Celeste last met Jonah when he tried to sleep with her. It had been almost half a year since then. Back then, he looked a little younger than his actual age. But he had now aged so much. He became much thinner. His cheeks and eyes were sunken. Although he had dyed his hair, he seemed much older. For a man in his 50s, people would believe it even if he said he was 70 years old. "Long time no see, Ms. York." Jonah was in a suit while holding a cross necklace. He watched Celeste with a half-smile. Celeste was untied. She tried to regain her composure. "It's been a while, Mr. Radcliffe." She looked around. They were in a courtyard surrounded by gardens. She wondered if this was where Jonah stayed regularly. Now that they had taken her phone away, she couldn't call the police. Thankfully, Jonah was castrated. He wouldn't be able to sleep with her. Celeste tried to think in a positive light. "The reason why I invited you over was to confirm something." Playing with his necklace
It was Lawrence! After knowing him for so long, it was the first time Celeste thought Lawrence looked dashing. With his back against the light, he looked godly at the garden's gate. "Lawrence, why are you here?" Celeste was surprised as she ran toward Lawrence. "Don't be scared," Lawrence said. He grabbed Celeste's hand naturally and walked out of the place. "Where's your father?" When they reached Lawrence's car, Celeste subtly removed her hand. "I drugged him, and he passed out. He wouldn't wake for some time," Lawrence said. He led Celeste to his car. He even bent down to buckle the seatbelt for her. Instinctively, Celeste avoided him because of how intimate his action was. "I'll do it myself." "Sorry," Lawrence said. Celeste was silent. She then thought about how Jonah had said he wanted to talk to Damon. She sent a WhatsApp text to him. "I'm safe now. If Jonah contacts you, he just wants to use me to threaten you to give him that piece of land. You can ignore h
Damon didn't say a word, his expression cold. Liam quickly came over to explain. "I'll talk to Mr. Radcliffe about the damages. Why don't Mr. and Mrs. Bishop find somewhere to chat?" Celeste wanted to say that she wasn't Mrs. Bishop anymore and that Liam shouldn't call her that. But seeing the murderous look in Damon's eyes, words were stuck in her throat. "Why don't we have a chat upstairs?" The pressure she felt at present was much worse than when she faced Jonah earlier. Damon was silent. But he took the lead and walked to the apartment's entrance. Celeste scanned her card and obediently led him into the lift. They went up. Opening her door, she bent down to change into house slippers. At the same time, she told Damon, "I only have slippers for Caleb. You don't have to change into them. Do you want a drink? I think I only have coffee and water." Damon didn't answer her. Confused, Celeste turned her head. She was caught off guard when Damon pressed her against the shoe
Damon slammed the door closed as he left. Sitting on the couch, Celeste heard how hard the door banged. Helpless, she covered her ears. Why did he look at her that way? Did he want to kill her? It'd be difficult to calculate how much favor she owed Damon. That was why the least she could do was to calculate all the money she owed him. Since they had loved each other before, she hoped they could part ways without owing each other anything. …Celeste was at the finance department of the Bishop Group. "Ms. York, this is how much Mr. Bishop spent on you throughout your marriage. Mr. Bishop ignored all the expenses below a million dollars. So all the significant expenses are listed on this sheet." Theo Jennings, the head of Bishop Group's finance department, was dealing with Celeste. He knew nothing about what happened between the two. When he was doing all the calculations yesterday, he sighed to himself. What was good about marrying a rich man? After divorcing him, they'd c
"Aren't you afraid that she'll—" Liam didn't finish his sentence. He felt that he shouldn't be the one mentioning this matter, so he kept quiet. "Are you saying she might think of weird ways to get what she wants?" Damon glanced at Liam. "Mrs. Bishop is a smart woman, after all." And she'd get what she wanted by any necessary means. Liam didn't say the latter part to Damon. "Anyone who dares to give her money right now will be an enemy of mine!" Damon's face was still hard and cold. He was expressionless. Of course, he knew that people were willing to give Celeste money. People like Megan, Winston, and Lawrence could easily pay off her 60 million dollars. But apart from taking this gamble, Damon had no other choice. …"In the hospital, wasn't he angry when he couldn't transfer his shares in Prestige to you? He changed his mind in such a short time. What a piece of trash." Megan flipped through Celeste's VAM agreement and rolled her eyes. "I'll give you 60 million dollars.
When Damon reached home, Celeste had already left. The Himalayan bag and half the set of poker cards were thrown onto his office desk. She even left a note. Her words looked just as angry as she probably was. "I hope you lose every game of poker from now on." She took all the good cards in the poker. Although the box containing the cards wasn't made of pure gold, it looked like gold alloy. She even found a screwdriver to remove all the gold from the box and took them away. "What a childish woman!" Damon couldn't help but want to laugh. He sent a text to Liam on WhatsApp. "Keep an eye on the latest market of second-hand luxury goods." "What do you want to buy?" "That would depend on what Celeste is planning to sell?" Damon was right. Celeste took these things away, intending to sell them as second-hand goods. The poker cards were made of pure gold and worthed a lot. As for her bags, they were all rare items being sold discreetly in the luxury stores under the casino
"Celeste York, do you think I've never shopped for bags like these before? I'd believe it if they set up such purchase policies for the Kelly and Saddle bag. But this bag can be sold anywhere on the street, and you're saying it has a purchase policy? "And this bag, I can buy this anywhere. Since you say they were bought under the same purchase policies, where are their accessories?" Leah scoffed at Celeste's casual attempt at lying to her. "Oh? It was Damon who told me all that. Someone born into a poor family like me wouldn't understand it anyway. You should get new bags then, Ms. Sullivan." Celeste pretended to look awkward. She was about to keep the bags away. "I'll pay you two million dollars. You'll earn a profit of 300 thousand." Leah gritted her teeth. Celeste shook her head. "It's okay, Ms. Sullivan. I'm not selling them to you anymore. You should get new ones." Leah had plans to buy the bags, but she didn't want to be scammed this way. After some thinking, she notice
The headquarters of Leo Jewels was far from Celeste's place. She wrongly got out of the train twice. After that, only she managed to find the location. Celeste submitted her resume a week ago. After seeing and talking to someone from the human resources department, she thought she'd have to return and wait for the news. To her surprise, she was told to meet up with Spencer. Spencer wasn't very tall. He seemed to be at a height of five feet and eight inches. He had long hair and wore a white shirt under his black suit. Other than that, he wore a pair of men's skirt pants.His appearance and clothing made him appear androgynous. He also wore a pair of feminine pearl earrings. Many men in this industry had similar fashion tastes, so Celeste wasn't surprised. But the look on Spencer's face was arrogant and cold. It was enough to make anyone terrified. Celeste's heart thumped hard as it was her first time meeting her idol. "Hello, Leo. I'm Celeste York." She introduced herself in
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