Joshua narrowed his eyes.He knew that Fiona’s question—and her fiddling with that knife—was a form of threat. He knew what answer Fiona wanted to hear, so he let out an exhale and curled his lips into a smirk. “She means nothing to me. I’ve never loved her in the past, in the present, nor will I ever do in the future.“The only reason I treated her kindly is that she bore three children for me, that’s all.”Nigel, who was still tied onto the rock, clenched his fists as soon as he heard Joshua’s words. Meanwhile, the color drained from Luna’s face. Even though she knew Joshua was simply telling the truth, but…It was one thing to know this but an entirely different thing altogether to hear those cold, heartless words tumbling out of Joshua’s mouth. He had never loved her, and she had never meant anything to him at all.Luna let out an exhale and tried to force herself not to fixate on this. All of her attention should be focused on saving Nigel instead, but no matter how ha
“When I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I was mentally prepared to die. Having the opportunity to have a bone marrow transplant and prolong my life to spend time with my Mommy and Nellie, I’m already satisfied.” Nigel’s tears were mixed with the rainwater. His voice was so hoarse that he did not sound like a child anymore. “Maybe Neil just misses me too much, Mommy. You don’t need to hurt yourself nor sacrifice your life for me… Honestly, I don’t care about that much!” Luna felt her heart ache upon hearing these words and could not hold back her tears any longer. She bit down on her lip and picked up the nearest rock she could grab, wanting to smash her own fingers. “Fiona, if I really break all remaining nine fingers of mine, will you promise to let Nigel go and take me instead?”Seeing how desperate Luna and Nigel were, Fiona let out a vicious laugh. “Alright! If you really crush all nine of your remaining fingers, then I’ll let Nigel go and let you take his place!”Sh
As soon as Joshua finished his sentence, it was so silent that only the sound of the wind could be heard.Fiona narrowed her eyes and first glanced coldly at Joshua, then at Luna. Then, all of a sudden, she sneered. “You’re lying to me.”She turned to look at Nigel who, at this moment, had only three pieces of rope holding him onto the giant rock, and curled her lips into a bitter smile. “There’s no going back anymore, now that I’ve done something like this!”“How do you know that?” Joshua let out an exhale and continued, “Fiona, you know better than anyone that if there’s someone out there who can help you get out of this and guarantee you an entire lifetime of safety, that person is me.”With that, he took a step forward and said, staring at Fiona with a gentle expression. “Fiona, I know that you’re trying to get your revenge by taking Nigel’s life alongside yours, but at the same time, you’ll be dying, too. I don’t believe you when you say you don’t have anything left to look fo
Joshua was a strong man. Fiona knew that if he came up to her, there was a very high chance she would not be able to win in a physical fight against him.Therefore, she narrowed her eyes, put the knife closer to the rope tied on Nigel, and threatened, “Wrap the contract around a rock and toss it over!”Joshua froze in his step, and his expression darkened as soon as he heard this.However, he still followed suit. He crouched down to pick up a rock and chuckled. “What are you worried about? I’ve promised to marry you and vowed to protect you. Do you really think I’ll break that promise?“If you act so defensively against me, what will our future be like?”There was a hint of kindness in his harsh, emotionless words.Joshua had never talked to Luna like this before, so she was puzzled for a moment, trying to figure out if Joshua meant it or if he was simply trying to trick Fiona.However, one thing was clear: Joshua had never displayed this warmth and kindness toward her at all.
Clang—!Joshua kicked the knife a few meters away from Fiona.Fiona suddenly felt that something was wrong as soon as she heard the sound of the knife landing on the ground. She immediately lifted her head from the contract and met Joshua’s frosty gaze.A split second later, Joshua locked Fiona’s wrists behind her and pressed her down against the ground.This sudden turn of events rendered Luna speechless for a moment before she finally came to and sprinted toward the edge of the cliff. She clung onto Nigel and carefully untied the ropes holding him, lifting him from the rock once she finished.Because the ropes were barely holding him up, Nigel summoned all his strength to keep his balance, so as soon as he was rescued, Nigel collapsed in Luna’s arms limply. He heaved a deep sigh of relief and said, “Thank you, Mommy.”Nigel did not have any strength to walk. Knowing this, Luna pulled him closer in her arms and said in a choked voice, “It’s fine. Everything’s fine now. Mommy can
Luna crawled out of the puddle slowly. “I’m fine…”She was fine, just a little exhausted.After all, she had not eaten a single bite for more than ten hours.Luna pulled Nigel out of the puddle, picked him up, and continued hiking down the mountain trail.The mountain trail was wet and slippery from the rain, so Luna and Nigel fell a couple of times. With each fall, Joshua felt his heart ache. Even Fiona, who was pressed against the ground, could feel the raw emotions passing through Joshua’s body.Fiona saw an opportunity and decided to seize it. While Joshua was preoccupied with watching Luna and Nigel, Fiona summoned all the strength in her body and managed to release herself from Joshua’s grip.“I’ll kill you!” Fiona’s blood-curdling scream rang out from behind Luna.Luna immediately paused, then turned around.The scene before her rendered her utterly stunned, as though someone had set off a bomb inside her head.At this moment, Fiona was holding the knife that Joshua h
“Let’s go to hell together!” Fiona yelled, sprinting toward Joshua and knocking him right over the edge of the cliff.However, as soon as he realized he was falling, Joshua immediately let go of Fiona’s hand and reached out to grab onto the rocks on the side of the mountain.When Luna finally reached the mountain top, the only thing she could see was Joshua’s arm, gripping the rock so hard that his veins popped. However, because of extreme overexertion, the arm that was holding onto the rock slowly began to slip.Luna immediately lunged over and grabbed hold of Joshua’s hand with her own. “Joshua!”Her hands gripped onto his tightly.Joshua was so exhausted at this point that he could not even hold onto the rock anymore.He had lost all of his strength in his upper body and could only rely on Luna to keep him from falling.However, Luna’s strength was limited too, and on top of that, Joshua’s weight had pulled almost her entire body to the edge of the cliff.Joshua furrowed h
“But I hope that if you can’t hold on anymore, then let go of me… The children can live without their father, but they need you.“Nigel and Nellie have already lost Neil. I can’t let them lose their mother, too.” Luna bit down on her lip and stared at Joshua. She could not help but feel her chest tighten when she saw the dim look in Joshua’s eyes.She could tell that…Joshua wanted to let go of her and fall down the cliff himself. “Don’t you dare move!” Luna yelled as she furrowed her brows. “I can still hold onto you! Besides—”She bit down on her lip and finally spilled the secret she had discovered in hopes that Joshua would keep his hope. “Neil is actually alive. Joshua, Neil is alive, and so is Theo!”Joshua, who had been struggling to release himself from her grasp, paused when he heard this. He lifted his head to stare at her with wide eyes. “What… What are you talking about?”“I said, they’re still alive!” Luna bit down on her lip. “Joshua, you can’t die. You have to he
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