Once inside, Riley quickly said, "Miss, the person you asked me to investigate, Marcus, is in a really dangerous situation. His assistant has betrayed him and is secretly passing information to others. I almost got caught trying to find out what that information was, so I didn’t dare to dig any deeper." Tatiana nodded, her expression serious. Seeing the expression on her face, Riley continued, “Marcus's work involves arms manufacturing for the Kuo family. His father is an important figure, but right now, their country is in a bad situation, being controlled by outsiders. Marcus has caught the attention of another group, and I suspect they want to control him to make weapons for them. I was planning to investigate who this group behind Marcus is, but with my skills, I can't get any information. Their hacking abilities surpass mine.” After listening to Riley, Tatiana furrowed her brows. It seemed this situation was more complicated than she had imagined. The hacking skills of th
As Tatiana settled onto the couch, she noticed Maxim skillfully peeling fruit from the bowl and handing it to her. "Since you haven't eaten, just have a little fruit to tide you over. We don't want your stomach to hurt later." "Understood." As Tatiana munched on the fruit, she felt a mix of emotions that she couldn't quite put into words, but it was nice. Watching this scene from the side, Jamie felt a bit out of place. He had come over hoping for a meal, not to witness thislovey-dovey moment. Seeing Tatiana enjoy the fruit made his own stomach grumble, so he reluctantly grabbed some fruit for himself and started peeling it. This is too much; I won’t come here for free meals again. As he ate the fruit he had peeled, Jamie thought to himself. Once he finished, Jamie picked up his phone and started scrolling through Weibo. He stumbled upon a post from Bubble and, after glancing at the comments below, he instantly felt anger rising within him. "What is wrong with th
With that thought in mind, Tatiana curiously asked, "This isn't the impression I got from what I saw online." Seeing the expression on Tatiana's face, Maxim knew what she was thinking. To be honest, when he first heard her comment, it did make him feel a bit uncomfortable, but it was only for a fleeting moment. Seeing the puzzled expression on Tatiana's face, Maxim simply said, "Because I haven't won you over yet, I don't have the right to be angry." With that, before Tatiana could respond, Maxim had already walked quite a distance away. Why did she feel a slight discomfort upon hearing those words? While she was still pondering this, Maxim turned back to look at her and said, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and come over; it's time to sleep." "I'm coming," Tatiana replied, snapping back to reality and walking toward Maxim. Once they returned to the room, Tatiana took a shower. When she stepped out, she noticed that Maxim was nowhere to be found. It seemed he had gone
"Ding ding ding—" The sound jolted Tatiana out of her reverie. She glanced at the caller ID and saw the principal's name. What could the principal possibly want at this time? With that thought in mind, Tatiana picked up the phone. "Principal?" The principal on the other end sounded warm and friendly. "It's me." "Is there something you need to discuss at this late hour, Principal?" Hearing Taitana's question, the principal replied, "Yes, there is. We’re collaborating with a school in the neighboring city to exchange a few students. We’d like to send some of our students over to learn from them and vice versa. I wanted to ask if you have any recommendations." As soon as the principal finished speaking, Tatiana immediately thought of Tara. Given the recent concerns about someone coming to take her away, sending Tara to another place could provide her with some protection for a while. With that in mind, Tatiana continued, "I do have someone in mind, but I’d like to know
"Ah? Okay." If Maxim hadn't mentioned it, Tatiana would have almost forgotten about it. Remembering it now, she recalled that she had also discussed this with Declanyesterday. Thinking about this, Tatiana took out her phone and sent a message to Declan, asking him to retract the lawyer's letter from yesterday. However, she didn't expect Declan and his team to be so quick; they had already posted about the situation on the company's Weibo account. When Tatiana saw Declan's response, a look of frustration crossed her face. Maxim noticed her expression and asked, "What's wrong?" "I felt a bit annoyed when I saw those comments yesterday, so I sent the screenshots to Declan. I didn’t expect him to take action so quickly. Now I won’t need to ask him to handle it, otherwise, Anna would definitely connect me to the company in this mess." After thinking for a moment, Maxim replied, "Tatiana, the company has been a good partner of mine for a long time, and I have a great relation
“Why wouldn’t I care? Who brought her back? I told her to go there to learn, not to be a coward! What’s going on? It’s only been a few days since she left! What did she promise me? No doctors! This is what she deserves! How did I end up with a granddaughter like you? You’re bringing shame to our family!”As he spoke, Grandpa Landen was so furious that he almost went to hit Delany, but Kenzie stepped in to stop him.“Dad, what era are we living in? It’s not like it used to be. Besides, Delany is a girl, not a boy. She can’t handle that kind of hardship. I was the one who called her back; I couldn’t bear to see her suffering over there. I just can’t stand it! She’s my child!”As Kenzie said this, she looked at Delany lying on the couch, tears streaming down her face. She had initially disagreed with Delany wanting to become a police officer, but it was Lucien and Grandpa Landen who kept insisting, and only then did she reluctantly agree. She never expected it would turn out like this,
"Why are you thanking me? You call me sis, so of course, I’ll help you. Besides, I have some responsibility in this too. I should have kept a better eye on things. I won't let it happen again." After saying this, Tatiana glanced at the time and continued, "I need to tell my manager about this. I have some other matters to attend to, so I'll hang up now. Make sure to rest well.""Okay."As soon as the call ended, Tatiana received another call from Maxim."Maxim?”Tatiana was a bit puzzled. Maxim rarely called her, so she wondered what this was about.Maxim didn’t keep her in suspense for long. His cold voice came through the phone, "I've taken care of what you asked me about yesterday. I do have a studio under my name that you can use, but you still need to agree to what we discussed."Tatiana was surprised by how quickly Maxim acted. She paused for a second before replying, "Alright, I'll send you the studio fees later. As for what you mentioned, I agree. Jayden might be better off
What started as a joke, Tatiana never expected Maxim to actually agree to it. She was taken aback when he fell silent for a moment and finally replied with a soft "mm."His voice was barely audible, but since Tatiana was so close, she was shocked to hear Maxim's agreement. She worried she might have misheard, so she asked again, "Did you just say yes?""Yeah, if I have time, let's go check it out together."Now convinced she hadn’t misheard, she added, "But if you don’t want to, you really don’t have to. There’s no need to put yourself in an awkward position."Thinking Maxim was only agreeing because of her comment, Tatiana felt the need to clarify. To her surprise, Maxim looked at her, leaned in closer, and said earnestly, "I’m definitely going because of you. I also want to see what your brother looks like."That last statement struck Tatiana as the main point. She couldn't help but laugh, realizing it was for that reason. She looked at Maxim with a teasing glint in her eyes an
Three days later—The first thing Tatiana saw when she opened her eyes was a blanket of white. After a few moments of confusion, she blinked and slowly turned her head to look around, realizing she was in a hospital.Before she could take in her surroundings, she heard the sound of a door opening. Turning toward the noise, she saw Maxim walking in.When Maxim saw Tatiana awake and looking at him, he felt a rush of excitement. He quickly approached her and asked,"You’re finally awake! How do you feel? Is there anywhere that still hurts?"Tatiana slowly shook her head, wanting to speak, but her throat was dry and raspy. Instead, she looked at Maxim, hoping he would understand that she needed water.Fortunately, Maxim got the hint. He smiled at her and hurried over to pour a glass of warm water. After helping her drink, Tatiana felt a wave of relief wash over her. "I’m fine. How long was I out?""Three days," Maxim replied, his eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't quite place.Emo
With that thought, Riley quickly left those people behind.Tatiana, on the other hand, was unaware of Riley's situation. She stood facing the assassin in front of her, her expression icy."Miss, we hope you can leave this place. We don't want to harm you; we just need you to leave that man behind. We assure you, you can leave here safely."These people had been here for a long time, trying to persuade Tatiana to leave. Their boss had ordered that she couldn't be harmed, but they couldn't understand why this woman refused to budge. They had been standing there for what felt like ages.Realizing that convincing Tatiana was futile, the leader turned his attention to Mazim. "Maxim, are you still a man? Hiding behind a woman?”Maxim pressed his hand against his shoulder, his face pale from blood loss. He managed a weak smile and replied, "Better than being unprotected like you."Though he said that, deep down, he hoped Tatiana would leave soon. He didn't know how long they could mainta
Crushing the herbs and applying them to the wound, then bandaging it up was all she could do for now. After tending to his injury, he looked at Tatiana and said, "You need to get out of here quickly. They’re not after you, and they won’t chase you. Find a way back and get someone to rescue me."Tatiana replied, "By then, it won’t be about saving you; it’ll just be about collecting your body."Seeing Maxim’s pale face, Tatiana insisted, "I’m not leaving. It was my idea to come here, and I won’t just abandon you.""Why are you being so foolish?" Maxim's lips curled into a slight smile. In such a dire situation, all he wanted was for Tatiana to leave.She was the girl he liked, and he wanted her to be safe, away from this suffering. But why, upon realizing she wouldn’t leave, did he feel even more touched and reluctant to let her go?"I’m not foolish. I’m with you, and we’re married—even if it’s just pretend. We’re friends, right?" Tatiana said, helping Maxim to his feet as they slowly
The man didn’t even have time to react before he collapsed unconscious.The commotion drew attention, and all eyes turned toward Tatiana.“Run!” Tatiana shouted, grabbing Maxim’s hand and sprinting toward the nearby trees.Her shout jolted everyone awake, and the leader yelled for the others to pursue both of them.As Tatiana saw that they were about to disappear from sight, the leader at the front suddenly darkened his expression. He quickly pulled out something and fired a shot toward Maxim.Tatiana turned around just in time to witness this scene, and immediately grabbed Maxim, trying to switch places with him. But little did she know, Maxim had also spotted the bullet heading his way.The leader initially thought the bullet might miss Maxim since the woman beside him was ready to take the hit, but to his surprise, her didn’t let her take the bullet for him.“Bang—”The sound of the gunshot echoed, startling the birds perched in the trees, sending them flying off into the distance
Moreover, John had sent someone to wait for them so early. If they hadn't arrived earlier, and had waited until later to come, things would have been even more complicated.With these thoughts in mind, Maxim felt even more determined. Once they were out of here, he would make sure to pull John down from his position as soon as possible. Someone like him didn’t deserve to be in the company.He believed that his grandfather would never allow such a person to be part of the company either.The next morning, sunlight streamed through the leaves, casting bright rays that pierced Tatiana's eyes. She blinked a few times, slowly waking up.As she looked around, her mind began to piece together the events of the previous day. At that moment, Maxim also stirred awake as Tatiana shifted away from his shoulder.He had barely slept at all last night, finally drifting off only as morning approached.Tatiana stood up and checked her phone, only to find there was still no signal. She turned to Max
"The place ahead is Sylvia's home. Do you think they might not be looking for us and instead have gone to kill them?""No way, these assassins are all managed by someone. They only target their assignments and won't harm anyone else, so we need to protect ourselves first." Tatiana said this without a hint of hesitation, but then she realized that as a young lady, she probably shouldn't know about such things.Thinking this, Tatiana cautiously glanced at Maxim. His expression didn’t seem strange, so he likely hadn’t caught on to what she was implying. With that thought, she quietly sighed in relief; otherwise, she would have to find a way to explain everything, which would only complicate matters. She didn’t want Maxim to get dragged into this mess.With that in mind, Tatiana said, "Let’s stop talking about this and get out of here. We can’t stay for long, and we can’t be sure they won’t come back.”As she spoke, she tugged on Maxim's shirt and led him toward the exit. However, as she
As he spoke, Maxim glanced outside at the darkening sky. They had already wasted too much time, and they couldn't afford to linger any longer. They weren't familiar with the area, and it was best to get back to their car before it was completely dark. Otherwise, they might find it impossible to return.Tatiana understood his concerns and frowned as she looked at the weather outside. "Let's go talk to the old lady about this. If all goes well, we can leave right away. We can bring Sylvia and Marianna back with us when we return the notebook. Right now, going back is too risky."Sylvia and Marianna had only gone out a few years ago. Tatiana thought that it wouldn’t be right to leave them behind while taking Grandma alone, so her initial plan was to bring all three of them back together. However, it was clear that they couldn’t take Grandma on such a journey now. At her age, it wouldn’t be good for her to travel those long distances. They decided that once they returned the book, they
“She left when she was very young, and I don’t know much about it,” the old woman said, shaking her head as she looked at Tatiana. “But I haven’t dared to go into her room all these years, so I don’t know what’s inside. There might be something valuable in there. I have the key; you can go take a look.”Sitting on the stool, the old woman had thought it through. These two didn’t seem like bad people, and sharing this information with them wouldn’t hurt. Maybe they could even find the killer of Cordelia. After all, so many years had passed,and she had come to terms with it. The most important thing for her now was Sylvia and Marianna. So, for their sake, she decided to open the room today.Tatiana was a bit surprised. She hadn’t expected the old woman to be so accommodating, but this could indeed lead to more information. Feeling grateful, Tatiana smiled at the old woman and said, “If you don’t want to go in, you don’t have to. We won’t disturb anything inside.”The old woman stood
The elderly woman knew she was putting them in a tough spot, but she felt she had no choice. This was her only hope after all these years. She couldn’t afford to send her children to school herself, so she had to push for this arrangement. For her kids, she was willing to take the risk.The old man's request was something Tatiana hadn't expected. She thoughthe would ask for wealth or something similar, but it was just about reading books? Was that all?Tatiana appeared somewhat dazed, which seemed to signal to the old man that she was reluctant to give up this opportunity. So she quickly added, "You don't have to feel hesitant. Just take her out. All you need to do is cover some necessary expenses, and consider it a loan. Once they have the ability to earn money, they will definitely come back to repay you. I promise."This time, even though Tatiana hadn't fully processed the situation, Maxim had. He looked at the old man and calmly said,"No need.""What?" The old woman was momentar