Five years later.
In the principal's office of a prestigious kindergarten in the city.
"Look at how your child has treated my son! What if he ends up disfigured?!" A heavily made-up woman rolled up her sleeves and lunged at Vanessa but was stopped by the principal beside her.
"Calm down! Calm down! Let's talk this over civilly!"
Vanessa squatted down, looking at the little girl in front of her, and gently asked, "Tell Mommy what happened."
The five-year-old girl, with ponytails and a fair, round face full of grievances, said, "Today, when we were playing a game, Adrian lifted my skirt... and tried to touch my feet. Mommy, you said that girls' feet shouldn't be touched by others..."
Vanessa's eyes turned icy. "Did he touch you?"
The little girl shook her head. "I hit him when he reached out..."
Vanessa gave a thumbs-up to the little girl. "Well done! If you encounter something like this again, do the same as today, understand?"
The woman beside her scoffed and turned to the principal. "Did you hear that? She admitted it! My son’s face was scratched by her daughter, and this matter must be handled seriously! Otherwise, no one leaves today!"
"And how do you explain your child lifting a girl's skirt?"
"That's just kids playing around! What's the big deal? Besides, she was wearing shorts underneath, right? I think she was hoping someone would see!"
The woman finished speaking sarcastically and picked up her child. "It's okay, Adrian. Mommy's here. Today, I will make those two little brats apologize! Let's see who dares to bully you again!"
The child, puffing up with pride, joined in, shouting, “Apologize! Apologize!”
“Indeed, like parent, like child. Your kid was in the wrong first, and instead of correcting him, you, as his mother, cover for him and call them little brats while wanting to hit someone? Ha! Do you really think this is your family’s territory?”
Vanessa turned her gaze to the principal. “My request isn’t much. Just an apology, and we can put this matter behind us.”
“Apology? That’s laughable! My son just lifted a skirt, and now his face is scratched like this. What if he ends up with a scar or an infection? You think I’m going to let him apologize? Dream on!”
Vanessa’s eyes glinted with anger, her face set in a cold smile. “If I remember correctly, your family is currently negotiating with Cortex over that piece of land in the south of the city, right? Seems you have quite the advantage.”
Mrs. Marwood felt a chill creeping up her spine at the look in Vanessa’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing much. Just that the bird ready to be caught might fly away,” Vanessa said, pulling out her phone and sending a text message.
Before Mrs. Marwood could grasp Vanessa’s meaning, her phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she felt a sense of foreboding.
“Hello, dear?”
“What have you been doing out there today?! Cortex just said they will never cooperate with the Marwoods again!”
Mrs. Marwood's face changed drastically. "Why?"
"They sent me to ask you! Why? I want to know why too! Get back here now!"
Although Mrs. Marwood did not put her phone on speaker, the voice on the other end could still be heard by everyone in the room.
Vanessa hadn’t expected her assistant to be so efficient. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she smiled like a cunning fox. "Well? What do you think?"
Mrs. Marwood stared at her, incredulous. "Who are you?!"
"The priority now is to go home and figure things out, not to ask such foolish questions," Vanessa kindly suggested. As for the apology, she could wait a few more hours.
Mrs. Marwood gritted her teeth in anger, but all she could do was leave with her child.
The principal looked at Vanessa with a hint of curiosity, about to speak when a teacher hurried in and said, "Mr. Mone, there's a parent looking for you."
"Take them to see Mr. Sullivan first."
"The visitor is from the K Group."
The principal cast an apologetic glance at Vanessa.
Vanessa understood and turned to leave, taking the child with her.
Just as she was about to hail a taxi at the corner, a Maybach slowly pulled up nearby.
The car door swung open, revealing long legs stepping out.
Luca, dressed in a well-tailored black suit, appeared with a cold expression, standing tall and exuding an air of aloofness that pushed people away.
Then a child came out, clinging to the man's hand.
Vanessa's body stiffened as her gaze fell on the child. This was his and Beatriz's child? Hatred surged in her heart, but she quickly forced it down, managing to return her expression to normal.
Luca, holding the child, was heading to the kindergarten when he looked up and saw a familiar figure.
That person was also looking at him.
Their eyes locked, and the atmosphere around them instantly froze.
Luca's breath caught, and a wave of emotions surged in his heart, but he quickly returned to his usual demeanor.
"Mommy, this uncle looks a bit scary."
Vanessa averted her gaze and bent down to pick up the little girl. "It's okay, don’t look at him. We're going home."
Treating Luca like air, Vanessa walked past him, but a hand grabbed her.
"Are you not going to give me an explanation?"
A smile that didn't reach her eyes appeared on Vanessa's face as she asked knowingly, "Who are you?"
Luca furrowed his brow, his tone laced with anger. "You didn't die."
"Surprised?" Vanessa leaned closer to his ear and whispered softly, "Too bad you didn't get what you wished for."
After saying that, she ignored Luca and turned to leave.
Luca was stunned for a second, watching Vanessa's figure disappear around the corner. He quickly chased after her.
He was only a second too late; by the time he caught up, she was already gone.
A surge of anger rose within him, and he turned to grab the child standing by the car and lifted him inside. He took out his phone and called his assistant.
"Find out who took Vanessa away five years ago."
***
In the taxi, Vanessa smirked as she watched Luca leave, a fierce determination flickering in her eyes.The pain she had endured five years ago would be returned to them a hundredfold!Suddenly, the little girl tugged at her shirt and called out worriedly, “Mommy, what is going on?”Vanessa quickly suppressed her emotions and turned to face her, a gentle smile on her lips. “Oh, nothing. What do you want to eat today, Isla?”“I want spaghetti, with shrimp and meatballs!”Vanessa chuckled and pinched the little girl’s tummy. “You little glutton, you already have so much meat on you!”The little girl puffed up her cheeks, turned her head away, and pretended to be angry. "Mommy is bad!""Hahaha! Okay, okay, Isla has no meat on her tummy!" Vanessa continued to tease her."Oh no, Mommy, stop laughing!" The little girl complained, grabbing her hair in frustration."I won’t laugh anymore; let’s go home and eat."That night, after putting the child to sleep, Vanessa got up to tidy up.The livin
Beatriz observed Luca’s expression, unable to discern his emotions, and immediately continued her probing. "Forget that for now. I'm here today to discuss whether we should change Ezra's school. I’m worried about him being in the same kindergarten as Vanessa's child." With a loud ‘bang,’ Luca slammed the folder shut, a flash of anger flickering in his eyes. "Get out." Meeting his gaze, a chill spread through Beatriz's heart. She remained still and continued, "Vanessa and Daxton are not good people. How can their child be any better? I heard that she even got into fights with other kids in kindergarten, and I..." "Have you said enough?" "This is the truth! Five years ago, she betrayed you and slept with Daxton, colluding to deceive you. These..." Luca's dangerous gaze wrapped around Beatriz like a snake, his thin lips parting slightly. "Get lost." Realizing that Luca was genuinely angry, Beatriz smartly chose to leave, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. Although she had angered
Catching the hint of sarcasm in Vanessa’s tone, Beatriz's eyes flickered with anger."Well, I’m quite looking forward to seeing what President Saxon can come up with that’s better than Ness’s proposal."Her tone seemed calm, but internally, Beatriz was burning with rage."Next, please."Vanessa prepared her materials, stood up, and walked to the front."Let me introduce myself, I'm Vanessa Saxon from Cortex Group." She pulled up her PowerPoint presentation and continued, "Everyone, please take a look. This is the design draft we created after our company conducted a field investigation..."Before she could finish, she was interrupted: "I thought President Saxon's design draft would be something fresh. There's nothing innovative at all; it’s overly complicated. If we proceed with your proposal, it will be costly without any appealing features. Isn’t that just a facade?"Vanessa smiled slightly, "But compared to other companies, we place greater emphasis on the building's value retentio
Luca was startled to realize that Vanessa’s strength was comparable to his own staminaThe car was parked not far away, but the people behind were closing in. In the heat of the moment, Luca gave Vanessa a push. “Go start the car.” “Got it!” Vanessa sprinted towards the car like the wind, fishing the keys out of her pocket as she ran. Meanwhile, Luca spun around, raised his right fist, and swung his arm. The first attacker groaned in pain, stumbling back a step. Following his gaze, Luca saw another man charging from the side, brandishing a club. Unfazed, he took a calm step back, slammed a punch into the man’s gut, then kicked him hard in the groin. In less than a minute, two out of seven were down. “Oh wow, not bad at all, huh?” The remaining attackers, undeterred, swarmed Luca in unison. Even though two fists couldn’t match the power of many ha
At 1 a.m., the two of them crossed paths at the stairwell. Mariah casually waved the slip of paper in her hand, glancing around her surroundings. “So, you knew my place was bugged?” Vanessa gave a slight nod. “You went through all this trouble. What do you want to say?” “There might be issues in the stock market,” Vanessa replied calmly. Mariah remained silent, her sharp eyes studying her closely. “Evidence?” Vanessa spread her hands. “None. I only pieced it together on my way back today. Your company announced two major projects at the press conference, but neither of them succeeded in development. Doesn’t that sound like a stock manipulation scheme? If you check the data, you’ll see VH’s stock has been surging and is likely to keep climbing.” Mariah stood still, her gaze locked on her, as though trying to decipher her true intentions. “This information,” she said coolly,
The rain lashed against the window. In the darkness, Vanessa clung to her fading consciousness, counting the sound of water droplets echoing from outside. She strained to hear over the storm, her heart pounding as anxiety coiled tighter within her.Suddenly, the door creaked open, a sliver of light slicing through the darkness of the room, and a familiar, beautiful face came into view.The girl in high heels—Beatriz Langley—let out a mocking laugh and flipped on the room’s light. “Tsk... tsk... Still waiting for Luca to save you? Haha... Stop dreaming, Vanessa...”She casually picked up a knife from the corner and sneered, “The golden girl, the treasure of the Ness Corporation—did you ever imagine this day would come?”Vanessa watched as Beatriz brandished the long knife and rasped, “Beatriz, if you let me go, I’ll give you anything you want—my shares, the chairman’s position. I won’t fight you anymore.”Beatriz sighed dramatically. “Back then, no matter what I did, you refused to let