Nathaniel could tell from Ned's tone that the children weren't Ned's.Since Nathaniel was about to marry Angeline, he did not mind acknowledging the children to dissuade any further interest in Angeline from Ned. "Yes, they're mine!"When Nathaniel finished speaking, Ned rushed up to him and grabbed his collar."Damn!" Nathaniel cried out in surprise. He was flattened firmly against the car, but he grabbed Ned's hands, and his expression darkened. "Do you want to fight, Mr. Fletcher?"However, Ned did not make any further moves.His eyes had reddened. He knew that he had no right to do anything like this. He was the one who had drugged Angeline, and they had been divorced at the time.He had no right to come to blows with Nathaniel.After a long time, Ned's nostrils flared slightly, and he slowly loosened his grip on Nathaniel's hands.Ned wondered how he could get Angeline back if both the children were Nathaniel's.Angeline cared about her family very much. She would d
"Don't you have any water at home?" Angeline asked Nathaniel.From Angeline's perspective, Ned had only been waiting downstairs. She didn't think it was newsworthy enough to begin trending, and there would be no need to delay things with Nathaniel again simply because of that."My dear fiancée, I haven't finished," Nathaniel said half-jokingly.Angeline stood aside to let him in.Nathaniel made himself at home as soon as he entered. He changed into slippers, tossed his jacket on the sofa, and headed straight for the fridge.He took out some water, walked outside, and went around the pool on purpose to stand near the balcony railings. He seemed to be deliberately standing there so the paparazzi could catch a snapshot of him, giving them the impression that he and Angeline were already living together. After glancing downstairs, he slowly went back in."Ned is still downstairs, and he almost beat me up just now. The paparazzi probably caught everything." Nathaniel relaxed on the
Angeline had no idea what Sean was up to. She lowered her eyes and continued drying her hair. "Can you tell me what kind of collaboration it is?""They just want us to take over the assembly of their electronic products. It's a good thing for us," Nathaniel explained."Since it's good, you don't have to worry too much about how I feel. Business is business, and profits are the only standard for determining whether a collaboration will succeed," Angeline spoke diplomatically."Since you've said so, I'll have the company prepare to review the contract, then." Nathaniel was all smiles. After that, he said, "By the way…"He picked up his phone and sent a contract to Angeline. "Have a look at this when you're free. This is my proposal gift. If you're sure there are no problems with it, we'll make time and sign a transfer agreement. These yachts and houses will be under your name. I also heard that when we have the engagement ceremony, my grandfather, father, and the others also
Nathaniel had always been comedic on Twitter. His quote, "All men and women are equal, but my wife is more equal than me", had the netizens laughing out loud. WhitestofWhite: "Well, I think I've figured it out. Nathaniel wants to retire and become Angeline's spoiled husband! This heinous stench of love is in the air. Where's your morality? Where's your bottom line? And where's my Angeline at? I also want to live off my fianceé and have her gift me a tropical island!" BeggsEnedict: "Good, good! You all are doing this, aren't you? Gifting a tropical island just as an engagement gift? The rich get married while the poor just watch! I'll never admit to being a jealous fool!" HardcoreSeaman: "You're so funny, Nathaniel! All men and women are equal, but my wife is more equal than me? That's such an amazing quote!" CanteenSentry: "I wonder if those Ingrid fans think they've contradicted themselves. Just look at how sweet Angeline and Nathaniel are. Yet, these Ingrid fans always like
Wilfred was stunned into silence before finding his tongue to respond to Sean's request. Before the end of the day, Brian called Sean, "Shane, are you planning to return for the Lawson-Hooper marriage alliance? Won't it be risky?" Logically speaking, Sean shouldn't even be working with Hooper Group and should instead have severed ties with his past as Sean Lawson completely. While moving the phone to the other ear, Sean looked down and said, "I can choose not to go, but I must be invited. Since Kingston Empire is collaborating with Hooper Group, it's best to have someone attend the engagement ceremony on our behalf. There's no downside to Kingston Empire's development in Lonla. "Plus, it's fine for me to be present, too. If I'm more upfront about it, Dexter will be less likely to connect me to Sean Lawson."Brian didn't make any comment. He simply nodded. "Perhaps I'm getting old, but I can't follow what you youngsters are thinking nowadays. I just hope that you and Melissa
Angeline had already changed from the gown into comfortable loungewear. She exited the room and asked, "What's wrong?" "A news article just came out. Ingrid's management team tried suppressing it a little this morning, but it had no effect. I tried calling but couldn't reach you. So I came to ask if we should help to stifle it," Taylor said as he showed his tablet to Angeline. It was a screenshot of a news article posted by a now-deleted vlogger. The vlogger was called "Ica-rus". The first post by Ica-rus showed a few images. It pictured students wearing Oceanford University's uniform and competition badge on their chest. They were gathered on a beach while pushing through the crowd of onlookers to make way for the paramedics. The second photo showed Ned in a casual outfit, carrying a girl. She was wrapped in a large towel, wet hair sticking to her face. Ned had an unhappy expression and looked like he was saying something. The third photo was a group photo of Lonla repre
Ica-rus learned that after all the fuss, Angeline was the one who saved Simon. Not only was Ingrid's alleged sweet love stolen from Angeline by Ingrid pretending to be her, but she also swiped Angeline's credit for saving Simon's life. Thus, Ingrid was simply living off the spark of glory she had taken from Angeline. Ica-rus even tagged Norwalk Corporation's and Simon's official accounts in his post, cautioning them not to mistake the identity of Simon's rescuer while calling Ingrid a thief. He remarked that it didn't match the brand's style unless Norwalk Corporation's style was stealing other people's designs. With furrowed brows, Angeline quickly finished reading the post. Nathaniel, who stood behind her, also read through the post over her shoulder. "The account was deleted, together with the post. Yet, someone managed to screenshot it and post it on social media. And now, many netizens are sharing the post, saying Ingrid's management had used some unknown means to delete I
Nathaniel squinted his eyes. Fortunately, his phone was recording his call with Ned. "What do you mean? Are you saying Angeline was the one who saved Simon, then Ingrid took her place as the lifesaver and became Norwalk Corporation's ambassador? "And now you want Angeline to step in and falsely testify that Ingrid was the one who saved Simon. Is that correct?" "I know it's too much. But this matter happened so long ago. Norwalk Corporation and Lawson Global even have their own collaboration now. The best outcome now is for this matter to be subdued and to stop escalating it," Ned said with little confidence. "What if I don't want to?" Angeline asked. Ned was stunned, as if he didn't expect to hear Angeline. "I gave you a chance to clarify it with Simon years ago. What did you do instead? You forced me to take your money and sign an NDA not to expose the truth about Ingrid impersonating me. "You planned to use the NDA to have me take responsibility if this was ever reveale
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