Joshua's hand stiffened at the mention of Steven. He was silent for a moment before finally asking, "Gwen… Have you all met Kate's boyfriend yet?""No, not yet. Why?""Nothing." Joshua rubbed his glabella in frustration. "I couldn't help noticing that Kate's new boyfriend looks a lot like Luke, so I don't think you should let Gwen see him."Luna nodded. "You're right. Don't worry; I'll try my best to protect Gwen."Even though she had yet to meet Kate's new boyfriend in real life, she had seen photos of him and Kate together on the internet. Therefore, even before Joshua brought it up, she already knew that this man looked eerily similar to Luke.At this point, Gwen would go insane at any mention of Luke at all, so if Kate's boyfriend were indeed so similar to Luke, she would have to stop Gwen from seeing him in person at any cost."We'll talk about this more when we meet," Joshua said before frowning and hanging up."What's wrong?" Thomas asked, seeing how troubled Joshua looke
With that, Yannie turned and sprinted in Lucas' direction.Since Yannie's mother, Mrs. Flores, used to work as a nanny for Luna and Joshua, Yannie was naturally familiar with Lucas.Thomas remained motionless, his lips curving into a small smile as he watched Yannie sprint nimbly towards Lucas.That was his girl; kind, soft, and adorable.However, the next second—Thomas watched as Yannie arrived at Lucas' side and, while talking to him, reached out to wipe the sweat from Lucas' forehead.His smile immediately froze on his face.Yannie never treated him that kindly before!Why was she helping Lucas wipe his sweat? Could he not do it on his own? Did he not have hands that were capable of accomplishing this task?Lucas instinctively glanced in Thomas' direction when he felt a cold, steely gaze on him. His heart leaped into his throat when he met Thomas' gaze.Lucas immediately took a small step back and glanced sheepishly at Yannie. "Sir ordered me to pretend as though I had fo
"What's wrong? Isn't this the one you lost?" Luna caught sight of the look in Gwen's eyes and quickly grabbed hold of her hand. "It's okay if it's not yours; we can always continue searching."Gwen bit her lip and glanced first at the people standing before her, then at the dark sky that looked like it was about to hail soon. Finally, she nodded and said, "That's right. This is the one I lost."She sniffed, carefully tucked the dirty metal plate into her pocket, and then forced a smile for everyone watching. "Thank you all for helping me find my lost item."Finally, she glanced at Lucas, biting her lip nervously. "Are these all Joshua's men?"Lucas nodded."I have a little over ten thousand dollars in here," Gwen said, smiling, as she took out a card from her bag and handed it to Lucas. "Please use it to pay for a nice dinner for everyone who helped out. If there's any money left over, feel free to divide it among yourselves as a reward for all your hard work."Lucas took the car
"Does Joshua think that Kate lied to us?"After all, Kate had claimed that the metal plate was already missing when she found Gwen's pendant."That's right." Thomas nodded. "Kate…is an exceptional crook."…The Miller family mansion.Kate's father, Mr. Miller, stared at Joshua with a look of displeasure. "Mr. Lynch, I've already told you many times that Kate isn't home at the moment, so why is it that you're so insistent on meeting her?"Joshua took a sip from his cup elegantly, lowered his head to glance at the Miller family's stocks, and chuckled. "Mr. Miller, have you not heard a single word that I just said?"I've already told you that for every ten minutes that Kate doesn't show up, I'll make Miller Group's stock price go one point lower. Now, it's already dropped by three points."As he said this, Joshua gracefully put down his cup and added, "Let me calculate just how much longer it'll take before Miller Group goes bankrupt."Well, according to my calculations, exactly
Joshua finally tucked his phone away as he turned to glance coldly at Mr. Miller. "Continue."If whatever you tell me doesn't match up with my investigation…"Joshua curled his lips into a smirk. "I can't guarantee that Miller Group will even still be standing tomorrow."Joshua never tried to target the Miller family all because of Luke.Even though Kate had almost killed Bonnie, and Jim therefore developed a hatred toward her, Joshua never chose to get revenge on the Miller family, but it was not because he did not possess the power to do so.Truth be told, even though the Miller family was one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Saigen City, they were still no match for Joshua at all. The only reason he let them off the hook was that the Miller family had given Luke hope during his loneliest days.If the Miller family had not told Luke about the potential cure for Gwen's disease, Luke would have taken his life to be with Gwen.Therefore, before they arrived in S
It was their superstitious beliefs that led them to abandon Luke as a baby!"Five years ago, Steven Hughes got involved in an accident and wound up in a coma, and because of this, the Hughes family requested our help tracking down their lost child," Mr. Miller continued. "Of course, Mr. Lynch, you know that Miller Group has substantial resources in the medical field, but not only that, both our families had a marriage agreement since a long time ago as well."Therefore, the Hughes family agreed that if we helped Steven wake up from his coma, they'd let their son marry our precious Kate."Joshua narrowed his eyes and tapped his slender fingers lightly against the coffee table. "So this was how you found Luke?"Mr. Miller nodded. "That's right. About a year ago, Luke came to seek our help, and just the first glance at him shocked us all to our cores. He and Steven were like carbon copies of each other!"We've been searching for him for five years, and we never thought that he'd appe
Clang!Joshua squeezed the glass in his hand so harshly that it burst into smithereens. He lifted his head to stare coldly at Mr. Miller. "Do you honestly think that Steven is perfect now?"Joshua had previously thought that 'Steven' was just Luke, whose memories had been wiped. He never thought the Miller and Hughes families would do something like this!They had used Steven's heart to save Gwen, then wiped Luke's memories from his mind and instilled Steven's consciousness into Luke's body, rendering him an entirely different person altogether!However, Luke was also a member of the Hughes family; the unwanted son they had abandoned as a child!The only reason they had tracked him down so many years later was because Steven had ended up in a coma. Now that they had extracted Luke's consciousness, all that remained was an empty husk of a human being, a vessel for their beloved Steven.They loved Steven and even went so far as to change Luke into Steven!A chill spread through Jo
The Hughes and Miller families could have allowed Luke to return to his family after donating Steven's organs to Gwen.As Luke's friend, Joshua knew that apart from being a skilled fighter, Luke was also a smart man that could easily pick up running a business.Even if the Miller and Hughes families did not want to choose this option, they could have helped Luke find alternative solutions to cure Gwen so that they would not need to sacrifice Steven at all!However, they chose not to.They had planned to take Luke's life and render him a container for Steven's mind since the start.This was why they had sent Kate to Merchant City to keep an eye on Luke. This was why Kate's feelings toward Luke had always appeared fleeting and ambiguous.Sometimes, she would appear to be head over heels for Luke, but other times, Joshua could not help thinking that she was cold and indifferent toward him.This was because Kate had never loved Luke at all; the only thing she loved about him was his
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