She was her usual self in every aspect. She put her heart into her job and never started trouble so long as nobody tried to start trouble with her. The crew cycled through their locations during their shoot. The constant travel made her skin break out slightly, but there were no other concerns otherwise. The shoot progressed very smoothly and within three months, they managed to wrap up everything at the mountainous region previously mentioned. It was nearly evening when they wrapped up the shoot. Holding a bouquet in hand, she took a group picture with the crew and celebrated with everyone. After that, she planned to hitch a ride with another crew member and leave for home. To their demise, some men in uniform who claimed to be the road maintenance technicians showed up to break the bad news to them. They mentioned that they had to repair some of the roads urgently and so the way home was temporarily obstructed. The director took his phone and called the city hotline fo
"Congratulations, Mrs. Carter, you’re having a pair of twins.” The gynecologist handed the ultrasound report to Sylvia. Sylvia took the sheet with trembling hands. Twins! Odell must be ecstatic to hear of this piece of news. Sylvia thanked the gynecologist earnestly before leaving the hospital with her copy of the report. She entered the car. The driver promptly asked, “Madam, would you like to head home?” With a flick of her hand, Sylvia instructed, “Take me to Victoria Lake Villa.” The driver hesitated. “Are you sure, madam? That’s where—“ Sylvia cut him off and said with a steely gaze in her eyes, “I’m sure.” The driver sighed silently and began to steer the car toward the direction of Victoria Lake Villa which was located southwest of Westchester City. Victoria Lake Villa was an extremely upper-class residence area developed in recent years in Westchester City. There were only ten sparse villas in the community, one of which was owned by the Carters. However,
Sylvia was kicked out of the property shortly after Odell left with Tara in his arms.She was swiftly placed under house arrest after returning home, forbidden to leave the house for any reason other than when she needed to perform her routine pregnancy checkup. This was also the same period when she received the divorce papers. After that, Sylvia never saw Odell again—until a month after she gave birth. It was before noon, and Sylvia was spending time with her children in her room when she heard Tara’s voice drifting in from outside."Aunt Tonya, I'm here to pay Sylvia and her child a visit. Please excuse me.” Aunt Tonya stood in front of the door and voiced her unfiltered discontent, "You aren't welcome here. Get out!” Tara sneered, “Odell already signed the divorce papers with Sylvia some time ago, and I will be marrying him soon. That means I’m going to be the boss of this place soon enough. Don’t you think you’re the one who should scram?” Aunt Tonya was so exasperated
Sylvia felt a terrible throb in her heart. She looked at Odell, the man that she had adored for more than a decade, who now looked back at her with complete indifference and disdain. Not only did he not believe Sylvia's explanation, but he even wanted to have her slapped sixty times for Tara’s sake. Sixty slaps would ruin her face entirely. Sylvia cried out, “Odell, why don't you break my legs or something? Anything but my face!” She pleaded on the verge of tears. Odell only pursed his lips. This time, it was Tara who tugged his arm. “Forget it, Odell. She only hit me six times. You’re going to ruin her face if you have her slapped sixty times. Besides, my face hurts and we'd better get to a hospital.” Perhaps it would have been better if she had not said anything at all. Odell promptly commanded the bodyguards, “Do it now!” The two bodyguards would not dare disobey Odell and immediately held Sylvia down. Sylvia did not have the strength to resist and was forced onto
Three years later. “Oh my God, look, it’s Isabel Ross!” “She’s even cuter in person than she is on TV!” “Little Belle, look over here! I love you!” Sylvia, who was holding Isabel in her arms, was not expecting to be immediately swarmed by people at the airport the moment she disembarked the plane.She quickly lowered the brim of her hat and inspected her mask to see if she had worn it properly over her face. Meanwhile, safe in her arms, Isabel started making queer little gestures. She raised her little chubby hands and aimlessly pointed them at the crowd surrounding them, her cartoon-like large eyes blinking every now and then. The gathering crowd cooed."My God! She’s so cute I could die!” “Little baby, can I be your mommy?!” A sea of fans formed in no time and a bold group of fans chased after them.Isabel waved to them and told them, “Hello, everyone, I already have a mommy! Since you’re all so young, you should all be my sisters instead.” The group of fans wh
Her subtle grin was icy and enchanting. There was an initial look of shock in Odell’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a dark cloud that was cast over them. “You dare to threaten me? Do you have a death wish?” To think that in these three years where they have not met, she had grown into such a fierce creature! His menacing expression was the same as the look he had three years ago when Tara had suffered the unfortunate miscarriage. It was the same look as the one he had when he ordered to have Sylvia slapped sixty times after she gave birth. All these past events that had been gathering dust suddenly raced through her mind. Sylvia was rather taken aback. With a faint smile, she suddenly pressed the razor blade harder into Odell’s flesh.The razor blade immediately sliced through the dermis of his skin, so fresh blood slowly oozed out of the cut. She smiled grimly and stated, “Master Carter, you’re the one with a death wish if you still refuse to let go of me.” O
Isabel noticed the doubt in his eyes. She proceeded to produce a mahogany amulet in the shape of a tiny fist and presented it to Liam. The amulet immediately caught his attention. Isabel raised the question innocuously, “Don’t you have something that looks like this too?” Liam nodded. He certainly did. It was stashed inside a drawer in his room. According to the words of his grandmother, it was gifted to him by someone very close when he was born. Isabel began to explain, “It was Mommy who carved these amulets herself. She said that we loved holding hands since we were born, which was why she made two small fists for each of us. She said that the two fists can be combined." Liam took the amulet and caressed its surface. It was identical to the one he had at home. He studied Isabel. She tilted her head to one side and regarded him with a brilliant smile. Liam pursed his lips, and the faint shadow of a smile began to surface on his lips. He asked, "What's your name?
Shortly after that, inside a private room on the second floor of the Elysian House, Odell was seated next to Tara while Sylvia and her two colleagues sat with them at the table. Perhaps due to Odell’s intimidating aura, both of Sylvia’s colleagues kept their heads low and did not dare to utter a word or make any sort of movement.From the moment he sat down, he had been staring fixedly at Sylvia without any attempts to conceal his gaze. Sylvia shifted uncomfortably as he watched her like his prey in this manner. She felt she had to say something. “Master Carter, it’s quite inappropriate for you to keep staring at me like this with your wife sitting right by your side.” Odell chuckled softly. “After three years, it doesn’t seem like you’ve changed all that much apart from the attitude you’ve developed.” Sylvia returned his snark response, “Well, I’ll have to thank the sixty slaps you gave me for that.” Odell’s lips twitched as his face darkened. It was as if he could not
She was her usual self in every aspect. She put her heart into her job and never started trouble so long as nobody tried to start trouble with her. The crew cycled through their locations during their shoot. The constant travel made her skin break out slightly, but there were no other concerns otherwise. The shoot progressed very smoothly and within three months, they managed to wrap up everything at the mountainous region previously mentioned. It was nearly evening when they wrapped up the shoot. Holding a bouquet in hand, she took a group picture with the crew and celebrated with everyone. After that, she planned to hitch a ride with another crew member and leave for home. To their demise, some men in uniform who claimed to be the road maintenance technicians showed up to break the bad news to them. They mentioned that they had to repair some of the roads urgently and so the way home was temporarily obstructed. The director took his phone and called the city hotline fo
He remembered his first meeting with Isabel. She was sitting all by herself on the floor, in the middle of nowhere. Her vulnerable expression only made her more endearing. So, he managed to get her to go to his place and installed her in his home. He fell for her and paid careful attention to all her needs. It did not take long before Isabel caught feelings for him as well. The two of them got together in no time. Their days were plain and ordinary, but also very fulfilling, that was until he met Clarice. With the help of his father, his power struggle with Roland had reached a tipping point. It was at that opportune moment when Clarice’s father saw something in Roland and planned to wed his daughter Clarice to him to join up their families, which was a cause for alarm for Decker. He stressed over it for an entire night before approaching Clarice himself the very next day. Clarice quickly caught feelings for him as well. Furthermore, Roland had been foolish enough to reject
Decker was smiling quite earnestly at Isabel. Isabel threw a deeply suspicious look at him, then she glanced at the stack of documents laid out on top of the table in front of her. “Transferal of Shares.” She was dumbfounded. "I've gone through the contract, it’s safe to sign so go ahead.” Roland picked up a pen and handed it to her. "Roland, I..." "Sign it first, I’ll explain when we get home.” Isabel frowned and tried to protest. "I—" "Don't make me have to beg." Isabel did not know how to respond. Fine. She briefly scanned through the contract. The contract stated Decker’s agreement to transfer the remaining forty percent of his shares in Rockwell Corporation to her. Roland must have talked to the shareholders of Rockwell Corporation about this as well. They all regarded Isabel with polite smiles. Isabel had flipped through the final page of the document. She signed her name on one of the marked-out sections. She proceeded to sign all thr
They ended the call shortly after that. Isabel glanced at Martha and was hesitating if she should break the news right away. Martha seemed to have sensed her staring and suddenly turned to her with a flash of concern. "Isabel, what's wrong?" Isabel took a deep breath and broke the news. "Auntie, Master Rockwell just passed away." Martha's eyes widened. After a lengthy silence that lasted more than ten seconds, she started to break out in tears. She covered her face with her hands and expressed amid bouts of tears mixed with laughter, “Wonderful! About time! I hope he enjoys life in the underworld. God knows that someone like him will never deserve a spot in heaven!” Isabel did not know whether she should celebrate with Martha or console her. Soon, Martha began to collect herself. She briefly wiped away her tears and joyfully took Isabel's hand. "Isabel, let’s go shopping! I’m in such a good mood today, I’m going to go on a shopping spree!” "Okay. But Roland w
Isabel held onto Roland's hand firmly during the entire drive home after leaving the hospital. It was because Roland’s hands were cold and rigid. Isabel sat with him and tirelessly rubbed his hand to keep them warm. After one hand was warm, she would shift her attention to the other. By the time she managed to warm the other hand, the original hand would turn cold again. She decided it was easier to take both of his hands and caress them with the warmth of her palms. Roland looked at her with a gentle glow deep within his eyes. “Thank you, Isabel,” he said softly. Thank you for loving him, and for sticking by his side all this time despite circumstances. Isabel smiled. “I’m just warming your hands, it's no big deal. Still, you’re welcome." Roland smiled faintly and left it at that. Soon, his hands began to warm up off of the heat of Isabel’s palms. When Isabel felt that his hands were no longer freezing, she prepared to pull her hand away. That was when
Decker looked nothing like his usual self. The pompous, arrogant man who held himself far above others and who expected everyone around him to kiss up to him because he was superior to them all. It was as if he had been plunged not only to Earth but a pile of swamp. He had completely lost his usual grace. Isabel said crossly, "Decker, have you gone mental? Is everything going on too much for you?” “Yeah, could you help me?” he said with a coy smile, “Just one hug should be enough to take care of it all.” Isabel rolled her eyes. Without warning, he suddenly braced himself and lunged right at Isabel, stepping past Brandon who was caught off guard by this sudden attack. Isabel barely had time to react. Just when it seemed like his hand was about to graze Isabel, a long pair of arms seized Isabel from behind and jerked her backward. It was swiftly followed by a long, muscular leg shooting outward right next to Isabel. Thump! Decker was kicked to the ground.
"How did you and Roland meet?" Decker suddenly asked. Isabel turned away, fully intent on ignoring him. "Did you meet each other at Carter Corporation? Or did you meet him outside of work and gradually fell in love with him, then you decided to set him up with a position at Carter Corporation?” What did he mean by that? Was he insinuating that Roland was relying on her to snake his way into Carter Corporation? She threw a sideways, belittling look at him. "Do you think Roland is anything like you? He wouldn’t latch on another woman to further his goals.” Decker was not upset by this as he continued with a smug smile. "Oh? Then how did he get into Carter Corporation?" “He proved his worth.” Isabel realized that she had been roped in by Decker again. Nevertheless, she continued, “He passed the interviews himself. I was one of the interviewers and initially planned to dismiss him, but he managed to leave a very good impression on my father and the rest was history.” "
"I never meant to kill him! Roland, you have to believe me. Why would I still try to deceive you when I’m in this state?” “In that case, you can go ahead and explain things to him in the afterlife.” Master Rockwell was taken aback by this, his demeanor tightened. "You...you..." Roland looked at him calmly. "Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. It was Grandma and my parents who raised me. They instilled morals and virtue into me and made sure I’d grow into a decent man.” Master Rockwell was briefly relieved to hear this, but before he could rid himself of his trepidation, Roland continued in a dark voice, "But I won’t forget about you and Decker bribing all those media outlets to defame Isabel. I know you manipulated the stock prices to try to kick me out of the corporation. I’ll make sure to settle our score through the legal system.” If convicted guilty, they would have to rot in prison. “Roland… listen to me, Roland. Decker is your uncle. If you want revenge, you can come
Master Rockwell must have heard their shifting movements and opened his eyes. When he recognized the faces of Roland and Isabel, there was a brief glow in his murky eyes. He motioned to the nurse to have her help him sit up from the bed. After he managed to position himself seated up against the head of the bed, he asked the nurse to leave. Then he cast a loving, tender smile on Roland and Isabel. “Roland, Isabel, please have a seat.” Roland said disinterestedly, "We have things to get to, just hurry up and tell us what you have to say." Isabel stayed silent. A look flashed in Master Rockwell's eyes. Then, he turned to Isabel and expressed regretfully, "Isabel, I’m a foolish old man, it was me who told Decker to leak pictures of you two. He had no choice because I forced him to do so. If you have to blame someone, blame me!” Isabel frowned. She was somewhat impressed by how smoothly the old man switched his mask from one to another. From a forlorn and sad state t