Ivan’s expression darkened. “Why do you want to stay?”He tried to restrain his anger as he silently mouthed, “Are you planning to keep being a third wheel here? If you stay, their relationship will only become more strained!”He did it slowly enough for Sandy to catch most of it and understand enough.She hesitated and felt conflicted for a moment.Should she stay?It did not feel right.But if she left, Ivanka would be alone. What if Michael did something extreme to her?Ivanka was still injured. Michael seemed very strong and capable. There was no way Ivanka could stop him.Ivan thought there might be hope when he noticed Sandy hesitated. But before he could speak, Sandy said firmly, “I’m not leaving. I’m staying here tonight! Since Ivanka is injured, it’s inconvenient for you two big guys to stay here. Obviously, I should stay to take care of her!”Ivan’s expression turned grim. Sandy was being reasonable, but the way she said it sounded absurd. He gritted his teeth and re
The next moment, Ivanka came back to her senses. She smiled sarcastically and said indifferently, “You really don’t have to go to such lengths for me. I’ll be fine. Grandma won’t blame you for any of this. You can leave.”It was obvious that Ivanka did not want him around. Michael’s face turned pale with anger. He even had to restrain himself from strangling Ivanka. He headed upstairs wordlessly.Ivanka frowned irritably as she watched Michael go upstairs. She just could not drive him away.After hesitating momentarily, she decided not to bother with that jerk anymore and went back to her room. The two of them were like strangers living under the same roof.If Ivan and Xander found out how awkward Michael was, they would definitely mock him, especially Ivan. Xander might be a little more understanding.Soon, it was nighttime.Michael could not sleep at all and was plagued by persistent coughing throughout the night. He frowned in discomfort but chose to remain silent. He took a
Ivanka frowned. She stared at Michael unhappily. Despite not having said a word, she had explicitly shown what she really meant through her behavior. Michael, on the other hand, acted as if he had not noticed anything. He sat on the couch and read the documents. Ivanka fumed silently. She stared at Michael coolly. “What’s the point of doing this? Why are you doing this?” Michael sneered, “What do you think?” “I think you’re no different from common thugs! It’s almost as if I’m the only one for you. Stop making me have such illusions about you! I’ll only find you to be disgusting! Please leave now.” The veins on Michael’s forehead throbbed. He stared at Ivanka coolly. His eyes were filled with mockery. “You’d better stop having such an illusion about me. You’re not worthy.” “Get lost, then! Can’t you see I feel extremely irritated seeing you now?!” Apparently, Ivanka was furious at Michael’s words. Hence, she sounded cold and harsh. If one listened carefully, one could se
Michael opened the door without hesitation, but he could not find Ivanka inside the room. Michael’s expression darkened. He checked every room inside the house but could not find her. That meant she had left the house from upstairs. She had jumped out of the house. Michael thought. “Damn her!” At that moment, the veins on Michael’s forehead bulged. Clearly, he did not expect Ivanka to do that. He seethed in anger. Ivanka did not even leave him a message. It was clear to see that she hated him to the core. Through her actions, she had explicitly warned him not to interfere with her life. At that moment, Michael even had the urge to strangle Ivanka! He contacted Ivan. Right after Ivan answered his call, Ivan heard his bone-chilling voice. “Find out Ivanka’s whereabouts now.” Ivan was stunned. He became stupefied. He wondered. “Hasn’t she been staying in his house? “Did she sneak out? “If Mr. Barkworth is at home, he would certainly know if Ivanka has left th
A hint of bitterness flashed in Anna’s eyes. “I haven’t seen him for a long time. After he learned that I had a crush on him, he has been intentionally avoiding me. Perhaps he doesn’t want to give me hope.” Sandy frowned. “You can’t go on like this. The three of you are in a complicated love-hate relationship, but we’ve been best friends for a very long time. Shall we ask Hanson over and have dinner together tonight?” Complicated emotions flashed in Ivanka’s eyes. She recalled Hanson’s words. He had asked her not to ignore him. However, at that moment, he avoided Anna. Human relationships were complicated. Ivanka thought about it before nodding. “Okay. I’m fine with that.” Anna was eager to see Hanson, so she said, “Me too.” Sandy nodded. “Good. I’ll inform Hanson now.” Anna was extremely nervous. Soon, Sandy’s call was picked up. “Hello, Sandy.” “Hello. What are you doing now? Am I interrupting you?” Hanson chuckled. “No. To what do I owe the pleasure?” “I miss
Michael had been staying in Ivanka’s house and never left her house. Evan touched the tip of his nose in embarrassment. He wondered how he should convey Sandy’s words to Michael. If he conveyed Sandy’s words to Michael bluntly, it would only make Michael feel even worse and directly affect everyone’s lives. But if he did not, it would mean lying to him. Hence, Evan was in a dilemma. He hesitated for a while before saying, “Mr. Barkworth, I called Ms. Sandy. She said Ms. Lane is staying with her. Ms. Anna is with them too. The three of them are together, so nothing will happen to Ms. Lane.” Michael’s expression turned icy cold. He said nothing. Evan was embarrassed. For a moment, he was lost for words. Since the situation had reached this state, he continued, “Ms. Sandy said she can take good care of Ms. Lane, so you don’t need to look after her. She doesn’t want you to have your work affected because of you taking care of Ms. Lane.” At that moment, that was all Ivan could
Sandy nodded. “That’s right. You need to stay with us. If not, you can have Michael take care of you.” Ivanka was speechless. Sandy hesitated. In the end, she could not help but say, “I more or less know what sort of person Michael is now. Based on his actions over the past few days, he has grown more humble. Although it’s because of him that you got hurt, you have explicitly shown him through your actions that you don’t need him. If he doesn’t care about you, he should be living a carefree life. He could simply get a caretaker to take care of you. Or, he could just ignore you. After all, you’ve got us.” Anna nodded. “Right. I also feel the same. Iv, it could be because you’re different from last time, so he started to pay attention to you.” Ivanka’s lips twitched. “I don’t care. He can do whatever he wants. I won’t entertain him. Everything is good so long he doesn’t interfere with my life.” “Tsk. Since you decided to stay with us, he’ll certainly have someone to keep an eye
Ivanka nodded with a smile. “Quick. Wash your hands and eat dinner.” Hanson nodded. He entered the washroom. After Ivanka picked her seat, Anna sat beside her. Sandy could see what was going on, so she sat opposite Ivanka. She deliberately saved the seat opposite Anna for Hanson. A hint of uneasiness crossed Anna’s eyes. “Sandy…” Her voice was very soft. Only the three of them could hear her. Sandy chuckled and winked at her. “Don’t be afraid. Be brave and win his heart!” Anna fell speechless. At that moment, Anna did not know what else to say. She looked forward to talking to Hanson. At the same time, she was nervous. She wondered why Hanson did not like her. After Hanson came out of the washroom, he noticed only one seat left. A hint of disappointment darted across his eyes. He was not able to sit next to Ivanka or opposite her. When he noticed he had to sit opposite Anna, he believed the trio must have arranged it on purpose. He sighed in resignation. He
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