Ethan slept for a long time. When he woke up at night, he looked beside him as soon as he opened his eyes. But he was alone in the bed. He lifted the blanket to see himself fully dressed. He felt disappointed as he thought what had happened was a dream. Maybe it was because he missed Olivia too much and was too afraid of losing her. Olivia would hate him even more if he really did what he thought he did. He held his head in his hands. He still felt a little lightheaded, but the sleep cleared up his fatigue. The fever was gone, and he felt much better. He took a shower to freshen himself up before leaving the room. He saw Madam Burgess cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Her face lit up when she saw Ethan coming downstairs. "You're finally awake, Mr. Miller. You must be hungry after such a long nap. Don't worry, I'll take care of it. I've made a lot of food that you and Mrs. Miller like."Ethan frowned, asking, "Who?""Mrs. Miller, of course. You were still bedridden with a h
Olivia dreamt about the time when Ethan still pampered her. Back then, he built a manor of roses for her just because she told him roses were pretty. There were dozens of roses inside the estate, each with different shapes and colors. They were carefully tended by gardeners.It took one whole year for the garden to take shape. It was ready on the day of her birthday. Ethan told her he was busy that day and couldn't have dinner with her. She was disappointed and ended the call with a crestfallen expression, but she didn't blame him. Ethan was the head of the Miller family, and Miller Group had a lot of businesses that he needed to tend to. It was only natural that he was so busy. She thought it wasn't a big deal that he forgot about her birthday. There was always the next one. She was still young and had plenty of birthdays to look forward to. She baked a cake for herself that afternoon. But she messed up several times because she was in a bad mood. She didn't care about th
Just as Ethan wanted to savor the moment, Madam Burgess' loud voice came from downstairs. "Mr. Miller, is Mrs. Miller awake yet?"Her powerful voice penetrated the walls and went straight into Olivia's ears. Olivia instantly snapped back to reality with a chilling realization. She wasn't dreaming! She stopped moving. She could only make out Ethan's silhouette in the darkness and couldn't see his expression. She was utterly in shock. She felt like she was about to explode in embarrassment when she saw that her pajamas were undone.She quickly dove onto the bed and covered herself with her blanket. Ethan was enveloped in immense disappointment. With a bitter smile, he quickly suppressed his emotions."The food's ready. Come downstairs and have some," Ethan said in a deep voice.He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.Olivia, who was hiding under the blanket, was blushing. She couldn't believe the things she just did. She was so close to stripping Ethan and havi
Ethan was surprised that Olivia was able to recognize Leia by her eyes. She had the same thought as him. Ethan began to feel anxious and uneasy. Olivia was afraid that he wouldn't believe her. She took a sip of lemon water to moisten her throat and said, "I know this may be hard to believe, but I have a way to validate my claim. We just need to take Jodie's bones for testing, and the truth will be revealed." Ethan gripped his cutlery tighter as he said deeply, "It can't be done.""Why?""The body was cremated. The high temperature would have ruined the integrity of the DNA. Even if I allowed you to dig up the coffin and retrieve a sample, you'd only get some ashes." Olivia slumped back in her chair and said with a shaky voice, "How can that be? I went to her grave this morning. I saw signs that the soil on her grave had been filled back in hastily. Could someone have dug her body up before us?"Ethan's back stiffened. He didn't expect her to have been to the grave already. "
Ethan said slowly, "You were friends with him? Why haven't you told me about that? How else are you related to him?"Anger flared in Ethan's eyes. Olivia was upset. "Are you and Marina the only ones allowed to be childhood friends? Why can't I be childhood friends with Colin? I didn't tell you about that because I didn't see the need to. "He was just a playmate. Just because you have malicious intent doesn't mean he's the same."Smirking, Ethan said, "You think I'm malicious and he's good?"The mocking smile made Olivia feel uncomfortable. But with everything said, Olivia retorted stubbornly, "Am I wrong? You cheated on me while you were married to me, and you even have kids with her. If you're not the bad guy here, no one else would be."Ethan started to breathe heavily from the rage he felt. "Olivia, do you even know what kind of person he is? And what he has done?""What could he possibly do?" Olivia recalled her phone call to Colin that didn't go through and the fact that
Olivia was rendered speechless. In such a situation, Colin would've died if he had drawn his firearm too late. No one would've been using a melee weapon. Colin didn't tell her anything about what went down. He casually summed up what happened in a single sentence. Looking at the footage and thinking about Colin's innocent face, Olivia felt a chill run down her spine. She didn't expect the man she trusted to be so ruthless. "If he wasn't hurt from that incident, where did the wound come from?"Ethan held Olivia's chin in place with his finger. "Liv, do you really not know why he did that? Hasn't he always been the innocent, gentle, and caring young man in your eyes? If he got hurt for your sake, wouldn't you feel guilt and remorse?"Olivia blinked, but she wasn't able to deny what Ethan said. He continued, "Just because he's young, it doesn't mean he's not manipulative. If I hadn't utilized extraordinary means, he would've gotten you out of the country. I wouldn't have been
There were signs before that Olivia had failed to pick up on. Like the time Colin asked to visit Jeff. He looked at all of the data and even performed a check on him. Colin looked serious back then. It was an expression she had never seen on him before. Ethan saw Olivia's upset expression and hugged her. "Liv, it's not like that. I want to protect you. I don't want to see you get hurt ever again."Raising her teary eyes to look at him, she said, "But … you're the one who hurt me the most. Don't you think your words are absurd?"Colin might have lied to me, but you're no saint either. So don't be calling the kettle black now. You have no right to say you'll keep me from getting hurt." Olivia escaped his embrace and said, "Thanks for telling me everything.""Stop throwing a fit with me, Liv. Even though we took down Toxic Hive's base, all the important people in the organization took off. It's dangerous for you out there."Olivia looked him in the eye seriously. Wiping her tear
"It's simple. They want to test out the drugs they made."Ethan felt a little cranky and subconsciously reached for his cigarettes. Upon realizing that Olivia was still here, he stopped going for his cigarettes. He rubbed his nose awkwardly as he continued, "Some research is forbidden in every country, even for the World Health Organization. These research and experiments are usually inhumane and rejected by society. "But these things brought some of the most extreme researchers together. Toxic Hive is a paradise for them. They can do their research however they want and don't have to think about their impact on others. Their only goals in life are to complete the research that they want to do."Olivia asked, "So they won't care even if their research harms society?""That's right. If there isn't anyone to test out the drugs they made, they'll release them into crowds of people and let those people become the test subjects for their drugs. They'll observe from afar and record th
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