Seeing Odelia in such a state, Lydia felt an uneasy sense of foreboding, though she knew this woman could no longer pose a real threat to her.“What are you doing here?” Nydia spoke first, her voice tinged with anger, her gaze filled with loathing as she looked at Odelia.Odelia lowered her head, her long hair casting a shadow over her face, adding an air of fragility and pain. "Auntie, I'm sorry. I came to apologize."“Apologize?” Nydia echoed, her words barely out when Odelia suddenly knelt before her, tears brimming in her delicate, almond-shaped eyes.“Auntie, I know you may never forgive me, but I didn't mean to deceive you. I made mistakes because I thought I loved Lambert. I believed that by staying by his side, staying in the Halsey family, I could win his love. But I never expected to ruin everything.”Tears glistened as they fell from Odelia's eyes onto the floor.“Auntie, I didn’t know about the child at first. I truly believed it was Lambert’s child. Otherwise, why would I
Lydia's eyes reddened immediately, but no tears fell. Wythe looked up at her worriedly, but she took a step forward, standing in front of Nydia, her voice choked with emotion."Auntie, is this the reason you don't like me?"Nydia, seeing Lydia’s reaction, decided to let everything out, come what may. “Yes, so what? Am I wrong? I think you’re nothing but a jinx. You brought death to your father, your mother, and even your stepmother, causing your half-sister to disappear. You’re a walking disaster, and I don’t want you bringing this bad luck to Lambert or the Halsey family. As the matriarch of the Halsey family, it’s my duty to protect my husband and son from trouble and danger. Is that wrong? Everything I did was for Lambert!”Hearing this, Lydia instinctively took two steps back, feeling deeply depressed. She had thought Nydia's hostility was just a temporary reaction to losing her son.After all, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships were historically difficult to manage.
Countless thoughts raced through her mind, finally settling on Nydia's delicate yet disdainful face.Is she truly a jinx? Reflecting now, perhaps Nydia wasn’t wrong. Ever since her mother passed away, everything seemed to change. After she returned to her homeland, every event seemed tied to her - her father's death, her stepmother's death, Maggie's disappearance, and even Lambert’s recent car accident.Anyone connected to her, Lydia, seemed to suffer in some way.Lydia's expression darkened as she gave a self-deprecating smile. Maybe she really was a jinx, bringing misfortune to those around her. But did that mean she had to surrender to fate?She refused to give in!Coming back to reality, she met Wythe’s wide, blinking eyes and Lambert's occasional deep gaze. Her heart found solace as she rested her head on Lambert’s shoulder without saying a word. Lambert focused on driving, offering no further comfort.From the backseat, Wythe sighed in relief. Seeing Lydia lean on Lambert meant
When Odelia returned, Flora's face immediately darkened. "Where have you been messing around again? Look at the state you're in!"Already frustrated by her futile job search earlier that day, Flora's scolding only exacerbated Odelia's irritation.However, knowing she was staying under their roof, she had to swallow her anger.Her uncle glanced at her nonchalantly, then turned to Flora. "Alright, alright, Odelia’s old enough to know what she's doing. Since she's back, let’s have dinner."Mayor Zigler set down his newspaper and joined Flora at the table, instructing the servants to serve dinner. Odelia’s expression softened slightly.To be fair, her uncle treated her well; he waited for her to come home before eating, unlike Flora, who was already seated at the table.Flora huffed but didn’t say anything more.During dinner, Mayor Zigler suddenly asked, "Odelia, I heard you’ve been job hunting lately."Swallowing her food, Odelia replied, "Yes, I can’t just stay home doing nothing.""Th
"Knife, someone's disrespected our sister-in-law. Should we...?"Before Odelia could finish, a subordinate eagerly chimed in, trying to please her. Knife stroked his bald head thoughtfully."Brothers, let's stay out of this for now. I trust Odelia. Once she's settled with her job, I'll handle those who offended her.""Knife is wise!" Odelia beamed. "Thank you, Knife, and thank you, brothers. I, Odelia, toast to all of you.""But Boss, why can't we cause trouble now?" a subordinate named Saxon asked, confused.Knife smacked him on the head. "Are you stupid? If we cause trouble now, it’ll be even harder for Odelia to find a job!"Odelia laughed. "The boss is considerate. Don't worry about my job, brothers. I contacted an old friend today. She said she’d help me. If it doesn't work out, I’ll go back to my old place and give everyone a new look makeover. How does that sound?""Great! I'll definitely come support you then!" Knife replied with a smile.After a night of drinking and laughter
“Chairman, we’ve rechecked all the food meticulously, and we didn’t find anything that could cause food poisoning. So, I suspect those food poisoning cases might be fake!”“……”The managers were all talking at once, sharing their opinions. Ogden felt a headache coming on and impatiently knocked on the table. “Enough! I just want to know your action plan and investigation results. Since we’ve established it was deliberate, we should have found the culprits by now, right?”The managers exchanged glances and then lowered their heads in shame.Ogden roared in anger, “You haven’t found anyone yet?”One of the managers stammered, “Actually… we did catch some suspicious people.”“Then why are you stammering? Are they people we can’t afford to offend?”“No, no, it’s just that those people are street thugs, and we can’t get much out of them.”“Thugs?” Ogden questioned. “Are you sure you got the right people? How could thugs dare to cause trouble?”The speaking manager wiped sweat from his fore
Hiram, after a brief contemplation, decided that despite the pretense of reluctance, they had to help. After all, they had been friends for many years.He coughed slightly and gave Thera and Ronald a warning look before addressing Ogden, “Since your uncle has come all this way, we should help him.”With Hiram’s words, Thera and Ronald had no choice but to sit back and listen to the rest of the story.After learning the details, Solomon agreed to help and talk to Knife.Although Knife was a notable figure in the underworld, he was no match for the Arliss family.Ogden left in high spirits, confident that Solomon’s intervention would resolve the issue.Once Ogden left, Hiram turned to his grandchildren, “What’s going on, Thera? Why were you so antagonistic towards the Halsey family? And Ronald, why were you getting involved?”Ronald stuck out his tongue playfully, “Grandpa, I wasn’t just meddling. I was standing up for my god-sister!”“When did you get a god-sister that I don’t know abo
Lambert rarely heard Lydia praise others, so he couldn't help but feel a bit jealous and tightened his grip around her waist. Lydia chuckled, "What, are you jealous of Thera too?"Lambert gazed deeply into her eyes, "Yes! I want your eyes, your heart, to be filled only with me!"Lydia blushed and quickly changed the subject, "So, now that the Halsey family is in trouble, when do you plan to go back?""No rush. With my father there, the Halsey family won’t collapse. Besides, this time it’s just some small-time troublemakers causing issues. Nothing to worry about."Lydia furrowed her brows, "I have a bad feeling about this. It doesn’t seem like it will end so simply.""Don’t overthink it. We came out to have fun. Besides, with me around, you don’t need to worry."Hearing Lambert’s reassurance, Lydia nodded slowly. The Halsey family had weathered many storms before; this shouldn’t be any different.At Knife's bar, a distinguished guest had arrived. As soon as this guest entered, Knife im