By the time Luna and Joshua arrived at the ICU, the situation almost went out of hand. Doctors, nurses, and security guards surrounded the man.He was no other than Malcolm, who had just left after failing to accomplish his mission, with a camera at hand as the guards apprehended him.He gripped the camera tightly with both hands. "I won't allow anyone to take away the memory card in this camera! It has my daughter's photos in it! I need to protect it!"Joshua and Luna stole the moments I could've spent with my daughter. They won't even let me visit her after the surgery!"My daughter would've never fallen ill if it weren't for them! Why can't I even take a few pictures of my daughter? You're all bandits—a bunch of crooks!"Luna's eyebrows furrowed tightly. This was the first time she truly understood when people confounded black and white. The only reason Riley was in such a bad state was that Malcolm had handed her over to Sirius to protect himself.How could he cry wolf when h
"I…" Malcolm's face reddened at Joshua's words. "I don't know what you're talking about!""Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about?" Joshua slowly approached him. Each step he took was encompassed with a strong stressful aura that terrified Malcolm.Eventually, Joshua stood right before Malcolm. He laughed mockingly as his deep dark eyes stared into him. "Malcolm, do you truly think your acting is so perfect? If I tell you that from the moment Luna and I arrived here, my men had taken care of the reporters you and your man had arranged, are you going to continue lying? There's no camera filming you right now, and no one will ever see you throwing a tantrum here. Are you sure you want to continue?"Just a few simple questions made Malcolm turn pale. He bit his lip and stared at Joshua fiercely. "How is that possible?"'How is it possible? I've arranged a few people…' Malcolm thought.Joshua took out his phone and dialed a number. Very soon, the other party accepted the call. "Luc
"Nothing," Joshua sneered as he looked at Malcolm. "I hope that you remember I'm not letting you off the hook for what happened today." After that, he pointed at the lift behind Malcolm. "The lift is here. You should leave now."Malcolm furrowed his brow as he looked at Joshua, and his mind began to race. He had to admit, it would have been better if Joshua did something to him instantly as he did not need to constantly look behind him and fear for his life. However, Joshua did nothing of the sort and merely left him a warning.Suddenly, he remembered the time when Joshua warned him and did nothing to him too. During that time, he was still with Heather. He paid no attention to Joshua after he warned him…until the Quinn family nearly went into bankruptcy because of him.Only then did he know that he could not afford to offend a person like Joshua.However, the Quinn family was under Samuel's control at this moment. Even if Malcolm wanted to obtain the right to be in charge, he was
Samuel harshly continued, all while he glared at Malcolm's face remotely, "Do you truly think I have no idea about what you intend to do? Ever since you knew that there was something special about Riley's origin, you've been planning to stir up the contradiction between Joshua and that person. If I hadn't stopped you, you would've brought that person here to fight against Joshua. Am I right?"That was a very sharp and brutal question. Malcolm squinted and did not answer."How many times have I told you this? Don't try to go against Joshua! Even if that person becomes his enemy, do you think you could get away from all that scot-free? Your consequences will only be more dreadful than Hunter being stuck between two strong opponents. Why don't you just understand?" Samuel was heartbroken by how brainless Malcolm was.He stared at Malcolm with disappointment. "You even tried to instigate them by shooting a video. Luckily, Joshua was alert and stopped your plan."Leave. Leave now!"He
After Malcolm left, Luna kept the memory cards that Lucas had retrieved and watched every single video on them. Anger rose in her like a tide as she snarled to herself how vicious of a man Malcolm was.In the past, Luna had thought that Malcolm was just cowardly and foolish. At this moment, however, she finally realized that Malcolm was the same person from seven years ago; a man filled with schemes, that everything he did was only for his gain.It was difficult for Luna to imagine what kind of disaster Joshua and her would have faced if the untruthful videos leaked out. Fortunately, Joshua was smart to think ahead of what Malcolm was planning when the nurse informed them that someone was causing trouble at the ICU where Riley was resting.Otherwise…She started to feel pity for herself when she thought of how she had been bullied by people on the internet at one point."What happened?" Looking at Luna's pale face, Joshua walked over and extended his hand to grab Luna's small hand
It never occurred to Luna that Father Samuel was so firm and resolute. 'Kicking Malcolm out of the city?'All these years, Malcolm had built his network and reputation solely in Merchant City, and the moment he exited the city, he would have nothing left and would need to start from scratch. Even if he had any leverage or information, a no-name like him would not be able to cause any big problem.Having that thought in her mind, Luna sighed. "After all the things he did, he deserved it. Let's hope he'll be a better person in the future."Although it was cruel to kick Malcolm out of the city, it would be crueler to Luna and Joshua if Malcolm stayed."There's nothing to worry about anymore." Joshua kissed Luna's ear. "The Quinn family will make sure that Malcolm stays away from the city. We have a more urgent matter to deal with now—Butler Fred and Mickey."Luna sighed again when Joshua mentioned those two men. "Alright. I'll listen to you."In the past, she had been getting hersel
While Luna was drinking the coffee that Joshua brewed for her, she was searching the internet about Thomas Gerald.Luna asked, [When were you ever into superstars? How come I never knew about it?]Luna had known Anne for over six years, and it was the same woman who helped with Luna's first plastic surgery. After that, Luna required more and more plastic surgeries, and Anne's ability was limited. Nevertheless, she was humble to seek advice. From then on, she had been learning more knowledge and skills from the professional plastic surgeon in the industry with the excuse of taking care of Luna and as Luna's best friend.Slowly, Luna's impression of Anne changed from a plastic surgeon to a girl who was willing to work hard. During the darkest moment in Luna's life, Anne was there to give her comfort and warmth. As such, Luna always thought that she understood Anne very well, which was why it puzzled her to hear Anne had started to admire Thomas Gerald, an international superstar.Lun
Although Luna was unclear what was the situation between Thomas Gerald and his family, based on the information from Anne, she had no good impression of this international superstar at all.As such, she silently closed the search result on the computer and changed the topic of her conversation with Anne, which she noticed.She knew Luna was slightly older than her and had been through a lot more than her. Thus, she did not force Luna to admire the same thing as she did. However…[Anne: I saw Shannon, Zayne, Samson, and your assistant, Arianna the other day.][Anne: They said they were ready to go work with you again in Merchant City, but it seemed like something happened at your end. That's why they didn't go and are still waiting for you.][Anne: When are you going to continue with your career, getting back on track?]Luna turned silent when she saw that message.Anne was right. When she went back to Banyan City, she wanted to get Shannon, Zayne, and Samson to come and help her
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