Gwen pursed her lips upon hearing this but did not reply.After a long time, she finally sighed and said, "Alright. I promise."In the past, she had failed to consider that Steven, too, was someone with loved ones and family.Since Steven and Denise were both willing to pay the price of what had happened…she did not have the right to continue depriving Steven of the right to his life and freedom, and he was not at all obliged to do anything on behalf of Luke.This was the best outcome any of them could ever hope for."Thank you." Denise let out a sigh and got off the bed, then sat down in Luna's chair. She stared at the audio files on the laptop screen and asked, "These are all the recordings of the conversation between Steven and Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, correct?"Gwen fell silent for a moment, secretly a little annoyed by the fact that Denise had sat down in Luna's chair and looked at her laptop without permission. On second thought, after what Denise just said, Gwen decided not to
Gwen could no longer hear anything Steven said after that.She bit her lip, and despite her gaze remaining on the laptop screen, her thoughts had already drifted far, far away.These days, all her interactions and conversations with Steven flashed through her mind.Then, a memory of Luke.The two of them were lying on the roof at midnight, stargazing, with Luke's arms around her.He curled his lips into a smile and said, "Gwen, sometimes I really wish we could go back in time."If only I hadn't gone into this business, and if only I had met you before I became a gangster."Sometimes, I wonder if things would be better if I became a kind, handsome gentleman with a good family background and education."If I were someone like that, no one would ever dare to bring up your past, and everyone would give us their blessings."Gwen, I really hope that if we do meet again in our next lives, we won't have to deal with something like this again."Gwen bit her lip and wrung her hands whe
On the balcony.Luna let out an exhale and regained her composure before finally dialing Yannie's number.Denise wanted to know what was going on with Thomas, and in Luna's opinion, no one would know this better than Yannie.Yannie picked up the phone almost immediately. "Hello, Luna."Luna pursed her lips. "Yannie, how…how are things on your end?"Yannie paused for a moment, then turned to glance at the room. With the help of the doctors and nurses, Thomas was slowly putting his clothes back on. "I…can't say."For some reason, Thomas had suffered amnesia regarding the events that had transpired. He could not remember anything that happened at Howard Mansion, or, to be precise, he could not seem to recall anything that happened after Senior Howard got shot.His memory seemed to have stopped there.However, he could vaguely recall that someone had spiked his food, and he had some recollection of sleeping with a woman, but he did not know the identity of said woman.Therefore, a
Yannie's entire body froze when she heard this.She quickly hung up the phone and turned around.Thomas was standing behind her in his usual clothes, frowning.Due to the drug's effects, Thomas looked frailer than usual, and his face was as pale as a sheet of paper. Despite this, his eyes were filled with worry and concern. "Who were you talking to? Who disrespected you? Is it Luna or Joshua?"Yannie's heart lurched at this. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Nothing."With that, she reached out to grab hold of Thomas' hand. "Let's go. We need to…go visit your father quickly."Thomas furrowed his brow. He turned her around so that he was clasping her hand and pulled her into his arms. "Yannie, you're the love of my life, and I won't let anyone harm you."You don't have to hide anything from me. If Luna or Joshua were being unfair to you or tried to hurt you, you have to tell me, and I'll always be on your side."Then, he lowered his head and gently pinched her nose. "You're R
Yannie did not know who this man was, but when she saw him storming toward Thomas in anger, she instinctively leaped in front of Thomas to shield him.Smack! The man's slap landed on Yannie's face harshly.The entire hallway fell silent at this.Everyone, including the tall man and Thomas, who had just emerged from the elevator, were too stunned to speak.A split second later, Thomas pulled Yannie into his arms and shot the man a murderous glare. "Dan, if you have anything against me, you should come at me like a man instead of hurting innocent women!"Yannie realized that this tall man was none other than Dan Howard, Thomas' half-brother.Dan immediately regained his composure upon hearing this. He shot his brother a cold look and snapped, "If this woman hadn't come out of nowhere, you would've gotten it!"With that, he stormed toward Thomas once more, shouting, "How dare you even show your face here after hurting our dad like this? Not only that, but you even let your woman pr
Both Thomas and Yannie lifted their heads in unison upon hearing this.At this moment, Joshua was standing at the door to Senior Howard's room, staring calmly at them.It was clear that he had been inside the room all this while and had only emerged when he heard the commotion. This explained why Tina and Dan were waiting outside the room instead of being with Senior Howard.At the thought of this, Thomas glanced at Yannie, frowning, then at Joshua. He hesitated for a moment before finally making his way across the hallway, circling past Joshua, and entering the room.The door slammed shut behind him.Yannie quickly strode over to Joshua's side and whispered, "Mr. Lynch, Thomas' father…""He's fine," Joshua replied calmly. "Thankfully, Thomas' bullet did not hit anything critical, and so he's currently stable. However…"He turned to glance at the closed door and sighed. "The misunderstanding between them will only run deeper from here on out."In the future, you'll need to try
Yannie was a little shocked when Joshua brought up Riley.A split second later, she let out a bitter chuckle and said, "I'll leave Riley with Thomas."Riley was sick and needed to be hospitalized long-term for her treatment.Unlike Thomas, Yannie knew she was not wealthy nor possessed Thomas' intelligence, so she would not be able to provide Riley with the lifestyle she deserved. Things would be different if Riley were to live with Thomas.Thomas would provide only the best for her so that she would grow up a healthy, happy child.At the thought of this, Yannie curled her lips into a smile and glanced at Joshua. "Mr. Lynch, are you bringing up Riley…to try to convince me not to leave?"Joshua narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "It's shameful to use a mother's child to keep her hostage, so I never intend to do anything like that."Yannie's heart lurched when she heard this.A split second later, she paused and said, "Well…what are you trying to say, Mr. Lynch?"Joshua furrow
Inside the room, Thomas could not help frowning as the stench of antiseptic struck him.He strode over to Senior Howard's bed, sat down in the chair, and swept his cold glance across his father's pale face. "I can't believe you're still alive."Senior Howard never thought this would be the first thing his son said to him after accidentally shooting him. He immediately flew into a rage. "You good-for-nothing son! You wanted to kill me after all, didn't you?!"Thomas scoffed. "I never wanted to kill you, but your wife and son wanted me dead."Thankfully, Tina's plan had not worked, and he did not end up sleeping with Denise at all. Otherwise, Yannie would surely be upset and refuse to be with him any longer.If that happened, not only would Riley lose a mother, but he would lose the only woman he ever loved…To him, this was even worse than death.Senior Howard was so furious to hear this that he broke into fits of cough. "You bastard!"Thomas rolled his eyes as he watched his fa
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