"Go figure. The men in the Howard family are all the same; you're all dependent on women!"Tina smirked as she stared at Thomas coldly. Her words were potent with mockery as she continued, "Howard Group is at its glory now because your father had gotten help from your mother. I thought it was different for you when you found yourself a village girl, but it's still the same. You need this woman to come to protect you now? How amusing!"Her words were downright insulting.Thomas furrowed his brow. As he was about to retort, Yannie interjected, with her arms wide open in defending Thomas, "Hey, are you listening to yourself? You insulting Thomas like that also means you're insulting your husband and your son. Aren't your husband and son from the same family as Thomas? Are you saying your son, Dan Howard, is also a man who relies on women too?"Yannie's face and tone were cold when she said that.Tina never expected such sharp remarks from Yannie. She was stunned and did not know how
Senior Howard furrowed his brow and looked at Thomas and Tina. Lastly, he closed his eyes and said with a plain tone, "Why did Dan hit Thomas?"The question caught Tina off-guard; she never thought Senior Howard would ask that question. After a while, she pursed her lips and said, "Didn't I just say it? He was angry because Thomas shot you."She then added, "Don't you know how much Dan cares about you? Not like someone else here. Dan would've fought the person who hurt you with his life if the transgressor wasn't his brother."Senior Howard sneered, "Is that so? You say Dan cares about me. How does he do that? Using my cars to gamble and losing them to someone else? Or spending my money behind my back?"Do you think I don't know any of that stuff you two did behind my back?"Tina's eyes blew wide open in shock. She looked at him with a stupefied look. "You…"After a while, she bit her lip and lowered her voice. "There are outsiders here. Why are you talking about these? I'm telli
Tina had a terrible look on her face after what Thomas said, and her eyebrows were pressed in a firm line."What are you talking about? He's my husband, and Dan's my son. In my heart, my husband and my son are equally important!"After that, she glanced from the corner of her eyes at the man on the bed while trying to grovel, "Furthermore, Dan's your father's son. If you treat Dan badly, that means you don't care about your father!""Scram!" Senior Howard shut his eyes, not giving Tina the responses she wanted. He stretched his hand out to massage his glabella. "The doctor said I need to rest. If all of you care for me, stop disturbing me."All of a sudden, he remembered something and said, "Get Mr. Zink here."Mr. Zink was Senior Howard's personal lawyer.Tina, baffled at how he was summoning his lawyer, furrowed her brow and looked at him. "Why do you want Mr. Zink here?"Senior Howard rolled his eyes at Tina. "To get him to sue Thomas for causing intentional injury. Are you h
Thomas' alluring, husky voice rang next to Yannie's ear, and her ear grew warm as his breath fanned the side of her face.She bit her lip and shrunk. Her mind drifted to how not long ago, she was locked outside of the door while listening to his…and Denise's moans of pleasure.Instinctively, she bit her lip and moved away, creating a gap between them.Thomas's brow furrowed once more when he noticed this. He tried to pull her back to him by wounding his arms around her. "Why are you moving away? Is there anything you're not telling me?"That was the only reason why Yannie kept on distancing herself from him after he woke up from his unconsciousness.She bit her lip. After a moment of silence, she pushed Thomas away. "Nothing. I'm not hiding anything from you. You think too much."With that sentence, the elevator reached the first floor, and the door opened. Yannie hastily walked out of the elevator, much to Thomas' confusion as he chased after her."Yannie!"However, Yannie did
As Luna grasped the phone tightly in her hand, her eyebrows were pressed into a firm line. She had assumed that Thomas would come find her because of Yannie but never expected it to be so soon.It had been less than 24 hours after the incident happened, and she had been busy dealing with Denise and her family. There was no time for her to think about how to explain it to Thomas if he asked.The moment was here, yet she could only bite her lip and made it up as it went. "Why do you think so? Yannie… Is there anything wrong with her?"Thomas furrowed his brow slightly upon hearing Luna hesitating. He grasped his phone tighter and replied in a deep voice, "Something's wrong with her. Luna, I know you and Yannie are best friends. The only one she trusted other than her mother is you. So, I'd like to ask what's going on. Previously…"He closed his eyes and thought back to the time when Tina and Denise had drugged him when they were at Howard Mansion. "Was it…"He hesitated and said the
Luna held her phone as she fell silent for a good while. It was not long until she exhaled deeply and answered, "I would."She took another deep breath and said plainly, "Thomas, maybe you don't know me that well yet. In the past, I hated Joshua so badly, but it was because of my son that I took it all in strides and went back to Joshua."The misunderstanding got cleared in the end and we knew that we fell into a trap, but even if it wasn't a misunderstanding and Joshua was really a scumbag, I would still tolerate everything for the sake of my children."To me, being sad and uncomfortable because of someone important is just temporary, and it'll pass."Maybe you're right. Joshua and I were wrong on this matter; we shouldn't have used our thoughts to decide what Yannie should do. Nonetheless, she cares about you. She hopes that you can settle your matter peacefully and that incident will not affect you. She just can't get past the hurdle in her heart and pretend that nothing happene
"I can't promise you that now," Yannie replied.She took a deep breath, her eyes filled with despair and helplessness when she gazed into Thomas' eyes. "Perhaps you wouldn't be able to digest it all if you were in my stead. I'm sorry."After a deep sigh, she curled up her lips into a bitter smile. "I can't lie to you nor lie to myself."She thought Thomas would get mad, feel helpless, and despair with her after what she said. However, that was not what happened. Instead, Thomas curled up his lips and smiled, gazing into her eyes with his frail ones, "Alright, I respect your wishes. As long as…"After a short pause, he continued looking at her with a smile. "As long as you stay with me, that's enough. If there comes a time you want to leave me and Riley, I hope you can tell me. Don't just go without saying goodbye. I won't force you to stay."After all, he was a fool to have fallen into Tina and Denise's trap. Therefore, he had no right to stop Yannie, no matter what decision she m
Tina quivered as she stood outside the door eavesdropping on the conversation between Senior Howard and Mr. Zink.'That old geezer! He wants to give everything to that bastard!'After all these years she spent time together with him, she and her precious son ended with nothing!She clenched her fists tightly and angrily.'Why? Why did that old geezer leave everything to Thomas in the end? Is it just because he's Eanne's son? Because Eanne was the one who helped him become rich? What about the twenty years I spent with him? Are my twenty years incomparable to the few years Eanne spent with him?'"Alright, Mr. Howard. Is there anything else you'd like to add?" asked Mr. Zink again. "Give it a good thought."Senior Howard said again after remaining silent for a long time, "There are two mansions in South Hill of this city and a company…""Do you want to transfer those to Mr. Thomas Howard too?" Mr. Zink asked.Tina could not bear to listen any further. She bit her lip angrily and
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