Sylvia’s expression turned grim. “You can’t stay here anymore.” “That’s what I thought as well. Sylvia, let’s leave tomorrow,” Thomas said. Sylvia was taken aback. Thomas studied her face closely, his eyes full of tenderness and expectation. Sylvia pursed her lips. She had promised to leave Westchester with him, but she had not thought it would be tomorrow.Thinking quickly, she said, “Isn’t that a little too rushed?” Thomas’ eyes darkened. “Don’t you want to leave with me?” The disappointment was clear in his voice.Sylvia immediately said, “No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought that it was a little too rushed. I’m not ready yet.” Thomas smiled. “You don’t need to be ready. Just bring Aunt Tonya, your kids and the necessary documents. As for the other things, we can settle it all when we reach the other country.” Sylvia pursed her lips even tighter as she struggled with her thoughts for a while. Then, she said, “Okay.” Odell had not kept his promise. He had s
The next morning, Sylvia headed to the kids’ room with a bag. Inside the bag were the documents for the kids, Aunt Tonya, and her own. Isabel and Liam had just woken up, their eyes remained puffy and blurry. The girl noticed the bag on her mother. Her mother would only take the bag when they go out to play. Her eyes widened in excitement and got energized. “Mommy, where are we going to play today?” Sylvia stroked the girl’s head. She said with a smile, “We’re not going to play today. I’m bringing you to visit your uncle at the hospital today.” Isabel pouted. “What happened to Uncle? Why are we visiting him at the hospital?” “His hand got hurt, but it’s no big deal. He’ll recover soon.” “Oh, okay.” The girl was excited to see her handsome uncle again. She crawled out of bed and got ready for the trip. Sylvia did not even need to help her get ready. Liam also automatically got up and went into the bathroom. …After breakfast, Sylvia brought the kids and Aunt Tonya
Just as Sylvia was fighting her thoughts, trying to come up with the best excuse for her kids, Thomas suddenly said, “The weather is good today. Mommy and I are planning to bring you guys to play abroad.” The word “play” intrigued the little girl as her eyes shone in excitement and she screamed, “YAY!” Liam asked softly, “Uncle, what about your injury?” Thomas met the boy’s questioning gaze and said with a smile, “It’s just a minor injury. It won’t affect our schedule.” Liam then turned to his mother. “Mommy, where are we going today?” Sylvia pursed her lips and reluctantly answered, “We still haven’t decided yet. We’ll plan on the way there.” Liam then lowered his head in silence. Thomas then shot a glance at Sylvia. “I’ll bring them downstairs first.” Sylvia answered, “Okay. I’ll be there in a moment.” Thomas carried Isabel out of the ward. Aunt Tonya followed him. Sylvia then said to Liam, “Liam, follow Aunt Tonya and your sister downstairs. Mommy has to take you
“Second Master Carter, I believe you must’ve seen the texts. You don’t reply because my information isn’t worthy for you to save me? Then, let me tell you one more thing. “You know Melanie? She’s my mother. She’s in prison because she helped me to deal with Sylvia. Before she was arrested, she told me she knew someone mysterious who helped her from the dark and this mysterious person knows Carter Corporation from the inside out. He even grasped Odell’s schedule precisely, knowing when he’s away for work and when he’ll be back. “Because of that mysterious person, I was able to frame Sylvia for pushing that old hag down the hill. I was also able to push Sylvia into the lake because that mysterious person caused a diversion during the event and he even helped me to get a trustworthy hitman for the job. “Is it safe for me to say that you’re that person who helped me?” Sylvia was shocked. Her trembling hands almost dropped the phone to the floor. She suddenly felt weak and had to
Sylvia frowned, but before she could wrap her head around the situation, she was shrouded by an elongated shadow from the back. She froze for a split second and then quickly turned around. Thomas was a few steps away from her, wearing a grin and looking at her with a warm expression. At the next moment, he asked, “Have you seen the texts?” The sun was hanging high up in the sky. It was a scorching hot summer day. His eyes were as warm as before but she felt otherwise. She was quivering in fear and sweating nervously. She feigned ignorance and asked, “Thomas, where are Aunt Tonya and the kids?” “They are in another car.” “Where’s that?” “Don’t worry. They’re being taken care of,” he said with a smile. “I can take care of them myself. Tell me where’s the car.” Thomas went closer and stroked her head. His smile remained as he said, “Don’t worry. When we reach the airport, you’ll be able to see them.” Sylvia feigned a silly smile and said, “They aren’t used to traveli
Meanwhile at Carter Tower, in the top floor office, the man had just gone through a pile of documents and wanted to rest his eyes for a bit. It was then his phone rang. It was from Jacob. He put the phone near his ears and heard Jacob’s anxious voice. “Sir, Ms. Avery is looking for you.” There was an obvious disgust in his expression when he heard the name. “I’m not seeing her.” “Ms. Avery said she wanted to talk to you about Second Master Carter. She said he was the one who planned for Spencer Weiss to kidnap her and madam. She also said that Second Master Carter did more than that. He has been pulling the strings from the dark since Melanie arrived in Westchester City and before she pushed Madam Carter down the hill. He has been plotting from the dark.” Odell’s expression turned cold. “What has he been planning?” “She refused to say. She’d only say when she sees you.” “Keep an eye out for her. I’m coming right over.” He bolted up and strode out of the office. …T
She lowered her head in fear and remained on her knees. She changed her words and continued, “Master Carter, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have lied to you.” Odell asked, “What did Thomas do?” A quick pause later, he sized her up with a frosty gaze and continued, “If you can provide any useful information, I might consider letting you live.” Tara’s eyes shone hopefully and said, “Master Carter! Second Master Carter isn’t who you think he is! He came to me and said he could help me to win your heart again, so he instigated me to fake being chased by gangsters so that you can save me. He also instructed Spencer Weiss to kidnap me and forced you to choose me instead of Sylvia. He was the mastermind behind these two incidents.” Odell narrowed his eyes. “What else?” “Yes! Yes!” Tara looked up and met his eyes. “Do you remember Melanie? She’s actually my mother, not my aunt. She came to Westchester City when you and Sylvia just remarried. She said there was a mysterious person who had b
Had she blacklisted him again? His brows remained furrowed when he said to the driver, “Turn around. We’ll go home first.” He wanted to bring the woman along so that when he finally exposed Thomas and Tara of their schemes, she would be able to see Thomas’ true self. He wanted to know if she would still follow Thomas after learning what happened. It was then Jacob in the passenger seat received a call. His expression changed before he turned around and said, “Sir, something happened! We can’t reach the two new bodyguards that we sent to the hospital last night. A nurse picked up one of their phones and informed us that they were found knocked out cold outside the hospital an hour ago. They were severely injured and still hadn’t woken up.” Odell frowned. Knocked out an hour ago? The timing was uncanny. He said coldly, “Contact the hospital right away. Tell them Thomas is a dangerous murderer and ask them to apprehend him immediately.” Jacob nodded and contacted the hos
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