Back in the Miller residence, Ethan had a slightly sad look on his face. But when he saw Olivia, his gaze instantly turned gentle."You're back."Olivia couldn't care about what had happened between them. She walked right up to Ethan. "What happened to Marina?""We're not sure if she's alive or not.""Is it the work of Toxic Hive?""We can't be sure about that yet. I wanted to meet up to ask her about Ms. Parker. I didn't expect something to happen to her even before we managed to meet up. But she probably won't die."Olivia asked, "Why?""If they wanted to silence her by killing her, they could just give it a little push after the accident. She was barely alive then, and she would be considered dead because of an accident."They went through the trouble to take her away, so it's obvious that they're not after her life."Olivia frowned as well. She asked, "Why would they do something to Marina?"If Olivia was Chloe's reason for getting harmed, she wondered what Marina's was.
Not only Erina's looks but even her personality was the opposite of Connor's.The little girl's eyes were filled with enmity toward Olivia. She was young, but she knew everything.Mina hastily said, "I'm so sorry, Ms. Fordham. Erina is shy, so she doesn't like strangers getting close to her."Olivia had already retracted her hand. She wouldn't blame the child for her hate toward Olivia. But since Erina hated her, she wouldn't try to please Erina, either.Their relationship was quite odd. Connor was Marina's child as well, but Olivia felt a sense of familiarity when she first met him."It's okay, she's just a child. But what about you?"Olivia looked at Mina's leg. "Is your leg okay?"Back on the ship, Jack had shot Mina.Mina smiled. "Thank you for your concern, Ms. Fordham. I wasn't seriously hurt. I've already rested and recuperated for a few months."Even though the injured nerves need time to heal, it won't affect how I take care of the children."By the looks of it, Jack
It was Olivia's turn to be puzzled now. She wondered what was going on with the child.When she first met him, he didn't even know how to walk. But he would tug at her clothes and call her "Mommy"."Are you serious? He never called anyone that before?""I'm sure of it. I am always around him, after all. Other than his mumbles, he never called anyone 'Mommy'. He may be young, but he's very much like Mr. Miller."Ever since he learned how to walk, he rarely lets anyone carry him. That's why I was surprised to see him getting so close to you, Ms. Fordham. He even calls you 'Mommy'."Olivia felt a little awkward when she heard that. She could only find an excuse. "It was probably when we stayed on the island. I always took care of him back then, so maybe he learned to depend on me.""That makes sense. Speaking of which, you were so brave that night, Ms. Fordham. The kidnappers were armed, but you ran after them anyway."If it weren't for you, Master Connor wouldn't have made it back
Chris was at the Carlton residence. He was already grieving, but now, even his daughter's life was in danger. He looked very worn out.Even Ethan pitied Chris when he saw the latter like this. "Mr. Carlton, don't worry too much. Marina must still be alive. If not, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble to take her away."Chris sighed. "Even if she's still alive, she won't be alright …"Otto slammed his hands on the table. "Who are those people? How dare they attack my granddaughter in broad daylight?"After all, he loved his granddaughter the most since she was young. He would risk his life to fight anyone who dared to hurt her."The current evidence points to the Toxic Hive."Otto's expression shifted. "That's impossible! It couldn't have been the Toxic Hive!"Ethan had a feeling that Otto was overreacting. He turned to look at Otto, a deep look flashing across his dark eyes. "Why couldn't it have been the Toxic Hive?"Otto hastily hid his emotions. "You have been crackin
Chris contacted Toxic Hive again. He thought that they would reject communication after Marina's incident. Unexpectedly, they told him to go to the agreed place on time.He didn't know what Toxic Hive was thinking. Since they were bold enough to say that, he would be brave enough to meet them as well.After planning their strategy, Ethan had to go back and get ready. When he left, he noticed that Otto was in a daze. Otto seemed to be very out of it.After leaving the Carlton residence, Ethan gave an order. "Investigate what Mr. Carlton Senior has been doing and the people he met."Brent knew what he meant right away. "Mr. Miller, are you suspecting Mr. Carlton Senior?""If no one is hiding the Toxic Hive, we would've found traces of them by now. Few people in Aldenvine can do that. There was something off about Mr. Carlton Senior today."Brent frowned, saying, "With a status like that, Mr. Carlton Senior won't get involved with those scum, will he?""Do you know why scammers who
The light disappeared from Olivia's eyes. Putting down the towel, she said coldly, "Go ahead and bathe him. I'll go change my clothes."With that, she strode out of the room without waiting for Ethan's reaction.She couldn't bring herself to hurt a child, but she couldn't bear to see Ethan pampering Connor either.She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if her child were still alive. She wondered if things would've turned out differently by now.But in reality, it wouldn't change much. Bringing him into this world would only endanger him.After all, she couldn't even ensure her safety.Ethan quickly came in after her. Olivia was changing her clothes, so a large area of her fair skin entered his line of sight.Olivia cried out, and Ethan quickly turned around.Soon, he realized something. They had done even the most intimate of acts, but they reacted as if they were strangers.Even his instincts were telling him that they were getting further away. He didn't even realize
Olivia didn't sleep a wink at all. She grabbed her phone as soon as her phone screen lit up in the darkness.It was a text from Avery. "Are you asleep yet?"She got out of bed. Since she didn't want to wake the child, she headed to the washroom to call Avery.Avery's gentle voice rang into her ear. "Hello. It's late, and you weren't asleep?""Yeah. Did you find any leads?""Yes. There are two things I wanna tell you. First, Mr. Carlton and Ms. Rosa are going to meet up soon. Second, I've found something about the person you wanted me to look into."Olivia's eyes lit up. She didn't hold high hopes of finding anything about that person, but Avery was surprisingly reliable."Who is that?" she asked."The members of Toxic Hive use fake names, so knowing her name is pointless. Her code name is Begonia. I managed to track her current whereabouts. Would you like to meet up with her before she moves elsewhere?"Avery reported his findings with equanimity, but he managed to make her ju
Olivia knew that Avery was telling the truth. The warmth was evident in his gaze, but it was free from sensual emotions.She blinked her eyes, wondering if that was how it felt like to have an older brother.She smiled. "It's alright. I'm not as lucky as you are to have so many siblings. I'm the only child in my family."It pained Avery to see the loneliness in her eyes. He took a document out of his bag. "Here's Begonia's information. Take a look at it."She was impressed that he could dig out Begonia's information when she had only brought it up briefly. Not even Ethan could get such information in his hands!However, the woman on the document was wearing a mask. Olivia couldn't see her face.Avery explained, "Concealing their identity has always been a rule in Toxic Hive. Even those people who work together in the same space don't reveal their faces to each other.""I see."Aside from Begonia's face, he had detailed information, such as her position in Toxic Hive.Instead
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