"I said, get away from her!" came the deep voice again and this time, it was louder than ever.The pervert finally found the source of the voice. He turned to look in the direction it came from and discovered it belonged to a handsome man who was a head taller than him. For a second, he lost his confidence."Ahem. This is none of your business."There was no visible sign of anger on Lucas' handsome face. He calmly looked down at the pervert and repeated the four words in a neutral tone, "Get. Away. From. Her."Despite his neutral tone, the aura Lucas was emitting was threatening enough to send a chill up the pervert's spine. Everyone turned to look at them, waiting to see how the drama would unfold.The pervert became a little scared. He could tell Lucas was someone who he should not mess with but his ego would not allow him to humiliate himself in front of everyone. Thus, he decided to challenge Lucas."Who are you to her? Why should I listen to you?""That's not something you
The pervert started crying from the pain. "Ouch! Dude, what are you doing? You're going to break my arm if you don't let go! Why are you still doing this when I've already said you can have that girl? Let me go!""What did you say just now?" asked Lucas emotionlessly.The pervert's eyes became shifty with guilt. "I wasn't talking about you anyway."Lucas did not say anything. Instead, he put more force into the twist, causing the pervert to yelp out in pain."I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that to her. I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of her. It's all my fault! I'm nothing but a shameless piece of sh*t!"Lucas pushed the pervert to the ground before casually stepping on his arm, causing it to crack sickeningly.After that, he looked down on him like he was a piece of trash and said coldly, "Flirting is built on the respect given to the other party. Thus, what you were doing was not called flirting but s*xual harassment!"He then shook his hand as though he t
Corinne arrived at the hospital.Sunny was staying in the most expensive single-occupancy ward. He was unconscious on the bed with a bandage wrapped around his forehead. His brows were knitted tightly together as though he was having a nightmare.Corinne looked at the idiotic Sunny with her brow raised. "Why isn't he awake yet?"Xante pinched the space between her brows and sighed. "The doctor said the force of the impact was really strong so it might take him a while to wake up."Corinne frowned. "How did a big boy like him crash into a glass door in broad daylight?"Xante was left quite speechless by Sunny's idiocy too. "Remember when you asked me to make sure he doesn't get to go to the World Hacker Conference? Well, I pretended to fall sick to distract him and it worked 'cause he was the one who brought me to this hospital."However, when he went to the dispensary to get me some medicine, he was in so much of a rush that he didn't see the spotless glass door in front of him a
Even though Corinne knew Sunny was calling for Anya, she still became a little startled when he grabbed her hand as if his life depended on it."I'm not your sister. Wake up and see who I am!"Sunny shook his head. "Anya, I didn't betray you! I just wish you'll stop bullying Corinne 'cause she's quite a nice person."Corinne was a little taken aback to hear that. 'Is he helping me in his dream?'"Anya, No!" Sunny suddenly woke up in fright; his face was completely covered with sweat.Corinne, who was sitting beside his bed, looked at him and asked, "So you've finally woken up."Sunny turned to look blankly at her and then at his surroundings before finally looking down at the hospital gown he was wearing. "Why am I here?""You ran into a glass door and hurt yourself."Shocked, he tried to think back to what happened before he found himself lying on the hospital bed. What he remembered made him blush with embarrassment. After all, it did sound very foolish of him to run into a g
Sunny frowned in consternation. "Jeremy must have developed feelings for you during the three months you were together. Otherwise, he wouldn't have treated you so well. He became depressed after you left and it took him a long while to get out of it. Now that things are going well with him and Anya, I hope you'll leave them alone. Compared to you, Anya needs Jeremy more since her health is failing as we speak."'Jeremy was depressed because of me?' Corinne thought with disbelief. 'Huh! So what? He brought it on himself. Serves him right for tricking me into believing he has feelings while he goes around playing a happy family with Anya and Joey. He's probably just depressed because I called him out on his bullsh*t and he couldn't take the humiliation.'Sunny stared at Corinne pointedly, causing a frown to appear on his face. "Corinne, there are plenty more fish in the sea. You can be my sister-in-law if you're interested in Lucas. He's every bit as good as Jeremy. H*ll, I'll even hel
Corinne nodded. "Really."Sunny looked at her. For some reason, even though he successfully extracted a guarantee out of Corinne, he still could not help but feel conflicted about the whole thing.Corinne did not want to talk about Jeremy anymore so she absent-mindedly changed the topic. "By the way, I saw your brother in Kanton City today."Sunny's pupils immediately shrank to pinpoint size and the glass of water dropped from his hand. It was a good thing Corinne managed to catch it because if not, the water would have splashed all over the hospital bed.Sunny took a gulp fearfully as though he saw a ghost. "Did you tell him I'm here too?" he asked cautiously."Not yet." Corinne placed the glass of water on the bedside table. "I was just going to ask you whether I should tell your brother so that he could come here and bring you home for some bed rest."Hearing that, Sunny heaved a long sigh of relief before shaking his head vehemently to let her know that under no circumstances
Lucas turned toward her. "Go on. Spit it out."Corinne got up and looked at him with resolve in her eyes. "Mister Lucas, I think there's something wrong with the way you're disciplining Mister Sunny."Lucas smiled. "Miss Corinne, I didn't expect to run into you again so soon. Why, it was just moments ago we ran into each other at the hotel. I haven't even asked you what you're doing here and yet you dared to question the way I discipline my brother? In any case, who made you the queen of discipline?"The contempt in Lucas's voice was obvious but Corinne was unfazed by it. She continued to look at him indifferently and said, "I might not know everything there is to know about disciplining a child but I do have first-hand experience of what it feels like to grow up in a house that gives out bad disciplinary actions so I thought I should warn you to stop doing what you're doing or else you'll come to regret it in the end."Lucas pulled out a chair, sat down on it, rested his elbow on
Lucas stared fixedly at Corinne for a while before finally, politely but coldly, saying, "Miss Corinne, what you said only applies to kids of regular folks and not for kids born into the Rivera family. Those that carry the Rivera name, like Sunny himself, are tasked with a great burden on their shoulder. Thus, he can't just do whatever he wants. Do you understand now?"What Corinne hated the most was the way Lucas thought he was better than everybody else just because he was lucky enough to be born into a wealthy and prominent family. "We're all humans on this earth. No one is better than anybody else! You say he's tasked with a great burden on his shoulder but have you ever asked if he wanted that? No matter how self-righteous you made the whole thing sound, it still doesn't make it right for you to impose your wishes on another person! I used to think life would be better for me if I was born into a wealthy family. Then I could do whatever I wish to do without ever having to worry
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