Before Angeline got in the taxi, Sean's car stopped at the opposite side of the road. Sean stepped out of his car with a sullen face. He slammed the door closed and walked toward Angeline while trying to suppress his anger. Angeline released the door handle and apologized to the taxi driver before shutting the door. She didn't know it took Sean 12 minutes to rush from Night Palace to the neighborhood of his manor while running the red lights. Even the phone call was to stop Angeline from leaving. She saw Sean, who wasn't wearing his glasses and had his lips pursed. She was about to say something, but tears flooded her eyes uncontrollably. "Give me the documents," Sean said. "We still have to put on an act." Angeline handed the documents to Sean. She smelled alcohol and tobacco on his body and asked worriedly, "Were-were you drunk driving?" While flipping through the documents, Sean said, "I was already on the way home. I had the designated driver drop me off at the
Angeline tried to catch her breath with her eyes closed. She stopped kissing Sean and leaned her forehead against his. Her hand and icy fingers, which were cradling Sean's head, slowly and weakly fell onto his shoulder. She tried to suppress her tears but couldn't stop her body from trembling. Amidst the darkness, Angeline stopped constraining Sean. She didn't even open her eyes to look at him. Even though they were kissing and Angeline was sitting on Sean's lap with their bodies close to one another, she couldn't sense Sean's usual passion. His cold demeanor sent shivers down her spine. After a moment of silence, Angeline said hoarsely, "Are you giving me the silent treatment?" "Silent treatment?" Sean chuckled. He stood up while holding Angeline's waist and separated himself from her with his hands on her shoulders. "You told me to control myself like I used to, yet you're unhappy with it. So, tell me what you want, Angeline?" Sean's deep-set eyes showed a bit of drun
"Brayden, send her home," Sean ordered. Brayden was sitting in the living room. He turned around and saw Angeline leaving the manor without a backward glance while Sean headed upstairs. Brayden felt dumbfounded. He had only just caught Sean and Angeline making out at the entrance to the garage moments ago. He wondered how they ended with an argument.Angeline was walking out of the neighborhood when Brayden followed after her. He quickly drove and slowed down beside her. "Hop in. We're headed to the same place anyway." "It's fine. I'll call a taxi myself. Thanks for the offer," Angeline replied. "It's not easy to call a taxi here," Brayden said. "Just get in the car. Don't worry. I won't advise you to forgive Sean. After all, I'd be happier if the two of you could break up!" Angeline stopped. Brayden stopped his car beside her. She dropped her tough act and entered the backseat of the car. "Thanks." The car left Sean's neighborhood. Brayden snuck a look at Angeli
"It's okay. I'll be off very soon," Angeline answered. She weakly sat on the chair while staring at the black monitor screen as her mind drifted. After sitting in front of her computer for an unknown period, Angeline finally stood up and left. Her body was as if they were being roasted by fire, and her joints were in pain. Yet her fingers were ice cold, suggesting that her body temperature was rising. She had to take an aspirin or go to a doctor. When the door to Angeline's office opened, Lenny stood up from the couch and walked toward her. "Are you leaving, Ms. Angeline?" "Yes," Angeline replied. Angeline was grimacing when they passed a pharmacy. She asked Lenny to stop by the road and get her some aspirin. Lenny returned to the car with the medicine and also an infrared thermometer. He was shocked after taking her temperature. "Ms. Angeline, your body temperature is above 102 Fahrenheit! We should go to the hospital!" "It's fine. Just hand me the medicine and wat
The intense sounds of passionate kisses and the rustling of fabric echoed in the quiet bedroom, magnified countless times by the stillness of the night. As the temperature inside continued to rise, the ambiguous atmosphere made one blush with embarrassment.Angeline's breaths were scorching and feverish, hotter than her body temperature. She panted heavily, her racing heart trembling incessantly due to her fever.Amidst the chaos, she struggled to open her eyes as her brain seemed to have stopped working. Her eyelashes fluttered lightly, and she was met with Sean's dark, deep eyes which were filled with indescribable intense desire."I want water…"Just as their tightly entwined tongues parted, a glass was brought to her lips, and she was fed two sips of warm water before her lips were sealed again. Her limp body was forcefully embraced even tighter.After she confirmed that it was Sean, the intimacy of their entangled lips and tongues multiplied, submerging the last of her ration
"Yes," Lucy answered. "Lenny called me last night, saying you had a fever and asked me to come over earlier this morning. But when I arrived, he was already here."Angeline pursed her lips. She wondered about the events from last night.She figured that she dreamt of Sean because of her high fever. After all, she had discussed with him that night at his place if they should continue their relationship, which almost felt like a breakup.Following that, they hadn't seen each other since, even though they were in the same building and their offices were on the same floor. Jamie and Taylor even sent the documents back and forth on their behalf.Their situation was no different from a breakup.She lowered her gaze and took a spoonful of porridge, feeling no taste in her mouth at all. She felt pretty pathetic. She caught a fever after a breakup, and she even had dreams in her fever-induced haze.She thought Robert was right to scold her for having a lovesick brain.After a while, sh
Ten minutes later, Angeline adjusted her mindset and left her office with documents in hand. She knocked on the door before entering Sean's office.He was sitting in front of the computer, holding the mouse, and looking at the screen. She noticed the gold-rimmed glasses perched on his prominent nose, its lenses and legs reflecting scattered glimmers of light."Mr. Lawson, you wanted to see me," she said with an air of professionalism before calmly closing the office door behind her. She walked to the desk and stood while holding onto the documents."Are you feeling better from your fever?" Sean asked.His gaze hadn't strayed from the computer screen, and his slender fingers danced across the keyboard."Yes, I'm all better now," she replied. "I'm not sure what you wanted to discuss with me, Mr. Lawson.""What's the problem with Lenny?" he asked, briefly glancing at her with a sharp gaze. "Did he do something to offend you?""Is that why you called me here?" Angeline asked,
It wasn't until he dropped Angeline off at home that Lenny mustered the courage to speak up, "Ms. Angeline...""Lenny, it's not your fault. You're doing fine," Angeline said, not knowing how to explain. She looked at Lenny, who seemed at a loss for words, and sighed, "You were trained by Brayden to protect Sean, and it's a waste for you to follow me. Once Mr. Millstone arranges for someone to come over, you should go back to following Sean."He nodded and said, "Ms. Angeline, you should know this. Although I was trained by Mr. Green to protect Mr. Lawson, I never had any second thoughts when he asked me to be your bodyguard… I hope you'll let me continue to follow you around."Angeline looked at Lenny, who seemed sincere, and decided not to say anything in the end. She merely reminded him to drive safely on the way back.Asher had met Lenny before, and it was quite difficult for him to find a bodyguard and chauffeur equivalent to Lenny. During the journey when Asher went to pic
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