running champion was no match for well-trained military men. In less than 50 meters, Olivia was subdued by one of Chris' men. She was pinned to the ground in a neck hold with her face against the scorching sand.Chris quickly said, "Don't hurt her. She's a guest."Olivia was captured, and there was some sand on her right cheek. She spat some sand out of her mouth before saying, "So this is how you treat guests?"Chris took out a handkerchief and cleaned her face himself. "Sorry, Olivia."Olivia was put on the helicopter just like that. Chris smiled bitterly when he met her eyes, which were filled with hatred. "Olivia, you're Chloe's only child. I want to take care of you. It's not my wish for things to turn out like this. I hope you can understand.""I can't, nor do I want to."Olivia looked outside the window. The beautiful island was getting farther and farther from her like it was all a dream.The person who had sworn to protec
Warren's pale face showed a hint of pleading. "Olivia, we've gotten to know each other better in the past two years. Have you ever loved me?"Hatred was evident in Olivia's cold eyes. "Never. I pray for your death every single second of my life.""I knew it." He smiled at that embittering answer. Karma had always been there. Another sound of a gunshot surprised the birds. A pool of blood splashed over the flowers. Warren stared at the picture on the gravestone. "Mona, I've returned everything that I owe you…"Olivia's gaze alternated between the two bodies. Her heart ached as she began crying. "It's finally over, Mona. Please rest in peace."She had been waiting for this day to come for too long. When the revenge was finally over, she felt hollow on the inside. …Yarrows reached their peak of beauty during the season, dancing along the wind. Willow was chasing after Zack, her bells ringing briskly. He teased, "You can't catch me!"After weaving a garland, Alicia bec
Warren was so blinded by love that he didn't realize that Olivia had spent the last two years setting this up.The moment he saw Olivia nestling in Ethan's arms, he knew that his identity had been exposed since the beginning.It was time to end all of this.Although the Fordham family had won the fight, they sustained heavy casualties. Brandon and Deborah, together with Jacqueline, had hurt and killed countless people. Quinn became a sacrifice, never waking up again despite her young age. Olivia placed a bouquet before Quinn's gravestone. "Rest in peace, Quinn. I'll take good care of the family. Don't worry."The breeze carried a leave before it landed on Olivia's shoulder, as though trying to respond to Olivia.Douglas reunited with the family, and Natalie was finally buried in peace. It was a private funeral, but Mason paid a visit. Mason and Douglas looked at each other. They were both important to Natalie, and they finally met each other after her death. With reddene
"Avery, what happened?" Olivia inquired.She had no clue what was happening and didn't dare to go anywhere close to Louis. The only person who she got close to was Avery."Stay away, Olivia! It's too dangerous!" Avery yelled worriedly. Louis shifted his gaze to Olivia. "My experiment is going to be successful soon. That's Natalie's descendant. She has Natalie's genes in her…"Olivia's eyes widened as she finally realized why Louis had been taking special care of her. Back then, she simply assumed that it was due to her health and talent, but it turned out that he had known her identity all along!The purpose of the human modification project was to resurrect Natalie! The thought of it gave her goosebumps.To think that he had made so many preparations just to resurrect Natalie…Even Olivia was deceived. She took the human modification project at face value; she didn't think much about it! "Let Natalie go, Louis. She's been gone for years. She could be watching us from up
Olivia arrived on the island. She noticed the change in the atmosphere this time around.It was the same old scenery, but the robots that once filled the island to the brim were gone. She expected to encounter some inspection robots upon arrival, but there weren't any.Ships were docking in lines by the seashore, and most of them belonged to private foreigner organizations and mercenaries. People were coming to the island!What happened?Was Louis in danger?Although Louis wished to transform her into a cyborg, she hoped he could live regardless. No matter what field it was, no one would come before an outstanding scientist like him. It would be a huge loss to lose him.Olivia grew worried. "Calm down, Liv. A lot of people came to the island, but I don't think it's a big issue for now," Ethan reminded her.He bet that the ships were loaded with ammunition. Still, the buildings on the island were intact, and nothing seemed to be destroyed. She disagreed, "No, there should
Mason and David had a long discussion by themselves. No one knew what they talked about.But it didn't matter because it was just an extra member joining the Fordham family anyway. That was it.On the other hand, Tatiana was a little worried. If the whole Fordham family were to be added to the family registry, would her children inherit less from the Heath family?Humans were born selfish. When the event actually came to pass, everyone would be thinking about their own benefit. However, the result of the discussion between David and Mason surprised everyone.Even though David wasn't acknowledged as one of the Fordhams, he wasn't planning to change his surname to Heath.He saw himself as a Fordham because his mother married Douglas.Nevertheless, he didn't mind his family being relatives with the Fordham family.Mason was a little disappointed, but he still respected David's decision because he knew how well Douglas treated David's family.Mason asked the Fordham family to sta
Olivia and the others returned to the Fordham family. Everything was going back on track under Avery's management. Sean's leg was recovering well. He could walk like a normal person, and he didn't have to pretend to be a cripple anymore. Troy would need more time to heal, but he was making progress.David clearly seemed better than he was before Olivia left. Everyone could still hardly believe that Jacqueline almost killed everyone in the family all by herself. When Olivia returned, David asked with concern, "Olivia, Avery said that you were cursed. How are you feeling right now?""Don't worry, Dad. I'm all better now. But we think that Jacqueline's dead in the sea," she assured.He hugged her. "It's alright. Your safety is all I hope for."It broke her heart to see how time had chipped away at his physique. It hadn't actually been that long since the family was in trouble. "Any news about Mom's whereabouts?" asked Olivia. "Avery found something, but he's still trying to
Alan brushed it over, but it was enough to leave Wendell in shock. Wendell imagined what kind of life Wayne had led before this. Growing up in a slum where all kinds of people lived… People like them had never really owned anything anyway, so they wouldn't feel the pain of loss…Ever since his wife passed away, Wendell didn't really care much about Alexander's upbringing. Wendell was merely generous when it came to spending money on Alexander. But once he reunited with his son, he realized how much it could hurt to be a parent. If that marriage arrangement was Wayne's wish, Wendell was hell-bent on making it happen.…Olivia was watching the sunset painting colors to the horizon by the seashore. Although Jacqueline was dead, Olivia didn't feel happy, not even one bit. So what if the mastermind was dead? The Fordham family was still in disarray, and no one knew where Shana was.Olivia sighed softly. "You're too young to be sighing like that." Wayne suddenly appeared next
Wendell felt helpless. He was seriously down on luck.Instead of his son, he thought that he had found himself a bossy superior. It was a heartfelt reunion after 30 years of separation, and yet the first thing Wayne talked about was an announcement about his marriage rather than expressing words of concern for his family. If it were any ordinary woman, Wendell wouldn't have minded it. But the person he insisted on marrying was none other than Olivia! She was a divorced woman with four kids!On top of that, Olivia's ex-husband was Wendell's nephew! The divorced couple was somewhat entangled with each other too.Ethan and Wayne were both dear to him. What should he do? Wendell was at his wit's end. Ignoring Wendell's dilemma, Wayne handed him a cigarette. But Wendell refused, "I quit it."Wayne lit a cigarette and squatted on the ground. Instead of a ruler of a land, he appeared more like a construction worker. Wendell massaged his forehead at that. How had his son grown
Wendell had been frail all his life. He never imagined that his biological son would have been missing for so many years. What surprised him more was that Wayne had grown up well despite hardships. Still, there seemed to be something off about this son of his.They were father and son who had been separated for years. Now that the truth was revealed, shouldn't they be hugging each other in tears of joy? Why did Wayne show no joy in reuniting with his father but seemed interested in his identity as the son of the Procter family—or more precisely, the marriage arrangement between the Procter family and the Fordham family?""Son, things are a bit complicated right now. We need to take our time to discuss this thoroughly—""Am I not your son?" Wayne's restless temperament was exactly the same as his mother's. There was no chance of dissuading him. There was only one thing in his head. He felt fortunate that he had run a background check on the ties between both families. Otherwise