Jared had not paid any attention to the incident outside of the building and had walked in the meeting room fully prepared.At the Riddle Corporation however, Nicole was leaning against her office chair, staring at the door where the secretary once stood. She bit her lip as she recalled the incident involving the secretary from the night before.Nicole was certain that her instincts were on point, as all it had taken her was one look to discover that the secretary's intentions toward Jared were devious. 'Or…perhaps Jared already knew about it…'Nicole was feeling disturbed as she attempted to piece all that was running through her head.But it was then that her phone rang, interrupting her train of thought. It was Lawrence.Seeing this, Nicole answered the call. "Leo.""Mom, it's me," Nolan greeted over the phone."Nolan!" Nicole was bewildered. 'How can Nolan call me on Lawrence's phone?'"Mom, my tummy hurts so I've asked godfather to get me. You can come pick me up at the re
Lawrence was also unwilling to see Nolan go, but when he remembered that they had made a promise with one another. Lawrence spoke up. "Why not let him play for a while to his heart's content, I mean, since we're already here, we can go for lunch too; I've already made reservations. If he can't go, it'll just be the two of us."Lawrence's sudden statement caused Nicole to hesitate. 'In situations like these, especially if he and I were to go out for a meal, it would be best for Nolan to be there.'"Alright then." Nicole agreed in defeat."Yay!" Nolan cheered, instantly looking happier.Nicole shook her head and issued a soft sigh before walking alongside Lawrence to bring Nolan back to the amusement park again."He hasn't looked this happy in such a long time." Lawrence sighed as he saw the look of joy on Nolan's face."Before this, all I ever wanted to do was to protect them. I didn't want to put them in danger. However, what I didn't consider was that Nolan would go behind my ba
"Mommy, godfather. Let's dig in." Nolan said before he began scarfing down his food.Nicole watched as Nolan devoured his food. She couldn't help but to tell him to slow down.Nolan, who was too busy indulging his food, nodded in agreement, mumbling a few unintelligible words before continuing to eat his food.Nicole placed vegetables into his bowl and a glass of fruit juice in front of him, to which he took a sip with his eyes closed, as he had a tough time swallowing the food he was scarfing down."Nicole, you can have a bite." Lawrence went on to place Nicole's favorite dishes in front of her for her convenience."Yeah, let's dig in." Nicole nodded before signaling Lawrence to eat too."Mommy, godfather? Can we bring Lana together with us next time? The four of us haven't been out together in a long time," Nolan asked after swallowing the food in his mouth as he looked at Lawrence eagerly.Nolan did not look at his mother as he knew she would chew him out, which made him anxi
Nicole was utterly shocked when realized what had happened. 'Why on earth is Jared here?!'She looked up slowly, feeling a little guilty as she forced a smile out. "Hey, what a coincidence. You're here for lunch too, huh?""What a coincidence indeed," Jared responded as he looked at Lawrence and Nolan coldly.'Why are they here together? Where's Lana? Is she still in pre-school?' Jared asked himself."Nolan had a tummy ache, so…" Nicole said, trying to explain the situation to Jared.She did not know why but she just did not want Jared to misunderstand them.But before she could do any damage control, Nolan raised his chin up and said smugly, "I wanted to go to the theme park, so godfather and Mommy brought me there. We got tired from playing, so we're eating lunch now.""You?" Jared frowned deeply as he looked at them.Having figured Nolan's scheme out with ease, he thought, 'This little guy sure knows how to get on my nerves. He's trying to get Nicole and Lawrence on a date,
He watched as the trio walked further away, eventually disappearing at the entrance, well away from sight. The air was cold around Lawrence, and he kept quiet, with nobody able to tell what was on his mind.Concurrently, Jared got into the car with Nicole and Nolan outside of the restaurant.Nolan quickly scooted over to the furthest end of the seat after Jared had released him, looking slightly awkward. 'It's such a weird feeling. I kind of hate this guy, but I felt something that I cannot explain when he was carrying me just now.'Nicole bit her lips when she saw Jared igniting the engine. "Do you have someone or something to tend to? I can take Nolan home myself, actually."He had probably left Max behind because he needed Max to take his place in a meeting. At the same time, Nicole became cognizant of why Jared had showed up at the restaurant. Mixed feelings arose within her when she realized that Jared had pushed his work aside just to take her and Nolan back home."Nolan had
"Jared, is there really no way to help Nicole regain her memories?" Gloria asked as tears began to well up in her eyes.Daniel chimed in as well. "I remember a famous doctor called James Dade. Can we contact him?""No one knows where he is." Jared shook his head.Indeed, the only person who knew James had lost her memory, so it was impossible for them to reach that man."Doesn't he have an apprentice? Someone by the name of Ghost Hand, I think," Daniel responded.'If we can't get a hold of that doctor, contacting his apprentice should be good enough. It's not impossible to reach that apprentice of his, right?' Daniel wondered."How do you know so much?" Jared replied to Daniel with a question of his own instead.In truth, Nicole was Ghost Hand, but even she could not treat herself."I heard my brothers talking about this before," Daniel answered candidly.If he had not overheard their conversation, he would not have known this much either.Jared realized that Damien had tried
"Run along then. I'll pick you up after work." Jared smiled, as he knew that Nicole already had a plan in mind.Even though she had lost her memories, she still had some aces up her sleeves. It was safe to say that anyone foolish enough to mess with her would not live a good life.Nicole's cheeks flushed as she got down from the car.She only turned around to enter the office building after Jared had driven away."Hey, Sean." Nicole greeted Sean right after she had gotten out of the elevator."I was just looking for you. Come to my office with me," Sean said as he made a beeline for his office.Nicole could tell that Sean was serious, so she followed him.Steve entered Sean's office a few minutes later and joined them after they had gotten in."What happened? Why do you want me to cancel the project?" Steve asked, clearly upset.'This is money! It's our loss if we don't go through with it.'"Take a look at this." Sean threw a file on the table.Steve flipped it open as Nicol
"Mr. Johnston's investigating him|? Did something happen?" Sean's eyes widened.In an instant, he had figured that things were not as simple as Nicole had described."Can you not be so astute?" Nicole flashed him a helpless smile.All she had given him was a vague reminder, and yet, he had managed to intuit the complexity of this case. However, she really did not want to burden her brother by getting him tangled in her own issues. Jared being on the case was good enough."I'm right, then. But since you don't want to talk about it, I'm going to stop asking. Still, I must ask that you do not hide it from us if you ever find yourself in danger," Sean offered, understanding Nicole's intentions."Sure." Nicole replied as she felt the warmth in her heart."Well then, let's start according to the plan," Sean said affirmatively.Having reached an agreement, Nicole and Steve left Sean's office.Once they were outside, Steve gave Nicole a reassuring look and stated, "Don't worry. Things