However, Mia would never give in.Her tone was cold. "You're underestimating me, Mr. Shelbert. Do you think that the life and death of the Barretts would bother me?""I dared not underestimate you, Ms. Mia. But there's no point for both our families—or even the three families—to be on bad terms because of such a trivial matter. It won't do anything good to us.""So how would you like to settle this?"Raymond suggested, "I know that my daughter is at fault, but I can hand over the project to you to make up for it. For future projects, I will consider your family first. How's that? You won't lose anything from this.""Do you think I need that?""Ms. Mia, if you have other conditions, tell me. I will do my best to fulfill them.""Simple. Let Luna pay for the price." Mia turned around, looking at the bodyguards by the door. "If you insist on not letting me leave the room, I will call Dominic right now. Since you have something over his head, he might as well talk to you personally.
Mia recalled the past of how Sharon misunderstood that Asher was Timothy's son and treated the boy well.It wasn't only Sharon. Mia also assumed that Asher was Timothy's son.After all, she had seen Luna's pictures on Timothy's laptop before. Back then, she thought that Luna was the woman he liked.The truth was completely beyond her imagination.Timothy said, "No, she doesn't know about this. I don't want her to know either.""I understand." She nodded.If Sharon found out the truth, she would be devastated. No woman could tolerate having the child of their husband's illegitimate child staying under the same roof.It was abhorrent.Mia blurted, "Why did you have Luna's picture on your laptop back then? Did you already know that your half-brother was seeing Luna at that time?""When did you use my laptop?" questioned Timothy seriously."Let me explain. I wasn't sneaking or peeking. I had to sketch a design urgently, so I had no choice but to use your laptop in the study. And
Mia said solemnly. "It's been four years, Timothy. The orphan Mia might need you to take care of something, but I don't need it now. I can take care of it myself."The elevator door opened and she walked out.Now that she knew Raymond was meeting Luna and the relationship between the duo, there was a need to devise a proper plan. She mustn't act recklessly.Winning the project wasn't the main objective now. It was to make Luna pay the price for her deeds.Timothy followed Mia. "Mia, hear me out.""I don't want to hear any explanation from you."At that moment, Sharon scurried over. "Son, what are you doing here?"Veronica quickly said, "Tim, look at me! This woman slapped me! You have to teach her a lesson!"Mia was surprised that Sharon and Veronica hadn't left.Stopping in her tracks, Mia flashed him a meaningful smile. "I slapped her because she kept saying how Ginger's a burden and trying to steal her custody rights. "You know how vile my temper has always been. I neve
Sharon avoided eye contact upon hearing that. "I came to take care of your uncle's issue."Timothy frowned. "I will take care of that. You don't have to come all the way here yourself. Besides, you're on probation. If the police find out you're here, your punishment will be more severe."He didn't expect her to sneak to Nord City.Veronica defended, "Tim, if we keep this a secret, no one will know that Sharon sneaked to Nord City. Still, you have to be careful that someone else might snitch on Sharon to intensify the severity of the punishment."Mia noticed that Veronica was implying her to be a potential snitcher.Well, the fact that Veronica pointed it out might provoke Mia to do so.A pristine smile was plastered on Mia's face. "You're right. I will call the police from Bern City immediately, reporting to them that you've sneaked to Nord City during probation."Sharon became jittery. "How could you be this evil, Mia Lane? I came here just to take care of something personal, n
Sharon could never be as pitiful as she was right now.Mia watched the middle-aged woman before her. Never in her wildest dream had she dreamed of the prideful Sharon apologizing to her.Nevertheless, Mia didn't wish to have a prisoner to be Ginger's grandmother.If words got out, there would be someone making fun of Ginger because of this.Mia took a deep breath. "Fine, but on two conditions.""Say it. I'll agree to anything.""Simple. I will never hand over the custody rights, so don't dream of it anymore. Don't bring it up in front of my child either. If I find out you break the promise, I will never let you go twice."Despite the reluctance, Sharon didn't have the right to negotiate given the situation.Unwillingly, she nodded. "I promise you that I won't bring it up again."The main reason she came to Nord City was to take care of Ralph's matter to bail him out of prison, not fighting for Ginger's custody rights.Sharon knew that it wouldn't be easy to steal Ginger's cus
Sharon's eyes widened when she noticed Luna. "W-What are you doing here?"Veronica was shell-shocked as well. "Luna Maynard, aren't you supposed to be in prison? How come you're here? Are you her doppelgänger or what?"The similarity was too much to be called a doppelgänger.Luna smirked at Sharon. "Surprised to see me here?"It was unfair that Luna was the only one imprisoned when both of them conspired in the theft together. Having mixed feelings, Sharon asked Timothy, "Tim, what's going on here? Did you release her in secret?"She felt annoyed to think that he actually released Luna secretly. He didn't even help her when she was threatened by Mia!Luna scoffed, "I'm able to stand here not because of him. Stop taking all the credit."Sharon continued questioning, "How are you able to come here then? Did you perhaps escape from prison?""Escape my ass. Say, what are you doing here? Aren't you on probation? According to the law, you shouldn't be leaving Bern City however you
"That's not exactly right. All I can say is that it became complicated.""Ms. Mia, you don't have to worry if the project will belong to us or not. Back then, your family said that you could run a company to kill some time. If Mr. Dominic knows that you're all upset because of this project, he'll be worried."Mia massaged her temples. "This has nothing to do with the project. I met that woman in Mr. Shelbert's room. Guess who it was.""Who?" Peyton asked."Luna Maynard."Peyton was shocked. "Didn't we personally send her to prison? How is she able to show up in Nord City? Getting so close with Mr. Shelbert at that! Is she his mistress? Is Asher his son?""I had the same guess, thinking that Asher was surely Mr. Shelbert's illegitimate child. But it turns out that Luna is his illegitimate daughter."Peyton paused momentarily. "What a surprise. Ms. Maynard has always been a show-off. If she's actually his daughter, she'll surely brag about it. Weirdly, she has never talked about i
A smile flashed across Mia's face when she glanced at the text from Jasmine. It couldn't have shown up at a better moment. Mia cast a glance at Peyton, who was in the front passenger seat. "Find a chance to reveal Mr. Shelbert's relationship with Luna to Jasmine.""Are we going to directly reveal that Luna is Mr. Shelbert's illegitimate child?""We can't do that. It'll make Jasmine suspicious. Just let her know that Mr. Shelbert secretly met with a young woman with a child, and he even made sure that they settled down snugly."She would make Jasmine believe that Luna was Raymond's mistress, and Asher his child. Usually, children from such families were deft in dealing with mistresses. Wasn't Luna very pleased with her identity as the mayor's daughter? If Mia showed her the kind of life the actual mayor's daughter led, would she still be able to handle it?Luna's ambition was too much for her to be tolerant. Mia did promise not to expose her identity for now, but she couldn't be