Erin merely glanced at Ian impassively even though he went out of his way to make pleasant talk. However, Erin still stood up and shook his hand briefly before quickly withdrawing out of common courtesy. "Thank you for taking care of my parents while I was gone."Ian smiled gracefully and openly. "We're all family. There's no need to be so formal."Yvette sat in her seat grumpily and observed the interaction between her ex-husband with his first ex-wife with cold eyes. She was going crazy inside, but her excellent acting skills allowed her to stay composed as she remained silent. She'd divorced Ian by then. Cherry and Steven had come to terms with this fact. They didn't hold a grudge against Ian and would still greet him amicably if they chanced upon him."What a coincidence, Ian. You're here for dinner too?"Steven took the initiative to stand up and greet him. Although Ian had a disgraceful past history with Tracy, he'd just invested eighty million dollars in Steven's new factory
Ian's warning that was full of anger made Yvette a little apprehensive, and she toned down considerably. She replied in annoyance, "Alright, I get it. You don't have to get all riled up about it."Seeing that Erin was a little affected emotionally, Yvette continued, "I was really worried when Asa got kidnapped back then. I had nowhere to vent my resentment against those goddamn kidnappers, so I … I'm so sorry, Erin! I'll down this glass of wine as a show of apology. Whether you choose to accept my apology and down your wine is your choice."As her words fell, she raised her glass, and all the wine in it was gone.Yvette's seemingly heartfelt apology touched Erin, and she couldn't remain indifferent to her sister's sincere gesture. Erin thought that perhaps she'd been too quick to judge her sister—maybe Yvette wasn't as bad as she'd thought.With that, Yvette's attempt to win Erin over succeeded. Erin raised her glass and said, "It's all in the past now. Let's never mention it again
The next morning at 9 am, Yvette woke up groggily. As she'd drunk the wine that was laced with a sedative the previous night, she was experiencing some mild side effects. She couldn't recall a huge portion of what had happened last night.Looking at her surroundings with blurry vision, Yvette could still make out that she was in the business suite of a hotel. The hotel's logo was on full display on a table nearby. She sat up with a jolt and looked beside her. Seeing the outline of a body draped in white sheets, Yvette started to panic—she was obviously in bed with someone else! She could even hear the person's faint and steady breathing coming from underneath the covers.She struggled to remember what happened last night, but she could only recall seeing Erin leave with Chandler. Since Erin left, only she and Ian remained in the private room. Could she have checked into a hotel room with her ex-husband?With a frown, she pulled back the sheets and let out a shocked shriek when she s
At 8 pm, Alana had her driver bring her luggage into Chandler's villa. She chose to stay in her old room. After leaving the company that evening, Chandler went to meet Alana's parents. News about his marriage to Erin had reached their ears. Due to their status and identity, they couldn't very well go to Chandler's villa and kick up a fuss about the matter. Instead, they opted to meet Chandler and hear what he had to say for himself.As they'd agreed, Alana took the blame for the situation during her phone conversation with her parents. She said that she and Chandler's feelings for each other had faded over time. Moreover, Asa needed his biological mum, so she chose to step down.Alana's mother was aggrieved at her daughter's situation. After all, in her eyes, Alana was still bearing Chandler's "child." With how he was handling things right now, it would seem that the child Alana was carrying was not his but a bastard child instead. Because of this, Alana's parents had to meet Chand
"Alana, you've misunderstood me!" Erin became a little anxious. Alana had just moved back to the villa, and if Erin wasn't careful in handling their relationship, Chandler would be the one to suffer later on.Alana lowered her gaze and refused to look at Erin anymore. She said coldly, "Go. Pretend I didn't bring this up at all and forget about it."Seeing that Alana wasn't keen on discussing the matter further, Erin left helplessly.Not long after she left, Alana closed the door. She immediately took out her phone and called a news publisher.As soon as the call connected, she instructed, "Do what I told you to do last time! Publish a Twitter post on the main official account and drive up the hype!"…Five minutes later, Erin was back in her bedroom. There was a rectangular white wooden table in the room. This was where she would draft her comics. She'd reached an agreement with her editor that this comic that focused on school life would be completed within two months. It woul
Erin immediately thought of one person—Ryder! After they parted ways at the hospital, Erin was chagrined to find that she forgot to exchange numbers with him. Just as Erin was about to call Paulo to ask for Ryder's contact number, Paulo appeared at the villa. Chandler had instructed that certain individuals could be allowed entry without any form of questioning. Paulo happened to be one of them.When Paulo saw Erin standing among the flowers in front of the villa, his expression became gloomy, and he approached her in a way that suggested that he was ready to confront her. "How dare you, Erin! I thought we were friends! Aren't we best buddies? How could you not tell that you got married to Chandler? Are you out of your mind?"He'd just gotten off the plane two and a half hours ago. Originally, he intended to go and find Erin at Roman's villa, but Jenny started screaming like a banshee in the car upon seeing a trending topic on Twitter. Someone had just exposed that Erin scammed Cha
Ryder's selfless words at such a critical time left Erin at a loss for words to express her gratitude.However, she didn't blindly accept his kindness and willingness to help. She said with worry, "Mr. White, are you sure about this? It could be very dangerous—""I wasn't born yesterday, Erin. Of course, I understand the dangers involved. Rest assured, if I lose my life, it's my own responsibility!" His certainty prompted Paulo to say, "Well said, Ryder. I can't wait to see for myself how you really look."Ryder responded with a sigh, "Is that what you should be focusing on? I'll hang up now. Contact me if there's any new information."Erin was crying so hard she was trembling. "Thank you, Ryder and Paulo … Thank you...""Erin, stop thanking me! If I were kidnapped, you would come to my rescue too, right?" Paulo suddenly asked.With a resolute expression, Erin replied, "Of course! I would definitely come to save you, no matter how dangerous it is."Paulo felt touched as a trac
The six of them and the three drug enforcement officers set off in four separate cars. They drove for a full nine hours before reaching Nephele Mountain. The area was a remote and undeveloped wild mountainous region that didn't have any form of tourism going on. Fortunately, there were roads built, so it was still accessible by car.There were some small villages in the area, and the villagers only let their livestock graze on the hillsides. They didn't venture further up and deeper into the mountains because there were wolf packs lurking in there. The wolves would sometimes kill the villagers' livestock.Luck seemed to be on their side; Erin and the others spotted Chandler's Maybach at the end of the mountain road. Chandler was here.Erin and the rest got out of their cars carefully; they were cautious and vigilant. Upon confirming that there was no one else around, they alighted their vehicles. It was already dawn, but the mountain area was still cold and covered in dense fog th