"Have you decided to go for it, Master Moon?" There was a newfound hint of joy in Joey's voice as he exclaimed, "Have you decided to come out of your retirement for this? If yes, I'll get in touch with Thomas Howard's assistant right now!"With that, he hung up the phone.Luna remained stunned as she clutched the phone in her hand, listening to the dial tone. A split second later, she sighed and tucked her phone away.Just as she was about to lock her phone, however, she received a message from Joey.[Thomas Howards wants to meet you this afternoon! 1 p.m. at Bamboo House, a restaurant on the west side of the city!]Luna glanced at the time, frowning.It was already past 11 a.m., so she would be meeting Thomas Howard in less than two hours.How impatient was this man?The rational voice in her mind was telling her that something was wrong—that Thomas Howard must have had ulterior motives for setting up this once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity.Luna knew that she should hav
"That's a lot of money!""You suck at math." Neil shot his sister a helpless glance, then turned to meet Luna's gaze. "According to Nigel's research, Thomas Howard does not need this money at all."On one hand, he's not desperate for money, and on the other hand, he's not desperate to get into business with Daddy either. Besides, he doesn't need you to fulfill any other terms besides agreeing to work with him…so why would he do this?"He crossed his arms in front of his chest and declared confidently, "This is very suspicious."Luna's chest tightened at the sight of this.She could not help feeling that Neil was beginning to resemble Joshua more and more. Perhaps it was because the three children had gotten to know Joshua better over the past two years.The way Neil looked, with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed in deep thought, made him a carbon copy of Joshua.Just as Luna stared at Neil in slight appalment, Nigel turned the laptop back to face him and retrieved some of
Luna hesitated for a long time, but with the three children's encouragement, she finally decided to go ahead.By the time she reached a decision, it was almost noon, and Thomas Howard had intended to meet her at 1 p.m.With Nellie's help, Luna brainstormed the prototype for her jewelry design and developed a simple draft for Thomas Howard.By the time they finished this, there were only 20 minutes left till the meeting time.Nellie was worried that Luna would not be able to tap into her full creative potential due to her worries, so she volunteered to go with Luna to meet Thomas Howard in hopes that she could help alleviate her nerves."Aren't we going to send some guards to keep an eye on Mommy and Nellie?" As soon as Luna and Nellie left, Neil furrowed his brows and glanced at Nigel, who remained motionless on the sofa. "Are you sure it's going to be safe for them?""Why wouldn't it be?" Nigel replied impassively as he stared at the surveillance tape on the laptop screen. "You
"No." Joshua sighed. "However, we managed to find out a lot of information about that assistant of Luke's."Her name is Kate Miller, and she's from a rich and powerful family in Europa. The power and influence of her family are not to be underestimated."Luke had secretly taken her in when she arrived here, but despite that, she's still required to call her family every day to confirm her safety. If her family doesn't receive any information about her within these two days, they'll do anything to find her."If her family were to come over to Merchant City in a rage, not only would Luke be in trouble, but the entire Merchant City would be affected, too."Luna furrowed her brows upon hearing this. "Is it that serious?""Yes." Joshua sighed. "It's the same as… If Nellie was to go to a foreign city after she grows up and ends up going missing there, but all data shows that she had never left that city, I, too, would flip the entire city upside down in search of her."Luna fell silent
There was a hint of a smile in the man's voice, but for some reason, Luna felt uneasy about it.After all, no one—not once in her 20-over years of life—had ever said anything like this while complimenting her daughter on their first encounter.If she remembered correctly, this was her first time ever meeting Thomas Howard in person, and they were not even acquaintances to begin with.However, no matter how uneasy she felt, she still smiled and glanced at the man sitting in the booth. "You're a funny man, Mr. Howard. I'm sure a celebrity like you can't possibly have children on a whim, can you?"The tall, slender man was leaning against the sofa before her, his arms crossed as he scrutinized her. He was wearing a black suit which accentuated his long legs. Even with his legs crossed elegantly, they still appeared to be longer than most, so much so that a patch of his ankle was exposed underneath his pant leg.Underneath the dim, yellow light, the man's face looked as though he had
Thomas curled his lips into a smile and swept his glance over Nellie. "I, too, hope to have a daughter of my own, but unfortunately, circumstances won't allow me to, so…"He propped his chin up with one hand and fixed his gaze on Luna's face. "I was hoping I could get to know Nellie better during our contract period, Ms. Luna. Don't worry; as soon as our contract is over, I'll get out of both you and your daughter's lives, and I promise not to get in touch again in the future."Luna furrowed her brows upon hearing this.She was unfamiliar with Thomas Howard's background, and if she had known that he wanted to work with her because of Nellie, she would not have come to meet him!Even though having such a famous celebrity become an ambassador for her products would truly be the honor of a lifetime, she would not use her daughter as leverage!At the thought of this, Luna let out an exhale and stood up. "I'm sorry, Mr. Howard, but my daughter is the apple of both me and my husband's e
Luna narrowed her eyes upon hearing this.She pulled Nellie closer to her and met Thomas' gaze, sneering. "So the reason you got in touch with Joey to set up an urgent meeting with me…was to insult me in person?"Luna knew she had been behaving impulsively and should have noticed the observations that Nellie had made, but it was almost impossible for her to remain calm in a situation where her child's safety was at risk.She had been questioning Thomas' motives since the beginning, and when he expressed his longing to have Nellie become his daughter and get to know her better…she could not help putting her guard up.She had already lost a daughter; she could not allow herself to lose another.She did not want to go through the pain of losing her daughter—or the immense sorrow she had experienced when she thought Neil had died—once more.This was why she had placed all her attention on protecting Nellie and overlooked the fact that Thomas had not expressed any signs of adoration t
Luna narrowed her eyes when she saw the image of Sean, then turned to glare at Thomas. "What the hell do you want?""To work with you." Thomas placed one hand elegantly on his knee while the other remained poised on the back of the couch and stared back at her nonchalantly. "This seems like a reasonable offer, doesn't it? To get two people in return for signing a contract with me?"Nonetheless, you have another option—reject my offer and let your husband and brother continue searching for my hostages, but…"He removed his hand from the couch, brought the cup to his lips to take a sip, then glanced impassively at Luna. "The fact that I captured these two people without anyone noticing means I'm fully capable of doing the opposite: hide them someplace so obscure that neither your husband nor brother will be able to find them in three days."He glanced at the video displayed on the screen and added, "You can see for yourself how dirty this dungeon is, which means it's likely infested