Courtney led Luna and Theo to Joshua’s office. When they arrived, Granny Lynch was perched on the couch as she made a scene. “Joshua, I’m a frail old lady, and my bones aren’t as strong as they used to be anymore. That Luna girl gripped me so hard just now. I thought my bones were about to break! “That painting was worth ten million dollars! That’s not a small amount. How could you pay for it just like that? Don’t you know I can buy a full set of Moon’s jewelry with that amount of money?” Theo and Luna could hear Granny Lynch’s shrieks even from outside the door. Theo listened to this with a solemn expression. After a moment, however, he glanced at Luna, slightly amused. “Turns out Granny Lynch is also a fan of your work.” Luna scoffed but said nothing in response. Courtney gently knocked on the door before entering the room. “President Lynch, Director Luna is here.” Joshua sat in his office chair as he rubbed his eyebrows, seemingly frustrated with all this commotion. “Let
Luna knew Granny Lynch was lying to herself.“Mr. Lynch never defied you, you say? Many years ago, you wanted him to marry Hailey Walter, yet he ended up marrying Luna Gibson instead. After she died, you wanted him to retake Hailey as a second wife, but he got engaged with Aura Gibson. You gave him and Aura your blessing, but in the end, they broke up.” Luna stared at Granny Lynch impassively. “Mr. Lynch has been defying you all his life. Since when did he listen to you?”Luna thought her statement would shut Granny Lynch up and that she could finally get back at Granny Lynch for ruining her sketch. To her surprise, however, Granny Lynch chuckled.“None of the stuff you said was true. In fact, it wasn’t me who wanted Joshua to marry Hailey Walter at all—it was his father’s wish. I’m afraid you have no idea how much Joshua respects me.” Granny Lynch continued smugly, “Many years ago, when he was married to Luna Gibson, I told him that I wanted great-grandchildren, but Luna didn’t wan
Granny Lynch took the check from Theo and glanced at it. Her expression changed to that of a confused one. Why was Joshua’s name signed at the bottom?Theo smiled. “The reason I’m here today, besides picking up Luna from work, is that I wanted to return this check to Joshua.”Granny Lynch frowned as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Then, after a moment, her eyes widened, and she looked back at Theo. “Is this the check that Joshua paid Mr. Allen with? Are you…”“I’m Theo Allen.” Theo grinned at her. “I also want to explain to you, Granny, that the real painting worth ten million dollars is still in my study. I’d never display it publicly. The painting ruined that day was a fake one.”He glanced at Granny Lynch’s astonished face and continued, “As soon as he found out the painting was ruined, Mr. Lynch immediately issued me a check as compensation. However, I knew I couldn’t take it, so I decided to return it to him.”Granny Lynch was so shocked that she said nothing i
Unfortunately, because Moon had officially retired, all her jewelry pieces had been marked up to exorbitant prices. It was almost impossible to get her hands on any of them since they were so expensive.Theo claimed that the woman standing in front of her was Moon herself. Naturally, Granny Lynch could not believe that.“Why is it impossible?” The corner of Theo’s lips turned up into a smirk. “Why would a famous artist such as myself be friends with her if I didn’t know she was Moon?”Granny Lynch’s face turned an even paler shade of white. She glanced at Theo and said, her voice trembling, “Then…the drawing I tore…”“That sketch is worth millions, at least.”The blood drained from Granny Lynch’s face. Seeing that Joshua did not deny anything, she could confirm that Theo was indeed telling the truth. Joshua glanced at his grandmother’s stricken face and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and said to the person on the other line, “Come into my office and send Granny home.”
“Sir, I have good news. Someone is involved in the promotion of that news article,” Lucas’ voice rang out through the phone. Joshua frowned at the report. “Did you manage to find out who it was?”“I can’t seem to track him down. The spammers were hired by a foreign company, and some Andrew Walter owns it, but there’s no information about this person at all. I think it might be an alias.”Joshua’s brows furrowed even tighter together. “Keep looking.” Joshua hung up the phone, and his grip on the steering wheel grew tighter. How much had Alice changed within the last six years? Was there anything else about her that he had yet to find out? The car soon arrived at Blue Bay Villa.“Joshua!” Alice had been waiting at the front door, and as soon as Joshua’s car stopped, she approached him with a smile and draped a coat over his shoulders. “It’s a bit chilly outside, isn’t it?”Joshua glanced at her. “Yes, it is. Autumn is coming.”“I’ll go out tomorrow to buy you some warmer cloth
This was Alice and Joshua’s first meal together alone. Alice could not hide her excitement and kept offering Joshua more food during their meal. Joshua had wanted to talk to her about what happened on this day, but seeing how enthusiastic she was, he could not bear to bring it up.After he finished his food, Joshua set down his cutlery. “Alice, I have something to tell you.”Alice was in the middle of clearing the table as she handed the dirty plates to a servant and smiled at him. “Can’t it wait? What’s so urgent that you have to bring it up right here?”“There was a surveillance camera in the art gallery that day.” Joshua gave her a meaningful look. “The painting Luna ruined was a fake one. However, there was a pinhole camera embedded in the painting.”Alice’s hands stiffened at that. Then, after a moment, she let out a strained laugh. “How’s that possible…”Theo was there on the day Luna ruined the painting. If he did have surveillance footage of the entire incident, why did he
“You?”Luna said nothing else when she realized it was Joshua who entered.She shut the door to the room and leaned against the door. She looked at him coldly. “It’s late. What are you doing here instead of being with the missus, Mr. Lynch?”It did not faze her that Joshua managed to locate her. After all, with his power in Banyan City, locating her whereabouts was a piece of cake.Joshua leaned back on the sofa and was rather pleased.He saw how she reacted. When Luna did not recognize who it was that entered, she thought it was Theo instead and got angry.However, when Luna realized it was Joshua, her hostility immediately vanished. She was even quite relieved.Her reaction proved that he was a trustworthy person in her heart.Far more than Theo, at least.“I’m here to apologize.”Apologize? Luna furrowed her brows. “About how your grandmother destroyed my design sketches?”She took a deep breath. “You’ve already repaid me with a two-day grace period.”Then, she coldly
“You’re the arrogant one right now!”Luna gritted her teeth and glared at him. “You intrude into my house while I’m not paying attention. What right do you have to call me arrogant?”Her detest and hostility toward him were written all over her face.Joshua hated Luna like that.He hated the mockery and indifference in her eyes. He hated that she did not have any regard for him.He could not help but constrict his grip on her neck even tighter. “I wanted to properly apologize to you today and also discuss Neil and Nellie.”Neil and Nellie. Luna’s heart lurched as Joshua mentioned those two names.She closed her eyes as her voice trembled, “Don’t you dare mention Neil and Nellie. You’re not worthy of them.”He clutched Luna even tighter.Joshua was strong; so strong that he could have snapped Luna’s neck in two.Luna bore through the pain. She forced herself to breathe and continued, “I received Nellie’s call tonight. She cried on the phone, sobbing at how uncomfortable her