Irene understood that Isaac's hostile takeover over Smartville Tech was what led to the whole mess.When people are desperate and have nothing to lose, they would fight without holding anything back—even if it kills them!As the saying goes, "Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose."And none of this would have happened at all if not for the plane crash!"Yeah," Isaac replied."I'm going out later," Irene then said."Where to?" Isaac asked. "I need to cook up something so Erin will be willing to go back to Minerva. I'm afraid she'll find out something about James if she stays here with us," Irene told him."Your excuse might arouse her suspicion anyway," Isaac pointed out. "You're still injured, so you should stay here.""What if she asks about your blindness? What would you say here?" Irene asked."She must have heard about the plane crash, right?" Isaac asked in return.Irene shook her head. "She would not be here this late if she did. She doesn't know."Isaac w
Irene was left stumped. She stammered a little before saying, "The place he went to was remote and has poor cell signals…""He wouldn't let that stop him," Erin said, her eyes almost ablaze as she held Irene's gaze. "I hope you're not hiding anything from me, Irene."Irene was afraid to look Erin in the eye just then—she could not do it while lying to those exceedingly sharp eyes. "Why would I lie to you?" Irene said."But why did you bring me out here? To persuade me to go home?"Irene quickly denied it. "Of course not. You just came, so of course I'd like you to stay a few more days… but you can't stay because of work, right?""I applied for an extended leave," Erin replied. Irene was stumped. Erin was not so easily fooled. What should she do?Irene certainly did not know what to do just then. To make things worse, Erin suddenly said, "Let's go. Once we're done shopping, we can head to your place."And with that, Irene could not tell her to return to Minerva at all!
Did those men put something dangerous in the box?! Irene became nervous at the thought and told Pierre, "Get Stan and Zachary.""Also…" She then turned to Erin and Eagle and said solemnly, "You two should go inside."Eagle was the best fighter among them, and she would only be at ease if he was in the castle with Isaac and their children."Yes, ma'am," Eagle said and turned to Erin. "Let's go, Ms. Gooding."Erin pursed her lips, but she followed Eagle in the end.Irene did not dare to open the box alone, however, and waited until Stan and Zachary arrived.Pointing at the box, she said, "Two suspicious men brought that. I don't know what's in it, but it might be dangerous!"Stan and Zachary traded glances before Zachary turned back to Irene. "You should go inside."Irene nodded, and before she went into the castle, she turned and told them, "Be careful, both of you."Zachary waved her off. "Just go." Still, Irene was looking back from time to time before she headed in, whil
Stan closed his eyes, afraid to look just then!As Zachary pulled the zipper, the sound seemed so loud it was deafening!Stan's lips were trembling, but he did not dare to make a sound.At the same time, Zachary opened the zipper and forced himself to see what he did not want to see. It was a leg, still soaked in blood.Thankfully, it was not an entire corpse.Zachary stared at it grimly. On the other hand, Stan had not been hearing anything for a while, and he slowly opened his eyes!He stumbled backward when he saw what it was.However, he was not so faint-hearted that mere gore would scare him.He was afraid that it was James's leg!"Our location is compromised," Zachary said quietly then.Stan nodded.The gangsters obviously had their address. That was how they sent this here."Doesn't that mean everyone is in danger?" Stan asked. Zachary did not respond to that. "Check whose leg it is. I'll tell Isaac."Stan nodded. "Okay."-In the castle, Irene could hear Er
Irene jumped in surprise at Erin's sudden arrival. Still, she soon composed herself and spoke as calmly as possible. "What's wrong?"Erin glanced between Irene and Isaac before saying awkwardly, "Sorry I didn't knock. Am I disturbing?""No," Irene quickly said."Oh, okay." Erin smiled. "Anyway, Tommy's tutor is here to give him Franconian lessons at the moment, so I thought I shouldn't impose."Irene walked up to Erin and turned to glance at Isaac while she thought about what she should say. "Erin, we can't stay here.""Why?" Erin asked."B-Because…"Irene could not come up with a reason just then.Surely they could not tell Erin that they just received what they suspected to be James's leg and that it was dangerous here so they had to leave?"I just reached out to a hospital to treat my eyes. It'd be more convenient over there," Isaac said.Erin pursed her lips. "But this place is just fine… And the treatment is not permanent, right?"Maybe they would move back after Isaa
Zachary was speechless. He wondered if Stan could stop scaring him—his heart was not strong enough for such a thrill! Stan was literally killing him here!"W-Well, whose is it?!" Zachary exclaimed."Ian Jefferson's," Stan replied, his voice flat just then.Zachary almost breathed an expletive right then. "Him?! How?!"It was absolutely unexpected. He would never have thought it possible!"I don't know the details either." Stan sighed."Oh, never mind. It's fine as long as it's not James. F*ck me, I almost had a heart attack!" Zachary exclaimed cheerfully. "Alright, I'm hanging up now. I have to tell Isaac about this.""Yeah," Stan replied and hung up.Zachary then slid his phone into his pocket but jumped in surprise when he turned to find Erin standing behind him!"W-What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed.Erin simply stared at him in silence while Zachary felt guilty from the stare. Did she overhear something?He searched his memory but did not find anything suspicious
Irene was helping Sheryl with arranging their belongings, but she could only use one hand since the bullet wound on her shoulder still hurt.Hearing Zachary's call, Irene looked up to find him dashing toward her in panic.She frowned. "What?"Zachary quickly hid behind her, saying, "It's Erin. She was interrogating me about James. I have no idea, but she keeps pestering me anyway."Erin arrived after Zachary did and snapped, "You were talking about him on the phone!"Zachary's reluctance to tell Erin left her really uneasy, and she turned to Irene. "Irene?"Irene simply looked away to help Sheryl, pretending as if she never heard a thing.Zachary tactlessly pulled Irene aside and said, "I'll do it."While Irene was speechless, Erin kept pestering her, "Just tell me what it is, Irene!"Irene was silent for a moment and started toward a room. "Come with me!"Erin followed, and after she closed the door, Irene admitted everything, knowing that there was no hiding it now."After
"Well, since Hector killed Ian, he spared James the trouble!" Zachary exclaimed, suddenly finding Hector a pushover. "That's one concern less on our list! And that means it's Hector who knows about the castle, not that gang who's after us."That gang was definitely the worst of the two!"Find out where he is now," Isaac told Zachary—Hector remained a time bomb that could inflict serious damage unless they removed him from the equation. Who knew when he would jump out at them, catching them off guard?Zachary nodded."He's in hiding—even James had trouble tracking him down earlier," he said, though his tone soon changed. "But that doesn't mean he's gone without a chase, especially now that he made a move. There must be clues somewhere.""Yeah," Isaac said. "Make it fast!" "Right away," Zachary replied, and he turned to see Irene walking toward them."The leg wasn't James's?" she asked—she heard them talking about it but just wanted to confirm it.Zachary nodded. "It's Ian's."