Joshua never lifted his head one bit.After a while, he said flatly, “Leave. I want to be alone.”“Okay.” Aura let out a deep sigh and left the office.In a stairwell outside the President’s office.One of Zach and Yuri gave out information, and the other secretly called Neil.“Boss, guess what we heard just now? Granny Lynch came to President Lynch’s office and made a huge fuss. I even said something about calling off the engagement…”Neil, on the other end of the line, became excited. “What else!”“We didn’t catch much of it, but after Granny Lynch left, Aura and President Lynch were discussing the calling off of the engagement. I guess they are going to split sooner or later!”“That’s great!” Neil exhaled. After praising Zach and Yuri, Neil hung up.He excitedly paced around the house. In the end, he could not help but take his phone and order a huge meal.An hour later, Anne was shocked to see a feast on the dining table. “Where did you get the money to buy all this food?
Not long after, Luna’s phone rang once more.She looked at the screen. It said, [Malcolm Quinn]. She furrowed her brows and answered.“Luna.” Malcolm’s low voice came from the other end of the line. “I saw the news in Banyan City.”Malcolm sighed. “Why did you become Joshua Lynch’s maid?”Luna shrugged. “It’s a long story.”Before coming back to the country, she has made many preparations on ways to get close to Joshua.However, before she could execute any of her plans, Neil has already sent Nellie to be with Joshua. She had no choice but to become Joshua’s maid.Everything went off track from her initial plans. However, she could still handle them.“I saw that Joshua’s people have already started dealing with the rumors online.” Malcolm sounded stern. “However, the party creating the rumors seems to be a tough character to deal with. Joshua’s men are having difficulty dealing with them. Do you want my help?”Luna let out a breath. “No need.”Back then, it was Malcolm who re
When Lucas entered with coffee, Joshua was still valiantly battling over the computer.Looking at the coding on the computer screen, Lucas was baffled.He placed the coffee on the table. “Sir, you have not taken matters into your own hands for many years.”Joshua nodded and lifted the cup of coffee. He downed it all in one go.He had never been challenged like this for so many years. He also had not been so angry for many years already! Joshua put down the empty cup and continued going at it on the keyboard!The first layer, second layer…by the fifth layer of the firewall, Nigel was sweating profusely. He knew that his opponent was a skilled hacker, but he did not expect them to be so great at it! Nigel was always proud of his hacking skills, but facing this opponent, he could barely defend himself! Beep, beep, beep!The computer was making a piercing sound.The system warned that not only did the opponent manage to get Nigel’s IP address, he even wanted to hack into his c
Just because Joshua could not locate him, he resorted to using threats?Nigel smiled lightly. He inserted his hard disk into the laptop, then sent Joshua an anonymous email.Joshua received an email. There was nothing in it but a video.In that video, Aura was sitting in front of the computer with huge sunglasses. She was looking at the coding on the computer screen, furrowing her brows.Soon after, she seemed to have thought of something and started typing furiously on the keyboard, decoding.“Uh…” Lucas looked at the computer screen in shock. “Sir, the hacker just now was Ms. Gibson?”“It’s not her.” Joshua lifted the cup of coffee and took a sip. “She only has basic computer skills. Also, the things that she typed were not the correct decoding method. I was dealing with a skilled hacker. It can’t be her.”Lucas nodded along, even though he did not quite understand.“Let’s head to Aura’s house.” Joshua put down the cup of coffee, stood up, and headed out of his office.Lucas
“M-Mr. Lynch!”The manager looked at the man with an overpowering aura. Her voice started to tremble.She deliberately spoke louder to warn Aura inside, but Aura was so engrossed in the internet news she barely heard her.“Aura is in, right?” Joshua swept a cold glance at the manager and entered the house.Behind him, Luna was quietly looking at the studio apartment in front of her. She was feeling extremely emotional.“Luna, thank you for buying me this apartment. I love it!” “You’re the best! I thought you would forget about me after marrying!” “Luna…”The scene of Aura running around the apartment appeared on her mind. She never thought that after six years, Aura would still stay there.Back then, when Luna just married Joshua, because she missed Aura a lot, she bought Aura this apartment with the money she earned from designing. She hoped that Aura could come to Banyan City to accompany her.What she got in return was Aura’s unbridled solicitation and deception.“Luna,
The computer barely just shut down when Joshua appeared by the door.“Joshua.” Aura awkwardly stood up and smiled unnaturally. She subconsciously placed herself in front of the computer, blocking the computer monitor from Joshua.“Why would you come here suddenly?”Joshua furrowed his brows lightly. He looked at Lucas. “Turn on the computer.”Aura tried to stop Lucas. She smiled at Joshua. “Why are you trying to look into my computer?”Then, she pretended to calmly instruct her manager, “Why don’t you bring the guest downstairs and make some tea?” When she said that, her tone was trembling a little already.Joshua, who was standing by the door, was indifferent. “There is no need for tea. If you don’t want Lucas to turn on your computer, you’ll do it yourself.”Aura clenched her fists tightly. He came too suddenly. She did not have time to prepare at all! Her computer was not only filled with her conversation with the spammers but also the photographs that were taken of Joshua
The manager was baffled by the slap.With her face down on the floor, she turned her head up, then looked at Aura blankly. “Aura, you were the one that told me to do it…”Why was it all her fault at that moment? “Since when have I told you to do such things?” Aura slapped her manager another time. “I told you not to make a huge fuss of this. Don’t do meaningless things like this, yet you refuse to listen!”Then, Aura looked at Joshua with her eyes filled with tears. “Joshua, Luna, I’m sorry that I did not take care of my manager. You can hate me all you want. I will accept it.”She wiped off her tears. “Thank you. If you did not come in time, I wouldn’t have known that she was using my computer to do such things!”Luna could not help but sneer at her exceptional acting skills.Joshua also slightly furrowed his brows. “Didn’t you notice one bit that she was using your computer to do such things?”“Of course,” Aura said looking aggrieved, “You should know that I’m not tech savvy
“The reason we were arguing was that she secretly stole my bank account passcode and used my money.”Then, Aura lowered her head. Her voice was filled with aggrievance. “I did not want to tell you at first. This is too embarrassing. I was just afraid that she did not have enough money, so I gave her my passcode. I did not know that she would steal so much from me…”After a while, Aura bit her lips. “Yet Luna wants to use this method to decide whether I knew about this or not, I feel wronged. I truly do not know anything! I was only being a kind person letting my manager use my money and my computer, yet I got dragged down as well.”“Nonsense!” Her manager bit her lips and retorted, “I do not know your passcode!”Aura mocked. “You dare admit that you know about it? Using my money without asking is considered theft. You could go to court for this!”Her manager could not explain herself.Luna pursed her lips. “No matter what, Ms. Gibson, you are innocent, right? Actually, you don’t
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