Under Marina's anxious gaze, the lady removed Marina's oxygen mask. "Just what do you want?" asked Marina weakly. Her question was free from her usual supercilious tone."What do I want?" The lady chuckled softly. Her face was no less different from what Marina remembered.Time, which could be relentless, chose to be kind to this lady whose face was free from wrinkles.The lady was gentle and warm in the past. She had always looked at Marina with a warm gaze, giving Marina a wholesome childhood.Hence, Marina treasured this lady the most in her life. This lady was her mother, and no one could replace her.However, everything changed after the car accident happened. Looking at that lady's face, Marina knew how cruel this lady was and realized how foolish she had been.Tears ran down Marina's cheeks. Her voice was hoarse. "Don't you love Dad? Why did you stage your death and plot all of this?""Love?" Helen Gibson grinned like a madwoman. Like a loving mother, she caressed Mar
The castle-like mansion was massive and empty, so empty that one could hear his footsteps echoing against the walls.It was late at night. There were a few ancient wall lamps lit up, barely lighting up the darkness.A piano sound broke the silence, filling the mansion. It was the famous song "The Dream Wedding".Listening to the song in an eerie castle in the middle of the night was scary. It would've been a relaxing song if it was played in any other venues.Accompanied by the song, Chris ascended the stairs.He found it odd to meet up with the mysterious leader of Toxic Hive this way.Ethan, who was forced to stay in the yard, hid under the roof. He knew where the nearby surveillance cameras were.Hacking a surveillance camera was easy for him. It took him a few minutes to dysfunction them. The only scene that was shown on the surveillance footage should be the original scene.Ethan, who had observed the castle's structure, sneaked into the first floor through a pipeline.
Olivia was following Avery side by side. They were wearing the same mask.He had changed his sapphire ring into a green chrysoberyl ring. As she entered the castle, she could hear the piano playing from the rooftop. Two crows happened to fly over them.The dim lights made the Rosa flowers appear somehow eerie. It was almost summer, but Olivia's skin crawled when the wind blew.Avery lowered his voice. "Don't be afraid. Just follow me closely. You don't have to do or say anything later on."She hummed softly in response. After all, she was just here to confirm Leia's identity.The piano sounds suddenly stopped, and pin-drop silence filled the area.A man and a woman were running toward them.When they drew closer, Olivia noticed that they were wearing masks.Regardless, she managed to recognize them. It was Ryan and Jennifer.At this moment, Olivia was glad that she was wearing a mask, as it hid her vehement emotions.The fact that these two were here proved that she was get
Soon, the door swung open. Olivia tightly grasped the hem of her sleeves.There was a switch between Olivia and Leia's positions.Olivia had found out that Leia was the mastermind, but Leia was clueless about Olivia's presence.Now that they were going to meet up in person, Olivia couldn't help but feel nervous.A woman in a white dress entered the room. She was tall and skinny.She was wearing a mask, but her exposed skin was as fair as snow.The sheer look of her figure alone was enough for others to guess how gorgeous the face under that mask was.Judging from how she was walking like a normal person, it seemed like she had been pretending to be a janitor who had a problem with her legs. She had even darkened her face to avoid grabbing unwanted attention.The breeze fluttered the hem of her dress, giving off the impression that she was a gentle and kind woman.Begonia stopped three meters away from Avery. Her voice was hoarse when she said, "Mr. Y, I heard that you were l
The dim light in the room shone upon Leia's face. Before this, Olivia had pictured Leia's face multiple times in her head.Judging from what Leia had done in the past, Olivia expected her to look evil and distorted.In reality, however, Leia had perfectly inherited the good looks from the Millers. She resembled her mother.Her face shape looked barely the same as Ethan's, but they looked like twins.Her features were sharp, and her long hair made her look cheerful. If Olivia hadn't known what Leia had done, she would have mistaken her for an innocent college student. The truth had finally come to light. Olivia had guessed it right. Leia was the mastermind!Her family, Jeff, and everything that she had suffered throughout the past two years crossed Olivia's mind.The sheer thought of those made Olivia want to carve Leia's heart out and devour every part of her body.Olivia had never done Leia any harm. Why would Leia do that to her?As of today, the bedridden Jeff had yet
Chris walked up to the woman anxiously. "Is my daughter with you?"She raised her head to look at him. The evil ghost mask covered her face."I'll answer that after you play the piano with me." Her voice sounded calm.He tried his best to suppress his anger. Knowing full well that members of Toxic Hive were ruthless, he couldn't take the risk of provoking her.The woman nudged to the side, and he seated himself next to her.He knew how to play the piano, but at his level, he could barely play the piece by reading the music sheet.When they finally finished playing the piece, Chris asked, "Did you kidnap my daughter?"She chuckled. "You sought me because of your wife, who's suffering from leukemia. She's in the ICU, isn't she?""Can you save her?""Of course I can. Otherwise, why would you be here meeting me?" she answered naturally.Chris didn't show any trace of joy, despite her affirmative answer. Alert, he asked, "What's your condition?"She let out a soft giggle before a
Leia thought that Avery was here to question her departure, but he wasn't. It didn't take long before he let her go.Avery and Olivia didn't leave the place because they knew that Marina was in the castle. They settled down in a room Ryan had arranged for them.After making sure that there were no hearing devices in the room, he asked, "What is it that you want to ask?""Have you known her for a long time?""Yeah. I saved her. But I kind of pitied her when I first met her. Most of her body was burned. Even half of her face was burned. That was why I wasn't that certain that she was the person you were looking for."She was baffled. "No wonder her voice sounded kind of weird.""Aside from the burns, she had a lot of wounds on her. When I met her, she was barely alive. "She was just skin and bones. Not a single part of her skin was free from burns. She only woke up after resting for half a year, and even then, she barely looked like a person."He shook his head. "Not long after
Marina was reluctant to tell Olivia everything, but she had no better option.Hence, she revealed everything to Olivia.Olivia's expression changed after listening to her. "You knew that your bone marrow was a match, but you didn't say anything? And you're planning to watch Mom's condition get worse until her time is up? "Even if you didn't know about her identity, didn't you think that it was cruel to do that? You robbed me of my mother's love for so many years. What else were you unhappy about?"The more she thought about it, the more furious she became.She couldn't understand how a person could be this cruel.She continued, "Even an adopted dog and its owner would have bonded after spending time together for so many years!"Marina was crying so much that she could barely speak properly. "I know that everything's my fault. But now's not the time to talk about this. If you really want to save me, just get me out of here. I have to donate my bone marrow to Mom before it's to
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