“Nigel?” Fiona curled her lips into a sneer. “He’s at home right now, receiving punishment for what he did. Children should be punished if they’re disobedient and go against their elders’ orders.”She shifted into a more comfortable position gracefully and continued, “Joshua has already decided last night to adopt a stricter approach to the children, so now, he has confiscated all of their devices. Not only are you unable to contact them, but even if you go to Orchard Manor or Blue Bay Villa right away, you won’t be able to see them either.“Joshua said that since they’ve been brainwashed by Luna, they’re now psychologically unsound, so he wants to send them to a professional education center. Even though it’s called an education center, in reality, it’s just a place to keep them shut in a windowless room…”Anne bit down on her lip when she heard this. Her hand gripped the phone so hard that her knuckles turned white. “Nigel and Nellie are Joshua’s children. How can he treat them li
Meanwhile, at the mental asylum located on the city outskirts...As soon as the director, Mr. Chase, found out that the famous Joshua Lynch had arrived, he was so startled that he rushed out to greet him without even putting his clothes on properly.“I want to see Luna,” Joshua ordered coldly as he strode through the entrance.Mr. Chase was so nervous that he broke out in cold sweats. “Mr. Lynch…um… Ms. Luna doesn’t want to see you…”Joshua scoffed. “I don’t care. I want to see her!”Mr. Chase could not help shuddering when he saw the cold, hard look in Joshua’s eyes. He knew there was no hiding the truth anymore, so he gritted his teeth and got down on his knees in front of Joshua with a thud. “Mr. Lynch! I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t keep a strict eye on Luna, and she…ran away…”Luna ran away?Joshua was so shocked by this that he immediately stood up from his chair. He grabbed hold of Mr. Chase’s collar and snapped, his handsome features contorted in anger, “Did
“Are you Dr. Robert’s wife? How can you say he misdiagnosed Luna? Dr. Robert has never made this kind of mistake before in his life!”Janice sneered and replied, “What do you mean, he has never done this before? All he did was cover up his tracks and was never discovered.”With that, she smiled and glanced at Joshua. “Didn’t you agree with Dr. Robert’s diagnosis that Luna has a mental illness, Mr. Lynch?”Joshua narrowed his eyes but did not say anything in reply.Janice curled her lips into a smirk and snickered. “I didn’t know how rigid and unrelenting of a person you are, Mr. Lynch. I guess in the end, you’d rather believe some words on a page than a living, breathing human being, don’t you? Can’t you tell the difference between someone who’s really sick and who’s not?As soon as he heard this, Joshua’s expression darkened, and he replied in a low voice, “Mrs. Jenson, you shouldn’t be here at all. Dr. Robert has been looking for you the whole day.”“Is that so?” she replied wi
At the hospital in Sea City.No matter how hard Gwen and Luke tried to stop Luna from seeing the news in Banyan City, she still found out about Fiona’s interview.What Fiona said in her interview made Luna feel anxious and worried. Every single sentence she said had a double meaning to it, as though she could not wait to tell the entire world how bad Nigel and Nellie were for kidnapping Dr. Robert’s wife!She even mentioned something about Joshua keeping Nigel and Nellie locked up at home for reeducation…What kind of reeducation did she mean?Luna clutched her phone and called Nigel and Nellie nonstop, but no matter how many times she called, there was no answer.Finally, she had no choice but to dial Anne’s number.Initially, Anne had wanted to hide everything from Luna as well. Still, she was a straightforward and outspoken person, so after a bit of coaxing and trickery on Luna’s part, Anne soon lost control of herself and blurted out everything, including what Fiona told her
“What do I need to do to make you leave me alone and treat me and the children better? What did I do wrong? Even if it was a mistake to fall for you, that was such a long time ago! Why do I still have to suffer the consequences now…”Her anguished cries echoed through the entire hallway.All the sadness and torment that she had gone through all this while finally burst out of her. Gwen, too, could not help but feel like crying. She immediately rushed forward to pull Luna into her embrace. “Everything will be better. Things will look up soon, Luna! Please don’t…”However, Luna shook her head in denial. “No, things will never get better…”No matter how hard she tried, she could not escape Joshua’s wrath at all, and she could not protect her children.Initially, she did not manage to protect Nigel, who was gravely ill. Then, after that, she failed to keep Neil safe, and he went missing amid the explosion. Finally, she failed to protect Nellie, who ended up with autism. With Nigel
Meanwhile, Luna and Gwen were hidden inside the room. They tilted their heads and eavesdropped on the conversation happening outside the door.The color drained from Luna’s face as soon she heard what Joshua said.As soon as she heard that Joshua had arrived, Luna guessed that Joshua had probably found out she was here and rushed over to talk to her.Otherwise, he would not have arrived without giving Luke a heads-up, considering how close he and Luke were.What he had just told Luke, however, was that the reason he came was that Luke had meddled with something that belonged to him.Luna pressed her lips into a thin line.It turned out that she was nothing more than an object to Joshua.“What do you mean by this? What thing of yours did I touch?” Meanwhile, in the hallway outside the door, Luke gave Joshua an impassive glance and spoke, a cold smirk playing on his lips, “I can’t seem to remember what it is.”“Is that so?” Joshua curled his lips into a sneer and fixated his cold
“Why don’t you just say you’re sending them to jail?”Joshua let out a chuckle and replied impassively, “Well, that’s another way of putting it.“If the two children still haven’t realized their mistake and don’t think they’ve done anything wrong, then it’s about time they need to get treated as well. After all…”He raised his eyebrows. “They’re involved in breaking a mentally insane patient out of her treatment facility.” With that, he stood up and continued, “Luke, I know what you took from me, and I even know where it is, but if you don’t want to hand it over, then it’s okay. “I heard Dr. Robert say that if he doesn’t find his wife before this evening, he’s planning to sue Nigel and Nellie in court. Even though I’m their father, I’ve never been emotionally close to them, so I won’t get involved in this potential lawsuit at all.“If he indeed sues them, then it’s up to the legal system to determine their outcomes. Whether they go to prison or get sent into an education center,
Seeing that Joshua was staring at her, Luna curled her lips into a feeble smile. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you want me to appear before you so that you can bring me back to the mental asylum?”The mental asylum: the place where she was locked in a windowless room and was subjected to inhumane tortures.Joshua paused for a moment, then asked in a hoarse voice, “What happened to you?”He knew that Luna was here, but he never imagined this was how she would look. He had seen her only a few days ago. At that time, she was full of life, with pink cheeks and clear eyes. This was a stark contrast to what she looked like as she stood before him: colorless and frail, as though she would break into pieces at any moment.Joshua thought that after being rescued by Luke and Gwen, Luna would be happy and carefree.While on his way here from Banyan City, he even thought to himself how selfish Luna was. He thought she was a self-centered, inconsiderate mother who did not care about her children.A
At that, he looked at Gwen. "Actually…"Steven found himself unable to finish his sentence. After a long while, he shook his head and smiled. "Forget about it.""Steven…" Gwen looked at him, and her tears fell.Her heart was not made of stone. How could she not know Steven's feelings toward her?She was silent for a long while. In the end, she stood up and slowly walked over to Steven with arms opened wide. "Give me a hug."Steven hesitated for a while, but he still stood up.They hugged."Gwen." Steven hugged her thin figure. "I have to meet you earlier in the next life so I can compete fairly with my brother."Gwen nodded with tears streaming down her face. "Okay."They thus hugged once more. Minutes later…"He's gone," said Stefan.Tears kept falling.They hugged for a while longer before pulling apart. Gwen looked at Stefan with her tear-stricken face. He had tears on his face as well.She bit her lips and reached out to wipe his tears. "A—Are these tears…yours or his?
The next day, Rachel flew from Merchant City to Sharnwick City to diagnose Anne's condition. Theo tagged along as well because he had another identity, Rachel's boyfriend."According to the report, Anne's condition is slowly recuperating." Rachel was relieved after assessing the report. "Although she is very weak, she is going to get better with lots of rest."There is nothing wrong with her vocal cords too. It could be a psychological thing that makes her lose her voice. A knot in her heart that causes it." She looked at Luna, then at John. "Considering all factors, I think that knot is Luna."Rachel continued, "John, I know Luna is the root cause of all these bad things. Being away from Luna, Joshua, and other people is going to guarantee a safer life for you and your family. But have you thought about it from Anne's point of view? Other than you and Sammie, she has her own life and her circle of friends. Never has she blamed Luna for what happened, yet you forced her to leave Lun
It was almost a miracle for Anne to willingly leave the house just to visit him!Robyn, meanwhile, sobbed at the sight.The nurse who accompanied Anne to the ward was puzzled. What was going on with these people?She snuck her phone out of her pocket and took a photo of this surreptitiously. Then, she sent it into the nurse's group chat with the caption, [What a strange family I met today.]The nurses in the group chat began gossiping about this. One of them tagged a fellow nurse named Daisy and said, [Hey, isn't this the guy who saved the old man you're looking after? What a hero!]Daisy was, at this moment, walking into Andy's room to help him change his wound dressing. She saw the message but was not able to type on her keyboard to respond, so she recorded a voice message instead. "Yes, that's the man. What's wrong with his family? What are you guys talking about?"As soon as she finished her sentence, she lifted her head and finally realized that Andy was not there.Instead,
Anne stared at John for a long time before forcibly smiling and told him in sign language, "Robyn didn't return after so long, so I got worried and came by to check on her.""Daddy, Aunt Robyn, are you two hugging?" Sammie asked, blinking innocently as she raised her head in curiosity.John and Robyn turned pale at this.It was understandable for such a young child like Sammie to misinterpret them as hugging, but what would Anne think of this?John leaped off the bed and staggered toward Anne. "Anne, it's just a misunderstanding…"However, he was still so weak that his legs could not hold up the full weight of his body at all, and he almost crumpled to the ground.Quick-witted Robyn managed to catch him before he could fall, but this gesture appeared once again rather intimate to both Anne and Sammie. Sammie furrowed her brow and asked rather indignantly, "Are you hugging again? Daddy, how can you hug Aunt Robyn like this when you've never even hugged Mommy and me like this befor
When the nurse pushed Anne to John's ward, she overheard John and Robyn fighting from the door. The fight was about how John was anxious to return home because he was worried about Anne and Sammie.However, as someone who used to work as a nurse, Robyn knew John should not leave the hospital after being shot by a gun. At least, he needed to stay in the hospital and be observed for 24 hours to make sure that he was fine before leaving the hospital. If an infection happened, John's body would crash easily and he would become weak just like Anne.In the ward, John frowned and talked with a serious tone, "I'm really fine. Get me my clothes so I can go upstairs to thank Miss Andie and go back home immediately. If Anne knows that I'm hurt, she is going to worry. She will easily be suspicious since you haven't gone back home for a long time. What if she worries about me and brings Sammie to the hospital to look for me? Can you bear yourself even just thinking about it? She's weak and Sammie
Sammie's soft and cute babyish voice melted Stefan's heart immediately. It had been quite some time since he actually put a smile on his face. "Hi, there. What's your name and how old are you?"Sammie tilted her head to look at Stefan's handsome face and smiled sweetly, "I'm Samantha but everyone calls me Sammie."Then she did not forget to introduce Anne to Stefan too. "This is my Mommy. Her name is Anne."At this point, Stefan had given all of his attention to Sammie and did not notice Sammie mentioned that her mother's name was Anne. He pinched Sammie's cheek and said, "Your Mommy is not feeling well. You have to be a good girl and take care of her, do you understand?"Sammie nodded seriously and said, "I will.""Alright, sir. I will bring them to where they want to go," the nurse saw Anne signing to her anxiously. She smiled and said, "Don't worry. I will take good care of them."The promise from the nurse gave an assurance to Stefan that they would be well taken off. He smil
This was the first time Anne brought Sammie out. Ever since she escaped from death, she became a different person—a recluse and was afraid of the sun. This situation became even worse after she became mute.The last time she left the house was two weeks ago when she had to go for surgery.However, she worried about John. In the morning, Robyn told her John was hurt and needed to stay in the hospital to rest. However, she had a hard time believing what Robyn said.After spending so many years together with John, Anne reckoned she was the one who knew John the most. If it was a minor injury, John would never want to stay in the hospital. He cared too much about her and Sammie, so he never dared to let her worry about him. Therefore, it just did not sound reasonable if John would stay in the hospital because of a small injury.Furthermore, Robyn had not returned home since the morning, which was nearly three hours since she left the house. After much consideration, she decided to call
Tara fell silent upon hearing this. She bit her lip nervously and shot Gwen a tentative glance. "I didn't mean to offend you, Gwen…" "I know." Gwen let out an exhale and interrupted Tara before she could finish, "I know you meant no harm, but I can't deny that this is something I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around. In the future, neither of you—even you, Luna—should bring this up again." Her love life was such a mess that not even she could unravel the ties, much less expect other people to understand. Tara pursed her lips and did not reply. Luna stared at Gwen in silence for a while before finally saying, "But you have to face this eventually, Gwennie. After all that you've been through with Luke, all of us hope for nothing but the best for the two of you. Even if you avoid it now, you'll have to face the truth eventually. Otherwise, are you planning on spending the rest of your life in this complicated relationship with Luke? Can you bear the thought of not being
Stefan was mildly amused by the look on her face. He extended his arms out in a gesture of defeat and said, "I never intended on ratting you out to Joshua. You three spoke about these secrets in my presence." With that, he shot Andy a rather helpless look. "Don't you agree, sir?" Andy was surprised to be called out all of a sudden. "Of course!" Although Gwen and Luke had been together for a long time, Luke had never much cared for maintaining good relations with his future father-in-law. He always thought his relationship with Gwen did not concern anyone else outside of the two of them. Combined with the fact that Andy had done some hurtful things to Gwen in the past, Luke grew even more disdainful of his future father-in-law. Because of this, he had never given Andy as much as a second glance throughout their relationship and rarely ever addressed him directly like this. The truth was, Stefan had already called out to Andy once before, during their rescue mission the day befor