"If I had lost my child after getting married, I'd be able to help you out by adopting Riley instead."We'd be able to heal together since I had lost a child of my own, and she had lost her parents."This will take some weight off you and Mr. Lynch's shoulders so that you won't have to take care of another baby while searching for your own."Luna could not help chuckling when she heard this. "It's not that bad. She's just a baby, after all."The elevator arrived at Riley's floor.Luna brought Yannie into the ward, and, with the nurse's help, the two women put on their protective suits and entered the room.This was the first time Yannie had ever seen Riley.Initially, she thought this would be an ordinary baby since she had been stolen out of the hospital, and there was no information as to who her parents were.To her surprise…She was entranced the moment she caught sight of Riley.Even though this two-month-old baby was sickly pale, her dark eyes were bright and shiny.Ri
"C—Can I?" Yannie lowered her head to stare at Riley's smiling face and blushed. "If Riley's parents decide they don't want her anymore, she'll officially become you and Mr. Lynch's daughter, Ms. Luna…so how can someone like me be her godmother?"When she grows up and learns who I am…"Surely Riley would not want to be associated with someone like her?Luna could not help curling her lips into a smile when she saw the look of self-doubt in Yannie's eyes. She gently patted her shoulder and said, "She won't. You'd be perfect as Riley's godmother."The two of them played with Riley for a while, and it was until the nurse knocked on the door, indicating that visitation hours were over, that they finally left somewhat reluctantly.When the two of them came out of the ward, having changed out of their protective suits, they immediately caught sight of a man standing at the end of the hallway, dressed in black.Yannie recognized this man; he was another one of Thomas' assistants.Ever
Luna nodded and proceeded to get into the elevator with Yannie.She did not think anything peculiar of Yannie's sudden change of emotions. After all, this girl had just confided her most dreaded memory of the past in her, and she would not be surprised if Yannie behaved a little strangely after that.Luna brought Yannie back to Sean's room.When they arrived, Sean and Kate had already returned.Sean smiled and waved when he caught sight of Luna. "Hey, Luna."Kate's eyes were red and swollen, and it was clear she had been crying. However, when she saw Luna, she still greeted her politely. "Nice to see you again, Luna. And this is…"She gave Yannie a once-over, a guarded expression on her face. Finally, her gaze landed on Yannie's hands, which were wrapped in bandages. "What happened to her?"Luna smiled as she introduced Yannie. "This is my friend, Yannie Flores. Like Sean, she has recently hurt her hands, so I brought her over, thinking that perhaps she and Sean will have someth
"What did you say?" Luna managed to capture the seemingly minute yet significant piece of information in Sean's statement. "What do you mean, Luke doesn't have much time left? What're you trying to say?"Sean suddenly realized that he had misspoken. He quickly turned his head away and replied, "Nothing; you misheard me. What I was trying to say is that as a gang member, Luke could be killed at any minute."Besides, he doesn't like Kate anyway, so no matter how much Kate likes him, it won't change anything. In the end, she'll be enlightened to her situation and realize that Luke isn't a good match for her at all."Luna furrowed her brows and stared at Sean dubiously. "Are you sure that's what you said?"She clearly heard Sean saying that Luke did not have much time left.However, Sean insisted that she had misheard him, and she, too, was a little puzzled by his reaction.Could she have misheard him?"You misheard me." Sean curled his lips into a smile. "Luna, could the stress of
Sean could not help feeling that this woman was after him, and so he did not feel like entertaining her at all.However, he never thought she would cover for him when Luna questioned him.Even though he did not know whether she had done this just to get on his good side, he still had to thank her."There's no need to thank me." Yannie smiled at him and sat down in a nearby chair. "I know you must've blurted that out on purpose, and I know that Mr. Luke is Ms. Luna and Mr. Lynch's friend."If this secret between you and Mr. Luke were to get exposed, it wouldn't be good for any of you, whether it was him, you, or Ms. Luna and Mr. Lynch."Since a little white lie on my side is all it takes to hide this, why would I want to tell the truth that would hurt everyone?"Then, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, which had accumulated from her lying, and added, "You don't have to be so hostile toward me, Mr. Wheeler…I can tell that you really like Ms. Kate."Before I came here, Ms. Luna
The man's low voice was unmistakable.Yannie's entire body stiffened, and she bit her lip, keeping her head low to avoid the man's gaze. Her hands fumbled as she tried to pry her arm free from his grasp.However, the man tightened his grip on her as though he could sense her intention. "What's wrong? Trying to escape after your plan is exposed?"Thomas sneered as he kept one hand on Yannie's wrist while the other wrapped around her waist, pressing her body tightly against his. Finally, he smirked at the helpless look on her face and said, "Trying to play hard to get, huh? Yannie, if you didn't want to see me, you shouldn't have bumped into me in the first place."First, you bumped into me, and you then pretended it was an accident and tried to escape from me, blushing. Plenty of women have tried this on me, but I manage to see through their tricks every time."There's no doubt that you're the best actress out of all of them, though."This woman hailed from an ordinary background,
Some of them even got involved in the dirty trade that went on behind the curtains.Snapshots of the news Yannie had seen about these various women crossed her mind.In the past, she used to think that this was what they deserved for being greedy and vain, but now that Thomas brought it up…Yannie's hand began to shake. "They… They were ostracized and shunned from the entertainment world… Everything that happened to them…was your doing?"Her words were barely audible. She was not willing to believe that Thomas could have done something so malicious."You're clever." Thomas chuckled. "I'm a bit of a clean freak, and so I'm very picky when it comes to choosing my mate. If I ever start dating someone in the future, I won't hide it from the world either, but if people were to ride on my head and start false rumors behind my back…I won't hesitate to silence them."A triumphant smile spread across Thomas' face when he felt the woman in his arms start to tremble in fear. "What's wrong?
"She and I met before this?" Thomas furrowed his brows and flipped through the folder. "Why don't I remember her at all?"Perhaps Ms. Yannie is so plain-looking that you never gave her much notice." Xander sighed and continued, "According to my research, Ms. Yannie grew up here in Merchant City and never once left, except for the time she flew to a small village in Europa last year to attend someone's funeral in her mother's place."Coincidentally, you were shooting a movie in that same village, and you even stayed a night in the church due to the heavy rain."Thomas narrowed his eyes. "I'll never forget that night."That night, someone from the film crew had spiked his tea with a poison of some sort that enhanced his libido.To counter the drug's effects, he needed to sleep with someone, and there were plenty of women of his choosing among the film crew.However, Thomas knew that the person who had spiked his tea was undoubtedly a woman from the film crew who had intended to sle
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