Melinda had shown up at some point. “Surprised to see me, North?”North’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t think you were invited to this event.”Melinda was delighted. “It doesn’t matter. Reina is the heiress of the Jordan family. I’m their special guest.”North nodded. “Oh. Hey, special guest, have you checked in with your hosts?”Melinda did not understand what North was getting at.North pointed with her chin. “The people backing you have already run off after being found out for bringing a counterfeit. Why didn’t they tell you that they were leaving? How come they dumped you here alone?”“How dare you!” Melinda despised North for her sharp tongue.She could not stand it. “Don’t you know how rich and influential the Jordan family is? Reina isn’t going to lose to you!”North paused for a moment before suddenly laughing. “Yes, that’s right. You’re both roaches. Anyone would admire you for your resilience.”Melinda’s face reddened. “North, how could you have such a vicious tongue?! A
“It’s natural to want affection from your family members. You did not know that Henry wasn’t related to you, so you’re not stupid.“You’re so cute and pretty. Your biological father would have adored you.”North blinked. Her eyes felt a little damp.“Besides…” Gerald paused before saying meaningfully, “Do you know what a marriage certificate signifies?”North did not understand what Gerald was getting at. “What does it signify?”Gerald’s tone was very calm. “It means two strangers have become the people closest to each other on this earth. Even though they are not related by blood, they are bound by something that cannot be removed. From now on, I will be your family.”North thought about it for a while before she understood. Dazedly, she said, “Oh.”“That’s why you can always trust me and be yourself. You can even whine and be bratty with me. However…” Gerald’s eyes narrowed. “There’s something that’s a little strange.”North had a feeling that Gerald really wanted to tell Nor
Gerald looked at North meaningfully. “I would never risk the crime of polygamy.”An idea came to North, and she pulled Gerald to one side conspiratorially. They hid in a corner where Henry would not see them.Meanwhile, Henry and Linda were still boasting.Someone asked in surprise, “Mr. Gerald and Reina are getting married? Why have I not heard anything about that?”Henry waved a hand. “Gerald has a marriage agreement with the Jordan family. Reina is the heiress of the Jordan family. Doesn’t that make it a done deal?”North scoffed. Henry was already calling Gerald by his first name. He really acted as though he was Gerald’s father-in-law.Linda could not resist being as excited as Henry to boast. “Reina saved Mr. Gerald’s life four years ago. They’re meant to be together. Nothing can keep them apart!”The doubtful gazes of those around them became admiring.“Mr. Henry, you have really raised such an amazing daughter! Even after rejoining the Jordan family, Ms. Reina still tak
The security guard was unbothered.Henry got even more frustrated. He had invited so many business partners and friends here today to show off. Yet, he was being denied entry to the restaurant.Henry got angrier the more he thought about it. A vein pulsed in his temple. He suddenly rushed forward and grabbed the security guard by his collar. “I’ll say it one more time. You’d better get lost, I’m telling you—”“Dad, Mrs. Myers, don’t you find it embarrassing to be throwing tantrums at your age?”North had seen enough. She languidly walked out from behind a pillar.She raised an eyebrow and said pointedly, “Oh… You’ve brought some friends, Dad. It’s a shame that Dew Garden isn’t open to the public today. Gerald’s booked the whole place.”Everyone looked over at North. “Isn’t that North Myers?”“Did North say Mr. Gerald’s here? Didn’t Mr. Henry say that Mr. Gerald will be marrying Reina soon? Why is North having a meal with him?”“North, Mr. Gerald doesn’t love you anymore. Why do
North ducked to one side, and Henry’s slap landed solidly on Linda’s face. It made a loud noise.“Ouch! Hubby!”“North, you horrible wretch! How dare you duck?!”Linda wanted to come over and mock North, but she did not expect that North would drag her and use her as a shield just as she got close by.Before Linda could react, Henry had already slapped her. While North was just fine hiding behind her, she had been slapped for no reason.“North, how could you do that? I’m your stepmother. Why can’t we just talk things through? Did you have to raise a hand against me?”Everyone looked over at them and started criticizing North. “What’s going on? Why is it that North showing up got her father and stepmother so upset?”“Don’t be sad, Mrs. Myers, you’re considered North’s mother, so you should discipline her. She won’t dare go against you again.”Linda’s expression lightened. “North, Henry is just asking you for a small favor. We’re a family. There’s no grudge between us. What’s s
How could Reina not know that Dew Garden was not open to the public today?If she did not know, that meant that she had not made a reservation. In that case, Reina was not being sincere in wanting to treat them all to a meal.If she had known about this, this meant that Reina was intentionally playing them and making them make this trip for nothing!North said softly, “It’s clearly Reina who failed to organize this meal properly, but you’re not blaming Reina for it, Dad. You’re blaming me for it instead. I know that everything I do is wrong in your eyes. I’ve gotten used to it after so many years.”Someone in the group spoke up. “Mr. Henry, if you had explained the fact that Dew Garden wasn’t open to the public, we would have understood. Why did you have to blame all of this on North?”Henry was about to explode. “Y-You… North, you’re being unreasonable! You horrible wretch, I’ll kill—!”“So, this is how you treat my wife in private.” Gerald’s sudden statement interrupted Henry’s
Henry really felt like fainting.He had only wanted to brag about Reina and Gerald’s relationship. He never imagined that he would actually bump into Gerald!“N-North, I’m your father. Of course, that means that I’m also Mr. Gerald’s father-in-law…” He trailed off.“Mr. Henry, you’d better stop talking. Shut your trap!” Suddenly, one of the shareholders went forward and yelled at him.“The way you acted just now made it clear that you don’t treat North as your daughter. Still, you want to use her relationship with Mr. Gerald to show off. Don’t you think it’s humiliating to call yourself Mr. Gerald’s father-in-law now?!”“It was Reina who made a mistake here today. It’s bad enough that you scolded North for it. Now you want to drag Mr. Gerald into this as well? You… We don’t want to have this meal anymore!”Gerald’s gaze had been so chilling that these shareholders all felt like fleeing the scene.Yet, Henry was still shamelessly trying to win the argument. The shareholders were
North said sarcastically, “Connor, you’re expecting too much of them. There’s no way Dad and Mrs. Myers will apologize to me. They would much rather leave than lower their heads to apologize.”Connor was shocked. “What? But Dew Garden is having a half-price promotion today, and we also host a lot of activities. You’re also going to have to come here in the future if you want to hold any parties or gatherings. Are you two sure you don’t want to come in?”They played along with each other very well. “I’ve been their daughter for more than twenty years. I know them very well. Mrs. Myers is Henry’s current wife. She would be humiliated if she had to apologize to me, the daughter of Henry’s first wife.”Connor replied, “Ah, then that’s a real shame. We were going to give each of the guests a ticket to Globalis Corporation’s annual meeting. It seems you don’t need such a thing, Mr. Henry, so we’ll forget about it.” He then instructed the security guard. “Please escort them out.”Henry’s
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?”