Not knowing if Cassandra had understood, Mariah adjusted her face and said earnestly, “Cassandra, don’t misunderstand. I was just trying to help you out. I really don’t like girls!”
At that moment, Cassandra's intoxication caught up with her, and she could hardly hear what Mariah was saying before she drowsily fell asleep.
Watching Cassandra sleep in her arms, Mariah found the situation both amusing and exasperating. She could only call a car to take her home.
The next morning, Cassandra woke up with a terrible headache, groggily sitting up while holding her head, piecing together the fragmented memories of the night before.
‘Did I really kiss Mariah last night? Oh no, she can’t seriously think I like girls, or that I have feelings for her, can she?’
Realizing what she had done, Cassandra tightly wra
Luca was taken aback. “What’s so uncomfortable about that?”As soon as he finished speaking, Vanessa shot him an eye-roll, silencing him instantly.Luca replied awkwardly, “Well… I still have to attend the meeting. I’ll try my best not to look at you.”Vanessa wasn’t sure how much ‘trying’ that meant, as Luca continued to stare at her throughout the meeting.Vanessa could only do her best to ignore the intense gaze, focusing on the meeting materials instead. However, due to her nerves, she stumbled over her words a few times while speaking, leaving her feeling flustered, but there was nothing she could do about Luca.Meanwhile, Mariah and Cassandra arrived at the agreed location.In front of the elegant Japanese restaurant, a young man in a suit had been waiting f
Vanessa's private elevator had some issues, so she ended up sharing the same elevator with the staff. She didn’t expect to overhear such explosive content and perked up her ears to listen closely to the conversation between two employees in front of her.“Ah, come on, it’s hard to define something like this,” one said hesitantly.Hearing the doubt in the other’s voice, the first person got anxious. “How could I possibly be mistaken? It’s that actress who has been coming to our company often. I bumped into her at a restaurant once, and the way they interacted felt overly intimate.”“No wonder Mariah is cold toward every man. There were a few guys in our department who wanted to pursue her, but she outright rejected them,” the other employee replied.Finally grasping the situation, Vanessa felt a bit surprised.Recently, Cassandra had been coming here frequently. Coupled with what she
Luca had already done enough for her; there was no need for him to risk himself alongside her.Of course, Vanessa also harbored a secret thought. Luca’s presence and support had made her start to hesitate. She didn’t want to accept too much from him for fear that she might be unable to resist seeking revenge against him later.So, Vanessa discreetly gathered information about the situation of those people and went to visit them alone.Unfortunately, these individuals all found various excuses to avoid seeing her.After being repeatedly turned away, Vanessa felt somewhat frustrated. She couldn’t understand why they were so determined not to meet her. Did they not want to get involved in these matters again?Vanessa speculated aimlessly in her mind.Regardless, one thing was certain: Beatriz had definitely u
“Vanessa, stop acting so smug in front of me. You won’t be able to take Luca away from me—just like you couldn’t five years ago, and just like you won’t now. From the beginning to the end, Luca belongs only to me.”Beatriz’s eyes blazed with anger as she stared at Vanessa, making no effort to conceal the hatred in her gaze.“Oh? Can’t take him away?” Vanessa sneered, deliberately fanning the flames. “Then what exactly are you doing now?”“You bitch.”Beatriz was truly enraged. She raised her hand high, ready to slap Vanessa, but before she could strike, Vanessa caught her wrist mid-air.There was no way she’d take that slap for nothing. Watching Beatriz fume in helpless anger, Vanessa felt a twisted sense of satisfaction rise in her chest.But this wasn’t nearly enough. Not even close. The suffering she had endured needed to be repaid—tenfol
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
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.
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
“Vanessa, stop acting so smug in front of me. You won’t be able to take Luca away from me—just like you couldn’t five years ago, and just like you won’t now. From the beginning to the end, Luca belongs only to me.”Beatriz’s eyes blazed with anger as she stared at Vanessa, making no effort to conceal the hatred in her gaze.“Oh? Can’t take him away?” Vanessa sneered, deliberately fanning the flames. “Then what exactly are you doing now?”“You bitch.”Beatriz was truly enraged. She raised her hand high, ready to slap Vanessa, but before she could strike, Vanessa caught her wrist mid-air.There was no way she’d take that slap for nothing. Watching Beatriz fume in helpless anger, Vanessa felt a twisted sense of satisfaction rise in her chest.But this wasn’t nearly enough. Not even close. The suffering she had endured needed to be repaid—tenfol
Luca had already done enough for her; there was no need for him to risk himself alongside her.Of course, Vanessa also harbored a secret thought. Luca’s presence and support had made her start to hesitate. She didn’t want to accept too much from him for fear that she might be unable to resist seeking revenge against him later.So, Vanessa discreetly gathered information about the situation of those people and went to visit them alone.Unfortunately, these individuals all found various excuses to avoid seeing her.After being repeatedly turned away, Vanessa felt somewhat frustrated. She couldn’t understand why they were so determined not to meet her. Did they not want to get involved in these matters again?Vanessa speculated aimlessly in her mind.Regardless, one thing was certain: Beatriz had definitely u
Vanessa's private elevator had some issues, so she ended up sharing the same elevator with the staff. She didn’t expect to overhear such explosive content and perked up her ears to listen closely to the conversation between two employees in front of her.“Ah, come on, it’s hard to define something like this,” one said hesitantly.Hearing the doubt in the other’s voice, the first person got anxious. “How could I possibly be mistaken? It’s that actress who has been coming to our company often. I bumped into her at a restaurant once, and the way they interacted felt overly intimate.”“No wonder Mariah is cold toward every man. There were a few guys in our department who wanted to pursue her, but she outright rejected them,” the other employee replied.Finally grasping the situation, Vanessa felt a bit surprised.Recently, Cassandra had been coming here frequently. Coupled with what she
Luca was taken aback. “What’s so uncomfortable about that?”As soon as he finished speaking, Vanessa shot him an eye-roll, silencing him instantly.Luca replied awkwardly, “Well… I still have to attend the meeting. I’ll try my best not to look at you.”Vanessa wasn’t sure how much ‘trying’ that meant, as Luca continued to stare at her throughout the meeting.Vanessa could only do her best to ignore the intense gaze, focusing on the meeting materials instead. However, due to her nerves, she stumbled over her words a few times while speaking, leaving her feeling flustered, but there was nothing she could do about Luca.Meanwhile, Mariah and Cassandra arrived at the agreed location.In front of the elegant Japanese restaurant, a young man in a suit had been waiting f
Not knowing if Cassandra had understood, Mariah adjusted her face and said earnestly, “Cassandra, don’t misunderstand. I was just trying to help you out. I really don’t like girls!”At that moment, Cassandra's intoxication caught up with her, and she could hardly hear what Mariah was saying before she drowsily fell asleep.Watching Cassandra sleep in her arms, Mariah found the situation both amusing and exasperating. She could only call a car to take her home.The next morning, Cassandra woke up with a terrible headache, groggily sitting up while holding her head, piecing together the fragmented memories of the night before.‘Did I really kiss Mariah last night? Oh no, she can’t seriously think I like girls, or that I have feelings for her, can she?’Realizing what she had done, Cassandra tightly wra
“Really?” Mariah’s interest was piqued. The actor Leonardo Blue was her perfect idol—talented and skilled, it was as if heaven had blessed him with a career.“I wouldn’t joke about this. Recently, at an event, I happened to be a guest alongside him. Since you mentioned before that he’s your idol, I casually asked him for an autographed photo for you. When are you free? I can give it to you,” Cassandra said.Hearing that she could get an autographed photo of her idol, Mariah felt her spirits lift, sweeping away the earlier gloom. She quickly replied, “I’m free tonight. How about we grab dinner?”“Great! It’s a deal. I’ll send you the location later.”The two quickly settled on a time and place to meet.Cassandra’s sudden call to Mariah wasn’t coincidental; it was actually a request from Luca.Luca had been keeping an eye on Vanessa&rsqu
Hearing this, Luca’s face paled slightly, and his thoughts were pulled back to the past…“I actually didn’t hate you. I mean, back five years ago.” Luca hesitated, unsure how to convey his feelings to Vanessa so that she would believe him.Five years ago, when he learned that he was about to marry Vanessa, Luca felt a sense of resistance. He knew that Vanessa liked him, but at that time, he didn’t have any feelings for her.Luca disliked the feeling of being controlled by others. He initially didn’t want this arranged marriage and even transferred his frustration onto Vanessa.However, it seemed that Vanessa didn’t notice his aversion. She continued to revolve around him every day.Seeing the pampered young lady, who had never touched the kitchen before, learn to cook for him, burning her hands and hiding them behind her back in fear of him noticing, Luca had to admit that, from that moment on, his h
“This is a list of some projects currently managed by our project department, along with their respective leaders. You can take a look.”Luca glanced over it, and finding it satisfactory, he replied, “Can I take this back to review? Of course, if possible, it would be great if I could also borrow the project materials to look at.”“Of course.” Beatriz handed over a stack of documents without hesitation.With the materials in hand, Luca felt he had achieved the purpose of his visit and didn’t want to linger a moment longer. “Then I’ll take my leave, President Langley.”“Wait a moment,” Beatriz called out hurriedly as she saw Luca about to leave. “Luca, don’t you have anything you want to say to me? Ezra has been missing you a lot these days.”Thinking of Ezra softened Luca’s heart momentarily, but he quickly reminded himself that this was just Beatriz&rsq
After confirming that the person seated before her was Vanessa, whom she despised to the core, Beatriz exclaimed sharply, “Vanessa, how dare you be here? This is the board meeting of Ness Corp; who gave you the audacity to sit here as an outsider?!”Beatriz’s emotions were running high, her tone involuntarily rising, and her voice slightly trembling.“I am a shareholder of Ness Corp, so why shouldn't I be here for the board meeting?” Vanessa replied fearlessly, locking eyes with Beatriz.Compared to Beatriz, Vanessa appeared remarkably calm.Hearing this, Beatriz remained skeptical and turned to her assistant, whispering, “Is what she said true?”The assistant nodded but dared not meet Beatriz’s gaze.“Why are you only mentioning something so important now?” Beatriz’s voice carried an unmistakable edge of anger.The assistant lowered her head even further.The ot