It was midnight at Carter residence. Sylvia had been drawing for the entire day inside her room. She barely had any inspiration on what to draw and her carving tools were confiscated, so other than sketching, she had nothing to do. She sat on the floor and scribbled whatever was in her mind. It was until the door opened and the man’s uniformed footsteps sounded. Sylvia frowned but did not look at him. She continued scribbling on the floor. Odell walked closer to her and asked, “What are you doing?” Sylvia chose to remain quiet. Odell approached her side and saw her scribbling a dark drawing. The entire drawing was dark, drawn only with different shades of black. The dark sky, the black forests, and the crows on the branches, the entire drawing screamed of depression. She was scribbling with charcoal, so her hands were also tainted black. Odell frowned and said in a heavy tone, “Stop drawing.” Sylvia ignored him and continued moving her charcoal across the canvas
However, her little push did not even budge Odell’s towering figure. Sylvia was forced to muster all the strength in her. Unfortunately, not only did she fail to move him, but due to her excessive exertion of strength, the crutches under her arm slipped off and she lost her balance. Odell caught her from falling and carried her in his arms. Sylvia froze for a moment before she started struggling. “Let go of me!” She struggled with all her strength. It was an obvious sign that she resisted his touch. Odell’s expression fell. He then strode to the bed and tossed her on it. Sylvia got up and wanted to get out of bed but Odell held her by the neck and pushed her back. He shot a frosty glare at her and said, “If you don’t do what I say, I’ll throw away all your drawing tools.” Sylvia was flustered. She glared at him for a few seconds before she lay down begrudgingly. She took a deep breath and no longer tried to resist him. Odell withdrew his hand when Sylvia finally c
Ding.Odell's phone suddenly rang.He took out his phone and looked at it.Tara sent him a message.She asked, "Odell, is Sylvia in a better mood today?"He gently breathed out smoke.She sent another message. "There'll be an event in Westchester City in a few days, and there'll be a very nice fireworks show in the evening. Why don't you take Sylvia out for a day and let her get some air?"Odell was silent for a moment before his long fingers tapped on the screen. "What event?"Tara immediately sent the name of the event. "Cloudy Heart Lake Night Tour."In addition, she also sent over the location and time of the event.Odell frowned when he looked at the time.'I'll be going on a business trip tomorrow for a very important project and will take at least three or four days before coming back.'However, the Cloudy Heart Lake Night Tour will be held in the evening the day after tomorrow.'I don't think I'll be able to make it back.'At that moment, Tara sent another message
...Odell was probably really on a business trip since Sylvia did not see him the entire day.However, perhaps because she did not see him, her mood was much better than it was in the morning.She went out of the room and wheeled herself to Madam Carter's room.At this time, it was still Violet who was taking care of Madam Carter.Violet smiled when she saw Sylvia coming. "Mrs. Carter, do you want to spend some time alone with Madam?""No, I'll just sit here for a while.""Sure."Sylvia pondered and asked, "How’s Grandma's health lately?"Violet replied, "The doctor comes to check on her every day and says there's no problem with her health. She just has no signs of awakening yet. He doesn't know if she'll wake up again either."Sylvia nodded.The air was quiet for a while, and Violet said to her with a smile, "Mrs. Carter, are you bored? Let's chat."Sylvia also smiled. "Sure.""What do you want to hear?""Tell me about what's going on outside.""Oh, there's a movie tha
The surrounding pedestrians immediately screamed and scattered.Violet also exclaimed and quickly pushed Sylvia past the two groups.After a while, when they were far away from the commotion, Violet finally stopped in relief.Sylvia let out a breath on the wheelchair and asked, "Violet, are you okay?"Violet replied, "I'm fine, but we seem to have been separated from Edward and the others. They didn't follow us."Sylvia glanced back.The two groups of people were still fighting, but there seemed to be uniformed security guards who went over to stop them. Edward and the others were professional bodyguards, so they would not be hurt.Sylvia said, "They'll find us. Let's go over there."She looked to the front.Violet responded and pushed her forward.Soon they arrived at the other side of Cloudy Heart Lake.This area was connected to two small hills several dozen of meters high. The hills blocked out a lot of light, so there were very few people here.Violet said, "Mrs. Carte
The limited-edition crystal Rubix Cube and a diamond crowd lay quietly in the box.Next to it was a red diamond ring in the shape of a rose.After a moment, he said, "Go faster."...Cloudy Heart Lake was a scenic area in the daytime, but its hills were closed at night.It was currently night now, and there were no lights at all.Sylvia was pushed into the elevator which led to the top of the hill.After entering, her hand was gripped by the thug's gloved leather hand, who used her fingers to press a button.Sylvia did not know what he wanted to do, but there was still a dagger on her neck, so she could only do as he pleased.The elevator went straight up to the top of the hill.The moment the door opened, she saw a slim figure.The figure wore a baseball cap and a dark sweatshirt. It looked like a woman.It also looked somewhat familiar.Just as Sylvia was wondering, the wheelchair was pushed out of the elevator, and she arrived at the top of the hill.The cold night win
Smack, smack, smack.It was only after an unknown amount of slaps until both sides of Sylvia's face were red and swollen before Tara stopped with satisfaction.At that moment, Sylvia was still slumped in her wheelchair.She did not even have the strength to dodge, let alone raise her hand to fight back.Her cheeks began to swell and hurt.She gnashed her teeth and endured it.When Tara saw how angry Sylvia was yet could not do anything to fight back, she burst out laughing. "Sylvia, are you angry? Do you want to hit me back? Haha, it's a shame that you're a cripple now!"Sylvia looked at her coldly. "Tara Avery, you'd better let me go. Odell knows that I'm here, and he arranged for several bodyguards to follow me. They'll find me here soon!"Tara immediately showed an exaggerated frightened expression. "Really? I'm so scared."Sylvia froze.Tara continued to say, "Oh, didn't you know? I was the one who persuaded Odell to let you come here tonight. I asked him a few days ago a
Indeed, Odell had always cared about Tara.When Tara saw Sylvia fall silent, she deliberately sighed and said, "So what if Odell likes you? Not only does he care about me the most, but the person he trusts the most is also me. Look, you went through so much trouble to get Odell to remarry you, but he doesn't trust you at all. I'm sure that you've been telling him this entire time that I was the one who harmed that old hag, but what happened? Not only did he not believe you, but he even broke your leg. I feel a little sorry for you."Sylvia only felt her chest tighten.The things that Odell did to her these days flashed in her mind one by one.No matter how she explained, he did not believe her.He put her under house arrest, used her as an outlet, broke her leg, trampled on the wooden sculptures she carved for the children, threw away her paintings...His cold, hateful, and terrifying face flashed through her mind.Why?He was the one who wanted to remarry. Why did he refuse to
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