Hattie didn’t find his sarcastic remarks annoying, instead, she put on a warm smile and poured him a glass of red wine after gesturing for him to sit down."Morrow, we are childhood friends, aren’t we? We haven't really talked much before, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up since I don't have anything else going on right now."Morrow always appreciated the initiative of a beautiful woman who approached him, even though he wasn't particularly interested in Hattie."Hattie, you're too kind. What old memories can we possibly have? I prefer reminiscing with women in bed. As for other matters, you understand what I mean, right?"Hattie froze when Morrow teased her shamelessly, but she swallowed her anger, and forced a smile, saying, "Morrow, you’re so funny. I only ended up in this situation because of Claire." Morrow sneered inwardly but showed no mercy with his words, "Hattie, I don't agree with you. You would’ve never become Javier's wife even without Claire."
"Alright, Hattie, you don’t have to point out everything so clearly." Hattie shrugged without a word, but she felt a sense of satisfaction inside. She hadn't expected that this man would take the bait so readily with just a little instigation from her. Initially, she had assumed he would be much harder to handle. However, he was truly far too inferior compared to Javier. To even dare dream of competing with Javier for control of the entire Marquez family was simply a delusion!As Hattie realized this, she couldn't help but laugh and nodded in agreement. "Morrow, I've said my piece. As for the rest, it's up to you, and has nothing to do with me."Morrow snorted disdainfully, knowing that Hattie would toss him aside as soon as possible."Don't worry, I'm not that foolish to do anything to Claire at this moment. But there's one thing you said that I do agree with. I'll go and check on her. No one can stop me, right?"However, he wouldn’t dare go beyond that line even if he had the
Morrow hated the fact that Javier had Claire. Every time he thought about this, he wished he could kill Javier. "Claire Weiss, let’s see how you’ll escape me now," Morrow said in his heart. His eyes showed obvious happiness, but his hatred for Javier grew inside his heart. Javier competed with him in everything—including pursuing the woman he liked. However, Morrow wasn’t willing to admit that he was not confident. That was why he wanted everything Javier had. He wasn’t willing to admit it was caused by inferiority. Morrow came here to take a look at Claire and showed his concern. He wanted to get her slowly and satisfy his wish to see her. But strangely, when he looked at Claire peacefully asleep, he couldn’t control the urge to make Claire his own. He wanted to make her his woman right now. His reason told him that he shouldn’t do that, but he just couldn’t control the desire in his body that was getting stronger. He wanted to release his pent-up desire immediately. At th
When the light in the operating theater lit up, Javier was still in panic. He'd never had this feeling. He'd never felt anxious, scared, or worried for any other woman. He wished he could kill Morrow and take all of Claire's pain away. Javier was busy with work, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Claire. So, when he had a chance to leave, he rushed over to see her. When he approached the ward, he heard a man talking inside and Claire screaming. Instantly, he had a bad premonition. Sure enough, he saw Morrow’s abusive actions against Claire. Javier was furious and almost beat him to death. If Claire’s painful moans didn’t bring him back to reality, he would’ve only stopped when he was sure Morrow had died. Even so, Javier stared at the operating room light and blamed himself. He was always a proud man, but now, he started to resent himself. Why was he busy at that time? Why didn’t he arrange for more people to guard Claire’s ward? If he did so, Morrow wouldn’t have a chance of g
That night, the hospital was lit up due to Claire, and no one dared to relax. Javier stood outside the ward until late at night because he was worried. His subordinates feared his body might not withstand it and worriedly told him, "Mr. Marquez, we will be guarding Mrs. Marquez. Would you like to go back and rest for a while?" However, Javier shook his head and said firmly, "I’m fine."He had to stay with her until she woke up. He was willing to wait no matter how long it would take. Knowing Javier’s temper, they didn’t persist and returned to the corner. Soon, it was midnight, and Javier could enter the ward. He walked in and saw how terribly Claire was sleeping, and he frowned. Then, he took Claire’s hand and gently rubbed it against his face. "Don’t worry. I will never let you be harmed again. Those who had brought you harm will be punished. They will never get away easily," Javier muttered, and he looked focused. "I will make those who brought you harm pay twofold for th
Javier never apologized. He was a proud man and never apologized to anyone."W-What did you just say?" Claire couldn’t help but ask. Javier dared not look Claire straight in the eye and seriously said, "I’m sorry." Claire was sure she wasn’t hallucinating this time. At the thought of Javier apologizing to her, she felt upset and remembered what happened in the past. "Javier, don’t say that. You never did anything wrong to me. I deserved it. If you really are sorry, it should be toward our child. The baby isn’t born yet but has been through so much. I’m really scared once the baby is born, it won’t like me because of what I made it go through." When Claire recalled the past, she would feel depressed. Javier was taken aback but quickly returned to his senses and said, "Claire, you’re not allowed to say that. I promise that I will protect you and our children. Give me some time. I’ll give you an explanation in a few days." Gradually, Claire’s sadness turned into anger. "No. I
Javier seemed satisfied with Claire’s reaction and was happy. A sweet feeling rose in his heart, and he was in a good mood.Finally, they both fell asleep together. It might have been because Claire’s body was weak or perhaps it was because Javier was tired after guarding Claire all night. So, that night, they hugged each other to sleep peacefully. On the second day, the sun shone on Claire’s face, and she slowly woke up. She could feel a hand wrapped around her waist, so she looked over. It was Javier sleeping next to her. Claire felt a soft feeling in her heart and felt it was great to have Javier beside her. Probably because he could feel her intense stare, Javier opened his eyes in a daze. The first thing he saw was Claire’s smiling face.Then, he pulled her into his embrace, kissed her, and felt satisfied. After breakfast, Javier suggested taking Claire home to rest. He had a private doctor at home, and most importantly, he was scared what happened last night would acciden
Javier felt helpless looking at this scene. He got up and opened the door for Ollie. The moment the door was opened, Ollie rushed in and went straight to Claire. He jumped into her embrace and was on the verge of crying."Waaah! Mommy, where did you go? Why didn't you tell me? I missed you so much! So much!" Claire felt touched and hugged Ollie tightly. "Ollie, shhh. Mommy just didn't feel well, so I went to the hospital. I'm fine now. So, you don't have to worry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have hidden it from you. It's just because I was afraid you would be worried." When Ollie heard that Claire had been to the hospital, he pouted and looked extremely aggrieved. He was so anxious that his tears almost rolled down his cheeks."Mommy, what happened to you? Why did you go to the hospital again? I feel so sad about not being by your side."Claire sighed and comforted him. "Shh, Ollie. Mommy is fine now. Don't worry about me, okay?" After all, Ollie was still a child. He knew
Hattie looked extremely sincere in her pleading. However, when Sofia did not answer or even look at her, she began to lose confidence. Sofia's face was impassive. "Hattie, I've known you since you were a baby, but I can't help you with this. Please leave." She did not want to discuss the other stuff with her yet.However, Hattie was obstinate. She looked at her with tears in her eyes. "Aunt Sofia, please, please help me. I know it's not much trouble for you, but it can save our entire family. You've always been so kind to me. I promise that the Snyder family will repay you for your kindness!"Hearing this, Sofia felt uncomfortable. She raised her head and gazed at her coldly. "In this case, Hattie, I'll tell you why I won't help you," she said impatiently. "Do you really not know what you've done? I won't say it, but I know exactly what you've done to Ollie. You deserve everything that's happening to you now."Hattie widened her eyes, partly in shock and partly in disbelief when she h
Javier paused outside the door and waited until Claire left before giving his subordinates a look. They understood perfectly and grabbed Chantelle at once.As Javier had ordered, they were to send this woman abroad as far away as possible and leave her to fend for herself.Outside the hotel, Claire looked up at the sky blankly. She felt like a huge burden had been taken off her shoulders; for the first time in a long time, she felt relieved of all the hurt that she had suffered five years ago. Turning back, she told Javier, "Thank you, Javier, for allowing me to face my fears. I feel so relieved now."Javier's expression fell when he heard her thank him. He tapped her on the nose fondly in exasperation. "What are you talking about? Of course, I won't let those who hurt you get off so easily. They have to pay for what they have done."Claire was touched to see him so protective of her. A surge of warmness spread in her chest as she gazed at him fondly. "I'm lucky to have you, Javier."T
That was all Armand could think of.In just a few minutes, Chantelle admitted to everything she had done to Claire over the past few years.From drugging Claire out of jealousy and getting a stranger to assault her to getting Liam to banish her abroad, she admitted to everything. Claire knew some of them, but not all; only now did she know the extent of her crimes.When she was finished, everyone in the room sported conflicting expressions. Liam looked especially hurt and remorseful. It turned out that his younger daughter had always been evil, and he had wrongfully blamed Claire for all these years.Armand, on the other hand, didn't know how to feel about all this. He glanced at Claire and Javier. He felt that he really didn't deserve Claire, after all he had done. He had thought Chantelle to be kind and naive and had trusted her blindly to the point that he almost married her.Thank goodness the wedding didn't happen. Even so, he had lost Claire thanks to this. It made him regret eve
If Chantelle told Claire the truth about what happened that night, then there would be nothing stopping her from having a happily-ever-after with Javier.Back then, driven by jealousy, she had drugged Claire and put her in Javier's bed without their consent. She had planned all of this out herself meticulously. She had gotten Armand to catch Claire in the act so that he would call off the engagement and be with her instead. Liam banished Claire abroad to fend for herself. However, if she had known that the random stranger she had arranged to assault Claire was Javier, she never would've done it.Even so, it was a perfect plan worthy of a blockbuster film. Claire and Javier never found out the truth, nor did they know that Ollie was actually Javier's son.It took them two years of skirting around each other only to find out that they were meant to be in the first place. Now that the truth was out, Claire would not settle for prison as a punishment for the cause of all her suffering. Sh
After a lot of persuasion, Claire and Sofia finally managed to get Ollie to agree to stay in the hospital for another three days.Of course, three days weren't enough. Sofia and Pedro tried everything they could to convince Ollie to stay in the hospital for as long as possible.However, Ollie was smart enough to see through their ruse. He felt guilty when he saw them trying to cajole him into staying, so one day, after another attempt, he spoke up hesitantly, "Grandma, Grandpa, I'm glad that you're trying to keep me happy, and I'm touched that you're concerned about me, but I've been in the hospital for too long and it's making me sad. I promise that I'll listen to the doctor even when I'm at home, okay?" Under his bright, clear gaze, Sofia's protests died in her throat, leaving only exasperation and wordless sorrow.Ollie was too mature for his age. How could they not love him?Therefore, Ollie got his wish and was discharged three days later. In order to take care of Ollie, Sofia an
Hearing this, Javier narrowed his eyes. He felt like he was on the verge of grasping something, but the feeling passed too quickly for him to register it. Softening his tone, he said, "There's no need to be scared, Ollie. We're all right here with you. We'll protect you no matter what happens. Can you tell me what you remembered?"Ollie might have regained his memories from before he'd been drugged.Buoyed by the encouragement, Ollie thought hard for a moment and said with a frown, "I … I remember a lady beating me. She locked me up and didn't let me eat anything while saying bad things about me and Mommy all the time. I wanted to fight back, but I was too weak. After I tried to run, she caught me and beat me up some more and forced me to eat food off the floor." Toward the end of this, Ollie burst into tears.Claire's heart hurt for him. She wanted to hug him, but Javier got there first."Tell me, Ollie, do you know her name?" Javier's voice was thick with tears as well. "Do you remem
With that, Henry threw a glance at the rest of the employees and hurried them out. He also dragged Raina and Thomas out with him, leaving only Claire and Javier's parents to keep him company.Since it was only a small procedure for Javier, he did not get a lot of anesthesia. He tried to wriggle his body a little. Realizing what he was doing, Claire quickly helped him sit up.Javier did not look like he had just come out of surgery. Thanks to his strong physique, he looked fine.Seeing this, Sofia finally eased up a little on her worries. "How are you feeling, Javier?"Javier shook his head. "I'm fine, Mom. I just need some rest. How about Ollie? Did they say when he'll wake up?" He already knew that the surgery was a success, so he wanted to know when he would be able to see Ollie."Randy said that Ollie will be out for some time, but he's fine," Claire replied. Javier nodded. He, too, finally eased up on the tight knot of worry that was weighing his chest.Once he was sure that Javie
The surgery took three hours.As time went by, Claire got more and more anxious. However, there was nothing she could do but wait.In the end, Sofia was the first to crack. She went up to Claire and said anxiously, "Claire, are you sure that Dr. Xenos is good? It's been three hours, why aren't they out yet? I have a bad feeling about this."Claire wasn't exactly relaxed either, but she didn't show it. She gathered her thoughts and comforted Sofia. "Everything will be fine, Mrs. Marquez. Randy is a well-known surgeon, I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Don't worry." She wanted to reach out to comfort her, but in the end, she just sat there with an awkward expression. This was probably how their relationship would be in the foreseeable future—awkward and distant.Pedro watched their interaction with an air of knowingness. "Stop crying, Sofia," he said. "They're fine, you don't have to cry about them. Claire's still pregnant, don't upset her."Sofia was about to get angry about his admoni
At that, Javier narrowed his eyes dangerously.The Weiss family wasn't in a stable condition right now, so it wouldn't be hard for him to take revenge on Claire's behalf. Now that he knew the truth of what had happened, he had to find a way to punish the perpetrators.The news that Ollie was Javier's biological son quickly spread, especially after Sofia held a party in celebration. In fact, it made headlines the day before Ollie's scheduled surgery.Javier wasn't surprised about it. He had been looking for an opportunity to announce it to the public so that there wouldn't be unsightly rumors that would affect Claire. Claire, on the other hand, felt a little uncomfortable about the announcement. After all, she had always been a private person; she didn't want anyone to disturb her peaceful life.After a while, though, she got used to it.The most important contributor to this was that it benefited Ollie. From now on, he wasn't a fatherless child anymore. He could tell anyone who would l