Ivanka’s lips twitched as Chiara remained headstrong. If the incident last night had not left her without a way out and destroyed the good image she had built for years, she would not have been so cranky. Ivanka chuckled. “I’ve never thought of reuniting with Michael. In fact, I can see that he isn’t paying attention to you, Chiara. Even though you lay in bed in a ‘coma’ for a year, he merely showed you some pity. Your marriage will be based on the fact that he’s indebted to you. Do you think your marriage will be different from mine?” “Of course my marriage will be different from yours!” Chiara mocked Ivanka without hesitation. “I’m not you. I’ll never force him into marriage on the grounds of him being indebted to me. He doesn’t like you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like me. Just you wait, Ivanka Lane!” Ivanka smiled and nodded. “In that case, I wish you all the best. I hope you’ll be able to resolve your current deadlock situation. Otherwise, everyone will see you as a cl
The corners of Chiara’s lips curled up slightly. “As for your father, he died very early. Don’t you think you’re the jinx that led to his death? “Your father was obviously fine. Why did he fall sick all of a sudden? Besides, he suffered from such a serious disease. Why did he have a heart attack out of nowhere? He never had a heart attack before that. Ivanka, don’t you think your presence just brings bad luck?” Ivanka’s heart tightened, and her face turned pale. It was not because she believed that she was the jinx that had caused her father’s death. It was because she had no idea of her eldest uncle and his family’s true colors in the past. She had always trusted them. Ivanka recalled the past and remembered that her father had been in good health before he suffered from a sudden serious disease. Her father’s disease was so serious that he passed away before Ivanka could rush back and see him for the last time. Chiara chuckled and patted Ivanka on the shoulder. “Ivanka, you
Before this, Ivanka had planned to walk her own path and reclaim her family’s fortune to prevent her father’s hard work from falling into Theodore’s hands. However, only now did she realize that her father never died from a serious disease! If Theodore and his group were the ones who had caused his father’s death, Ivanka would personally send them to jail. She would not spare them! Ivanka took a deep breath. It looked like she had to visit the Lane family’s mansion someday, but not today. Ivanka drove to the law firm instead. The lawyers in the hall noticed her cold expression, and they did not greet her. Even Abel kept quiet. When Suki noticed Ivanka’s expression, she asked in bewilderment, “What’s wrong? Were there some issues with St. John Cathedral?” Suki knew that Ivanka had taken Rosie to St. John Cathedral in the morning. Ivanka shook her head and answered, “No.” “What’s wrong then?” Suki stood up and poured her a glass of water. Ivanka took the glass but did n
Ivanka returned to her senses and looked at the door. “Come in.” Soon, someone pushed it open. Abel stood at the door and smiled at Ivanka. “Ms. Iris, I would like to ask you some questions.” Ivanka was puzzled. “Have a seat.” Abel walked up to her, and his charming smile gave off a warm vibe that made him approachable. He then passed his notebook and documents to Ivanka. “I recently received a case. I thought it was a sure win at first, but the opponent just obtained some troublesome evidence. I couldn’t find a way to win. Please have a look.” He did not say anything further. After all, everyone knew that Ivanka had the ability to solve this. Ivanka looked at the documents and appeared extremely calm. By then, she had controlled her emotions and returned to her senses. Abel took the opportunity to size Ivanka up. Instead of leering at Ivanka like other men, he stared at her with admiration. Ivanka did not care about this. After she read the documents, she passed them b
Ivanka looked at her phone. When she saw the phone number, her gaze turned cold, but she answered the call at the next moment. “Uncle Theodore.”She spoke indifferently without revealing much emotion. In the past, she used to feel especially close to Theodore whenever she called him her uncle. She felt as if he was her biological father. Today, she addressed him as “Uncle Theodore” out of formality. She even found the words themselves to be laced with poison. She had never seen her uncle as such a horrible human being before. “Iv, are you still working? Am I disturbing you?” Theodore said with a chuckle. Theodore was as fake as ever; he acted as if he was the same as he once was. He probably thought that this would make Ivanka feel close to him. Ivanka felt as if her heart was bleeding. Ever since Theodore lived with Ivanka’s family, he had tried to scheme against her and her father. In fact, his determination made him feel as if he had endured plenty of hardship befo
The crowd was shocked, and they stared at him in surprise. “Really? What did Ms. Iris say?” The male lawyer next to Abel was the first to ask. Abel chuckled. “She said to strike where it hurts and that I didn’t find the key to the problem.” “What’s the key problem, then?” Drury immediately asked. Abel smiled and opened his notebook. He pointed at number 7 and said with a sigh, “I wrote down the point, but I couldn’t see it as the key to winning the case, so I never looked further into it. My opponents came prepared, but they’ve still violated the rules. I couldn’t solve it because I trapped myself in a box and couldn’t see my way out.” When the rest saw point number 7, their expressions changed slightly. “Iris truly lives up to her reputation.” In truth, the lawyers who worked there were all elites. Suki did not hire many lawyers. She only hired six of them, but they were top-notch figures in the legal industry. Imagine how capable Iris was when she could easily solve a puzzl
Although Theodore was unhappy, he said nothing. He sat before Ivanka and gave her a friendly smile. “Iv, why did you divorce Michael? Why didn’t you discuss it with me first? If you were having a hard time with your marriage, I could have helped you.” “Help me?” The news of her divorce was so sensational that everyone in the country and even around the world was aware of it. Theodore was also present at the banquet, so was there still a need to pass the message to him? Did he really need her to inform him about it? Theodore obviously did not want their relationship to turn completely sour. Otherwise, he would not have said such nice things and even invited her home. Ivanka guessed that there were two reasons for his actions. One, Theodore was worried about Rosie supporting Ivanka and refusing to give Chiara a chance. After all, Rosie was a powerful woman in the Barkworth family. Two, Ivanka was Iris. If he angered her, she would likely work with his competitors and bring
Theodore was a little stunned. This was an indisputable fact, so there was no harm in admitting it. He smiled and nodded. “Indeed, that’s true.” Everyone in the company was aware of this. Besides, Theodore had no reason to deny it. The contract had been in black and white, and they had signed it from the beginning. There was no denying it anymore. The company belonged to Theodore, so no one could steal it from him! Lyla and Chiara subconsciously turned to Ivanka. They thought to themselves. “Is she planning to reclaim the company? What a joke! Does she think she can take back the company whenever she wants? Does she think she’s God?” On second thought, she mentioned the contract. Ivanka was Iris. Could she have found loopholes in the contract? Chiara immediately panicked. Ivanka nodded. “Okay, if that’s the case, please return the shares to me. I can forgo the dividends earned over the last few years. You can treat my dividends as a reward for your hard work in managing the
Ivanka frowned deeply. Michael was in a horrible state. He had been poisoned and suffered gunshots. He had a strong tolerance to medicine and pain. But it was his mental condition that caused him to fall into this state. Not being fully recovered also added to the burden. Ivanka gave him a white pill which she had formulated by herself. After that, she had the security guard carry Michael into her car. Then, she sent him to the hospital. They arrived at the emergency department. Xavier had finished attending to his patients. When he walked out of his office, he saw Michael being carried into the hospital. He then saw Ivanka beside Michael. Xavier frowned. His expression became tense, and he asked solemnly, “What’s happened to him?” “He’s weak and had previously been poisoned. Since you’re around, you can look after him.” Ivanka summarized Michael’s condition. After hearing Ivanka’s brief explanation, Xavier gave Michael a checklist and put him on a drip. After that,
Since Jonah had come to this and Ivanka was not an ungrateful person, she nodded and gave her word. “Jonah, I’ll give this my all. Don’t worry. As long as it’s within my ability, I’ll help you.” Jonah had to be bound to the wheelchair at the moment. Since Ivanka had shared a similar experience when she took over Lane’s Group back then, she naturally figured out how wolfish and greedy his adversaries would be. Jonah was injured because of her. She swore to give her all to save him from whatever crisis he was facing. Jonah took advantage of this and asked, “What time are you coming tomorrow? I’ll have my assistant get ready.” Ivanka thought for a moment. “Tomorrow afternoon.” She needed to manage her company affairs during the first half of the day. Jonah was content upon hearing her answer. “Good. I’ll wait for you tomorrow.” “Okay.” Ivanka nodded before hanging up. When she returned to her office, she did not expect to see Michael sitting on the couch. She nearly jum
There was only one possibility. Ivanka was calling somebody else. Michael wondered who could strike up such a long conversation with her. Sandy and Ivan had returned to the country. Ivanka’s besties were around her. Even if Ivanka deliberately approached Chiara, she could not possibly have so much to chat with Chiara. If Ivanka’s phone call was business related, there was no need to chat this long. Michael eliminated the possible reasons one by one. In the end, he thought of Jonah. Michael’s expression instantly turned as dark as thunderclouds. His gaze was dull and cold. Evan noticed it. He also saw the call record on Michael’s phone. Evan quickly persuaded Michael, “Mr. Barkworth, Ms. Lane could be tied up with her work, so she couldn’t answer your call. We could go to her workplace now.” Michael said nothing. He gave a cold glance at Evan. Evan got a shock. The next second, Michael turned around and left his office. Looking at Michael’s fading silhouette, Evan wi
It was why Ivanka still came for Jonah in spite of her unpleasant experience with Margaret in the hospital last time. Jonah had been injured because of Ivanka. She came for him only. The other people did not matter to her. Jonah’s heart sank upon hearing her words. His expression tensed up. He could imagine the indifferent look on Ivanka’s face right at that moment. She had that expression on her face simply because he was never really important to her. Jonah was upset precisely because of her indifference to him. He wanted to say something to her but did not know how to begin. He was also not in the position to say that. It did not take long before Ivanka’s gentle but rather indifferent voice rang in his ears, “Jonah, don’t worry. I’ll treat your legs until they recover. Don’t run into any conflicts with your mom because of me.” Her words pulled Jonah’s wandering mind back into the present moment. He felt a heavy weight on his heart. “Iv, I trust you. You don’t need to
Margaret became frustrated and grabbed Ivanka. She could not understand why Ivanka was fine while Jonah ended up in such a bad situation after the accident.Then, Jonah defended Ivanka. There was also all the talk about Ivanka’s treatment. Margaret was curious to see what kind of miracle medicine Ivanka could develop.In the end, Ivanka’s treatment did not work. Moreover, her relationship with Jonah, which had finally started to improve, was once again ruined because of Ivanka.Jonah scoffed. “Mom, I’m not an eight-year-old anymore. You’re saying all this because you want me to go along with your plans for an arranged date, right?”Margaret had not expected Jonah to guess her thoughts. She was about to insist on her point when Jonah spoke first. With a mocking smile, he said sarcastically, “Do you think anyone would date someone like me?”He had a point. But Laura might be one such person.However, Margaret did not like her. She would do anything to keep Laura from becoming her d
“That’s because you want him to fall in love with you!” Margaret snapped.Ivanka chuckled softly. Her tone was edged with sarcasm. “Love? Does it really matter that much?”Margaret felt humiliated and furious. She pointed a finger at Ivanka’s face with a hostile expression. “If it doesn’t matter, why are you doing all this? Stop pretending, Ivanka!”Ivanka let out a bitter laugh. “Pretending? What am I pretending for? Is being divorced a crime? Margaret, you’re a woman too. How would you feel if someone accused you like this?”She hoped Margaret would take a moment to reflect. After all, she was Jonah’s mother, and Ivanka did not want their conflict to escalate.But Margaret was unmoved. Her glare turned colder, sharper, and filled with hatred.“You think I’ll just let this go?” Margaret said sharply. “If it weren’t for you, Jonah wouldn’t be in this mess! I meant every word I said, and nothing will change that.”To her, Ivanka was nothing more than someone scheming to use Jonah
“Ivanka,” Margaret took a deep breath while trying to compose herself. When she looked at Ivanka again, her expression was calm. She said, “I don’t know how deep Jonah’s feelings for you run. What I fear most is that once he becomes fixated on you, that’s it. When he falls for someone, his heart won’t make room for anyone else. In that way, he’s just like his father.”Ivanka’s gaze wavered. She bit her lip and was unsure of what to say.“I beg you, don’t hurt Jonah anymore!” Margaret’s voice carried a note of desperation.Ivanka’s expression turned extremely complicated.There was a time when Jonah came to her only to use her. Back then, they were both using each other. It made things simple.But later, Jonah unexpectedly started talking about marriage. Perhaps it was to provoke Michael, or perhaps he simply wanted to keep her close because she was useful to him.At some point, though, it seemed Jonah had become serious about her. She could not pinpoint when it happened. Perhaps
Jonah frowned in clear disagreement, but he stayed silent. Ivanka’s confident smile reassured him and made him trust her.Eventually, he let go of her wrist.Ivanka noticed Margaret putting on her shoes. She quickly followed, stepping outside just as Margaret was about to get into her car“Margaret,” she called out.Margaret frowned slightly and stood still.Since Jonah had not come out with Ivanka, she decided she could spare a moment to speak with her.She turned and looked at Ivanka coldly.Ivanka softened her tone. “Let’s take a walk.”Margaret did not respond, but her silence was enough of an agreement.They walked slowly around the edge of the mansion. The surrounding area was all part of the Sadler family estate.Margaret suppressed her anger and glanced at Ivanka before speaking in a composed tone, “Alright. What do you want to say?”Ivanka met her gaze briefly before looking ahead and said, “Do you know what will happen if Jonah’s coughing continues?”Margaret’s he
Margaret glared at Ivanka and scoffed, “If there’s an issue, I’ll get another doctor to handle it. It’ll be anyone but you, Ivanka. Haven’t I made myself clear enough? I’ve told you this before.”She hated how Ivanka ignored her warnings and kept coming back to visit Jonah time and again. What if Jonah got too close to her and ended up ruining his reputation? If Jonah had not been here, Margaret would have been even harsher.Ivanka frowned as she met Margaret’s sharp gaze. “I’ve never tried to get close to Jonah like that. We’re just friends. I know I’m not good enough for him, so I’ve never even thought about it.”“You might not have, but he has!” Margaret snapped, raising her voice.“Mom!” Jonah’s expression darkened.Jonah was usually calm and polite. This was the first time Ivanka saw him looking so upset and was about to lose his temper.Ivanka’s eyes flickered with hesitation. She was unsure of what to say.Explaining Jonah’s coughing would do no good. Margaret would not