Holly was shocked by the sudden turn of events.They were both supposed to be so in love, but Bryce ended up getting drunk and leaving early without informing her. He then refused to pick up her calls, respond to her text messages, and intentionally gave her the cold shoulder.But tonight, he suddenly wanted to make amends with her.It was as if they were on a roller coaster ride full of twists and turns. It would be hard for her to endure it without some resilience.After staying silent for a moment, Holly said, "I need time to calm down as well. Let's just talk when we're both calmed down."She was turning him down.Bryce's heart sank. "I've always had a bad temper. It was even worse before this, but you used to tolerate me endlessly."Holly smiled slightly and said, "Perhaps one's personality is bound to change after going through some rough patches. Even their patience would decrease as well."Her heart had gradually hardened, and her disappointment slowly accumulated. This
During lunch the next day, Hunter told Holly, "I'll bring you to an auction later. I heard there are many valuable items."Holly loved going to auctions. Not only could she broaden her horizons, but she could even discover hidden treasures. It was especially so for overseas auctions—many collections that couldn't be found in her country were available.Just as women naturally loved jewelry and finery, Holly had a deep-seated passion for antiques. …When night came, Hunter and Holly went to the auction with their bodyguards.It wasn't a big-scaled auction like Kristy's or Sodaby's—it was a migrant-exclusive auction. All attendees were migrants.Holly indeed came across many valuable items. Overseas auctions were much more interesting than the ones she was used to.The lots up for auction included an ancient lyre and a colored statue both from the Toulouse era, the King's cup from the Monclair era, an intricately inscribed scroll, and an emerald pendant.There were also all sort
Holly placed the Edgewood vase down on the table. She then smiled and said, "I have been learning from my grandpa since I was three or four years old. I've been in this trade for almost 20 years now."Since I was young, I have restored the paintings of Stanley Warner, George Hughes, Daryn Talbott, and Zachary Quine, among others."Hunter casually stroked his chin and said, "Holly is a top-tier cultural relics restorer back in her country, yet she's been underestimated by all of you here. I'll advise you not to judge a book by its covers—you shouldn't be looking down on her."The crowd's perception of Holly slightly changed for the better after hearing them both.Among them, an old man in his 60s was studying the Edgewood vase by Holly's side with keen eyes. He asked, "Tell me. Why would you spend 20 million dollars to acquire this Edgewood vase, miss?"Holly's finger gently traced the pattern on the vase. She softly said, "This is not an ordinary Edgewood vase. The two tigers here
Zorro was very generous. He immediately took out his checkbook from his bag and wrote a check for Holly on the spot. It was more than 14 million in foreign currency.Despite looking calm outwardly, Holly was overjoyed.The tiger on the Edgewood vase was indeed hand-painted by King Konrad. The anecdote as well as the fact that she wanted to increase her luck were also true. However, Holly lied about wanting to add it to her own collection. She did that to increase the vase's value and gain more profit.They were willing to spend over 200 million dollars to acquire a royal goblet. It would be just a drop in the bucket for them to spend 100 million dollars on an Edgewood vase hand-painted by royalty.Hunter took a sip of his coffee before telling Holly, "This is Mr. Zorro Gabelman, Holly. He's Abelin's father."Holly couldn't help but marvel at Hunter's shrewdness. He only spoke up after she received the money. If he had told her about it earlier, she would have sold it to Zorro at
The doors to the Jeep swung open, and out came two burly robbers. They were tan-skinned with short, curly hair and looked tough as bulls. Both were armed with rifles.They forcefully smashed the car windows with their rifles and hammers.It was Holly's first time witnessing such chaos happen. They were brazenly carrying guns and robbing others in the street in broad daylight.They said this place was like heaven, but it seemed like heaven and hell were just a wall apart.Just as Holly was about to call the police, the car window was smashed. One of the robbers reached in to open the door. He then snatched Holly's phone and roughly threw it onto the ground.He then instructed harshly, "Give me your money, woman!"To them, migrants were all rich. Due to regional reasons, they wouldn't be investigated thoroughly if they were to rob migrants.The bodyguards on the driver and passenger seats each took out a bat from beneath their seats.The robbers pointed their guns at the bodyguar
Bryce was the one who fired the earlier shots. He arrived in the nick of time.Holly thought she was dreaming, but she could see that it was indeed Bryce's familiar face in front of her.She ran toward him without much thought and threw herself onto him. Grabbing onto his sleeves, she looked up tearfully with a hint of surprise. "How did you get here?"Holly went from being traumatized to being surprised in a short span of time. Such contrasting emotions crashed over her, causing her to forget about everything for a moment. She even forgot that she was still holding a gun.It was dangerous for someone who didn't know how to handle a gun to carry one. One wrong move would accidentally trigger it.Bryce calmly took the gun away from Holly and secured the safety switch.He said, "I'm temporarily transferring to the company's branch in Newmorrow. I'll only transfer back to Jardington once you're done restoring the paintings."Holly was stunned. "Are you joking?"Bryce replied, "I'm
Holly tried to stop the bleeding on Bryce's arm. However, the blood still gushed out of the wound nonstop. She grabbed a piece of tissue to wipe the blood off. Her heart was broken. Holly yelled at Simon, "Drive faster!""Yes, Mrs. Gabelman!" Simon was obedient. After hearing what she said, he stomped on the gas, and the car picked up its speed rapidly. He drove so fast that it felt like the car was lifting off the ground.Then, Holly said, "Not that fast. Drive carefully." Simon was put in a spot, at a loss for whether to drive fast or slow.Seeing how anxious Holly was, Bryce's worries faded slightly. She still cared about him, it seemed. He touched her pale face with his uninjured hand. "Don't worry. I'm not severely wounded. I'll be fine after we get the bleeding to stop and the wound is stitched at the hospital."There was no way Holly wouldn't be worried. In fact, she was so anxious that it felt suffocating. She was like an ant on a hot pan, clueless.Not knowing how
Upon reaching the hospital, Bryce was rushed to the emergency room. Holly stood outside the room and anxiously waited. Fortunately, his bones weren't harmed since the bullet just grazed his arm. After half an hour, he came out after getting his arm stitched.After monitoring for a while, Holly accompanied Bryce back into his ward. She supported him as he lay on the bed. Then, she got him a glass of water with a straw. After that, she gently fed him his medicine.After a while, a nurse came in and attached Bryce to a pack of IV fluid. The transparent fluid slowly dripped into his body. Holly looked at his pale face, and it seemed like she had a lot on her mind. "You seem to be unlucky this year. You've been hurt so many times."Bryce smirked and thought it was ridiculous. "Indeed. You're my lucky charm. I'll be safe when you're around. But when you're gone, I'll get hurt.""Nonsense. We're together this year as well, but you still got hurt.""That was because you wanted a divor
Sitting by Bryce's bed, Holly softly held his slender fingers as if such a move would keep him safe.She must have been exhausted or emotionally spent, as she soon fell asleep by the bed. She then suffered a nightmare, in which Bryce stood in front of her, covered in blood from head to toe. Forcing a smile, he said to her, "Holly, I can't stay by your side anymore. You need to take care of yourself and be strong."After that, he turned into wisps of smoke and vanished right in front of her eyes. She frantically reached out to hold him, but she was clawing at the air.She waved her hands madly to take hold of him and run after him. Her voice was hoarse from all the yelling. "Bryce! Bryce Gabelman!"Her shouting was futile. Jolting awake, she gasped for air. Her forehead was drenched in sweat, and her eyes were wet from crying.She noticed that she was lying in the caregiver's bed. Someone—perhaps Bryce—had carried her to the bed.Bryce managed to get out of bed and lay by her
"You're injured. Don't stay on the floor—it's cold. Get up now!" Holly cautiously pulled Bryce up from the ground.He was speechless at her response. Any other woman would have happily accepted the ring and put it on.Perhaps, the woman he loved was different from the others.Going on one knee, Bryce refused to get up. He tenderly stared at Holly. "I'll get up after you agree to remarry me.""Get up now, and I'll agree to it."Defeated, he stood up, held her hand, and tried to put the ring on her finger when he was overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness. He lost his balance and collapsed forward onto her.Holly quickly held him and asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"Bryce's lips parted. He wanted to reassure her that he was fine, but he couldn't utter a word. Soon after, his fingers that grasped the ring went numb. The large diamond ring dropped to the ground, spinning and clattering until it came to a stop.Panicking, Holly patted his cheek. "What's going on?"However, Bryce didn't
Looking at the man in Holly's embrace, Abelin turned his attention back to his phone. He asked inquisitively, "Who are you?"The person on the other end of the line was filled with anger. "I'm Bryce. I called her phone, but it was switched off."Abelin replied honestly, "She lost her phone.""Where is she right now?" Bryce questioned indifferently.After Abelin told him the villa's address, Bryce hung up.Abelin once again glanced at his phone before looking toward the dazed-looking Holly. "Holly, I think this man might not be Bryce."Holly shook her head. "You don't need to comfort me.""I just got a call from Bryce. He's on his way here."Holly thought he was lying and refused to believe him. When Abelin wanted to pull her away from the corpse, Holly got triggered and pushed him away. "Don't touch him! He'll be in pain!"Seeing Holly in such a dazed and abnormal state, Abelin felt a sense of pity for her.A tall figure emerged from the door about 45 minutes later. He was we
Abelin wanted to follow through with the protocol, but Holly refused.Realizing they weren't locals, the police decided to let them be. Thus, Abelin sent Holly and the corpse back to a villa their family seldom stayed in.Upon arriving at the villa, Holly did nothing but hold onto the bloodied man dazedly. Her heart felt heavy and chaotic. She was filled with regret and self-blame.Did she regret breaking up with him? The answer was no. Instead, she regretted not being firm enough with her decision. If she had been more resolute and didn't give him any hope of reconciling, he wouldn't have flown to Calria to find her. Correspondingly, he wouldn't have gotten into a car accident and died.Death was such a dreadful word. Bryce was gone, forever disappearing from this world. Holly would never hear his voice or see his smile and face. It was all gone.She would never see him again. She would rather he had lived, no matter who he ended up with in the future. She just wanted him to
The driver pressed the pedal, made a U-turn, and accelerated. When Holly arrived at the address Tobin sent, she saw two deformed cars at the crash scene. However, she didn't find anyone there.Holly's heart skipped a beat. She could only call Tobin repeatedly. However, the call didn't go through.Bryce and the others didn't own a car, only renting one after they got off the plane. Thus, Holly didn't know which car belonged to them.The driver continued driving a bit further until they came upon a collision between a car and a truck. The car's front end was completely obliterated. The driver was cut in half at the waist, and the person in the back seat was so badly mangled that his face was unrecognizable.A loud roar echoed in Holly's mind as it went blank. Her gaze fell on the man's blood-soaked suit. This was the deep-colored suit that Bryce always wore. The man had long legs. The wrist that was hanging out of the car wore a Patek Philippe Celestial watch.Holly remembered the
The moment Bryce reached Calria and got off the plane, he received a call from an unknown number. He took the call with furrowed eyebrows. "Hello. Who are you?"Zenia fumed. "I'm Zenia. Holly and Abelin's wedding is today. Your woman snatched away the man I loved!" She hung up the call after that.Bryce didn't believe her. He tapped into his messages, and several wedding photos came into view. Although the images were not high resolution, one could at least make out the newlywed's features.The groom wearing a suit had striking facial features, and Bryce recognized him as Abelin. Meanwhile, the woman was dressed in a fitted floor-length gown and wore a white veil. Under the thin veil, Bryce could make out her defined features. The woman was none other than Holly.Bryce felt like he had been struck by lightning. His mind went blank, and the hand holding the phone turned cold.He could feel his heart sinking and his blood going cold. Instantly, he felt he got toyed and betrayed
Michelle was gravely ill, with her vision and hearing failing. Thus, they should be able to deceive her.While Abelin let out a sigh of relief, Merope threw daggers at him. She couldn't believe he was stupid enough to let go of such a good opportunity. She wondered why someone as smart as her would have such a dumb son.As it was almost time for the wedding ceremony, Merope wheeled the sickly Michelle out. Michelle's complexion seemed better than a few days back, perhaps due to the joyful event or the effects of terminal lucidity. Her dull eyes were shining when she saw Abelin and the fake bride on the red carpet.Michelle pursed her lips and asked Merope, "Is he really getting married to Holly?"Merope replied unwillingly, "Yes.""Bring me over to have a look," Michelle ordered. When Merope wheeled her over to the fake bride, Michelle took her reading glasses from her pocket with trembling hands.Abelin held his breath as Michelle eyed the fake bride up and down. He was fear
Merope pleaded earnestly, "Abel, your grandmother is on her last breath. Please try to fulfill her last wish for her."Abelin didn't seem to reject this plan as much as before. "Wedding arrangements are already in place, and I've notified a couple of cousins. I'll try to make the entire wedding as genuine as possible."Merope was overjoyed. "Why did you suddenly change your mind? Is Holly the bride?""No. I found a woman who looks quite similar to her. Grandma is old and has blurry eyesight. I doubt she'll recognize her."Merope rebuked, "Your grandma isn't blind!""Well, that's all." Abelin then hung up the call.…Three days later, many relatives gathered at the Gabelman residence. The brightly decorated courtyard was filled with people. Abelin hired a professional wedding team in advance, making sure the officiant, red carpet, circular arch, fresh flowers, and bridal bouquet were all in place. A professional violin team was also playing the wedding march.Although it was a
Abelin called Priscilla's bodyguards, and they arrived at the Calria police station together.The bodies were stored in the morgue. Since they weren't Calrians, the police couldn't find any information on them or confirm their identities.However, they were sure that the two bodies had something to do with Priscilla because one of the bodyguards left a long scratch mark on one of the culprit's arms. At that moment, the mark was rotten due to being submerged in the water. The skin was peeling, and it was a horrifying sight.Clearly, the person behind the culprits was worried they might get caught and expose their employer's identity. So, someone was sent to silence them right away. It was easy for someone like them to kill a person.After giving a statement, the police told Abelin that they were going to do an autopsy on the bodies. Once they had news, they would call him again.After coming out of the police station, Abelin got into his car and called Bryce. "The two guys who hu