Ivanka sighed wearily. “You have work to do. You didn’t have to come here to accompany me. Even though I’m here with Michael, at the very least, for the sake of the company’s interests, he would keep me safe.”“I know that. I just came to relax. You just happened to be here too. We can take a look around when you’re free.”Sandy sounded enthusiastic, but Ivanka could see through her friend. Through her eyes, Ivanka could sense Sandy’s reluctance.She knew that keeping her company was not what troubled Sandy. Before Ivanka could think further, Sandy looked at her and asked, “Iv, which room are you in now? How about I stay with you?”Ivanka’s eyes flickered thoughtfully. “I’m staying in Michael’s suite.”“Damn it! Another suite! Why do these people do such disgusting things?” Sandy could not help but want to vent her frustration, but as soon as she said it, she regretted it.Ivanka stared at her. “Ivan made you stay in the same suite with him?”She figured out why Sandy was feel
Chiara was very clever. Most of the time, she could immediately tell when something was amiss.Lyla dreaded her daughter’s perceptiveness. She could only maintain a calm demeanor and say, “Well, the place is just being renovated. I didn’t like the layout there and wanted to make some changes. After the renovation is finished, we’ll need to open the windows for ventilation. It will take at least a few months. Let’s just stay here for now.”Chiara immediately furrowed her brow again. “But that house was just newly done. You liked the design style. Why would you want to redo it?”She stared at Lyla suspiciously.However, Lyla said with a resigned manner, “It’s all your dad’s assistant’s fault! He hired workers who used poor materials for the renovations, and now, after only a short while, the walls at home are cracking.”Chiara felt skeptical. She kept sensing that something was off, but she could not quite put her finger on it.After a pause, she spoke again, “But even if we have t
Lyla snorted and indifferently said, “I’ll make something to eat. Wait here.”Chiara was surprised. “You’re cooking? Where is our maid?”Lyla remained silent.With the house sold and no money left, there was no way they could afford to hire a maid.As she washed her hands, she replied indifferently, “Considering your situation, it’s best not to interact with outsiders anymore. They might notice something amiss, and it wouldn’t be good for you. With everyone around us now unreliable, it’s risky to trust anyone new.”Chiara frowned. She acknowledged the truth in her mother’s words and said nothing more. She walked over to the sofa in the living room and sat down. Turning on the TV, she could not shake off her inexplicable frustration. “The distance between this sofa and the TV is too close!”Although Lyla could hear Chiara’s frustration from her tone, the current situation did not permit any indulgence. She pretended she did not hear that and ignored Chiara....As the evening app
He was a little stunned as he did not expect that Ivanka was really in the shower.She was wrapped in a slightly short towel that barely reached her thighs. Water stains adorned her delicate collarbone. Further down, there was a glimpse of something more.Michael’s pupils contracted slightly. His lips pressed tightly into a thin line as he remained silent.Ivanka clutched the towel tightly. She was worried that it would slip off. Her brow furrowed with impatience. “What the hell do you want?”As Ivanka shifted, a strand of hair fell across her chest, adding to the alluring mystery. Michael’s eyes flickered with lust and his Adam’s apple bobbed subtly. Without a word, he turned and walked away.Ivanka was left baffled by his sudden departure.What was that about?Without saying a word, she was going to close the door and go back to her shower, but then she heard Michael’s voice. “Get out here when you’re done!”Ivanka’s face darkened. Gritting her teeth, she said nothing. She cl
Michael’s face darkened further. “See it yourself and see if I was finding fault with you.”With that, he tossed the laptop to Ivanka.She frowned silently. Instead, she looked toward the screen.Earlier on, she had simply scanned it.But after what Michael had said, she had to regard it attentively.There was a ten-page Word document on the laptop. From the preview in the column on the left side of the screen, each page was filled with text.If it were someone else, they would feel a headache at the sight of it. After all, it was tiring to read all these words.But Ivanka read very quickly. After reading two pages, she realized that she had misunderstood Michael.Without a word, she read all ten pages of the document.At that point, Ivanka had already calmed down. Michael had not left, and he sat beside her the entire time.There was a conflicted look in Ivanka’s eyes, but she did not feel remorse. Michael had always been moody and tried to find fault with her. Even if she m
No one realized that it was already getting late.While they discussed the plan, the atmosphere in another room was a little tense.After Sandy returned to the room, she pulled a long face and kept suspecting that Ivan was up to no good.That jerk kept trying to approach her because he wanted to get something back, but she would never let him have it. It was hers!At that moment, Ivan was filled with rage. Seeing the insufferable look on Sandy’s face, he said angrily, “Woman, shouldn’t you give me a heads-up before you grabbed a bite? Didn’t you know I was waiting for you to dine together?”Sandy was so furious that she gave a bark of laughter. “Did I ask you to wait for me? Since when have we become chummy enough to dine together? You were waiting for me? Humph, I don’t trust you!”Ivan ground his teeth. “Why couldn’t I wait? You’re getting more and more unreasonable!”Sandy laughed once again and stared at him with a quizzical look.“Who are you calling ‘unreasonable’? Are we
Ivan grew even more irritated. “What? You don’t believe me?”Michael’s lips curled into a faint smile. “I will, once you get the thing you said.”Ivan was speechless.The elevator door soon opened. Ivan said with gritted teeth, “I’m only unable to get it from her at the moment. If I could bring myself to cross the line, there’s no way she manages to keep it for so long. I wouldn’t allow it!”The two of them got into the elevator. When they came out, Michael said nothing. He knew that Ivan was only venting and acting like a drunkard before he even touched the alcohol.Soon, they arrived at the bar. Ivan did not speak to Michael and instead downed a glass of wine. After a pause, he finally looked at Michael. “I questioned her earlier on. Hey, don’t you think that there’s something wrong with her? Didn’t she know that I was waiting for her so that we could dine together? What did she do instead? She went to dine with Ivanka without notifying me! I was the one who brought her here. Sh
At such a time, Ivan refused to wallow in sadness alone. He ought to make his friend suffer alongside him.As Michael drank expressionlessly and said nothing, Ivan started talking again. “I think Ivanka has really gotten over you.”The look in Michael’s eyes grew colder.Seeing that, Ivan was even more excited. “Technically, when she showed up at the party with Jonah and demanded a divorce, she had already given up on you.”Michael continued to drink in silence.Ivan clinked his glass against Michael’s. “See the things she did after that? She didn’t need you at all, let alone approach you. If you didn’t approach her yourself, she would simply disappear before your eyes.”Michael did not react, but Ivan thought that the wine glass nearly cracked in his tight grip.“Hey, look at you. Do you still refuse to admit that you have already fallen for her?”Michael immediately snorted coldly. “Does she deserve my attention?”“Doesn’t she? If not, why would you bring her out here? Is it
“Okay, you can come over, but not too close. Also, get rid of the earphones from your ears.”“No!” Michael said almost immediately.Ivanka frowned. It was obvious that the other party had misunderstood. He thought that she was talking to the police.She could not help but explain, “Don’t worry, this is just a call with my friend, not the police.”She did not know if the mention of the police had irritated him. The jumper, who was originally still emotionally stable, suddenly started throwing a tantrum. His eyes were full of madness.“I don’t care! All I know is that if you want to come over, throw away your earphones, or I’m going to jump!”Ivanka noticed that the man seemed to be wearing a wireless headset as well. Presumably, someone on the other end of the phone was guiding him.As the man spoke, he stood up like he would fall if the wind blew.The people downstairs were once again abuzz.“What’s going on here? The talks broke down, didn’t they?”“Oh my god, I can’t stand
The nearest civilian police officer was also about ten meters away. He had ordered them not to approach.He was probably also afraid of dying, which was why he was sitting on the railing.In that position, as long as he did not let go, he generally could not die. That was why the police were also utilizing the blind spot in his vision to approach slowly.Before she came, the police had already told her. She had only come to attract the man’s attention. However, she also could not let him get too emotional. Otherwise, he might slip and fall off the building or commit suicide from being too emotional.Originally, the jumper’s emotions were still quite stable as well.But as soon as he saw Ivanka, he started to get agitated.“Don’t you f*cking move! It’s all because of you! My whole family can’t get the money. My wife is dead! You talk like you’re all that on TV, but in reality, you’re just pretending! You’ve got a good reputation, but what about us? Aren’t we human beings? Don’t
Jimothy did not speak for a long time as if he had suddenly thought of something.An eerie silence spread between the two.When Candice saw that Jimothy did not answer her, she assumed that he had agreed to it silently and did not continue with the topic. She had no idea how to continue the topic either.Jimothy seemed rather heavy-hearted. In the past, after persuading her but to no avail, he would probably do something to ease Candice’s frustration.But at present, he just felt… that perhaps doing nothing was the best.On the other side, Ivanka entered the elevator and watched the elevator’s floors slowly rise in a bit of a daze.In the elevator, she and Michael also thought about the matter of an inside man.Normally when entering the Lane’s Group, even if Michael were to come personally, he would have to have an appointment, let alone an unfamiliar face.In such a situation, there would also be migrant workers appearing on the top floor of Lane’s Group. It was hard to bel
But at that moment, Michael’s words pulled Ivanka back when she was absolutely bonkers from her anger.Yes, she could not play into their hands. If not, was she just going to go along with their goal? Ivanka croaked an “okay”. Michael finally felt relieved. After passing through the scene, Ivanka came downstairs.She tilted her head to look up. A migrant worker stood on the roof of the building. Most of his body was already outside the guardrail.He held a long banner in his hand, which read: Unpaid pay, forcing the migrant workers to die!There was a speaker in his other hand as he screeched. “Stop faking it, Ivanka. No matter how grand your speeches are on TV, it still doesn’t change how venomous your heart is. I have a question. Everyone on the internet, how did all of them believe a poisonous woman like you?! Don’t they all say that the eyes of the masses are sharp? Now that everyone has been deceived by your appearances, I’m going to reveal your true colors for everyone
Ivanka agreed with a deep grunt. The gas pedal under her feet unconsciously roared.As she drove to the company building, lots of people had gathered around.There were onlookers watching the commotion. The media, the fire department as well as the police had just arrived.Most importantly, there was also a group of migrant workers. They were all wearing blue work clothes and yellow hats.No matter what their status was, everyone tilted their heads and looked at the roof of the building.Ivanka got out of the car. Under the escort of the security guards, she passed through the middle of the crowd.During this time, for some reason, someone deliberately or unintentionally stirred up everyone’s emotions by shouting.Anyway, someone shouted Ivanka’s name.“Isn’t this Ivanka, the chairman of Lane’s Group?”All of a sudden everyone leaned over towards this side.Some media outlets wanted to find out what was going on. After the last time, Ivanka clarified things live online, she h
Ever since she ended the call with Candice, Ivanka was troubled. She always felt like another incident was just around the corner, especially over the last two days; that feeling had gotten stronger. Ivanka had told only Michael about this feeling. After Michael heard her through, he said that he had the same thoughts and feelings as Ivanka. One thing was certain: the large batch of media reporters appearing at the company’s entrance at the same time was obviously organized and premeditated. So, it was definitely not an accident. That person obviously had some power, and to be able to make so many media companies respond to them meant that they must also have some power financially.What was more, the person behind this was very mysterious. Both Ivanka and Michael could not find out who that person really was, no matter what strings they pulled.There was not even a single clue leading to the person.Michael looked at Ivanka, who seemed a bit worried, and comforted her by
After walking out of the room, Ivanka received Candice’s call. Candice called to report her good news. Ever since the live broadcast, things had clearly improved for the company. The company’s stock had rebounded when it was once on the verge of falling. It was undoubtedly a good sign. Candice informed Ivanka all of this happily while Ivanka was still caught in a daze. “The company is back on track, all thanks to your move in saving the day! The other companies are regretting their decisions now. Iv, you’re awesome!” Ivanka smiled. “I’m glad to hear that the company is operating as usual. I hope nothing else will go wrong again. But I somehow find it odd when things get resolved a bit too smoothly.” Candice, on the other hand, dismissed that thought. She believed Ivanka had been too vigilant. What mattered most was the company’s reputation had been salvaged. Other than that, she could not think of any other problems. Ivanka parted her lips, but no word came out of her
Ivan said this not just because he trusted Ivanka’s medical skills, but mostly because he believed in Sandy. Although a paralyzed person could neither move nor talk, they could hear sounds. Ivan believed Sandy heard Ivanka’s calls. It would help her regain her consciousness. Ivanka felt extremely grateful for their trust in her. She swore to herself that she would not disappoint them. Since Sandy’s family members agreed with this, the physician had no reason to stop Ivanka. When the physician watched Sandy being carried up to the ambulance and sent to Ivanka’s home, he shook his head and sighed. The physician believed Sandy’s family members’ blind obedience and foolishness would only get Sandy killed. Nonetheless, it was out of his hands. The physician could only pray for Sandy. Ivanka did not know what the physician was thinking, nor did she even care. She accompanied Sandy’s mother and talked to her. They had a heart-to-heart talk. After that, she had someone se
Sandy laid quietly on the bed without any signs of life. Ivanka found it strange. After so long, Sandy still did not show any signs of improvement. Ivanka had questioned the attending physician. But the physician gave her a very vague answer. “Even to this day, we don’t knaow the exact time she would regain her consciousness. There’s no way for me to give you an accurate answer. What I could say is, fate will decide. Perhaps she will regain her consciousness by tomorrow, or perhaps she will never regain her consciousness for the rest of her life. In the meantime, her family and friends can stay around and chat with the patient as this can stimulate her will to live on to a certain extent.” Ivanka thought the physician might as well have said nothing at all. Did that mean she could not do anything to help Sandy and could only let fate decide? Ivanka was an atheist. She never trusted in any gods or fate. Judging from the current situation, it looked like the physician was unr