"Three days. Give me three days, and I'll tell you who Riley's father is."Luna paused upon hearing Joshua's suggestion. Then, she nodded quietly.With that settled, Luna started to worry again. "Looking at Riley now…I'm worried about our daughter. Do you think she's alright? Did a nice family adopt her, or…"Luna trailed off before she could continue, unable to stomach any other thought that could lead to negativity. During this period, she was not in a hurry to search for her daughter because she knew how fragile a newborn baby could be.Since her baby went missing as soon as she gave birth, Luna had no idea about the child's well-being. She did not know whether her baby was kidnapped as Hunter said or if they were taken away. It had been three months, so the perpetrators should have shown some signs or contacted either Luna or Joshua. However, they did not receive any news or information regarding her baby for the past three months.In fact, Luna was prepared for the worst-case
[Shocking Revelation! The rising star of the entertainment industry had a baby out of wedlock!][Thomas' new girlfriend was a baby mama!][Finally, the reason behind Yannie's hospital admission resurfaced after three months!]…In the early morning, shocking entertainment news took Merchant City's entertainment industry by storm. News about Yannie's previous pregnancy made its way to every headline.To many, Yannie was just a nobody. However, to the media and Thomas' fans, she was a sting in the eye. The reason was simple: Yannie had been pretending to be Thomas' screen couple for the past month.Both of them took part in an advertisement shooting and also went on a romance variety show and a movie as a couple. The only person who managed to have this kind of privilege in the past was Wendy.At this moment, it was Yannie who took this privilege—the poor, no-name woman. Fans were relentless with their dissatisfaction toward Yannie, while the media sided with Wendy and grieved her
Yannie was not lying when she said that she did not have the money. She was actually forced to sign the contract with Thomas' entertainment agency.All she did was agree with Joshua to get close to Thomas because of the one 148000-dollar reward. She thought only she and Joshua knew about their agreement.She never thought things would take a turn for the worse.There was one time Thomas had too many drinks. Seizing this opportunity, Yannie took his hair and fingernail and later brought them to Joshua. What was waiting for her on the other side were threats from Thomas.In fact, Thomas was never drunk; he merely pretended to see what Yannie would do. The camera captured everything Yannie did from pulling his hair and cutting his fingernail, much to her terror. She thought Thomas would go look for Joshua, so she begged Thomas to look past this incident.Of course, Thomas did not care if Joshua was in possession of his DNA specimen—it barely concerned him. Nonetheless, he used that v
Hugo was stunned to hear Yannie blatantly offering to end her life to end the chaos."I can't think of anything other than offering my life to repay the damage I caused." Yannie smiled bitterly as she looked at Hugo's face with her hollow eyes."It's true that I had a baby out of wedlock, I won't run from the fact. My heart was broken when my baby died. I…"She sniffled as her voice grew hoarse."If I didn't meet Luna a month ago, I wouldn't be looking like this. She was the one who took the time to comfort me."I thought everything was in the past, that I could finally turn a new leaf in my life as I regained my lust for life. Heck, I bought a new house for my mother for her retirement. I…I even found a better and more stable income."I thought everything will be alright."She closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. "I don't know why things would turn out this way."Her past was published like a story, read by many. The wound she so desperately tried to hide was once mor
Amid Yannie's hesitation, her phone rang.Luna was calling, and the mere name on the screen sent Yannie's heart racing. For a moment, she thought she was seeing things.Why would Luna be calling her at a time like this? Nonetheless, the called ID was real, and she was not hallucinating."Why are you not answering the phone?" Hugo furrowed his brow and asked when he heard Yannie's phone ringing.Yannie paused for a moment, her hands shivering as she did. After much struggle, she picked up the call."Luna."The instant she picked up the phone, her voice was hoarse. The emotions that had stilled after her conversation with Hugo roared to life upon hearing Luna's voice on the other end.She bit her lip and tried to say a complete sentence. Despite that, her throat felt constricted, and she could not say anything."Yannie, don't cry." Luna, reading the news from her computer in the studio's office, sighed. "Did the doctor who helped you betray you?"The information on the news was
Luna was startled by Joshua's words. For a minute, she could not register what he truly meant and thought Joshua was grieving for their missing child."Is…that so?" Luna sighed. She clicked open the news website again. "Oh, wow… I wouldn't have noticed it if you didn't tell me."Luna knew Yannie had a baby out of wedlock, so when she saw the news, her first thought was that Yannie got betrayed and did not pay attention to the information published in the news. It only came to her mind after Joshua mentioned it."What a coincidence for us to deliver on the same day," remarked Luna."It's not just that." Joshua, on the other end of the line, inhaled deeply before he solemnly added, "The hospital Yannie was in was the same hospital Hunter said he stole Riley from. The day Yannie delivered her baby was the same day Riley and our daughter were born."This took Luna by complete surprise, so much so that her phone nearly dropped to the floor. "Joshua… Are you saying…""Yes," said Joshua
Ever since the day Thomas arrived in Merchant City, he had been targeting Luna and Joshua, resulting in Luna's hostility toward Thomas. It amazed her to find out Thomas was the father of the baby girl she wanted to adopt."Did Yannie tell you this?" asked Joshua when Luna did not answer his question. He furrowed his brow."Yes," Luna answered faintly, "and I don't like Thomas."She did not think Thomas would treat Riley and Yannie kindly.At this moment, Yannie was in a partnership with Thomas, and she was one of the celebrities under his agency. She was helping Thomas to earn income as well.The news of Yannie's previous pregnancy was all over the city, yet Thomas did nothing. He did not even bother to take down the news after Yannie was that deep in trouble. If Luna did not think about letting Joshua take it down, who knew how this whole chaos would turn out?If Thomas could not even guarantee to protect Yannie, who was earning income for him, how could Luna believe Thomas coul
"Luna, I wanted to tell you about this after Thomas comes back, but…" Joshua paused for a while before he continued, "From the looks of it, maybe we can sit by the sidelines and watch for now. If Thomas can handle the matter this time, then we should trust that he has the ability to take care of Yannie and Riley."I know that you both aren't on the best of terms due to your past conflict, but if he can handle it well this time, maybe we should give him a chance. After all…"He sighed. "After all, Riley is his daughter. Maybe he and Yannie could give Riley something we can't."Luna's knuckles protruded as she gripped her phone tightly. She understood everything Joshua had said, but…"Okay," came Luna's simple reply after a deep inhale before she hung up.She closed her eyes and adjusted her sitting posture to feel more comfortable after putting the phone down.Her feelings were tumultuous at the moment, and admittedly, she was a little sad.They finally found Riley's parents…but
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