Tom patted Duo’s pink cheek and said gently in a low voice, “And Duo, you can’t let your guard down just because I’m your uncle’s friend. I might be a bad guy.“You should keep your guard up even against your mommy or uncle’s friends. Got it?”Duo ‘oh’-ed in acknowledgment, looking at Tom with a conflicted look. “Then, are you a bad guy, Mister? Can I still talk to you?”Tom could not help but smile. “Of course, you can.”Duo immediately smiled happily and crawled onto the seat, asking Tom to sit beside her before fishing out a palmier from her bag.“This was made by the owner of a dessert shop. It’s super yummy!”Duo had snuck a piece yesterday before sleeping. Coming out today, she had shoved a few pieces into her little bag.Duo felt pained as she looked at the palmier in Tom’s hand but quickly assuaged herself. “It’s so delicious that I didn’t even want to share it with you, Mister. However… the doll you gave me the last time was so cute, and you’re so handsome, so I’ll trea
"Yes, Duo, you're so clever," Sam nodded while leading the two children into the mansion.Full of curiosity, Duo ran upstairs and hopped down in just a few minutes while looking around at this beautiful, cozy home. "Big brother, I think Dad is still alive," Duo whispered with excitement to her older brother, Uno."You said the same thing twice when we were in Dresark," Percival responded."Dad has been gone for a long time. Mom and Dad's belongings you saw in the bedroom just haven’t been thrown out by the maid yet. Dad is not with us anymore."Percival had seen the news about Dad's plane crash and the recovery of the body.Duo's expression turned disappointed upon hearing this. She mumbled, "I'm telling the truth. I used to dream about Dad often. Dad said he missed me.""Besides, this is where Dad lived, and I don't feel sad at all."She felt the warmth in her heart, imagining a future where her brother and mom would live there with their dad. They would share meals with Dad,
Just as Jenna was about to lose her patience, a figure weaved through the crowd and walked up to Jenna.“Hello, Miss Radcliff.”Jenna turned around unhurriedly and saw a young man standing in front of her. He was wearing a turtleneck sweater and gray slacks and had deep-set eyes and a gentle gaze.His hair seemed to be naturally curly and stuck up into the air, giving him an artistic air.When he saw Jenna’s sharp yet elegant and beautiful face, his eyes lit up fleetingly as if stunned by her beauty.He quickly extended his hand, introducing himself. “I’m the director of Cleveland Museum of Art, Caleb Hale.”Jenna knew that, of course. Otherwise, she would not have come here.“Pleasure to meet you, Director Hale.” Jenna shook his hand briefly.Caleb looked at the painting on the wall and put his hands behind his back. “Martelli’s ‘Winter’ series is being displayed here today as well. Why were you drawn to this painting in particular?”After a pause, he continued, “And this pai
“That’s to be expected.” Jenna massaged her sore shoulders as she muttered, “I’ve spent the last few days researching and watching interviews of Caleb Hale from various sources on the Internet. I’ve been memorizing the information from these interviews until early morning.”She leaned back in her seat. “I never worked this hard even when I was learning Norwegian.”“Don’t act rashly.” Shawn said, “I received news that Carl Hale has brought Coco Jade home to meet Old Master Hale. Both his parents and Old Master Hale don’t like her, but Diana White has been singing her praises to Old Master Hale, so he hasn’t snubbed her completely.”Jenna snorted. “Looks like we have to thank Diana for her helping hand.”Even if they could not move against the Hales right now, they could make them the entire country’s laughingstock when Coco’s scandals were exposed.“I’m trying to establish a connection to Caleb Hale so that I’ll be invited to a meal at the Hale home in the future.” Jenna smiled. “T
Duo snuggled into Jenna’s arms and when she saw Jenna was looking at Tom’s photo, she smiled mischievously. “Mommy, why are you looking at this mister? Do you like him?”Before Jenna could answer, a phone call came.It was Xavier Pascal.He told her that he had to go to Portica to attend Forester Corporation’s annual general meeting and that he might not be able to return today. “If you and the kids want to come, I’ll send someone to pick you up.”“It’s too cold there, so we’ll pass.” Jenna did not like making public appearances with him.After they chatted briefly, Jenna passed the phone to Duo and went to the kitchen.Mrs. David had left behind quite a lot of ingredients in the fridge when she left and although Jenna was not very good at cooking, she occasionally felt like cooking for her children to try.After a while, Percival came to the kitchen too. “Mommy, I’ll help you.”“Thank you, son.” Jenna handed him a clove of garlic to peel and, feeling moved, even said, “Looks l
When Jenna tried the steak, she realized she had grilled it for too long. She could not chew it no matter how she tried and it did not have much taste either.She made Duo spit out the steak in her mouth and smiled sheepishly. “Mommy followed the recipe step-by-step and I don’t know how it turned out like this. Forget it, let’s just get takeout.”Jenna went to the living room and had just picked up her phone when the doorbell rang.Outside the door was an uniformed receptionist. When she saw Jenna open the door, she handed her the bag she was holding. “Miss Radcliff, here’s your dinner.”“Oh, thanks.” Jenna took the bag from her and saw that Shawn’s name and phone number were written on the receipt.Inside the bag were three boxes of grilled meat wrapped in lettuce, a container full of piping hot seafood and tofu soup as well as wagyu fried rice.Duo ate a piece of grilled meat and exclaimed, “Mommy, this grilled meat is really delicious!”When Percival ate the grilled meat, his
When the girls saw the princess tiara, they all ‘wow’-ed in unison.“This is a real princess tiara, you know!” The host hugged the box very tightly for fear of it falling to the ground. “Now, you kids will come up one by one to show off your talents and the tiara will belong to the one who gets the loudest cheer from the crowd.”Before the host even finished speaking, the kids off-stage started jumping up and down with their hands raised in the air, and an employee arranged for them to draw lots to determine the order in which they got to perform.Jenna looked at Shawn in shock. “Shawn, this is too risky. What if Duo loses?”Shawn said, “Our Duo will knock out the other kids in seconds just with her prettiness alone.”“President Sadler is right.” Xavier smiled. “Since he’s prepared a present for Duo, I, as her father, can’t come empty-handed either.”‘Father, my foot!’ Shawn internally rolled his eyes at Xavier.While the children were lining up to draw lots, the host went back
Duo said tearily to the little girl in her cute voice, “It was hard for you to learn ballet, but it was hard for me to learn dance, too.“Since you think it’s unfair, let’s swap then. The musician will play the piano for me and the handsome uncle will play the piano for you. Do you agree?”The little girl nodded as she wiped away her tears and the other customers also nodded in agreement.They played rock, paper, scissors to decide who went first, which ended up being Duo.This time, Duo put on a pretty, red cape as if she was playing Little Red Riding Hood. After going on stage, she acted cute one moment and like a mischievous spirit the next, making everyone burst into laughter at her performance.The little girl’s “Swan Lake” was elegant and beautiful, but was simply not as impressive as Duo’s performance.When the little girl saw that she had lost again, she teared up once more.Duo immediately pouted and muttered, “This is a talent competition, so anything goes. They never
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