Andy, on the other end of the line, said something when Gwen’s face instantly turned pale.After a while, she hung up. She looked at Luna closely. “Hailey Walter is dead. She jumped off a building.”Luna felt every ounce of her muscle stiffened.Hailey Walter… was dead? She killed herself?Luna retreated a few steps back.More than an hour ago, Hailey was still having lunch with them. How did she just… die like that?“Perhaps she felt shameful and did not want to go overseas?”Gwen sighed, “Hailey is a proud lady. She would not be able to withstand such humiliation.”Luna thought it was unbelievable.In the dining room a moment ago, Hailey seemed to have accepted Old Mr. Walter’s arrangement. She even went up to pack her bags, why so suddenly……Hailey’s memorial service was done in a simple manner. It did not feel in line with the amount of grief Old Mr. Walter felt of losing his beloved daughter.The Walters explained that because this happened too suddenly and it was a
Old Mr. Walter’s face instantly turned terribly pale.Alice’s expressions did not look too good either.After a while, Old Mr. Walter wiped away his tears. “Joshua, what do you mean by that? Do you think I would hurt my own daughter?”Joshua’s gaze was flat. “I said nothing of those sorts. I only want to know, since before Hailey jumped, you saw her and talked to her. As her father, did you notice her mood swings? Or perhaps you didn’t even notice her emotions?”Old Mr. Walter’s expressions turned uglier upon Joshua’s words.“W-What… what are you trying to say?”“What I mean is,” Joshua smiled and said, “Hailey’s mental health is too weak. Perhaps you did not pay attention to her mental well-being. The last person Hailey saw before she jumped was you, Uncle Dennis. That meant that you were the only possible person to stop her from jumping. You can’t blame anyone else.”Joshua smiled aloofly. “That’s all I want to say. We are here to pay our respects. Not argue with each other.”
Luna’s eyes widened. She looked at him confusedly. “What do you mean?”“What I mean is,” Joshua squinted his eyes and said, “The person who died was just an imposter. The real Hailey Walter is still out there somewhere. This woman is totally different from the Hailey I knew, so much so that she seems like an entirely different person altogether.”Not only her looks. Her character too.Hailey back then would treat Luna Gibson as her rival. Every time she saw Luna Gibson, her eyes would be filled with loathing and resentment.However, this time, Hailey and Alice became friends. Even much closer than Gwen, who was once Luna’s best friend.Luna furrowed her brows. “If the one that just died was not the real Hailey, then… where is the real Hailey? Why is she hiding?”Joshua frowned hard at her question.After a while, he furrowed his brows and looked at Luna. “I’ll investigate this, but I brought you here because I need you to do something.”Luna calmed herself down, turned over, an
Luna’s heart sank to the bottom.The people that were protecting Aura were people from the Lynch family.Back then, Aura had tried to harm Neil and Nellie many times.If it were not for Neil sacrificing himself and going along with Aura, they would not have been able to gather evidence of Aura trying to harm them.Joshua knew all about this.However, on the surface, he wanted Aura to pay the price, but actually, he secretly sent men to protect her?Luna felt a little dizzy.This…“So, Mommy, Uncle Malcolm would go up against that scumbag Joshua not only because of you being bullied in Sea City. He also wants to seek justice for Nellie and me.”Luna bit her lips.Joshua’s words in the car a moment ago rang in her ears.“I’m giving you the opportunity to get them to stop. If not, when I return to Banyan City tomorrow, they wouldn’t be so smug anymore. I have the ability to do it.”Luna truly believed that Joshua has the skills to do it too.She has witnessed firsthand his ta
In the evening, Luna received the information from Malcolm. It was detailed. It showed in detail the information of every single person who was protecting Aura.Luna could recognize a few of them. She has even met some of them before.They were indeed Joshua’s men.Her heart grew colder as she flipped through the documents.All these men were once Joshua’s cronies. How would these men dare to protect Aura without Joshua’s orders?At that thought, she switched off her computer, reached her hand out, and clutched her forehead.She has already known Joshua for many years. She once thought that she knew him well.Six years ago, the things that Joshua had done to her for Aura was a huge sudden blow to her, sending her to the pits of hell. Six years later, once again, she thought she knew him. She returned to him, wanting to take something from him so that she could cure Nigel.However, she realized that she still did not know him well enough. He was probably the only person that s
Luna slept for a long time. She seemed to be unable to wake up from her dream.She dreamt that she was dragged down from the car by someone while being unconscious.She could not open her eyes, but she could feel that her legs were being dragged on the ground. They were bleeding and they hurt a lot.The sound of men talking rang out in her ears. She could not hear what they were saying but she clearly heard things like raping then killing.She wanted to open her eyes, but could not no matter what.In the end, she woke up by cold water being splashed on her.She opened her eyes and realized that everything was not an illusion nor a dream.At that moment, she was in an abandoned factory. The air smelled of rust, gas, and mold.Her hands and legs were being tied up by a rope. She was tied onto a chair and could not move.The lighting in the factory was dim.A few burly men stood in front of her, sneering at her.Behind them, a middle-aged man was sitting arrogantly on a chair.
Theo has not been in contact with her since that morning.Joshua…Even at that moment, she was still thinking about Joshua.He would not even know about this. Also, even if he knew, he would not save her.At that thought, tears fell uncontrollably.She did not want to die. At least, not before finding a cure for Nigel. She did not want to die! However, what could she do at that moment? Liam was repaying a favor. He did not want money. What else could she use to bargain with him?There was nothing.Luna helplessly closed her eyes. Perhaps, this was fated…Bang! Just when the men were about to touch Luna with their dirty hands, a loud sound came from the outside of the abandoned factory.Liam suddenly stood up.“Everyone, stop!”The men immediately stopped what they were doing. “Boss, what is it?”“That sound… something is not right!”Liam furrowed his brows. He wanted to say something else when a black Hummer crashed into the abandoned factory.The driver was no othe
The abandoned factor was in total chaos.Luke was getting his men to tie Liam up while he turned around to look at Joshua who was carrying Luna.Joshua’s tall figure headed toward the entrance of the factory slowly.Luke furrowed his brows. “Joshua, are you just leaving like that?”Joshua stopped in his tracks. “Is there anything else?”“Say,” Luke laughed a little. He lit a cigarette in his mouth and said in a thuggish manner, “You did me a huge favor by letting me capture Liam. Aren’t you going to ask me for anything else?”“No need.” Joshua took a deep breath. He lowered his head and looked at Luna, who was shivering in his arms. “I came here just for her.”Then, he continued heading toward the exit.Seeing him leaving, Luke took a deep puff of the cigarette. He turned to look at one of his men next to him. “He said just now that she is his employee, right?”His men nodded. “Yes.”“He has a wife?”“Yes, they have been married for many years.”“Tsk.” Luke exhaled a ring o
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