Luna’s entire body stiffened when she heard what Joshua had said.She gaped at Joshua, her face pale, but could not say a single word in response.“Are you surprised that I know about your pregnancy?” Joshua curled his lips into a smirk and poured himself a drink. “You’ve always been smart, but somehow, today, you’re a lot more dull-witted than usual. Is this what they call a pregnancy brain?”Joshua smiled and continued, “You were so desperate for me to leave while we were at the hospital. If you were me, wouldn’t you want to find out what’s wrong?”Luna’s face turned pale, then blushed scarlet, then turned pale again.She had to admit that she was, in fact, hastier than usual today. However, since she had finally gotten the outcome she was seeking, she was afraid that Joshua would find out about the baby.Besides, everything had happened so suddenly this afternoon that she had no other way of stopping Joshua from finding out.Perhaps, she could not hide anything from him at al
Luna lifted her head and stared at Joshua dazedly. She opened her mouth as if wanting to say something but did not know how to explain everything to him.He was right. Before Luna found out that she was pregnant, she tried to seize every opportunity she got to get closer to Joshua. The moment she received good news, he misinterpreted it as joy over the fact that the baby belonged to Theo.Luna did not know how to explain it to Joshua. Joshua leaned against the chair lazily and gazed at her. “Luna, do you know what the consequences of offending me are? Do you think I’m too lenient and kind toward you, and that’s why you can toy with my feelings like this?”There was an air of hostility and ruthlessness about him when he said this, that Luna could not help but feel suffocated. She clung to the hem of her shirt underneath the table.Luna lowered her head and feebly spoke, “I… Of course, I know what the consequences are.”Joshua was so cruel that he was even willing to hurt his chil
“Why are you so scared to see me? I’m not going to eat you.” Jason sneered and dragged Joshua’s plate toward him and started eating. “Mr. Lynch told me when he let me out that as long as I behaved, he wouldn't lock me up again.”He grinned at Luna, exposing a row of neat, white teeth. “Mr. Lynch ordered me not to hurt you, so of course I won’t, Ms. Luna.”With that, he glanced at the small group of men that lurked around the beach in the distance and said, “With Luke Jones’ men protecting you, I wouldn’t dare hurt you either, even if Mr. Lynch allowed me to.”Luna started to tremble when she stared at the man before her. She frowned and said in a soft voice, sounding as if she was millions of miles away, “Joshua…was the one who let you out?”“Of course,” Jason lied through his teeth. “Mr. Lynch was the one who locked me up, so how else would I be able to escape if not for his help?”Luna felt as though someone had torn a hole in her heart when she heard this.The reason Joshua ha
Luna remained in her seat and watched Jason disappear into the night. She suddenly felt a little cold and could not help shivering.She closed her eyes and remained seated for a long while after that, enjoying the cool sea breeze before she slowly stood up and hailed a taxi back to her hotel.Luna did not manage to sleep well the entire night. She dreamt a lot of things. At first, she dreamed that Jason and Bonnie had gotten married, but Jason murdered Bonnie after that, claimed her inheritance and insurance money for himself, and spent the rest of his life carefree and happy.After that, Joshua appeared and stared down at her while, at the same time, ordering someone to abort her baby. In her next dream, she failed to save Nigel and watched him die before her.After she woke up from her last nightmare, Luna could no longer fall asleep, simultaneously feeling her morning sickness acting up again.She clung onto the rim of the toilet bowl and vomited over and over again at 3 a.
The atmosphere in the room was eerily quiet.Luna took the marriage certificate from Gwen and flipped through it a few times to make sure it was real.She always guessed that Luke was interested in Gwen. Otherwise, he would not have cared so much about her, but she did not expect that he would use this as a condition before allowing Gwen to proceed with her abortion.“I was just using it to scare her.” Luke, who had remained silent all this while, suddenly stood up and snatched the marriage certificate away from Luna. “I told her that if she wanted to undergo an abortion, the only way I’d allow it is if she married me.”“I thought she would refuse to, but I was surprised. She’s so desperate to get rid of this child that she’s even willing to marry someone like me.” Luke carefully tucked the marriage certificate away and sauntered over to the door. “I guess this is good, too. If she dies during the procedure, at least she’ll have a husband to visit her grave now and then.”Then,
The doctor nodded, then glanced at Luna. “What about your baby? Are you sure you don’t want to abort it as well?”Luna shook her head. “This baby is the most precious thing in the world to me now.”As soon as she said this, Luna suddenly felt the entire room grow silent, so silent that it felt a little spine-tingling. She glanced in the direction of the door and realized that Joshua was standing there, staring at her with a cold expression, a contemptuous smirk playing on his lips.Luna recalled what he had told her last night and immediately lowered her head in shame, unsure what to say next.The doctor wheeled Gwen into the operation theater while Luke waited outside in a corner, clutching a bouquet of white lilies. It was strange to see a ruffian like Luke holding a bouquet of fresh, white flowers in his hand.Nonetheless, Luna still felt her heart soften at the sight. Gwen was a lucky girl. Even though she was with a scumbag like Ben and experienced heartbreak in the past,
Luna was so shocked by this that she almost dropped her phone. She asked, her entire body trembling, “So now you…”“We’ve split up.” Theo’s voice sounded slightly hoarse through the phone. “Zach and Yuri have left with Nellie, and Neil and I are still here, but we’re pretending as if nothing has happened to stall them. My father will send some people over to meet up with us in a while, and we’ll all leave together.”He sighed and continued, “You don’t have to worry about us. I was afraid that if both Neil and Nellie left together, it’d attract their attention. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked Neil to stay here with me. They’re after the children, not me, so I’m sure they won’t try to harm me. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”“Alice is already coming after us without any regard for consequences, so I was worried that you might be in danger, too.” Luna gripped her phone tightly and tried to suppress the panic in her heart. “I’m fine. I’ve already bought my tickets, and Gwen ha
“If Gwen can abort her baby and be with Luke, then you can do the same. You can abort Theo’s baby and be with me.”Luna clenched her fists in anger and stared at Joshua. “Mr. Lynch, I’ve made myself very clear. I don’t like it when you talk about my child like this. Even if you think you’re joking, it’s not funny at all.”Joshua raised his eyebrows at her. “What if I’m not joking?”Luna sucked in a deep breath and said, “Joshua, aren’t you being too self-centered right now? Gwen wanted to undergo her abortion because she didn’t want to have Ben’s baby. She decided to marry Luke because deep down in her heart, she genuinely returned his love.“Why would I get rid of Theo’s baby and be with you instead? Do you somehow think I’m in love with you?”Joshua curled his lips into a smirk and answered impassively, “Aren’t you?”“I’m not!” Luna let out an exhale and glanced at the time. She had only three more hours until her flight. “Joshua Lynch, let me tell you this now: I don’t like yo
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