Afraid that Corinne was going to do something to her, Anya slowly backed away."I have Lucas! And he's willing to do anything for me. He'll never let a shameless woman like you give birth to Jeremy's kid 'cause he knows how sad I'll be if Jeremy leaves me again! Corinne, you should know very well that even if I can't win against you, my brother will help me get rid of you!"Corinne forced Anya to the back of the wall before lifting her fake little face with her fingers."Tsk! How can such vicious words come out of such an angelic little face? I wonder what your beloved brother would think if he was to see you like this."Even though Corinne had the upper hand, Anya still managed to retain some sort of boldness as she snorted confidently. "Hah! Why don't you go and tell him and see if he'll believe you! In fact, not only would he not believe you but it'd just make him dislike you even more and he'll make your life more difficult just to avenge me."Corinne was in total agreement wi
'Forty days ago! That's about the time Jeremy went on that business trip of his. Meaning to say, he was actually with Anya and their kid! I guess him calling me every day to make sure I eat, sleep, and miss him didn't stop him from having the time to make another kid with Anya!' thought Corinne.Corinne suddenly felt like something was stuck in her throat, making her want to throw up. Previously, it was a biological response but now it was an emotional response. She mentally berated herself for ever trusting Jeremy's words. For a moment there, she was looking forward to him coming back so that the two of them could live happily ever after.'He lied straight to my face and like a fool I took it in hook, line, and sinker! What a devious man he is!' thought Corinne and even though all those were going on in her mind, she still managed to maintain a calm facade on her face. 'Oh well, who of us hasn't been young and stupidly in love before? It's all in the past now.'After giving herself
Corinne laughed long and hard before looking at him and said, "Mister Jeremy, what happened that night was an unfortunate emergency. It wasn't like we did it because we love each other. Besides, do you think that I'll get pregnant because of that one time? Why, I might as well buy the lottery with that kind of luck!"Jeremy's suspicious eyes remained fixed on her for a good long while. Seeing that she did not feel guilty or nervous, he slowly puffed out some smoke, and the suspicion in his eyes dissipated — although not completely — along with the smoke into the air.After a few more seconds of silence, he asked again, "Where's your husband?"Corinne was stunned. She completely forgot she had a husband. She blinked awkwardly and replied, "He's, he's at work, of course!"Silence again."Is Jason pursuing you?"Corinne was once again stunned by his question. She did not expect the conversation to veer so quickly to the topic of Jason.What could she say? Jason was indeed pursuing
Jason was nowhere to be seen by the time Corinne got back to the private dining room. She had no idea where he went and since Jeremy did not get back, there was only Anya, who was feeding Joey some soupy rice.They did not have a very good conversation in the restroom. The falling out caused them to shed all pretense of cordiality. Since there was no one else in the room, Anya simply threw a cold glance at Corinne before going back to feeding Joey.Corinne sat down on her seat, picked up a fork with one hand, and took out her phone with another to send a text to Aaron.Suddenly, Anya pressed the bell to summon the waiter to bring in more soup for her. Corinne did not pay too much attention to her behavior as she was too busy replying to the messages on her phone.After a while, a waiter dressed in the restaurant's uniform came in with a bowl of soup."Here's the soup you ordered, ma'am. Please enjoy."The waiter then walked up to Anna when suddenly he tripped and the bowl immedia
It had not been a few days since the last similar incident happened and now Corinne had to go through it again? She looked contemptuously at Anya, hating her with every fiber of her being.'There's no limit to how shameless this woman can be! How can she still think of herself when her child is hurt!'Although she did not like Anya, it did not mean she would pass on that hate to her innocent child. 'That poor kid must be in a lot of pain/ He probably doesn't understand why it's hurting so much either.'Instead of calling out on Anya's lies, Corinne quickly called for an ambulance. After giving the operator the address, she hung up the phone, and only then did she say, "The waiter was the one who accidentally tripped, causing the soup to splash all over your kid. I tried to catch the bowl but I was too late. After that, the waiter legged out of the room 'cause he was afraid of what was going to happen to him."Anya looked at her in disbelief. "Corinne, how can you lie like that? I s
In the emergency ward.The doctors tended to Joey's burn and after bandaging up his eye, one of the doctors told Anya and Jeremy to mentally prepare themselves to accept the possibility that Joey would forever have a scar on his left eye since that was where he was the most badly burned.Tears immediately flowed from Anya's eyes when she heard that. "Oh, my poor, poor child! He's so young and yet he has to leave with this disfigurement forever! Jeremy, what should we do?"Jeremy patiently tried to calm her down. "The doctor said it's only a possibility. That means there's a chance it won't happen."Anya kept crying. "But, what if?"Jeremy was losing his patience by then. "He's a boy so a little scar is nothing! We should be glad that he's fine!"Anya could tell Jeremy was not in the mood for her theatrics so she immediately turned off her waterworks and said pitifully, "You're right. Joey is a boy so a little scar will not affect him in any way. It's just that, I can't help but t
Although Corinne only pushed Anya lightly, the latter acted as if the former pushed her very hard. Anya staggered back exaggeratedly and pretended to fall. Her plan worked! She wanted Corinne to raise her hand against her to make it more believable that Corinne would do something as insidious as harming Joey.A hand reached out to grab her just when she was about to fall to the ground. Anya thought it was Jeremy who saved her, which made her secretly happy. However, when she looked up, she discovered it was Lucas who saved her.Lucas put his arm protectively around Anya after he righted her up. He then glared coldly at Corinne and said, "I dare you to push her again.""I didn't push her. I just flung her hand away from my body," said Corinne.Lucas frowned. "I saw everything so there's no use of you denying it!"Corinne was speechless. 'How can he know what happened when he wasn't even here, to begin with? He must be making things up.'Anya was a little disappointed that it was n
Anya immediately started to panic when she heard Jeremy asked Corinne to talk in private. She turned around and looked tearfully at him, "Jeremy, where are you going with Corinne?"Jeremy threw her a glance and said, "Go in and watch over Joey for a minute. I promise I'll settle this matter with Corinne as soon as possible."'Does he mean that he's going to make Corinne pay for what she did? I mean, of course, he would. I didn't put up all that act for nothing. He must have believed my story over Corinne's and is now itching to punish her!' thought Anya.Thinking of this, Anya nodded her head docilely and said, "Okay. I'll go tend to Joey first and wait for you to come back."Jeremy did not say anything to Anya after that. Instead, he looked coldly at Corinne and barked out an order, "You, come with me!"Corinne did not want to talk to him but knew with Jeremy's character, he would not stop until he got to the bottom of who did that to his son. Therefore, she had no choice but to
Sherman could not help but feel fearful when he recalled the incident.Rita gently smoothed his furrowed brow. "I knew you'd come to rescue me, just like all the times you did. I love you, Sherman."Previously, Rita confessed her love to him when she was groggy. At this moment, however, she was clearly awake, even sporting a faint smile on her face as she confessed.Sherman immediately blushed. "I love you, too."Rita did not stay long in the hospital; she quickly returned to the Parr family's mansion. Just as Sherman's grandparents had said, Rita did not have any major injuries, so there was no need for her to stay in the hospital that long. In fact, she might even recover faster emotionally under the care at home.Not once did Sherman bring up Rita's job, but she surprisingly resigned from New Capital Times on her own accord. It would be difficult for her to investigate cases with her current condition; not to mention Sherman had handed over the evidence to the police. The polic
"Sherman, I like you. I love you," Rita finally confessed.Sherman, deeply pained, pulled Rita into his arms. "This is all my fault. I should've looked for you quicker. I've never blamed you. All I want is to see you smile. It's enough for me as long as you're willing to let me stay by your side."You don't have to confess to me. I know it's hard for you to do that because of your family. I've seen the way they've treated you, and…"The bodyguards who had barged in with Sherman felt a bit awkward to see their company president in tears. However, the priority was to get Rita to the hospital for a check-up. Being tied up for hours could cause circulation issues, and it could be dangerous if her limbs did not regain feelings soon.In the end, they got the bravest among them to convince Sherman to let them take Rita to the hospital. Instead of letting them do it, Sherman wiped away his tears and, with ease, lifted Rita as if she was as light as a feather.Fortunately, after the hospit
With that, Karen left without looking back. She was carrying Vince's baby in her womb, so how could she pin all her hopes on Sadie? Since Sadie was obviously unruly, she would have to rely on her son.'Sadie can spend the rest of her life with Esmond since she likes him so much. God knows it had been exhausting enough to raise her. Plus, it's only fair for Esmond to take care of her since I've done my part taking care of her until now,' thought Karen.Meanwhile, the only consolation for Sherman was that Esmond did not try to put up a fight. It seemed that he still cared about his daughter Sadie.Sherman led his men to a dilapidated house. Esmond had been cautious enough to choose a rundown house situated at the end of a village.When Sherman barged in, he found Rita lying on the floor while Esmond's men ignored her. Esmond's men had followed his orders, and since he did not instruct them to do anything to Rita, they left her well alone.Before the men could react, they were surrou
Karen cried and silently knelt by Sadie's side without trying to defend herself. Sadie, on the other hand, feebly tried to explain herself. Alas. Vince refused to listen.There had been many occasions before when he had chosen to believe Karen and Sadie, but at this moment, he realized he had been terribly wrong to do that.Rita used to be so kind, understanding, and well-behaved. However, ever since Karen and Sadie moved in, Vince felt like his daughter had become manipulative, always trying to compete for attention, and stirring up jealousy in front of him.Unfortunately, it took Rita's disappearance to make Vince realize that Rita was not trying to compete for attention. All Rita wanted from him was to treat her the same as Sadie.Vince used to think that Rita should give in to Sadie more since Sadie was younger, too."Why don't you go live with your biological father since you prefer him so much? I never want to see you show your face around here anymore! As for your mother, s
Sadie was so anxious that she wanted to jump out. "Mom, don't tell me you fell for it! Why did you call Esmond? Now they all know where Rita is. You've ruined everything, again! What were you thinking?"Karen could not care less. She cried and slapped Sadie. "You nearly scared me to death! What would I do if something happened to you? I didn't raise you just to watch you die. I told you not to meet up with Esmond, so why did you secretly meet up with him? How can you ask him to get rid of Rita?"Are you out of your mind? All I want is for us to live out the rest of our lives peacefully, so why didn't you listen to me?!"Sadie was furious. Karen had stopped trying to get rid of Rita ever since she got pregnant, so how could Sadie not be angry? Rita was like a thorn in her side, and Sadie would never be happy unless Rita was dead."Don't you know I like Sherman? How could you ask me to do nothing when Rita has stolen him from me?! I was the one who liked him first. It's either Rita g
Karen wanted so badly to slap Esmond through the phone.'What good are his pompous words now? We wouldn't be in this mess now if he hadn't hit me back then! What's more, he's saying he's doing this for Sadie. But has he ever thought of what would happen to me and Sadie if he got rid of Rita? Rita's the heiress of the Russell family. Not to mention, she's married to Sherman, so that makes her owner of Parr Group too! What makes Esmond think he can get rid of Rita so easily?'Karen's breath was ragged as she said, "If you don't believe me, just listen to your daughter's screams. I can't save her now; you will literally decide her fate! Plus, I'm pregnant with Vince's baby, so even if I lose Sadie, I still have a kid—which is more than what I can say about you!"Sherman could not help but be impressed by Karen a little. Even in this dire situation, she did not forget to express her heartfelt feelings to Vince, letting him know that she was always on his side. It was certainly not an ea
"Sherman raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's just a minor injury, maybe just a finger. There shouldn't be any major issues. A sprained joint takes only a hundred days to heal, and it might take her even less time to heal if you take very good care of her while she's recuperating."Karen's heart ached upon hearing that. She lunged toward Sherman, wanting to hit him, but the bodyguards stopped her before she could get close.Vince, still worried, held Karen tightly beside him. "Calm down. I'm sure Sadie will come out unharmed if Rita's kidnapping has nothing to do with her. But if it does, then you should know very well that…"Vince's voice dropped an octave. He could not believe his daughter's disappearance had anything to do with his stepdaughter. However, he was not utterly naive.He continued, "How could a girl like her take Rita away? Even the car window was smashed. Others must've been involved. Does her biological father have anything to do with it?"Sherman nodded
"Yes, it's true I met up with my biological father, but it was just a one-time thing. I don't want to go back to him at all! Otherwise, I would've done it ages ago. Dad, I'm really grateful to you for taking me in and looking after me all these years. That's why I feel like you're my real father, even more real than those who share the same blood."How could you unjustly accuse me and Mom like that? Sherman is the one spouting nonsense here. He's trying to push all the blame onto us. Dad, you have to wake up and see the truth!"Karen nodded along, but her heart was racing. 'When did Sadie meet Esmond? How did Sherman know when I don't even know? Seems like Sadie does have something to do with Rita's kidnapping. I have to settle things and get Sherman out of here.'Karen never had the thought of rekindling her relationship with Esmond. The only thing she wanted then was to peacefully give birth to her son. Everything in the Russell family would eventually go to her son, and she would
Sherman detested people pointing their fingers at him when they spoke. He stood up slowly, towering over Vince instantly."You claim to be Rita's father, yet if I were you, I'd choose to shut up and stand aside. I can't believe you're scolding me for threatening Sadie when she's not even your real daughter!"Look at her guilty expression; it's clear she's involved. If you don't believe me, use your brain a little. No wonder Russell Group is declining under your leadership. It's only a matter of time before the company goes completely bankrupt!"Sherman showed no mercy, causing Vince to retreat with every word. Vince clutched his chest, struggling for breath.Karen, despite her weakness, stepped forward to support him. "How could you speak to your father-in-law like this? What has Sadie done to offend you? She has nothing but admiration for you. Plus, she's just a child. How could you treat her like this?"She went on and on, but Sherman stood his ground. Meanwhile, the burly bodyg