“Is it really your birthday?” Gerald calmly countered her.Reina fell silent instantly, fear overwhelming her mind and sending chills down her spine.“Henry, I was bored the other day so I did some digging and found these two birth certificates by accident,” Nathan said lazily, as if he was worried other people would think he was anything but a rich yet irresponsible heir.“One states that your biological daughter, North Myers, was born on December 29th about 21 years ago. The other one…” Nathan trailed off before flinging the certificate into the crowd.Everyone instinctively looked at it, and the results shocked them.“Reina’s birth certificate? She’s older than North by one year, making her 22 years old. That part is correct… Wait a minute, she was born in October!”“So, it’s not Reina’s birthday, but North’s?”“Yeah. You can’t forge a birth certificate, can you…”“Why are the Myers celebrating Reina’s birthday so extravagantly, then? What is wrong with them? Why ignore the
“I arranged that show for my wife. What does that have to do with you?”“My wife.”Nathan butted in passive-aggressively. “Yeah, Reina! Sometimes, if your brain is overly imaginative, it means something’s wrong with you. Are you Gerald’s wife? That’s weird. How come I don’t remember you becoming my sister-in-law?”Reina stumbled backward, her face turning pale.Everyone caught on and said, “Didn’t she say Mr. Howard didn’t like his wife?”“Yeah, Reina’s hinted several times that he was planning to divorce North. Was that just a lie?”“If Mr. Howard arranged for fireworks and drone shows… that’s not a man who wants a divorce. They’re clearly still in love.”“Reina would say anything to usurp North’s position, huh?”Reina and Linda felt lightheaded. The sheer difference between their expectations and reality made them quiver.“What right do you all have to criticize Reina?! If she’s a mistress trying to replace his wife, then what does that make North?!” Someone in the crowd sho
She finally understood. Things finally made sense!His surprise was just an act he and North put up to screw her over!Gerald completely humiliated her just to avenge North…“Reina.”Reina shuddered when she heard that woman’s voice. North had walked over to her at some point, saying in a voice so soft that only the two of them could hear, “Did you ever think this day would come when you stole my birthday and bragged about it?”“North Myers!”North enjoyed seeing Reina’s expression of helpless fury. “Don’t get so worked up. This is just the beginning. I’ll get back at you for all the things you did four years ago.”Fear engulfed Reina so much that she almost failed to control her facial expression. “Gerald wouldn’t let you do that. He’d protect me!”North raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. “Really? We’ll see.”Gerald put an arm around North’s waist. “Let’s go.”The birthday party had turned into a fiasco. After Gerald and North left, the rest exchanged confused looks. They did
Half an hour later, North stood in front of the hot spring in a bathrobe, still confused.Why had she nodded distractedly when Gerald asked if he could serve her?The hot spring had a wooden floor, and it was snowing outside, but it was not cold here at all.Gerald was already submerged in the spring, the steam just barely obscuring his chest muscles. North could not help but gulp at the sight.“Aren’t you going to enjoy the hot spring, Mrs. Howard?” Gerald asked in a slightly hoarse voice.North’s legs trembled. Of course, she wanted to enjoy the water.But after she said yes a while ago, Gerald had suddenly smiled and whispered something into her ear… North blushed and choked out, “Wait, I need to prepare myself. Hold on. Wait a minute.”Gerald had asked, “How do you want me to serve you, Mrs. Howard?”In that context, Gerald’s question had made her think of things children should not be hearing about. Her mind was filled with the filthiest possibilities.Gerald looked her u
North suddenly heard two employees talking to each other.“Really? That cake seemed so plain, I thought Mr. Howard had bought it from some store. I didn’t expect him to have baked it himself!”“Yeah. He actually failed twice because it was his first time baking a cake. He only succeeded on the third try. Since when have you seen him make such an effort for someone?”“I’m so envious of Mrs. Howard. Mr. Howard is such an important person, and yet he willingly stepped into the kitchen to make a cake for her.”North had a brilliant idea. That was right! If Gerald could make her a cake, why couldn’t she just make one for him too?She was not very good at cooking regular food, but pastries should be easy enough!North acted at once, but instead of asking the employees for baking ingredients, she decided to drive to the supermarket.To her surprise, she saw Gerald standing next to the car with a mysterious smile as soon as she got to the garage. “Are you going grocery shopping? Let’s g
“What’s wrong?” Gerald asked.North did not see anyone, so she shook her head. “I keep feeling like someone is following us.”Gerald immediately narrowed his eyes, his sharp gaze scanning everything behind them.“Forget it. I’ve covered myself up so much, there’s no way anyone would recognize me.” North waved her hand dismissively as she put the groceries into her shopping cart.…The middle-aged man only walked out from behind an aisle once the two were gone.Still shaken, he gulped. “Mr. Mike, it really was Mr. Gerald. He’s grocery shopping with an unknown woman! Yes, that woman is not North Myers, I swear! Yes, don’t worry…” After hanging up, the man shakily took two photos.Was money even an issue with such a big scoop on his hands? Would Gerald even hesitate to give him a few million dollars if asked, once he found out about the leverage he had in his grasp?The man smiled happily and called a reporter. Within half an hour of leaking the photo, the incident was trending
Roque said passive-aggressively, “She’s probably so ashamed of her terrible looks that she didn’t dare show her face. How dare someone like her compete with you! Don’t you worry, North, I’ll kill these two and avenge you!”“Wait, I—”“Look at what he’s doing! He’s got an arm around her in broad daylight! He’s so shameless! And look at what that woman’s wearing! No figure and no style either! Gerald must be blind to pick a woman like her over you!”North instinctively looked down at her own figure and outfit before gulping. “Roque, I can explain—”“No need for that! I get it, you’ve been cheated on!” Roque jumped to conclusions, saying, “I’ll investigate this woman at once and get her to apologize to you, along with Gerald!”North looked up to see Gerald looking at her amusedly.Her scalp prickled as her brain somehow got its wires crossed, making her ask, “Roque, do you really think that woman’s ugly?”If Roque had to be honest with himself, the woman had a great figure. Even th
North felt a lump in her throat as her face heated up.Gerald looked down at that photo. She could not tell if he was smiling or not. “No rush,” he said.“What do you mean, no rush?” North lost her temper again. “They’re dragging you into this mess! You don’t even know who spread these rumors—”At that moment, Gerald’s phone rang.Cedric roared on the other end, “Get back here right now! You’d better think about what you’ve done, sparking such a huge scandal! I should give your company to your brother instead! What have you ever done apart from getting into trouble?!”Gerald hung up with a cold chuckle and looked at North. “Now we know, don’t we? I told you there was no rush.”North understood at once. “You mean Mike was the one who did it?”Gerald smiled, as if he did not take the matter seriously at all. “Mike’s sent two moles to my company, so it’s high time they made a move. Can you do me a favor, Mrs. Howard?”North did not say a word.Why did she feel like she was his pa
He moved his wrists and frowned.Did North sleep for the entire day? Was she disoriented?North sat by the bed with nothing to do. She watched as time passed. Strange, why wasn’t she awake yet? Was she that sleepy? Could it be that the advanced exam questions were too difficult and she did not want to wake up?North could not help but think about the questions. Hmm… they did not seem very difficult. She had thought of a solution!Indeed, people had endless potential when they were dreaming. They could even come up with answers to such difficult questions!North was afraid that she would forget and wanted to wake up quickly, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not wake up. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but she was still in the room.North frowned and muttered to herself, “What’s going on…?”Gerald looked at her silently.He also wanted to ask what was going on.“North, do you need my help?”North hesitated. Even though it was a dream, she was still a littl
North exclaimed in surprise.It turned out that Gerald could be sarcastic too!Gerald did not give Patricia any time to react. He was just short of chasing the entire Bracken family out.While the Bracken family was leaving, Gerald heard Mike grumble, “Mom… If you knew this was going to happen, why didn’t you adjust your act earlier!”Patricia was furious. “I did all of this for you. How could you fall for Gerald’s tricks?!”“But Gerald was right. They suspect that I’m not Paige’s son because of you!”…Giselle’s smile became more and more sarcastic. When the Bracken family disappeared, he said, “Accompany me pay respects to Paige. Also, get someone to clean Glass Manor inside and out.”He wanted to get rid of the bad vibes the Bracken family had brought in.…A few days later, when they returned to Royal Sights Residences, the Bracken family actually stopped causing trouble.North was about to graduate, and she had one final exam. She saw the class group chat exchanging adva
“Why? Do you think that I’ve forgotten how Paige died?”Giselle never expected that this shameless family would have the audacity to make an issue out of Paige’s death.“You make it sound so simple. Even if Patricia dies today, you would never disregard her last wishes. Is everything you do for the good of the Bracken family?“Still, the only person the Bracken family has ever had to sacrifice was Paige!”Virgil snapped, “Nonsense! I’m Paige’s biological father, how could I…”Giselle sneered. “Stop putting on an act. You didn’t look for your daughter when she was missing. You didn’t feel sorry for your daughter when she returned. You kept asking her to tolerate the adopted daughter. When she was sick, you even stopped her treatment so that she would die and let your adopted daughter marry her husband.“Virgil, I’m sick. I’m not dead yet, and I haven’t lost my memory. If this happens again, I’ll destroy the entire Bracken family!”Giselle looked at the bodyguards she had brought
The surroundings suddenly fell silent.Virgil found it hard to breathe. “Let go! Are you crazy?!”“I’m asking you a question. Where is Paige buried? Tell me!”Virgil’s brain was deprived of oxygen. Without thinking, he roared, “How would I know? Let go, you crazy woman!”Patricia screamed, “Madam Giselle, what are you doing? Let go of him. Do you want Dad to die?”Gerald’s second uncle also shouted, “Madam Giselle, why are you doing this to us? Don’t treat your husband like this!”“You don’t know? You don’t know at all, do you?” Giselle ignored everyone. She looked unremorseful. She scoffed.“You claim to be severely depressed about your daughter’s death,” Giselle retorted. “Despite that, you actually don’t know where your daughter’s grave is!”As soon as she finished speaking, the entire place fell silent.When Virgil realized what he had just said, his face turned pale and he stopped screaming. He trembled as he spoke to Giselle hatefully. “You did this on purpose…”That wa
Mike said weakly, “North, we paid our respects to my mother before we went out today. We didn’t say anything because we were afraid that Grandpa wouldn’t be able to accept it.”As expected, Virgil clutched his chest and looked like he was about to faint.Patricia cried out, “Gerald, are you satisfied now that your grandfather is trembling in anger? We’ve kept it a secret for so many years. Despite that…”Everyone sighed. So, that was how it was.It was indeed Ms. Paige’s death anniversary today. However, the old man had fallen into a state of depression from the intense guilt. He then mistakenly thought that his daughter had passed away in May.As his family, Patricia and Mike could not bear to make the old man feel more guilty. Thus, they maintained the facade.In fact, they would pay their respects to Paige every year.This made sense. After all, Virgil was old and could not stand such harsh emotions.The people from the Bracken family jumped on this chance to scold Gerald. “
Everyone was dumbfounded. North was really bold!North blinked. “What’s wrong, Mr. Virgil? Why are you so angry? Did I say something wrong?”“What nonsense! Paige is my daughter! How could I intentionally let her die?!”North widened her eyes. “I didn’t say that you intentionally let her die! It’s just that the Bracken family didn’t like her and looked down on her. The medical staff didn’t care about her either. In the end, they didn’t even treat her and let her die.“I know. It’s not your fault. After all, you were so busy. How could you have the time to take care of a daughter you don’t love?”Virgil clutched his chest. “What nonsense…! Shut up!”“North!” Patricia screamed. “Gerald, are you just going to watch her anger your grandfather? Your grandfather’s health isn’t good…”“What did I say wrong?”North sighed. “Look at what Mr. Virgil said. Ms. Paige passed away at the end of May, so why didn’t he treat her for two whole months from the end of March to the end of May?“Th
Mike knew that he had fallen into North’s trap and was speechless!He was so anxious that his expression changed. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and huge beads of sweat dripped down. “Um… I…”“Mike!” Patricia saw that the situation was not good, so she hurriedly interrupted Mike and pulled him behind her.Then, she took a deep breath and pretended to be helpless and upset.“Gerald, what nonsense are you talking about?! We’re family. If you have anything you’re upset about, just tell me. There’s no need to cause trouble at the banquet and make an issue out of Paige’s death anniversary!“We’re all Paige’s family, and Dad is also Paige’s biological father. How can we not know when her death anniversary is?“Paige’s death anniversary is at the end of May. It’s not today at all. You… You’re too much!”Virgil looked aggrieved. He nodded and said, “That’s right. Paige’s death anniversary is in May. Gerald, I know you don’t want to give up her inheritance. Moreover, I didn’t fo
Everyone’s eyes fell on Gerald.Gerald looked up slowly and said calmly, “Ms. Patricia, why did you choose today to hold a banquet for Mike?”“It doesn’t matter what day I chose!” Patricia roared.“So, you did choose the date.”Gerald looked down at Patricia from above. His cold gaze made Patricia suddenly feel suffocated.Her “son” had a murderous look in his eyes. “Any other day would have been fine, but not today.”Patricia hated the look in Gerald’s eyes the most. Why was he so arrogant? Why was he looking down on her? Why was he like that b*tch?She screamed, “Gerald, I’m your mother! Mike is your brother! It’s fine if you don’t love me, but you keep finding fault with me. What right do you have—”“Today is the anniversary of Paige’s death.”Gerald interrupted her.Patricia’s face turned pale, and the words that she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. The scene instantly fell silent.What did Gerald say? What day was it today?Today was the anniversary of Paige’s d
Patricia felt a lump in her throat. “You…”“Connor, come out.” North interrupted her.Then, a group of people dressed in black walked out of nowhere and played mournful music. Connor walked in the middle and placed a memorial tablet on the table.Everyone looked at the memorial tablet curiously, wanting to know whose memorial tablet it was. When everyone saw the name “Paige”, they instantly fell silent.North and Gerald paid their respects. Then, they placed the bouquets beside the memorial tablet.Their actions stunned everyone.Had they come to pay respects to Paige?Patricia was trembling. She stared fixedly at Paige’s name on the memorial tablet. She clenched her fists.Paige!Gerald had paid his respects to Paige at a banquet for Mike. Was he crazy?! She was so unlucky! Paige was already dead, but she was still the center of attention at Mike’s banquet!After paying her respects, North turned around. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to pay your respects?”