The warm lighting inside the house immediately dispelled the gloom hanging over Angeline."Mommy!"Yasmine, sitting on Jessica's lap, was the first to notice her return. She jumped up like a cannonball and rushed over to hug her."Mommy, you're back! Me and Xavier, Mr. Lawson Senior, and Beautiful Ms. Lawson are all waiting for you to eat. We're starving!""Sorry! I'm so sorry for coming home late!" said Angeline, putting her bag on the shoe cabinet before picking up Yasmine.She changed her shoes and walked in, saying, "Granddad, Mom…"Xavier lay on the sofa, looking at her with longing eyes."Mom!" he called out.She reached out and gently rubbed his little head."You returned slightly late today," Robert remarked as Jessica helped him up."The kids are hungry. Go change your clothes and wash your hands to get ready for dinner!" said Jessica, her voice gentle as ever. "I'll go serve the food.""Okay!"Angeline put Yasmine down on the sofa and kissed the small faces of t
Robert waved his hand dismissively and said, "The Emmerson family isn't worth my attention. I've watched them struggle in the mud for years. If they cause trouble, eliminating them permanently is no big deal."Besides, you handled the situation well. I'm just getting old and haven't been sleeping well lately."In his younger days, Robert had weathered many storms and wouldn't let something trivial as the Emmersons disrupt his life. Crushing them was as simple as squashing an ant for him.However, he couldn't tell Angeline that he'd been worried about Sean and had been having bad dreams, which explained his lack of sleep.He had raised Sean himself. Even though he'd spoken harshly when Sean decided to return as Shane, he couldn't help but worry. Especially now, with frequent news from Keman about his aggressive tactics, Robert wondered if it was because Sean was eager to return."Granddad, I need to discuss something with you," said Angeline.She needed to tell Robert about her pl
Robert slowly leaned back against the sofa. In his heart, he didn't want Angeline to go to Keman.Noticing his hesitation, Angeline added, "I will go quickly and return as soon as possible so that nobody notices.""If you must go, go openly!" he said, looking at her. "Make your trip public. Otherwise, Dexter, who sent people to kill his brother, sister-in-law and nephew, would send men after you."As for Melissa… She has no respect for life growing up in such an environment. Helen's incident only happened recently, so the more open you are, the safer you'll be."Robert was worried about Angeline's safety.He added, "Besides, once Thomas sees the press release about your upcoming trip to Keman, he'll understand the meaning behind it and might go find you."Although Keman is small, finding someone still takes time. It would be better to let him come to you instead.""Granddad…" Angeline called out softly.He sighed and said, "Shane's actions at Kingston Empire are very aggressi
Admittedly, it was rare for Robert to see someone holding onto their love this loyally in that day's materialistic society. Still, he didn't think anyone should ever live in their imaginative bubble. He believed that everyone should face reality. How could it be love if a man only expressed his love through words, not actions, and made his woman wait for him?He wondered what would happen if Angeline waited for decades and received nothing in return. Robert sighed before saying, "That Melissa… She was Sean's childhood friend and now his wife. Who knows if he'll fall in love with her as they live together?"Now that Sean and Melissa were officially married, Angeline would never know what they did behind closed curtains.If Sean did something that might upset Angeline, she would never find out about it as long as he kept it from her. Robert's biggest worry was that Angeline might wait foolishly for Sean for the rest of her life. In the past, Robert only took Angeline as his
Kieron had created the WhatsApp group for their previous trip. Angeline creased her brows while reading through the messages in the car. She understood the rough summary of the events. Monica's car brake malfunctioned as she returned from inspecting the demolition progress. Fortunately, her experienced driver drove their car to a remote place and sideswiped the wall to bring the car to a stop. When the car was flipped over, Monica was in the backseat with her seatbelt on, narrowly escaping the disaster. While Monica was headed to the hospital, her car was taken away for maintenance. It was found that the brake had been tampered with. Monica immediately rushed back to the Scott residence and confronted Hiram. The Scott sisters' fight for their inheritance rights was no secret to anyone. Yet, Hiram would never allow them to harm his flesh and blood for the sake of the inheritance. Hiram immediately called the other sisters to stop their work and return home, which confused Grac
Melissa had tears streaming down her face as she shook her head. She had one hand clutching her chest while the other wrapped tightly around Sean's neck. At that moment, Angeline felt her body become petrified. She questioned if she had indeed heard Melissa say "our child"."Please, Melissa. Listen to me. Your health is more important than the baby's." Sean worriedly comforted Melissa. "No! I don't care!" Melissa looked like she was experiencing unbearable heartache, as her face was pale and drenched in sweat and tears. Her arm was still wrapped tightly around Sean's neck. "I-I must protect our baby! Please, Shane. I'm begging you! Tell the doctor to save our baby! Save our baby that we tried so hard to conceive!" Jamie was so worried about Angeline that he quickly pushed her through the hospital entrance. The door cut off Melissa's loud bawl, yet Angeline could hear Sean comforting Melissa. "Our baby came at the wrong time. But there's always next time, Melissa! We'
As Angeline thought about it, she pressed the button on her electric wheelchair and opened the ward door. She intended to inquire about Melissa's ward at the nurses' station. "Ms. Lawson…" The bodyguards noticed Angeline and attempted to push her wheelchair. "It's okay. Let me familiarize myself with the wheelchair. We're at the hospital. You don't have to follow me," Angeline said before pressing the forward button on the wheelchair. The two night-shift nurses didn't notice Angeline coming in her electric wheelchair. They were gossiping in Kemanese at the nurses' station with their heads down. "Oh my! Ms. Lane's husband is so handsome and thoughtful!" "Right? He's even more handsome than those artists. I envy her!" "What's more impressive is that he prioritized Ms. Lane. Did you hear him telling the doctor to place the safety of his wife first? He's so cool! I assumed aristocrats like him would prioritize their offspring over their wives.""After Ms. Lane had calmed dow
"Has the media been contained?" Sean exited the ward and took the sweater jacket from Wilfred before putting it on. "And the paparazzi blocking our entrance, did you manage to chase after them?" "Don't worry. Everything has been taken care of. News of Mrs. Kingston being hospitalized won't appear anywhere in the media tomorrow," Wilfred answered before looking into the ward. "I've made an appointment with Dr. Griffin. But Mrs. Kingston previously made a fuss because she didn't want to abort the baby. When I contacted Dr. Griffin earlier, he hoped you and Mrs. Kingston could discuss and come to an agreement first." "Melissa can't have the baby with her current condition. If we don't abort the baby, today's events will happen again at any time before she gives birth. We can't afford to take this risk." Sean furrowed his brows. "I'll try to convince Melissa. Please have Dr. Griffin make the arrangements." "Okay!" Wilfred looked at Sean and comforted, "Please take care of
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