The current version of Sean was different from how he always looked on television, with his perfectly pressed suit, cold expression, and aloofness. It was also different from how he was in private when he showed his desire for her without abandon and confessed his feelings without any qualms."Ned! Ned, don't scare me! Wake up!" Gregory had his arms around Ned, who was lying unconscious on the floor.Gregory's shouts drew Angeline's gaze back to them. She looked down at Ned lying on the floor. He had taken the hit from the ashtray for her. She swiftly pulled out her phone to dial 911. Angeline had just reported their location when Sean gripped her arm with a sinister expression. He pulled her out roughly from the room and dragged her out of the Night Palace.Sean was walking very fast on his long legs. Angeline had to run to keep up with his pace."Sean, slow down!"Angeline's voice was drowned in the pounding music, just like the screams of the fight in Room 8923 had been com
When she thought about how Sean had punched that middle-aged man expressionlessly and arrogantly, Angeline's arm tightened around his neck, and she went up on her tiptoes.Her urgency and clumsiness calmed Sean's turbulent emotions, but his desire and the sensual thoughts that he had about her became magnified. They did not want to be parted from each other's lips and tongues. His bloodied hand circled Angeline into his embrace. He pulled open the door to the backseat and shoved her inside.The car door closed. Angeline propped herself up and shrank back.She saw Sean take his glasses off and toss them into the front seat. Then he deftly pulled her by her slender ankles so that she was below him. His fingers caressed her face, and there was a greedy obsession in his sharp, cold black eyes. It made the hairs rise on her arms and neck.Sean's bright red blood showed up in stark contrast to Angeline's extremely pale face. She lacked oxygen, and she was still dizzy. There were tear
Marion had personally seen Ned take a blow for Angeline before. She guessed that Angeline would be concerned, even if only out of guilt, so she told her about Ned's current condition."Is it Angeline?" Alva's voice traveled through the phone. When Marion confirmed this, Alva grabbed the phone and bombarded Angeline with many questions. "Who was the guy who took you away? Wow… It was so cool how he used that old pervert's head to smash the coffee table! He took out that sleezebag with just two punches! He's a total thug in a suit! He's over six feet tall, isn't he? His legs are already three feet long! It feels like he's seven feet, at least. "Those long legs, that lean figure, and that strength! Even after he beat the guy up, he didn't have a hair out of place, and he still looked as neat as he had when he first came in. That was so sexy. I could tell he was a top-quality hottie, even in the dark. Angeline, tell me the truth—is he your new man? Is he? He is, right?"Alva was
Hadn't Ned gone to see Angeline today? Had Angeline said something to him?Or had Ned recovered more of his memories?Ingrid's mind was buzzing. A ding sounded.When the elevator stopped, Sean took Angeline's hand and walked out.Ingrid's assistant was displeased. "Who is that? How could she ignore you when you greeted her first?"Sean walked over to the car and pulled open the door on the passenger's side. He gestured for Angeline to get in. Conversely, Angeline walked to the driver's side and opened the door for him. "You've been drinking, and your hand is injured. I'll drive.""Let's go to my place," Sean said after he got in the car.Angeline drove out of the underground garage and looked sideways at Sean, who had removed his mask and was leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed. She felt that she should offer him an explanation."Today, three of my friends from Cloudsville College visited Krontos. They'll be returning tomorrow, so we had dinner together. One o
The garage door had completely descended. It was frighteningly dark in the car. Angeline could not see the aggression in Sean's eyes. All she could hear was the sound of their breaths. Sean's jaw was clenched tightly. He closed his eyes and forced himself to steady his breathing. Then he pushed the door open and carried Angeline out.The motion-sensor lights in the garage flickered on, and he set her firmly down on the ground.He grabbed his suit jacket from the passenger seat and shut the car door before entering his password on the digital lock pad and heading inside. "I'll have the driver send you home."Behind him, Angeline stopped in her tracks. She quickly ran after Sean and entered the elevator to go upstairs. She watched Sean call the driver and instruct him to drive to the villa's front door. Angeline's hands tightened as she clasped them behind her back.She inexplicably felt rather disappointed.Perhaps it was because Sean had seemed to be so full of urgency in th
Gregory took out his phone. He debated if he should call Angeline and tell her. Then he thought about the man who had shielded Angeline and taken her away from the fight. He was worried that Angeline would be with him right now. He considered if his call would cause a misunderstanding between them.Now Ned had a fiancée, and Angeline had a protector by her side. Gregory thought it would be best if Ned and Angeline never interacted again. When Trevor received news of Ned's admission to the hospital, he rushed over, looking pale.Fletcher Corporation was in a precarious situation, and Ned had to stay safe. "Angeline…" Ned suddenly gripped his bedsheets tightly as he murmured her name. His brow and neck were covered with sweat. He seemed to be in the grip of an intense nightmare.In his dreams, he saw Angeline dressed in a school uniform as she sat on the balcony with him. She handed him a lollipop. "Don't worry, I'm not going pursue a direct entry to a doctorate course at
Ned saw himself climb over the wall to play hooky with Angeline. A teacher caught them, but Angeline promised to raise Ned's grades to the top 50 in their year by the next month. Her promise got them out of the staff room safely.Ned took Angeline to the racecourse. He had wanted to show off his equestrian skills to her but had ended up falling off a wild-tempered horse. After that, he watched Angeline, dressed in an equestrian suit, hold the reins with one hand and effortlessly tame their wildest horse. At the time, she had seemed to shine brighter than the sun, and he remembered the sensation of his heart pounding like a hammer in his chest.He saw himself beating someone half to death simply because they had confessed to Angeline. He had panicked when she caught him. However, she merely grabbed his hand. Then she carefully cleaned the wound on his hand with antiseptic as she told him not to be so ridiculous in the future.At that time, Ned realized he was the only one in her
Ned wanted to deny his actions to Angeline, but he could not make a sound. He wanted to hug her as she stood alone by the pool, soaking wet, but he could not reach her no matter how hard he tried.He watched her stand with her back straight as she faced all her friends and insisted on reviving his memories. When everyone had dispersed and abandoned her, she had hidden herself in the storeroom under the stairs and sobbed as she hugged her knees into her body. He saw himself deliberately kissing Ingrid in front of Angeline and intentionally getting drunk when taking Ingrid to the house that he had prepared for Angeline. However, he and Ingrid hadn't done anything in that master bedroom.Ned saw Angeline sit in the living room, her hands trembling as she held a wine glass. He watched as she gulped down sleeping pills with the wine.When Angeline had woken up in the hospital, he had contemptuously said that she should have slit her wrists if she wanted to die faster so that he and Ing
As soon as the words were out of Angeline's mouth, the sound of lounge slippers padding across the floor rang out. Yasmine ignored the shock on Ned's face and turned to reach for Sean. "Hold me, Daddy!"Sean smiled and lifted her into his arms. Then, he stood beside Angeline and looked at Ned imperiously. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Fletcher. I'm Shane Kingston. Thank you for pushing Angie away in the past—it led to my relationship with her."Ned knew precisely who "Shane" was. Just a few days ago, he'd seen the news about Melissa's press conference explaining her relationship with "Shane".His mind buzzed. He knew Sean and Shane looked similar enough for Dexter's men to have gotten the wrong person. However, he hadn't expected "Shane" to have anything to do with Angeline!"You… Are you the kids' father?" Ned's voice was incredibly shaky."Yes, and again, thank you for that!" Sean smiled. "We've never told anyone about this because I didn't want to endanger Angie and the kids.
Sean didn't give Angeline the chance to finish. "You were right to bring this up to me!"He wrapped his arms around her from behind and continued, "You and the kids will always be my main priority. I know I said I want Melissa to remain safe and happy under my watch, but my feelings for her are purely familial love."She's family to me, and I must care for her. But you and the kids mean more to me than anything else in the world, including her."His honesty made Angeline feel slightly more at ease. She said, "Those are your words, not mine…""I swear on my life that I mean every word." He pressed a kiss to her head. "Can I stay here tonight? I want to sleep with you and the kids. Also, I came from Brayden's place upstairs, so no one will know I'm here.""Granddad made it clear that if anyone finds out about this, he won't allow the kids to see you anymore.""Got it. Don't worry about a thing. Mr. Lawson Senior raised me, and I owe him for that. I won't put him in a tough
Angeline nodded without saying anything. Once Nathaniel was gone, she received a call from Sean."Now that everything has been taken care of, I want to give you a gift," he said, the smile in his tone evident. "Can you have the kids spend Friday night at Grand Court Residences? I want to show all three of you my gift on Saturday."He missed Yasmine and Xavier terribly. Before resolving the issue with Melissa, he hadn't dared to say he wanted to see them. Even if Angeline were okay with it, Robert probably would've objected to his wishes. Now that the dust had settled, he couldn't wait to see them."I don't call the shots regarding the kids now. I'll have to ask Granddad," Angeline said."I'll talk to him about it." Sean was worried Robert would take his anger out on her. "This all started because I insisted on being with you, so I'll handle it. I'll visit Mr. Lawson Senior later today."Angeline didn't know how Sean's conversation with Robert went, but Robert had Asher drop
That night, Melissa called Sean. "Shane, let's publicly announce our divorce. We can tell everyone that we only got married on paper so the Lane family could offer you its protection."Tell them that Dexter repeatedly tried to harm you so he could take the Kingston family fortune, and tell them how he tried to snatch you from the Lane family so he could secretly deal with you."She paused, then continued, "Now that Dexter's in prison, we can get a divorce, and Lori can adopt me as her daughter. We'll become cousins, and we'll still be a family.""Melissa…"Sean was surprised. He didn't expect her to see the light in such a short time."Since you don't have any feelings for me and won't ever make me your wife, I'll settle to be Lori's daughter. That way, you'll always be my family!" Tears streamed down Melissa's face as she spoke. "I adore Lori and want to be her daughter.""Alright," Sean said."Can you head to Keman with me, then? We can visit Dad together before getting
Melissa stared at Lori, who chuckled gently. "It's alright. There's no need to rush into anything. Take your time to think about it. Get good rest for a few days, then go shopping with me. We can buy some clothes to keep up with the changing seasons."I heard from Brayden and Sean that you're the expert in fashion and dressing up. I've always wanted a daughter who could shop, exercise, travel, café hop, and go on spa days with me."She paused and continued, "I didn't get to do any of this with you because you weren't in the best state before this. Now, though, you're all better. You're back to normal, and you've regained your memories!""I'd love that!" Melissa said without hesitation. She'd only done these things with her mother and Emelia in her dreams, but that was all they were—dreams. She was delighted now that Lori was back and willing to make her dreams come true.Sean sat on the couch and sipped his coffee. He knew Lori was doing everything she could to make his life ea
Melissa nodded. Sean said, "I know you have no company management experience. Mr. Lane might have entrusted Trustworth Group to me, but it's still yours. Before you find someone to take over, my plan for the company is still to move its focus back to Lonla."The global situation isn't the best now, and Lonla is the safest place for expansion. That's why the company's focus has to return to Lonla—""You can hand the company over to Brayden," Melissa interrupted. "The only people in this world I trust are you, Dad, and Brayden. Now that Dad's in prison and you don't want me anymore, Brayden is all I have left.""I'm still your kin, Melissa. I won't kick you to the curb and leave you to die. Nevertheless, Trustworth Group is yours. You can have whoever you want to manage it. Brayden is capable of that." Sean looked at Brayden. "What do you think? Are you willing to take over Trustworth Group?""I'll do it as long as Melissa is okay with it!" Brayden nodded. He turned to look
"That's not it! I've always been willing to care for you, and I'm more than willing to care for you in the future! It's not something that I'm forced to do…" Brayden feared his words would inadvertently hurt Melissa, so he decided not to continue in that vein.He said, "C'mon, you should head downstairs to eat something. You've already slept the day away.""I don't want to eat!" Melissa lay down again and pulled the sheets around herself. She said dully, "I want to sleep for a bit longer. Shut the door on your way out."Seeing that she'd already shut her eyes and started weeping, Brayden said softly, "I'll have the kitchen keep the food warm for you. Remember to call me when you wake up, okay? I'll be right downstairs!""Okay." Brayden left the room after hearing Melissa's muffled reply. He shut the door behind him.Melissa remained upstairs. She didn't head downstairs, even when Sean returned. Sean had already spoken to Angeline on the phone and told her he wouldn't meet
Melissa slept in her room and only woke up at night. She removed her headphones and opened her red, swollen eyes. She stared dazedly at the night sky, only returning to her senses when her headphones fell out of her hands.Brayden, who'd been waiting outside this whole time, heard them fall to the floor and hurried into the room. He saw Melissa sitting cross-legged on the bed. She propped herself on one arm while leaning down to pick up the headphones.He hurried forward and picked them up for her, then remained on one knee by the bed. He looked up at her and said, "You slept for ages, Melissa. Do you want to have anything to eat? I got all your favorites, and there are different cuisines. I also got your favorite fruits and snacks!"He'd already had the maids throw out the food he'd bought at noon. Then, he'd had his subordinate buy a fresh batch.Melissa turned to look at him dazedly. She said hoarsely, "Brayden…""I'm here," he said. "C'mon, should we get something to eat
Melissa knew Sean well. So, it was impossible for her not to know if he was being serious. Sean was indeed threatening her, and he was using his life to do it. That way, she wouldn't dare to harm Angeline for fear of hurting him.She loved Sean so much that she could give up her life for him. She wondered why he was treating her that way. He knew she wouldn't allow even the slightest possibility of her threatening his safety.Just then, Sean received a call from Brayden. He said, "...Yeah, I've already picked Melissa up. We're heading to Southstream Manor now… Yeah, you can head over there. Buy some food on your way—Melissa probably hasn't eaten anything yet. She should be hungry."At his words, Melissa couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She covered her face and started sobbing. She'd spent her whole life dreaming of becoming Sean's wife, but he was now in love with someone else and no longer wanted her.Yet, she couldn't do anything about the situation, or she'd be hurting