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
At ten o'clock at night, the moon shone brightly in the dark sky. Room 101 of Sanctum Hotel was pitch-black, echoing with noises of lovemaking.Claire Weiss opened her eyes, her vision blurry and her body feeling as though it was on fire. Vaguely sensing that someone was on top of her, she struggled to push him away. However, the person didn't budge. Claire's mind was a mess, and she couldn't process the situation. All she could recall was that she had welcomed her fiance back from abroad, and out of pure excitement, overdrank. Her stepsister, Chantelle, had then sent her back to her room to rest. Who would have ever thought that she would be in this state as soon as she woke up?"Who are you…?" Claire didn't even have the strength to nudge the man. "Let go of me…"Never had she felt so powerless and yet addicted to someone. The man ignited her desires, and she couldn't help but respond to his touch.The man, on the other hand, was grimacing. He didn't seem to be in his right m
Claire's head snapped up to look at Chantelle. She bit her lip firmly, so enraged that she couldn't utter a word. Her body trembled with anger. She couldn't understand why Chantelle would ruin her life like this."So what if you're mad at me?" Chantelle twirled a finger around her curly hair and sneered. "Both your fiancé and your father don’t believe you. Just give up and leave the country quietly."Claire seethed in fury. "Chantelle, why are you doing this to me? Why?" She rushed forward hysterically and grabbed Chantelle by the neck. The latter didn't resist, however, and only put on an innocent expression as she sobbed pitifully, "Claire, don't hurt me… It really wasn't me who did that to you last night…" "Claire, what are you doing?!" Liam barked. He'd rushed over upon hearing the commotion, and with a shove, he angrily pushed Claire to the floor. "Are you crazy? Do you want to strangle your sister to death?"Claire collapsed on the cold tiles. She felt so hurt that her eyes
Five years later, at the airport in Ecraria, Claire was holding two flight tickets to her home country and staring blankly at them. Her thoughts drifted for a long time. She had been living in Ecraria for five years straight, and not once had she contacted her family.Liam treated her like she never existed, not caring whether she was dead or alive. If it weren't for Chantelle and Armand's engagement this time, he probably wouldn't have remembered Claire.Claire didn't reminisce about the land she had been away from for so many years, and any last shred of feelings she held toward it was gone once and for all on the night she was exiled.While she was unwilling to return and meet those who had hurt her, she couldn't win against her father's threatening phone call. If she were to disobey him, he would inflict harm on her grandmother.Claire's grandmother was the closest family member she had in the world. At first, Claire wanted to bring her grandmother along to Ecraria so that th
The man's cruel words poked at Claire's sore spot. Back then, things happened against her will, and it was only after she had gone abroad that she learned that she was pregnant. Worse still, she didn't even know who the child's father was, and she had no one to seek help from.After going through countless dilemmas, Claire finally mustered up the courage to keep the baby. It was a decision she'd never regretted, and a strange man was in no position to lecture her otherwise."Excuse me, I don't think that's any of your business." Claire's expression turned cold as she continued, "He only spilled some water on you by accident and mistook you for someone else. You have no right to say that to me." Fixating her eyes on the man, her gaze glowered. "I’ll educate my son. You don’t need to interfere.""You’ll educate him?" Javier suddenly snorted, and the mockery in his voice was heavy as he said, "I'm afraid a mother like you will only be a terrible influence on the child."Claire clenc
Claire's expression became sullen upon hearing Armand call Ollie a bastard. She shot daggers at him and warned, "Who are you calling a bastard?"Armand guffawed. He pointed at Ollie and said with a raised voice, "I'm talking about him, duh. Are you deaf?"The next second, Claire slapped him across the face. She couldn't believe this man was the same person she was once deeply in love with five years ago. After their time apart, she came to learn that their fleeting relationship meant nothing at all. The fact that he could treat a child so ruthlessly reflected how he'd taken her for granted.Claire's slap landed on Armand's cheek loudly, leaving him slightly dazed. While he touched his cheek in a trance, Chantelle was already yelling fiercely, "Claire, how could you hit him?" Armand was her fiancé; thus, she felt equally humiliated. However, no matter how angered she was, Claire wasn't fazed. Instead, she looked at Chantelle with an icy glare and said, "One more word from your mouth
The car left the airport very soon after. After some distance, Javier looked ahead and said calmly, "Let go."At his reminder, Claire regained her senses and hurriedly let go of his hand. Feeling somewhat mortified, she tucked her hair behind her ear and said, "Thank you for just now."Next to her, Ollie shouted eagerly, "Thank you, Dad!""Stop it." Claire hastily covered her son's mouth with a hand and then put her index finger to her lips, gesturing for Ollie to quiet down. "You can't simply call people that.""But why?" Ollie blinked confusedly and stared at her. "Dad saved us from the bad guys just now…"Claire was at a loss. She really couldn't figure out why Ollie kept taking the stranger as his father, and she was even more perplexed by Javier's behavior. Clearing her throat, she looked at Javier apologetically before speaking to Ollie softly, "This man is not your dad. He only helped us out of kindness when he saw us getting bullied."Then, she tapped on Ollie's nose an
Liam was wheezing, obviously infuriated. Standing beside him was Chantelle, who tried to mediate between them insincerely and soothe him. “Calm down, Dad. Don’t get worked up because of her. Now that she’s back, we can’t very well drive her away. Besides, the child is innocent. You have to remember that he’s your grandson.”She deliberately stressed the word “grandson” to fuel her father’s rage.Armand stood by the side as he watched the chaos that the Weiss family was in. As he focused on the large-eyed boy hiding behind Claire, he was suddenly reminded of the man who showed up beside her yesterday.His fists clenched as a gush of resentment rose up within him. Waves of emotion roiled in his eyes.He had, after all, been with Claire for several years. Though they had eventually broken up due to the incident, he still held a place for her in his heart.Claire stared at the family before her emotionlessly as she struggled to push back the bitterness that threatened to take over her. Sh
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