Later that night, Sylvia had dinner with the kids and then played with them again. After the two of them went to bed, Sylvia grabbed her jacket and left the room. When she walked past the living room, Odell was drinking tea on the couch. She had a glance at him and continued toward the door. “It’s late. Where are you going?” he asked. Sylvia ignored him and continued toward the door. Sherry’s car was already waiting outside the house and Sylvia spotted her as soon as she came out. “Syl, hurry up!” Sylvia smiled and got into the car. The car then drove away from the house. Shortly after the car turned into the junction, another black sports car drove out of the house and followed them. …Sherry was a great driver. Half an hour later, they arrived at a famous barbeque restaurant. Sylvia followed Sherry to a room on the second floor. When she walked in, she saw Edmund slouching on his seat, smiling at her. “Syl, it’s been a long time. Did you miss me?” He
Sylvia’s smile remained as she stood up with Sherry. It was time for her to leave now that she was full, but she had something to say to Edmund alone. She said to Sherry, “Sherry, can you wait for me outside? It will just take a few minutes.” “Okay.” Sherry grabbed the drunk Lloyd and Harry out of the room. The room became quiet with only the two of them. Edmund continued to slouch on his seat. He raised a brow at Sylvia and asked, “What do you want to talk about?” Sylvia looked at him seriously. “Edmund, I heard from Harry that your business has been declining while you were away. I have some savings here. You can use it as funds to turn your business around.” She then pulled a bank card from her purse. The card contained half of her entire savings. It might not be able to make up for his losses but it should be enough to let him turn his business around. “It’s okay.” Edmund chuckled. “Odell Carter gave me a sum of money today and it’s twice as much as what I lost.
Odell’s expression turned cold. “Move!” “Don’t be angry. I’m just joking with you.” Edmund chuckled and continued, “I just want a few words with you, can I?” Odell narrowed his eyes. “What is it?” “I want to talk about Tara with you. I believe you haven’t heard of her past before you met her, right?” Odell frowned. Sherry’s car already disappeared beyond the traffic. Odell went silent for two seconds before he wound down the window. Edmund went to the driver’s side and leaned on the car. “I’ll be frank with you. I was able to get to know Syl because Tara introduced her to me.” He then pulled his phone out and showed Odell the chat history he had with Tara. The entire chat history was revealed to Odell before his eyes. “Mr. Price, Happy New Year! I heard you’ve been single for a while now. Haven’t you met someone nice? I know someone and I believe she’s your type. Do you want to meet her?” Edmund asked her for some pictures. Tara then sent several pictures of Syl
Other than Edmund’s lackey, Tara was seeing three other men? Which made it four men at the same time? Odell asked, “When is this?” Edmund pondered for a minute and said, “Around five years ago.” Five years ago? Odell’s expression fell. Edmund narrowed his eyes and continued, “I can’t just sit back and watch my lackey being cheated on by some woman, so I told him, but he didn’t believe me. I convinced him to catch her in the act and I guess he got so angry when he caught Tara sleeping with another man, so he beat the man to death. “He’s still behind bars now and Tara left with all his money. Not even a penny was left for him, or his mother at home. My other lackeys and I wanted to teach her a lesson but she got lucky and found you, so the entire thing was forced to a halt.” The night breeze blew and whirred. The man in the car showed the grimmest expression to veil his true emotions. Edmund saw the look on his face. “Master Carter, this might be a long time ago but if
He started to believe Tara was the victim and Sylvia was the vicious woman. He imprisoned Sylvia so that she would not go out and hurt Tara anymore, and his anger drove him to divorce her in the end. He had just regained control of his company back then and he was busy handling work matters. He got so busy that he only had a few hours of sleep in the office for many nights. Tara sustained permanent damage from the fall and could never be pregnant again and she got a little mentally unstable. Therefore, whenever he got the time, he would go visit her. When he finally settled his company matters, it had already been one month since Sylvia’s labor. It was on the same day when he returned home, that he saw Sylvia slapping Tara. He was furious. It was Sylvia’s fault that Tara could never be pregnant again, and Tara did not even complain once. She even visited Sylvia frequently. However, Sylvia did not appreciate Tara’s effort and slapped her six times. Not only that but Sy
“Thank you, Edmund.” “You’re welcome.” Sylvia put her phone away. Now that Odell learned about Tara’s past, he would not be that stupid to continue believing Tara was a pure and innocent girl. Sherry then said, “Syl, it’s Odell’s car. He’s coming out. Should we follow him?” Sylvia looked ahead and saw Odell’s car driving down the main road. It seemed like he was heading to Lake Victoria Villa. ‘He’s going to Tara’s place?’ Even though Sylvia no longer cared about his relationship with Tara, she was still curious and yearned for more gossip. She grinned and said, “Sherry, follow him. We’re in for a good show.” Sherry wore the same wide grin. “Alright!” …The black sports car sprinted in the night. Half an hour later, the car arrived at Lake Victoria Villa, Tara’s house. Odell got out of the car and the bodyguards immediately opened the door for him. The man strode inside the house. It was dark. The bodyguards did not notice the grim look on his face, so on
He asked, “Do you know the man in the picture?” Tara’s face turned white as paper. The picture showed her clinging to another man. She uncontrollably faltered as she looked at Odell’s frosty look. She said in a trembling voice, “O-Odell, who sent you the picture?” “Answer my question.” Tara’s gaze became evasive. She hurriedly said, “I-I don’t know him. I’ve never taken a picture like that! Someone is trying to frame me!” Odell then scrolled to the next picture. He showed her the phone again and said, “So, this picture is also someone trying to frame you?” The second picture showed her kissing Joshua intimately. Tara started to shake. “Odell, I…” Odell looked at her as he scrolled through his phone and showed her every intimate picture she had with Joshua. She took the pictures with Joshua five years ago when they were still together. Those pictures should have been erased from existence after Joshua was arrested. How did Odell get his hands on them? Sweat cov
Sherry asked in a small voice, “What did he show her?” Sylvia answered, “It should be a picture of some sort.” Back in the living room, Odell indeed showed Tara another picture and it was a picture of her being intimate with another man other than Joshua. Tara only had a glance at the picture before Odell scrolled to the next picture. The picture was also from five years ago and it showed her being intimate with yet another unrecognized man. Tara was petrified. Odell continued to scroll through the screen until the last picture in the album. It was a picture of her with another man on the bed and it was taken by Joshua himself. Tara collapsed on the floor. Odell retracted his phone. The filthy pictures would only stain his phone. He deleted all of them before he pocketed it. Then, he stared at Tara with the coldest gaze and asked, “Do you have anything else to say?” “I…I…” Tara stuttered and failed to produce a full sentence. Odell then turned to the bodyguard.
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