At the same time, Brendan was regaining consciousness as well. He had always been a healthy man. Even though he had endured extreme cold from the incident, he could still open his eyes and sit upright while coughing. “Sir!” Sam was on the phone when he noticed Brendan and hastily hung up the call. He served a glass of warm water to Brendan. Brendan took a sip while subconsciously glancing around the room with his dark eyes. Sam noticed the situation and explained, “The caretaker can’t get here in time, so Miss McKinnon is taking care of Madame McKinnon.”“Hmm.” Brendan finished the glass of water. He knew that this would happen but was still slightly hopeful in his heart.Now that he thought about it, he realized that he was nothing compared to Ophelia. “What happened to the restaurant that I assigned you to check out?”Sam narrated the sequence of events that happened to him truthfully to Brendan. Brendan furrowed his eyebrows. “It was a diversion?”“I think so. They s
Brendan understood what she meant and cracked a grin of understanding with his pale lips. “I understand,” he said nonchalantly and hid his smile, yet he made Deirdre blush. She could only change the topic of conversation.“Don’t you find today’s incident very strange? Sam was diverted by someone while the remaining people went chasing after Connor. When you were left alone in the end, my mother was shoved from the ship by someone. It felt as if everything was prepared for you.”“I know,” Brendan said in a hoarse voice, letting out a few coughs. He furrowed his eyebrows as he pondered and said, “I believe that they wanted me to drown in the sea. After all, I would have already been physically exhausted to swim my way there, let alone return with Ophelia. Everyone would assume that this was only an unforeseen accident. However, they planned for everything except you being in the car.”“Yes.”Deirdre thought about this as well. They had planned for Brendan’s reluctance to let Op
“It is because my father’s identity is not important to me. He’s just a stranger bound by the ties of kin to me. Moreover, my mother is back now, so I can totally get the answer I need from her. As such, I turned her down.”Deirdre’s gaze was solemn, and her eyebrows were tightly furrowed. It was as if she was in a very bad mood when she thought about her father. Soon afterward, she lowered her head and made up her mind. “However, I figure that those people are not only targeting you. They may be targeting me as well. I need to figure out my father’s identity to prevent my mother’s incident from happening again.”Brendan pondered for a moment and held her hand to assure her. “Do anything that you want to do and leave everything else to me.”Deirdre held his hand back. At present, they were no longer bound by complicated relationship matters. They were cooperative partners.Deirdre immediately set out to prepare for this matter, and her first priority was to get some answers fro
“Do not let anyone take it away?” Deirdre was confused. “Who’s taking it away?”“Those captors of mine, of course.” Ophelia spoke in a calm and composed manner, “Think about this. Those people captured me and then freed me. It signifies that I’m not their target, but it’s either you or Brendan. If that really is the case, isn’t your child a thorn in their flesh?”Deirdre came to understand the situation. “Mother, I also came to see you today because of this matter.”She became serious, and Ophelia had no choice but to become serious as well. “What’s going on?”Deirdre was conflicted but said, “Do… Do you still remember my father?”In the next moment, Ophelia’s face turned ghastly pale, but Deirdre could not see it. She kept quiet for a while before she said, “Your father?”“Hmm!” Deirdre explained, “Don’t worry, mother. I’m not planning to look for him after so many years, but the female accomplice working with those people told me that those people knew my father. Hence, I’m w
Brendan furrowed his eyebrows deeply. “So, you’re saying that your mother wasn’t reacting in this manner because the memory was triggering to her?”“Yes!” Deirdre inhaled a deep breath. “If she really did resist the memory, she would have reacted in this manner a long time ago. Hence, I suspect that those people wanted something from my mother, so she kept her memory hidden deep subconsciously. In the end, she would react so intensely even when she thought about it.”At the thought of Ophelia's hardships there, Deirdre’s eyes were filled with guilt and remorse.In an instant, Brendan held her hand to comfort her.“I’m fine.” Deirdre calmed down. Brendan said, “If that is the case, don’t bring this up to her anymore. She is innocent in this matter and is involved unwillingly. Let her live her life in peace now that she is back.”“Hmm… However, since those people hurt my mother so terribly, they won’t let me off so easily. Hence, I can’t just do nothing while I await my doom…”De
“Hmm, thank you for taking the trouble to do that.”Deirdre’s mind was filled with thoughts about this matter. She woke up and got dressed before the sun came up the next morning. Mrs. Engel was busy working in the kitchen. She came outside upon hearing the commotion and said, “Why are you up so early today, Mrs. Brighthall?”“I have to go out to do something.”Mrs. Engel expressed her enlightenment. “No wonder Shea is here very early today.”“She’s here?”“Yes. However, it’s possible that she got bored in the mansion, so she went out for a run. She said that she would be back in an hour. Let me check the time… She should be back when you’re done with breakfast, Mrs. Brighthall.”Deirdre nodded and had her breakfast with ease. Shea was back, just as expected. “You’re here just at the right time. Have some breakfast because you might not get to eat later,” said Deirdre with a smile. Shea hesitated for a moment before joining Deirdre at the table. After breakfast, Shea drov
“Are you trying to strike a deal with me? Sure, but I don’t like to have someone else in my space. Tell her to get out of here!”Shea said without even considering, “That would be impossible.”She looked at Charlene coldly. There was no telling what Charlene would not do since she was behaving like a madwoman. “Impossible?” Charlene raised her chin in a carefree manner. “Both of you can leave then. It’s impossible for me to strike a deal with you as well. I will never let anyone know about what you wish to learn from me!”Deirdre furrowed her eyebrows and patted Shea a moment later. “You should go outside.”“Miss McKinnon…” Shea shook her head and said softly, “I can’t leave. I promised Mr. Brighthall that I would protect you. I won’t be able to come back in time if something happens when I’m outside.”“It’s fine. Look at her leg.”Charlene had lost a leg, and her other leg was all skin and bones. She could never lay a hand on Deirdre unless it was what Deirdre wanted. “She l
Charlene kept her head lowered and breathed heavily as if she was conflicted. Deirdre said, “Since you wish to close the deal with me, I’ll transfer you out of the country in less than two weeks after you give me the information.”“Are you sure?” Charlene clenched her fists tightly. Deirdre said instead of answering, “You can only choose to believe me.”“Sure…” Charlene stared at her maliciously. “You have to swear that you won’t deceive me, Deirdre. Otherwise, I’ll curse the child in your womb to a tragic death!”Deirdre furrowed her eyebrows. “Sure.”Charlene lowered her head and spoke slowly. “They made your father’s identity very clear, but I didn’t manage to find out about this person. I don’t know if it’s an alias, but I know that he visited Southedge previously.”“Southedge?” Deirdre was stunned for a moment because she had never heard of it. “What place is that? Why haven’t I heard of it before? You made that up, right?”Charlene sneered. “You’ll find out if I made th