Damon felt miserable. He went back home unusually early. "Mr. Bishop, Mrs. Bishop has just returned. She's upstairs." Seeing Damon enter, Edna quickly welcomed him. She was finally back. Only then did Damon relax a little. "Ask what she wants to eat and make it for her," he said. "There's no need for that. I'm leaving in a short while," Celeste said politely. She was packing her things up. She walked out of the room when she heard voices. She then stood by the railing on the second floor. The two had been living together for so long. They even shared countless intimate moments. But now, she sounded so polite as if she was an outsider. Damon was hurt. He raised his head to look at her. She was so thin that he could barely see her underneath that gray wool sweater. The sweater clung onto her, making her seem fragile and pale. Instantly, he was overwhelmed with regret. Suppressing his heartache, he walked upstairs. "Are you feeling better? You got discharged so soon.
Apart from their first night together, it was the first time Celeste was so proactive. Damon had a bad hunch about this, so he put in even more effort. "We're not getting a divorce. Don't leave me, darling." Brushing his lips against her, he said this repeatedly. Celeste didn't say a word. When she decided on something, she wouldn't turn back. She would divorce him. Celeste kissed him back and hugged him tighter. She wouldn't have a chance to do this anymore. The man whom she fell for would eventually exit her life and leave no traces behind. Would that happen? Would it be as if he had never existed in her life? Celeste was troubled. She didn't know the answer to that. She lost her voice during one climax after another. She didn't even know when she fell asleep. When she woke up, Damon was no longer there. The luggage with which she used to pack her things was open. Everything was restored to its original position. "Rest well. We're not getting a divorce." As us
After Celeste sent Damon a photo of her "achievement" on WhatsApp, she received no reply from him. She sat down alone and sulked. She heard someone knocking on her door. Edna brought a pair of slippers from the outside for her. She placed them by Celeste's feet. Gently, she said, "Mrs. Bishop, Mr. Bishop told me to bring a pair of slippers to you. He said that you're free to smash anything. But be careful to not hurt yourself." "Tell him that I won't hurt myself if he lets me go out." Staring at the slippers, Celeste's heart throbbed. When she just moved in here, she liked to run around the house barefooted. At first, Damon would just leave her be. He'd only force her to wear slippers when the weather turned cold. Celeste told him she would wear them but she didn't. After asking her about it, Damon finally realized the reason. He suspected that Shannon had worn the women's slippers in the villa before, so Celeste was disgusted by the thought of wearing them. "She never wore t
Damon didn't go back home for a few days. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he didn't dare face Celeste, the woman who wanted to divorce him. He could no longer see his reflection in her eyes. It was embarrassing of him to run away, but it was a useful technique. To prevent Celeste from hurting herself, he told Edna to hide away all the sharp tools at home. He'd let her wreck the house if she wanted to. She could do anything she wished as long as she didn't hurt herself. After all, Celeste didn't grow up in a rich family. She still treasured their belongings deep down. After smashing things for a whole day and getting no reaction from Damon, she lost interest in doing so. He watched the surveillance footage. She even went to the door and argued with the bodyguards. Seeing how she couldn't get through them, she hid in the room and did nothing. "The tall bodyguard was speaking too loudly to her, wasn't he?" Hearing their conversation, he frowned in dissatisfaction. "T
Celeste was instantly full of energy!"Megan, quick, check if this news is true or not!" Ever since she lost the baby, she had been in low spirits. It was the first time she had a smile on her face in days. Megan was quick and effective. Soon, she called Celeste. "It's Henry indeed. He was convinced by someone to smuggle a bunch of fake fire hydrants. This involves a transaction of ten billion dollars!" Celeste's heart thumped hard against her chest. She was trembling in excitement. She finally did it! "Megan, I did it! I finally did it!" She tried her best to take a deep breath and calm down. But she couldn't stop herself from crying. "Yes, you did! You finally avenged Aunt Sylvia." Megan sounded throaty on the other end of the call too. Then, they both started crying out loud. "Are you okay, Mrs. Bishop? Tell me if there's anything you're unhappy about." Edna would drop by occasionally to check on her as requested by Damon. When she heard Celeste crying in the room, she co
When Celeste hurt herself, it wasn't as horrible as the last time. Nevertheless, she did it again. She had never spared herself any mercy on matters like this. But when she cut herself previously, she intended to end her life. This time, she was betting on surviving because of Damon's feelings for her. Damon's face turned pale the moment she slit her artery. He immediately called someone at the villa to send her to the hospital. "Her artery snapped, and she even cut two-thirds of her tendons. If we delayed this any further, we certainly wouldn't have been able to reattach them." Nicholas was the one who operated on Celeste. Although he was used to witnessing worse scenarios, he appeared terrified when he came out of the room. "Just divorce her, Damon. You can't let this go on any longer. Both of you will suffer from this." He placed a hand on Damon's shoulder and advised him. Celeste was simply too ruthless. To someone as carefree as Nicholas, he thought Damon must be tryin
Damon didn't know how he even managed to get back home. His mind was all over the place. In the car, he struggled to focus on anything. Thankfully, Celeste was still alive. But she was going to leave him soon. She seemed so determined and excited about it. Edna said she cried and laughed before she cut herself in the room. She must have been experiencing another depressive episode. He didn't have time to tell her he had helped her speed up her plan to defeat the York family. When Damon reached the villa, he suppressed his pain and told someone from his company's legal team to come over. "She likes to design jewelry, so pass my shares in Prestige to her. As for this villa, there will be two alternative plans. Prepare an agreement to give her the villa as a gift. But based on her personality, she might not want it. If she doesn't want it, give her two other properties." Damon seemed worn out. He leaned against the chair as he spoke to the legal advisor. "Mr. Bishop, the
Both of them wouldn't back down. To make matters worse, Megan and Nicholas each defended their friend. In the end, Liam became the peacemaker. "Alright, since you two are divorcing amicably, it's not like you won't be in contact with each other from now on. You don't have to calculate everything today. "Mrs. Bishop isn't in the healthiest condition right now, so she wouldn't have the energy to take care of Prestige even if you insist on giving her the shares." As he spoke, he saw no reactions from Damon. He couldn't tell what Damon was thinking from the look on his face. He quickly glanced at Celeste. "As for this corporate building, you don't have to return it to Mr. Bishop in such a hurry. Just pretend that he's lending you the building for now. When the price increases, you can sell it and return it to Mr. Bishop by then. It would still be the same." At that moment, Celeste thought that what Liam said made sense. Since Damon didn't want her to return the building to him,
He never would have imagined that the intelligent and aloof Celeste would have a day like this, appearing adorably naive and innocent.Damon used to like girls who were delicate and pure, but that changed when he met Celeste.She had a face full of charm and allure, but her expression and personality were always cold and unyielding. She was pale and slim, yet not childlike. On the contrary, she resembled a young poplar tree, proud and upright.Because of her, he began to like girls who sparked his desire to conquer, and he scoffed at those who were simply weak and shy.But now with Celeste like this, he didn't feel annoyed. In fact, not only was he not annoyed, he actually found it cute and interesting.“What's your name?” she asked again."Damon.""Oh, that sounds really nice."The initial confusion in her eyes was gone, replaced by a sparkling glimmer, and her tone carried a touch of a young girl's excitement."You are actually my husband… Wow, great job, me! I've managed to
"What? Aren’t you my husband? Do I still need to avoid you while changing clothes?" The confusion in Celeste's eyes didn’t seem fake.Damon was speechless and didn't know how to respond at that moment.When Damon didn't respond, Celeste suddenly felt a bit nervous."I'm sorry… I can't remember clearly. Aren't you my husband?"Damon raised an eyebrow casually and asked, "Why do you think I am?"Celeste innocently blinked, her eyelashes fluttering like fans. "The nurse said it. Besides, if you're not my husband, why would you sleep with me at night?""What did the nurse say?" Her reasoning was actually logical and undeniable. For a moment, Damon found it somewhat amusing."The nurse said that my husband is really thoughtful," Celeste responded seriously. Then she asked, "Aren't you my husband? Then why would you be willing to stay here with me so late?"This one sentence left Damon speechless.The reason he was willing was because he was a coward. He said that he didn't care abo
Damon frowned upon hearing the classic amnesiac questions being asked."Celeste, are you trying to act out a TV drama?"Celeste still looked at him blankly. "What do you mean?"Damon didn't answer and went straight to the director's office to get Nicholas.Knowing her, she wasn't the type to joke around, especially not with Leo still missing. She must have hit her head hard.Nicholas was equally surprised and hurried back to the room with Damon.Celeste was sitting up, hugging her knees and staring into space."You're awake? How do you feel?" Nicholas asked with a smile as he entered."Why am I here?" Her voice sounded hesitant, and she turned to look at them.Her confusion seemed genuine. Nicholas and Damon exchanged worried glances."Celeste… you don't remember?""Celeste?" She asked, "Is that my name?""Yes.""I don't remember. My mind is blank.""Do you remember… Leo?" Nicholas hesitated. After all, if she knew that her child had been missing for three days, he was wo
"Alright," Celeste said in a deep voice. "Let me see Leo first."They pushed open the hidden door, revealing a staircase leading to the basement."Have Leo come to the stairway corner." She stood at the dark staircase and negotiated with the kidnapper."Mommy!" Suddenly, Leo's desperate cry echoed from inside."Leo!" Celeste ditched everything else and rushed down the stairs.She ran ahead, and as soon as she reached the corner, there was a loud explosion, and a wave of heat hit her face."Celeste!""Celeste!"Damon and Winston's faces changed drastically, shouting in alarm.The basement was empty. It was a trap.Had they been more careful, they would have noticed that both the kidnapper’s voice and Leo’s cry were artificially synthesized. But Celeste, in her desperation to save her son, had been too frantic to discern this.The basement was rigged with landmines. Unfortunately, something went wrong. The mine exploded when Celeste reached the stairway corner, instead of when
What? Damon was also coming? Celeste felt her heart leap, and her voice became sharper as she said, "I can handle this. You can't come!"There was no response from his end.Observing Damon’s silence, Celeste quickly softened her tone. "Damon, listen to me. I can handle this alone. There's no need for you to get involved… because I'm their main target, and they likely won't harm Leo. You need to stay home and wait for him. You need to take care of him later on…""Celeste," Damon interrupted coldly. "Are you planning on not coming out alive?"Of course, coming out alive would be ideal, but she couldn’t guarantee that."Damon, I do have a chance of surviving, but when it comes to exchanging myself for Leo, there can be no room for error. We must follow the kidnapper's instructions to ensure Leo's safety."It was out of the question to provide a false sense of security and pretend to comply with the kidnapper, only to backtrack and get Leo killed.She needed to ensure Leo’s safety a
They checked all the surveillance footage near the Bishop residence and investigated every suspicious vehicle. They also had people keeping an eye on Henry, but after half a day, there was still no breakthrough.The kidnappers had taken Leo to threaten Celeste, and the lack of communication was meant to unnerve her. If it was according to predictions, she was supposed to wait for their demands. But, as a mother, she couldn't just sit and do nothing.Celeste remembered that Shannon had called her, so she found her contact in the blacklist and called."Shannon, did you and Henry kidnap Leo?" she demanded.Shannon laughed coldly. "Don't accuse us without any evidence. Your son is missing? Maybe it's karma. Hahaha!"Celeste hung up, unable to stand Shannon's smugness.Several teams searched for over 20 hours, even involving the police, but still had no solid leads. Celeste suspected Henry, but they couldn't just arrest him without any proof.She was extremely desperate. She didn't e
"Lester isn't as clever as Leo. He's just a four-year-old child, and he shouldn't have done anything like that," Serena instinctively defended Lester. Then, recalling the last time she had misunderstood Leo for similar reasons, she felt a pang of guilt and added, "I don't mean to imply anything… I'll have someone bring Lester here."Celeste nodded. "I'm not blaming Lester. I just want to understand what happened."Soon, the nanny looking after Lester brought him in. Unexpectedly, upon seeing Celeste, Lester burst into tears."Aunty Celeste, please don't hit me. I didn't mean to lose my brother!""Lester, I just want to understand what happened." Celeste was taken aback by his crying but kneeled down to speak gently. "I'm not blaming you. Can you tell me what you saw that day?""Aunty Celeste, don't hit me!" Lester kept crying, not saying a word about Leo's disappearance."Am I that scary, Lester?"At this moment, Celeste felt at a loss. She could communicate normally with Leo,
Celeste perfectly understood what Cedric's implied. "I mean, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to entertain me today."Cedric had indeed wanted to help her that day, but his identity was too special to admit it openly. The scratch on the paper was a subtle hint, and whether or not she could interpret it depended on her intuition. The fact that she could decipher such a subtle hint proved her intelligence and luck.Over the years, Cedric had developed a sense of respect for Celeste after learning about her. He felt she was deserving of assistance, but he couldn't make it obvious."However, be careful. I see that Henry is at the end of his rope and might act irrationally. You should be on guard," Cedric warned.Celeste nodded, having considered this as well. "Henry wants me dead."This was why she had her brother stay abroad and sent Leo to the Bishops. With only herself remaining, it was harder for Henry to use her loved ones against her."Take care of yourse
Celeste's deduction was correct. Cedric intentionally left the mark. As Winston dug deeper, he slowly uncovered a series of issues.It was a bridge project on a highway in a poor mountainous area. Not uncommon.The problem was that the person in charge of this project was a leader assigned from a first-tier city to oversee the development. Officially, he was recognised for his capabilities, but in reality, this task was one he had to succeed in without failure.He had offended someone, and this transfer was a disguised punishment under the guise of a major responsibility.If he had managed it well, the chances of him returning to a higher development role would have been slim. At best, he could stay in this position until retirement. If he didn't manage it well, his entire career could be ruined.Someone of such status naturally had supporters as well as opponents. In such a situation, it was impossible for anyone to sabotage and create pitfalls along the way."It seems the next