Irene quickly asked, "Who are you?"The person on the other end was silent for a moment before laughing coolly. "Forgotten all about me already?"Irene finally placed the voice. "Harvey Gooding?"She was uncertain, however, because the voice somehow sounded weird."Are you sick?" she asked."...It's just a minor cold.""I see. So, you're getting married? I remembered you saying that you didn't have anyone…"Irene was quite surprised that Harvey would suddenly say that he was getting married. "Anyway, congratulations—don't worry, I'll definitely send you a gift.""No, you have to attend my wedding." There was a clear demand in Harvey's voice!Irene became silent for a moment, but said, "Sorry, but I'm busy."She turned toward Tommy and patted his little head.Isaac was not around, and she was still in the middle of her postpartum care and should not leave the house.Moreover, Harvey was in Sunny City—she might have considered it if he was holding it somewhere closer, but Sun
Debbie placed everything she brought on the table, saying, "Mr. Jefferson asked me to buy these."Irene glanced at it and said, "I see.""Take your time and get some proper rest," Debbie said and turned to leave.However, just as she reached the door, she stopped and turned again to look at Irene. "It seems that all you do is bother Mr. Jefferson.""And what about it?" Irene coolly retorted."I'm positive that I'm so much more competent than you at work, just as I would make for a better partner in a relationship. At the very least, I won't mess up time and time again, making Mr. Jefferson worry constantly."Ireen glared at Debbie darkly—Debbie was definitely exceptional because she managed to stay with Isaac for so long.And having made her return now, she was much more direct with Irene.Irene thought that it was a good thing—it would at least spare the need for pretext, and she would not have to worry constantly about suddenly finding a dagger on her back."I'll play my rol
Mrs. Watson replied, "I have."Irene nodded and got off the couch, carrying Tommy back to their room.Mrs. Watson walked up to her, saying, "I can carry Tommy, ma'am."Irene smiled. "It's fine."Mrs. Watson naturally did not press the issue and instead asked, "Should I start unpacking the stuff on the table?"Irene turned to look at everything on the table, and wondered if Isaac had really asked for it, or Debbie had decided it on her own.Whichever it was, putting it away was better just to be safe."Just shelve it for now.""It's all supplements, and you really need it right now… Debbie must have brought it because Mr. Jefferson told her, and leaving it here is a little wasteful…""Actually, getting too many supplements would be harmful instead," Irene told Mrs. Watson mildly. "Just shelve it for now.""Yes, Mrs. Jefferson." Mrs. Watson did as she was told, while Irene returned to her room.Tommy usually napped in the afternoon, and he was now getting drowsy. He soon doz
Sheryl told her, "Come home soon.""Yeah," Irene replied, before leaving in a taxi to the nearest precinct—she did not call for the chauffeur since she thought he had left to get a dog.Arriving at the precinct, she spoke to an officer on duty."A missing person?" "Yes." Irene replied."How long has it been since you noticed that he went missing?" the officer asked as he recorded the details. "Two days," Irene replied, but she did not actually know how long Ricky had gone missing, specifically—all she knew was that 48 hours was long enough to build a case."Do you have any further details about the missing person?"Irene told the officer everything she could about Ricky, and the officer told her, "Please leave a number. We will contact you immediately once we find him.""Okay," Irene said, and did as she was told.As she stepped out, she stood at the doorway for a moment, deciding that she had to pin her hopes on the cops for now.This was her only option, too—she had no o
One of the bodyguards gestured for the street thug to speak, and he stammered over the phone, "T-The person you asked me to tail… Just entered her apartment block…""Irene… Oh?!"Sheryl just happened to step outside the apartment block with Tommy, and she yelped when she saw them.The person on the other end seemed to have heard them and quickly hung up.Irene took the street thug's phone and called the same number again, but no one answered this time.They dropped the ball.One of the bodyguards snarled then, "You have a place to meet, don't you?!"The street thug nodded. "Yeah."The bodyguard turned toward Irene. "We will head over right now—we might reach them in time."Irene nodded. "Yeah."With that, the bodyguards shoved the street thug into the car and drove off.Sheryl walked up to Irene then, having seen them."Who were those people?" she asked.Irene smiled. "The protection detail Isaac arranged." "Are there bad people after us?" Sheryl asked. "No," Irene rep
Irene replied: [Not yet. Any developments with Kim Sherwood?]Isaac had not texted her or called because he was worried she would ask about that.While a private detective had since taken the job, Isaac had yet to hear from him.Irene knew that she was being impatient, and so, she took a moment to calm down.[Is work going smoothly over there?][Yeah. I'll be back in two days.]The dispute of who will inherit the Raideen estate would be over tomorrow, with Sammy Raideen set to be the new head of the family.[Yeah.]Irene replied, stared at the screen for another moment before typing: [Be safe.][Yeah.]Silence ensued for a while, when Isaac texted back: [You should sleep.]Irene sat by the bed and put down the phone, but found herself staring out of the window blankly for some time……Meanwhile, Zachary seemed to have matured overnight.He did not try to fight his mother again or demand a divorce—he had now understood that without absolute power, no amount of arguing woul
Peter gloated smugly. "Of course I do. I was the one who planned it all out!"Although the conspiracy to murder Lulu was his, it was Zachary's mother who pulled the trigger.The cops would never trace it back to him since he covered his tracks well, too. On the other hand, Zachary felt like he could crush the bottle in his hand as he listened, but he restrained his temper with every ounce of control he had."I see. What was the plan?" he asked, having done his best to hide the rage from his voice to stay as calm as possible."We've looked into it, but Lulu Adams has no connections at all… Her mother is dead, while her father remarried and doesn't care about her, so I told your mom that no one would ever notice if someone like her disappeared… and we did just that."Though Peter's gaze seemed to turn turbid, he was getting increasingly elated the more he spoke. "I told her that no one would ever find a body if we fed Lulu to the fishes, and your mom really listened! After I bankr
Ember could not get a read on Zachary at all right then.Did her father manage to persuade him? Did he have a change of heart? Ember got out of bed, walking up to him and wanting to wrap her arms around him… when he suddenly turned around and put his phone in his pocket after sending a text."Time for breakfast," he said, and strode out of the room.Ember quickly got changed, washed up, and headed downstairs to find that Zachary was still there.She joined him at the dining table, asking gingerly, "Are you going to be busy today?"They did not have anything in common, so she had to speak whatever came to mind."Yeah…" Zachary replied, looking up at her as he added pointedly, "I'm going to be busy.""But could you try to come home earlier?" Ember asked, not letting up so soon. "Yeah," Zachary replied. Bzzt—Zachary's phone, which he placed on the table, buzzed.A voice asked urgently, "What happened last night, Zachary?" "Were you sent a recording?" Zachary asked."I