Alice closed her eyes and weighed her options.Joshua rarely got drunk, much less to such an extent. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. She could not afford to let it slip away.The night of the party, Joshua had slept with Luna, but he had no memory of that at all when he woke up the next morning. He thought he had slept with Alice instead, which was why he changed his mind about the divorce and even started to treat her better than he did prior to that.Alice contemplated for a few moments before she finally made a bold decision: she would call Luna over and send her right into his arms.Besides, even if Joshua found out he had slept with Luna, he would not admit to that at all and, instead, treat Alice even better due to his guilt. It was the perfect opportunity for Alice to drive a wedge between them.She let out a sigh and gingerly picked up Joshua’s phone. Then, she composed a disappearing message to Luna and sent it to her.Disappearing messages was a special text messag
Luna spent the whole night in the study with Joshua. He finally drifted off to sleep around 4am.Luna felt a little exhausted and uncomfortable after that. However, she was afraid that the children would wake up and discover she was gone, so she tiptoed out of the study and back into the children’s room.As she gently opened the master bedroom door and walked out, Alice glanced in the direction Luna had left with an expression of envy and resentment. She went into the study, dragged a drunken Joshua back into the master bedroom, and gingerly lowered him onto their bed. Then, she drew a few fake hickeys all over her body with makeup, removed her clothes, and slipped herself in between Joshua’s arms.The first thing Joshua saw when he opened his eyes the next morning was Alice’s sleeping face. She laid next to him, stark naked, with a few dark red hickeys scattered all over her chest and arms.Joshua’s expression darkened. What happened last night?“Are you awake, Joshua?” As if s
“It’s already 8am. It’s about time she wakes up and has breakfast.”Neil frowned at Alice’s words and immediately stretched his arms out to block Alice’s path. “No. Mommy’s still sleeping. We can’t wake her.”Of course, Alice did not listen to him at all. She stood next to the door and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Luna! Luna! It’s 8am now, time to get up! I’ve made you breakfast! You’re supposed to head to the company with Joshua at 9am for your meeting! Luna!”Alice’s voice was deafening, and she finally managed to wake Luna up from her slumber. The latter jolted awake and glanced at the time—it was 8am. She had only managed to sleep three hours. Despite that, however, she knew that Alice was right. She had to go to work, so she crawled out of bed and muttered, “Thank you. I’ll be down in a while.”Seeing that Luna was awake, a hint of triumph flashed across Alice’s eyes. She chuckled and stared at Luna with a gentle expression as she said, “I’ve made you breakfast. You sho
What was she up to last night?Luna bit down on her lip and cast Joshua a displeased look. “What else do you think I was up to last night, Mr. Lynch?”Although he was drunk last night, he still managed to text her and invited her over, so why did he play dumb?Joshua shot her a cold glance and replied curtly, “How would I know?”Last night after dinner, he reminded Luna to sleep early and rest since they had a long day ahead the following day. They had a meeting scheduled to discuss the information collected over the business trip and finalize some plans. Why did she ignore his reminders? Besides, Luna had slept in the children’s room last night with the kids. Naturally, the kids would have gone to bed early, and there was no place for her to work, so she could not have been up all night working. Joshua could not understand why she did not get much sleep last night. Was she up all night talking to Theo? Joshua’s expression darkened as he pondered that possibility. Last nigh
Lucas sighed. When 9am rolled around, Luna had already finished looking over the materials for the meeting. “Shannon, notify everyone that we’re having a department meeting soon. I want to explain everything I’ve gathered in Sea City.”Shannon nodded in response. However, just as she was about to leave Luna’s office, she paused and peered at Luna. “Director Luna, are you sure you don’t want to take a break?”Everyone could tell that Luna was not feeling well. Her face was as pale as the wall behind her. Luna curled her lips into a smile. “Work is more important.”Shannon frowned and gave her a peculiar look. She knew workaholics existed, but Luna was on a whole new level.Shannon walked out of Luna’s office, but after a moment, she decided that something was wrong and stopped at her door. “Director Luna, why don’t I pour you a cup of coffee?”Luna shook her head. “No need.” The scent of coffee always made her feel like throwing up whenever she was exhausted.Shannon sighed
When Luna finally came to, she discovered she was in a hospital. Anne sat next to her bedside, her face etched with worry and concern.“What are you doing here?” Luna rubbed her brows and tried to prop herself up.Anne immediately helped her up and gently laid Luna down against the headboard. “John and I just came back from our trip today. I received a call from Joshua saying you fainted and rushed over immediately. I didn’t even have time to go home yet!” With that, Anne glanced at Luna with a somewhat displeased look. “I thought it was just a business trip to Sea City. What happened? Why did you faint?”Luna gave her a wry smile. “It has nothing to do with the trip.”Anne sighed. “I know.” She glanced at the door to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then lowered her voice and said, “The doctor told me that you didn’t get much sleep last night and didn’t eat breakfast this morning. That’s why you fainted. What happened? Was it Joshua?”Luna paused for a moment, then slowly nodd
Luna knew that plastic surgery could drastically change a person’s appearance. However, the photo she had at hand looked absolutely nothing like the Hailey Walter she had seen a few days ago.Luna had undergone plastic surgery before, so she knew that it took a lot of time and effort to change one’s appearance into a totally different person, which meant that…If the person in that photo was indeed Hailey Walter, then the woman who had died was an imposter.Luna bit down on her lip and suddenly recalled what Joshua had said to her in the car.“This might not be the real Hailey Walter.”“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.”Luna broke out in cold sweats as soon as she thought of that. If the woman who died was not the real Hailey, then she could not have ended herself simply because she did n
Joshua and Luna immediately froze as soon as they heard that. Luna frowned and was about to say something when Joshua scoffed, “Why should I feed her?” Anne rolled her eyes at him. “Do you have short-term memory loss, Mr. Lynch? Why can’t you remember what you did? You—” “Anne,” Luna interrupted her before she could finish. She leaned against the headboard and gave Anne a feeble smile. “Didn’t you say you came here as soon as you could and didn’t even have time to go home? Well, I’m fine now, so you should go home.” Anne pursed her lips. She knew that Luna did not want her to bring up what Joshua had done. She sighed and glanced at Luna dejectedly. “Alright, take care, then.” With that, she shot Joshua a glare before she turned and left the room, slamming the door behind her. Joshua and Luna were left alone in the ward. Luna sighed, picked up the lunchbox Anne had set down on the bedside table, and ate. She propped the lunchbox up with one hand and held the spoon in the oth
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