“Okay. Let me know when you have updates about it. That’s it for now!” Ralph hung up the call and finally realized his elbows were hurting. He probably fell too hard earlier and failed to notice it because his thoughts distracted him.His joint was aching, and he touched it carefully with the other hand. It seemed swollen, and he wondered if it was dislocated.‘What a sad day! I thought we could at least seal the deal today, even if we didn’t set it in stone yet. Then I would just need to wait for the transaction to happen and get what I wanted. I never expected that woman to be so cunning.‘She took advantage of me to distract them while she sneaked into the house. Those were just her words, so I can’t trust what she said entirely.’He looked down at the pictures on his phone screen. Initially, they were treasures to him, but it now felt like a hot potato. It could not bring him anything in return, and he had to be careful of Alexander. Indeed, Heather had tricked him terribly thi
The events that followed suit were within their plans.“Where did you get the ‘secret handbook’ from?” Lily had never browsed its contents. However, she knew the book in the safe was fake.“There are tons of such things on the Internet. I just found one that was less popular and did something with its appearance, so it looks old. It was a piece of cake,” Alexander explained simply.He just put the handbook directly into the safe, but without any poison on its surface. That was a gift for Ralph anyway, so they did not need to complicate the situation.“Why did you use that then?” Lily pursed her lips and gestured toward the arrow on the wall. Smirking, she asked, “Aren’t you worried your uncle might die here if anything were to go wrong?”She would faint if the scene that greeted her when she opened the door to their room were Ralph lying in a pool of his own blood.In response to that, Alexander smiled and walked over the wall. With his thumb and index finger around one of the ar
By then, she would not pose much of a threat to them anymore. “I hope she will know when to stop,” Lily sighed, leaning back as she prepared to lie down.“Wait!” Alexander stopped her and pointed to the spot behind her. “We’ll get someone to clean the room up. Let’s sleep in another room tonight.”Lily looked around and noticed that the room was indeed a mess. Hence, she nodded and followed him out of the room.…When Heather woke up in the morning, she could smell a special, tangy aroma, which made her a little hungry. After washing up, she went downstairs and saw a bowl of soup, a few side dishes, and some staple foods on the table. “Breakfast looks good today,” she praised, then sat down to eat.The maid stood next to her, appearing hesitant to speak. When Heather noticed that she asked, “What’s wrong?”“Ms. Riggs, it seems that a thief has broken into the house.” The maid hesitated for a moment longer but decided to report it to Heather as it was a serious matter. Heath
“But…” The maid wanted to say something else, but Heather interjected. “What? Do I look like I need someone to protect me?”That managed to shut the maid up. ‘That’s right. Ms. Riggs is skilled in kickboxing, so she doesn’t need anyone to protect her.’When Heather ascended the stairs, she thought of something and stopped in her tracks to say, “By the way, get the people who came here with me from the island to pack their things up and be on standby for my orders at all times.” “Ms. Riggs, are we going back soon?” After asking that, the maid regretted it immediately because she realized that she had crossed a line with Heather’s gaze.‘I’m just a maid, and that’s something I don’t have a right to ask.’“Get out!” Heather yelled coldly.The maid left, and when Heather noticed she was now out of sight, she called, “Chump!”Chump appeared out of nowhere. “Ms. Riggs.”“I’m going to practice kickboxing in the next two days. Stay by my side at all times,” she ordered in a low voice.
“You should see this,” he said and immediately hung up in fear of being yelled at.Ralph frowned and opened the attached photos. He noticed that this was taken in what seemed like an underground auction house. No price was stated, but there were a few comments under the item.“What is this? They’re starting to sell anything here. Is this Amazon now?” commented username ‘Black spade 5.’“So silly! Whose kid took some book and started selling it here?” replied ‘Red heart 7.’“This website is getting worse. I suggest we kick this person out and delete his ID.” wrote ‘Square 9’…The comment section was filled with different comments that all meant the same thing. They were all making fun of the book and saying that anyone could get it for a few dollars on Amazon, yet someone had the guts to put it up for auction. Ralph was growing more and more enraged as he read the comments. Heather was right—this was a fake! It was not some secret kickboxing handbook at all. He was being ma
Margaret had a habit of getting up early in the morning. However, she had not slept well the night before. Thoughts flooded her mind, and she could only fall asleep at the break of dawn.Unfortunately, a phone call roused her from her sleep. Margaret felt like her head was about to explode from the noise. “Hello?” she mumbled as she weakly answered the call.Ralph was so restless that he could not tell something was wrong with his mother, “Mom, you’re already awake, right?”Margaret was usually up by this time as she was a light sleeper due to her age, so it was natural for Ralph to assume she was awake.“No, not really. Why?” Margaret sat up from bed. Her eyes were still closed as she asked softly.“Nothing much. I wanted to ask about the results of the DNA test. Is it out yet?”If the report had been out, Margaret would have read it. He did not want to ask his sister, so he could only approach his mother.Margaret’s eyes immediately flew open when she heard Ralph mention the r
Ralph was angry, and so was Margaret. She wanted to help her son get what he deserved. She admitted that her favoritism blinded her. However, was it unusual for people to have preferences? It was natural that she had favored her son over her grandson.Alexander was the child of a daughter-in-law whom Margaret did not like. Furthermore, Margaret and Alexander had never had a close relationship, so she did not like him. Unfortunately, God had decided to play a huge joke on her.She interrupted Ralph’s complaints and asked, “Fine, what do you want me to do?”“Mom, I need you to do one thing for me—just one. You must promise me you’ll do it,” Ralph pleaded. Hearing his serious tone, Margaret collected herself and listened to him attentively. “Tell me what it is.”“Don’t look at the results. If you’ve already seen it, just ignore it. Please remember that Alex isn’t part of the family, no matter the results,” Ralph insisted.Margaret immediately threw her blanket off and sat on the ed
“I don’t think I need to see it.” Margaret’s voice was surprisingly calm. “Don’t you already have an answer in your heart?”She never expected her son to be capable of ruining someone’s life.When Ralph first raised his doubts, Margaret also became skeptical and agreed they should do a DNA test because the results would always be accurate.If Alexander were not biologically a Russell, it would prove his mother had an affair, and Margaret would not allow an illegitimate child to inherit the family’s wealth and business. However, everything had changed.Ralph said that regardless of whether Alexander was related to them by blood, they needed to blame him and gain power over the family."Mom, just give me the green light. It’s our best chance," Ralph begged softly.Margaret would always soften her heart and grant any of his requests whenever he placed himself in a lower position and pleaded like a child.It was just like when she had helped him the other time. She had promised to a