Steven's entire body stiffened upon hearing this.He knew that Joshua was talking about Luke.A split second later, he curled his lips into a bitter smile. "You're confused, Mr. Lynch. I'm Steven, not Luke.""I know." Joshua narrowed his eyes, fixating his stare on Steven's face. "But I still know that you'll help me."Steven was silent for a moment, then finally sniffed and chuckled. "You're right; I'm willing to help you, but it has nothing to do with Luke at all. I'm just…"He glanced first at Gwen and Luke, then at Joshua. "I just like helping people in need."Then, he shot Joshua a glance and asked, "What do you need me to do?"Joshua had seen this coming. He curled his lips into a smile. "Follow me."With that, he turned and led Steven into the elevator.Gwen instinctively followed.However, Luna caught her just in time, and as soon as the elevator doors closed, she pulled Gwen aside and whispered, "Remember, he isn't Luke."She was worried that Gwen would be swept awa
Luna was worried that something would happen if she left Gwen and Steven to their own devices.She was just about to stop them when Gwen lifted her head to fixate her gaze on Steven's face. "Sure.""Gwen." Luna furrowed her brow and instinctively grabbed hold of Gwen's arm. "You…""I know what I'm doing." Gwen knew what Luna was concerned about. However, it was as though she was drawn to Steven like a bee was drawn to nectar.She wanted to find out what kind of person Steven was, and she wanted to know if she had been hallucinating or if Steven was really gradually becoming Luke.This was something she would not stop until she found the answer.When she saw the determination in Gwen's eyes, Luna fell silent and finally let go.After Gwen and Steven left, Lucas led Luna to Joshua's office.This was Luna's first time visiting Joshua's office here in Saigen City. This office was far smaller than Joshua's offices in Merchant City and Banyan City.After being used to sitting in J
Dan's outburst did not faze Joshua at all. Instead, he smiled naturally. "Well, well. I don't know if Mr. Dan Howard is the right person to make such a comment. Compared to you, I'm not as shameful as you are."The reply had pushed Dan to his limits. "What are you saying?!""You conspired with your mother to kill your own father. How could you not understand what I'm saying?" Joshua's tone became colder as he held his phone to his ear, his voice so remote and indifferent that the temperature felt like the cold wintertime. "Do you truly think no one knows what you and your mother did? Sooner or later, the truth about you and your mother killing Senior Howard and how you wronged Thomas will be out. By then, everyone in this city will know the most shameless and vicious people you both are!"There was no reply from Dan, and the conversation became dead quiet.After a while, he screamed out hysterically, "That's a false allegation, Joshua Lynch! My mother and I did nothing to the old g
Joshua smiled when he saw how excited Luna was. "What kind of people do you think Shelly's parents are?"Luna never expected Joshua to ask her this question. She paused and thought for a while before chuckling. "I just hope her parents are just an ordinary couple. It'll be best if their family is a happy one."The sentence was followed by a sigh. "I hope Shelly can be lucky like Riley; to be reunited with parents that love her like Thomas and Yannie."Joshua curled his lips into a smile at Luna's words. "Yes. We'll go back in a week, and I'll take you to meet Shelly's parents."Luna furrowed her brow. "We're going back in a week?"Although she missed her children, could they truly finish up Thomas and Steven's matter in a week's time?"Yes." With Luna in his arms, Joshua cocked up his head and looked to the front as though he had the ability to look through the wall and into a greater distance. "I'll settle all the problems within the week. Then, we'll go back to Merchant City."
Looking at the handsome man with dark skin and a rather 'unruly' personality, Denise frowned. "So you're Nigel's uncle?"Nigel's uncle had to be either related to Joshua or Luna…but this man's temperament was far different from them both!"Yes." Sean curled up his lips and smiled. He pointed at the seat in front of him and hinted to Denise to sit.Once Denise sat down, he waved his hand at a waiter to order a beverage for Denise. After the beverage was served, he looked up and took a good look at Denise before talking, "Nigel asked me to come to go look for Riley with you. Where is she now?"Denise picked up the hot beverage and felt the warmth radiating from the glass. "She's in my brother's mansion in the countryside now. I think my brother has gone to help Joshua and is not in the mansion now, but…"She looked at Sean. "There are people guarding the mansion. Do you…"After taking a good look at Sean's thin figure, she frowned. "Don't you have any helper? If you are alone… I do
The atmosphere of the car became dead silent as Sean spoke his mind. There was only smoke and silence filling up the closed space.After a while, Denise looked at Sean with a bitter smile. "Did Nigel tell you all of that?""Half from him, and half from my own doing," Sean answered.Denise frowned and did not understand. "You found out by yourself? You're from Merchant City and are not related to anything here in Saigen City. Why do you want to investigate my family?"Sean curled up his lips and took a huge puff of his cigarette. "Yes, neither my family nor my friends are related to Saigen City. This is also my first time here, and your family has nothing to do with me either. But…"He looked to the side at Denise with his bright eyes. "Not long ago, I joined a gang in Merchant City. Every brother in the gang treated me very nicely, and they were very willing to accept me as one of them. However, there is a scar in their hearts that they can't heal."Upon rolling down the window,
Not long after, their car arrived at Steven's mansion in the countryside.Everything was as Denise said: Steven was not in the mansion, but the guards in the mansion were not to be underestimated. There were many muscular men standing guard everywhere.Upon parking the car at a corner, Denise pointed at the mansion not far away from them and asked, "Are you sure you can go in and bring the kid out?"Before they arrived, she had already felt Sean could not accomplish the mission. Once they arrived, she was certain of her judgment. The mansion was guarded heavily, and it would be a miracle a thin, fragile man like Sean could succeed.Sean squinted and looked at the mansion. He said with a smile, "Let's make a bet. If I can bring Riley out, you'll have to treat me to beer tonight."Denise snorted. "If you can accomplish the mission, it doesn't matter if I treat you to beer for the whole month.""Forget about it." Sean rubbed his knuckles. "I need to take care of Riley starting tomor
Luckily, Riley did not make a sound from the moment Sean picked her up as though she truly understood what Sean said and stayed quiet. With Denise's interruption, he was able to bring Riley to the car swiftly.As he was back in the car, he pointed at Riley's nose lightly. "Good girl."When everything was done, he looked at the door of the mansion. At that moment, Denise was being held up by the guard. They were working hard to stop her from going inside. "Not bad."He curled up his lips and smiled. Taking out his phone, he called Denise.At the door of the mansion, Denise was still fighting endlessly with the guards. "This is my brother's house. What's wrong with me going inside? Who dares to touch me?!"Suddenly, her phone rang. She furrowed her brow and, upon noticing it was an unknown number displayed on the screen, warily answered."You can come back now," Sean's cheerful voice came from the other side of the phone. "Don't overdo it. They might suspect you when they find out
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