When Diana White walked out of Hibiscus Studios’ office, the bodyguard who had been waiting outside said, “Miss Diana, the old general has arrived and is waiting outside the building for you.”Diana unconsciously held her breath for a moment but quickly nodded and followed the bodyguard into the elevator.After walking out of the building, Diana saw a black Land Rover Defender parked by the roadside. An old man sat upright in the backseat.The old man’s hair was black at the tips that gradually faded to white at the roots. Even the corners of his eyes had wrinkles, evidence of his age, but his body was strong and sturdy and he had stern features and a sharp gaze like an eagle’s.The old man was only sitting in the car quietly, but an invisible pressure emanated from him, making others fearful of him.Diana White was also a little afraid.She steeled herself and got into the car. With some nervousness in her voice, she said, “Grandpa.” When the old general saw his granddaughter’
A few days later, sensational news went viral on Twitter.A well-known news outlet revealed that an executive at Elysian Group was caught money laundering and coercing a minor into sex, while another was revealed to have hit an elderly while drunk driving.An auditor even admitted that there were issues with Elysian Group’s financial statements.With bad press about them surfacing one after another, Elysian Group was kept at the top of the trending list on Twitter and other social media platforms’ main page. Their stock prices continued to decline, even falling below the limit several times.Elysian Group was one of the topmost, largest enterprises within Contrata. Their PR team consisted of elites within the industry. Despite the news breaking out three days ago, the attention on their bad press continued to grow without any actions to mitigate it. The netizens were all guessing that some big boss was screwing Elysian Group over in the shadows.Elysian Group’s biggest sharehold
Quinn was not flustered even after being taken to the police station. He answered the questions he knew the answer to and stayed silent for those he did not know the answer to.Soon after, his lawyer arrived.About the money laundering and the hit-and-run incident, it was decided that the perpetrators would take personal responsibility for that. However, as for the man who committed suicide…The lawyer took out a document and gave it to the police, informing them that that employee had been dismissed the year before for harming the company’s interests. Since he was not an employee at Elysian, Elysian would naturally not be paying for his medical expenses.After the police’s continued investigations, they realized that none of it had to do with Quinn, but still delayed letting him go until afternoon the next day.As the lawyer left the police station with Quinn, he asked in a low voice, “President Forester, do you need me to drop you off?”Quinn waved his hand lightly. “Someone wi
“I found it when I previously went to Dresark to look into Xavier Pascal.” Shawn told him, “But back then, I only found this one photograph. I couldn’t even find out who she was, not even a name, so I didn’t give it to you.“I only found out she was your mother when we went to Portica to meet Jacqueline Forester and you asked her about the photo.”Shawn tapped the photo and said, “I don’t know her name, but I found it in the place Xavier Pascal used to stay at. When I asked Jen if she married Xavier Pascal for this woman, she said she would tell me later.”Shawn had always been a very intelligent person. Once the connections were drawn, he could infer the entire truth of the matter.Shawn pushed up his glasses and said to Quinn in a serious tone, “I’m guessing you have a very close connection with Xavier Pascal. You may be…brothers.”Quinn’s hand trembled and the cigarette nearly fell from his fingers. “Are you joking with me?”Shawn harrumphed and said coolly, “Then back then, d
Quinn was stunned, but he seemed to quickly come to a realization and stood up with his phone in hand.Shawn yelled at his departing figure, “Aren’t you going to eat?”“No!”After Quinn left the restaurant, he called Millie. When he found out Jenna was not at the Hibiscus Studio’s office, he called a cab and went directly to Sandalwood Palace.Jenna was there indeed, but so was Xavier Pascal.In the morning, Xavier was doing his work in the study as he told his Hert Corporation employee that he would be returning to Dresark the day after tomorrow.After lunch, he suddenly said to Jenna, “Jen, I haven’t heard you play the violin in a long time.”Jenna felt that it would be a very clumsy excuse if she said she was unpracticed, so she went to the bedroom and took out her violin to tune it.“What do you want to listen to?”“Because of You.” Xavier crossed his long legs, one arm thrown lazily over the back of the sofa.Soon, light notes of music flowed from the violin and spread t
Upon hearing this, Quinn’s eyes darkened. “So, you took great pains to get close to me again after coming back just to get back at me?”“Yes.”“You’re lying.” Quinn looked at Jenna. “Jenna, when you lie, you don’t dare to look the other person in the eye and you’ll even unconsciously bite your lip.“That night, I lied too.” He said, “I’ve always been waiting for you for these past four years. There’s not a single moment I wasn’t thinking of you.”It was just that he had not dared to express this to Jenna.Quinn swallowed and said hoarsely, “But I’m afraid that you’ll leave after just a few days. I can’t watch you leave with another man again.”He loved her very much, so he respected her and would not take her by force just because he could not get her.“Jenna, you love me too, don’t you?” Quinn stepped closer to Jenna and asked, “Why else would you go to such lengths to prepare birthday presents for me every year of my life?“That day, you said you’d stay with me forever and wo
Quinn did not make a fuss. After glancing at the tightly closed door, he followed the two security guards into the elevator.After reaching the first floor, he did not leave but instead went to the rest area to the side of the entrance hall.Quinn’s phone rang and he hurriedly picked up, only to be disappointed to find that it was not Jenna calling but Sam.Sam asked, “Where are you, sir? The company needs you.”“Just let it be. I don’t want to care about it,” Quinn said calmly and hung up.He needed Jenna too, but who could help him?Quinn opened the old tin and took out a faded photograph from within. It was the wedding photo of a young couple.They smiled sweetly at the camera as if happiness was frozen in that moment in time.When he got to the last photo, Quinn noticed there was writing on the back of the photo. The handwriting was the same as the one that he saw on the letter.‘I am a vulgar person. Mountains are mountains and the sea is the sea. Flowers are only flowers
After Duo got her answer, she secretly snickered on the other side of the call. “Mister, you’d better hurry up and explain it to Mommy and make up with her. Then, you’ll be able to meet me!“I love Mister very much too and I want to meet you.”Quinn did not know how to tell Duo that he had already confessed to Jenna, but Jenna no longer loved him.Just as he was looking at his phone with mixed feelings, Sam arrived. There was someone following behind him as well.Quinn saw Sam needed to talk to him about something and had no choice but to hang up on Duo first.“What’s the matter?” he asked Sam. “It’s about Miss Radcliff,” Sam said and pointed at the thin and pale middle-aged woman behind him.“This is the helper who came to Sandalwood Palace to take care of Miss Radcliff four years ago, Mrs. Samson.”Quinn hummed in acknowledgment. “I remember.”Jenna did not know how to cook and he did not want her to eat takeout all day, so he got Sam to arrange for a helper to come over an
While eating, Carina asked Jenna, “You went on a business trip with Quinn, didn’t you? Where is he?” “Daddy is busy making money so he can buy me a castle!” Duo chirped joyfully. Upon hearing Duo, Carina thought to herself, ‘Oh, dear, forget about a castle, your father could buy you a small nation if you wanted to. Besides, even your uncle is rich enough to buy you a castle made of diamond!’ She soon noticed the dark look in Jenna’s eyes and quickly caught on to something. With that, she stopped probing and switched to another topic. While they were busy eating, the housemaid stepped into the house with a large haul of shopping bags. She then proceeded to the dining table to inform Carina, “Madam, these are the clothes and toys that Mr. Tennyson bought for the young miss…” "Throw them out!” Carina harshly cut off the housemaid’s sentence. The servant obliged and took everything away. Jenna pointed out. “Haven’t Triss explained the situation to you? She was just dru
Shawn assumed that Quinn would only be gone for a while to take care of some of the matters that came up during the period of his false death. He certainly did not expect Quinn to completely vanish without telling anyone. Shawn may be a smart man, but there were no clues whatsoever that he could follow to trace Quinn and what he was up to. Jenna seemed disappointed to hear this. After a while, she suddenly brought up. “What if Agnes asked to see him and set up a trap…” “No.” Shawn could tell that Jenna was already thinking about the worst-case scenario and quickly assured her. “Quinn is far more capable than you think he is.” From the moment Quinn faked his own death and upon learning about Quinn’s close dealings with the Faulkners, Shawn realized that intelligence was not the only remarkable trait Quinn possessed. He was also very calculative, there were not many people who could match him in this regard. After that, he took Jenna to Carina's house to see the children.
The bodyguard finally snapped back to his senses and quickly went to make the appropriate arrangements. Despite Xavier’s claims, Jenna understood just the sort of person he was. He was stubborn and vicious, he would not simply let her go that easily. She dialed up her alertness and continued holding the knife to his neck. After a while, she caught a scent of the pungent, iron smell of blood. The blood trickling down Xavier’s stomach had dyed his shirt red. The blood dripped onto the ground and formed a small puddle. She started to panic and wanted to instruct the other bodyguard to get some bandages and attend to Xavier. However, she noticed how composed the bodyguard seemed and deemed that he was waiting for an opening to seize the knife from her. With that, she discarded the thought of attending to Xavier’s wound. The helicopter arrived very shortly after that. Jenna led Xavier out of the villa and approached the helipad. At last, she removed the knife from his n
Around half past seven in the evening, Xavier returned to the villa in a rather good mood. He took a serving of delicious dinner from the housemaid and went upstairs to bring it to Jenna. “Sir.” The bodyguard greeted Xavier upon noting his return. Then, they proceeded to unlock the door with the key. Xavier did not seem to be in any particular rush to open the door. Instead, he turned to the bodyguards and sent them away in an unusually gentle voice. “You two, get something to eat. I’m fine by myself.” They nodded and went downstairs. They were aware that Jenna had not eaten much lately so she was physically weak. Besides, the boss was more than capable of subduing her by himself, so they were not worried about her running off. Xavier opened the door. To his surprise, the room was engulfed in darkness. Before he could react, he heard a rush of footsteps quickly approaching him. It was then when he felt a jab of pain around his abdomen, then he was tackled. He d
Xavier leaned over to get a closer look at Jenna, then murmured, “You are right, I have lost my mind in trying to claim you for myself. I’m going to lock you inside this room forever. I’ll never be lonely again with you by my side.” “You're insane!” Jenna lashed out. She ran toward the door while Xavier was distracted. She twisted the door handle as hard as she could but failed to open it still. Xavier sat at the table with his legs nonchalantly folded. He eyed her coyly and offered casually. “Come on and eat, otherwise you won't even have enough strength to run to the door tomorrow.” Jenna approached the table, then she grabbed the plate, and threw it at him. “Scram!” The sauce of the spaghetti soaked through his shirt and strands of noodles grossly clung to his skin. Despite his humiliated state, he did not seem the slightest bit bothered. “If you waste the food, you’re going to have to starve until tomorrow morning.” “Scram!” Jenna howled at him again. Xavier ha
Jenna hung up and approached the French windows prudently. She noticed that even the sliding doors were locked shut. The French windows were bulletproof and there was no way she could break them even if she had a gun. She was going to slip away when the housemaid opened the door to bring her breakfast. Unexpectedly, it was not only the housemaid who showed up to bring her breakfast. Two large bodyguards came as well. They were the same ones who were assigned to her in Hevedburgh and they had cut off her path of freedom. The housemaid set the breakfast on the table and bowed politely at Jenna. “Miss Jenna, please use the landline to call me if you need anything.” Jenna grimaced faintly and only chuckled wryly in response. There were no phones or computers in the room, and her contact with the outside world was completely cut off. The landline phone only allowed her to call downstairs. She wondered if Quinn knew that Xavier had brought her to Dresark… She had a nagg
Jenna looked on without much sympathy as Diana died in Connor's arms. She had already heard about Diana's past from Xavier. She grew up in a slum, dirt poor, and without anyone to support her. The circumstances of her birth made her grow into someone who would resort to anything if it meant she could climb her way up. It was certainly pitiful, but she had no sympathy for Diana at all. If Diana had not done what she did to Carina and did not kill Millie, perhaps Jenna would simply let it slide. Shawn no longer paid attention to those two on the floor. He pushed the chair away and got up. “I’ll ask Sam to take Percival and Duo out later, we’re going to Golden Elegance to eat something. I don’t have anything planned this evening so we can bring them out for some playtime after that.” Jenna nodded, then she grabbed her bag and left the cafe with Shawn. As soon as the two of them reached the roadside, a Ghost suddenly screeched to a stop in front of them. The rear door
“I love her.” Connor spoke with a determined look in his eyes, “She made a lot of mistakes in the past and even killed people, I’m not going to excuse that. However, I am willing to bear the consequences with her.” Jenna was floored to hear this. Diana must be unbelievably lucky to meet someone who would still love her so deeply after all the things she had done. She spoke without sympathy, “I’ll give you the antidote if you can tell her to bring Millie back to life. Also, she nearly sent my friend into a lifelong coma and I haven’t settled the score with her yet.” How could the dead ever be resurrected? Connor was aware that Jenna would never give him the antidote. He turned to Shawn with a solemn look and pleaded again. “I will pay for Millie’s life with my own. Please give Diana a chance.” Connor was not a fool, he had a vague impression that Diana had been using him. However, there was nothing he could do about it at this point as he had fallen in love with her.
Connor realized that it was the drug taking effect again. He quickly pried Diana’s fingers away and hurried outside to find a doctor. After the doctor attended to Diana, he heaved a sigh of relief. “Please give her an anesthetic to put her to sleep.” Connor requested. He was worried that Diana would think of him again when she woke up and experience another severe attack that would kill her. The only solution was to put her to sleep. After that, he hired a caregiver to look after Diana. He did not know where Jenna was. With that, he asked for Jacob's phone number from the doctor and called Jacob first, “Hey Jacob, this is Connor. I am General Hale’s grandson.” “Oh, do you need something from me?” Jacob asked impatiently. “I know that East Mill Pharmaceutical must have developed a suitable antidote for the effects of Curb.emotion.” Connor gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “Please sell me one of those antidotes.” Since he was aware of the drug and its ass