“After three days, if I don’t see the money,” He put the knife under her chin, “I’ll post all those naked pictures of yours so that Mr. Tanner can see what his girlfriend would do for money.”Sandy’s shoulders were shaking, and the pain in her belly turned her pale. Lenny finally left with his men. Sandy noticed blood coming out between her legs and opened up her skirt to check. The pain made her drop to the floor in tears. She took a deep breath and crawled up to the couch to call Tanner, but Tanner didn’t pick up. …Pearl’s assistant walked out of the elevator and saw Tanner walking out with his jacket in hand and no tie. His shirt was wrinkled too.The assistant was surprised, but Tanner walked past her straight into the elevator before she could ask. She pushed the door open. “Ms. Santiago, Mr. Hannigan—” When she saw the scene, it made her freeze. Pearl was curled up on the couch with only her underwear on, her hair was a little messy, and she could see marks on her s
Tanner pulled his hand away and calmly asked, “What happened?”Sandy was stunned, and then a tear rolled down her cheek, looking delicate. “Would you believe me?”Tanner looked at her. She propped herself up meekly. “It… it was Ms. Santiago. She didn’t want me to have this child, so she sent someone to beat me up and caused the miscarriage. Tanner was still silent. Sandy sobbed. “It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have gone back to you. I shouldn’t have dreamed of becoming your wife. My poor child. He hasn’t been born and hasn’t seen the world yet, but he has already left. Tan, I’m so sad I don’t want to live anymore.”Tanner rolled his eyes and helped her lie down. “Take a rest, don’t be silly.”“Tan,” Sandy looked at him, “Would you leave me now that our child is gone? I’ve lost my son, so I only have you left.”Tanner looked at her calmly. She was still the woman he loved, the delicate woman who needed his protection, but he could no longer be sure whether her love and deli
However, was Sandy going to give up just like that? No1…Lucy and Naomi went to the cafe nearby to try out some newly launched cakes during lunchtime. “The cakes here are quite nice. A lot of people are talking about them on Instagram, and that’s how I was poisoned.”Naomi was curious. “What do you mean poisoned?”Lucy paused, “That means I wanted to try them really badly. When someone online recommends something so that everyone knows about it.”Lucy then tapped her head. “Don’t you go online a lot? I think you’re quite young, but there seems to be an age gap between us.”Naomi pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled awkwardly. “I’m not a fan of social media.”“That’s why.” Lucy took a scoop of cream. “But I can understand. A socialite like you probably is very strictly controlled by your family. It isn't surprising that you don’t have time to go online.”Naomi smiled but didn’t answer. She had no idea how to explain her past. “By the way,” Lucy looked around and leaned i
Naomi did not reply. She pushed the door open and chased Francisco.When Francisco arrived at the car park, he saw something through the reflection of the window, and his hand froze. He turned his head around to look at Naomi. “Is there anything I can help you with, Ms. Topaz?”Naomi was panting heavily. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and straightened her back, “I’m sorry, Mr. Boucher. We didn’t mean to pry into your private matters. I hope you won’t take it to heart.”Francisco looked at her and replied, “I’m not a petty-minded person. What's more, these rumors may not be just rumors. What if they're true?”Naomi was stunned.Francisco smiled at her faintly and continued. “You’re too gullible, Ms. Topaz. You think I’m not that kind of person, but what if I really am that kind of person? What would you do when you find out, Ms. Topaz?”Naomi lowered her head and clenched her hands together tightly. “My instinct tells me that you’re not.”He looked at her fixedly and
Sandy knew the rift between them was about her having had abortions before, and he couldn't accept that fact.She bit her fingernail as she thought, ‘He can “accept” a woman like Pearl, so why can’t he accept me? Besides, he should suspect Pearl for today's incident, right? After all, Pearl has done something like this to frame other people before. So, it makes sense to pin the blame on her.’Meanwhile…Tanner asked the security to pull out the surveillance footage on the corridor to investigate the incident about Sandy. The footage was fixed on the appearance of the three men after they left, and he asked his bodyguard to check their identities.When Tanner came out of the monitoring room, he pulled his phone and saw there were a few unread messages. He frowned deeply and deleted all of them without checking on them.Then, another message came through.Pearl did not dare to go home because of the marks around her neck. She stayed temporarily in a hotel and asked her assistant to
Pearl rolled over and opened her eyes when her back was facing him, her lips pressing into a fine line.Tanner hugged her from the back, and when he noticed that she was trembling, he turned her around. Her eyes were tightly shut, but a drop of tear flowed down from the corner of her eyes. He wiped it off with his finger and said, “I’m sorry. Let's take a step back each, shall we?”She opened her eyes and said in a hoarse voice, “It wasn’t me.”Tanner looked at her. Honestly, he did not suspect Pearl at all. He was just taking advantage of that to give himself a reason not to let her go. “No matter if it’s you or not, I’m not letting you leave my side.”He released her and rose up to get himself changed. It was only when he left the room and closed the door with a slam that Pearl closed her eyes.When Tanner exited the hotel, he received a call from his bodyguard. “Mr. Hannigan, we’ve found the identities of those people. They’re loan sharks.”He stood beside his car. “Loan shark
“Sandy, if you told me the truth just now, I would believe that you had your own reasons, but you chose to lie to me again. How am I supposed to know that you’re not lying to me now as well?”Tanner lifted his head and forced himself to calm down. “You even made Pearl your scapegoat. Sandy, you’ve changed.”Sandy’s chest began heaving up and down heavily. She clenched her fists tightly, and tears were falling down from her cheeks like broken beads. “I’ve changed…” She lifted her head to look at Tanner and asked, “Is it me, or is it you who have changed?”Tanner did not reply.Crying, Sandy shouted, “Ever since I got pregnant, you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder. You are the one who made me feel like I might lose you. I don't want that to happen, so do you think I'd dare to tell you the truth?”She gradually broke down emotionally and shouted, “Tanner, I'm a woman, and a woman's intuition is always right. Since when did you change your attitude when facing Pearl?”Tanner was
“Maybe you're right. You were perfect in my memories. It's exactly because Pearl is the exact opposite of you that I still chose you after you returned. I thought I still loved you. Even now, I can't tell how I feel about you. Do I still love you? Do I feel guilty about you? Is the person I love the perfect Sandy from the past or the woman before me?”Sandy sat silently on the bed. After a long while, she said in a hoarse voice, “So you don’t love me anymore.”Tanner parted his mouth and replied, “What if this is the bitter truth?”Sandy did not say anything anymore.Neither of them spoke for a long while. In the end, she laughed and wept. “I get it now. We can never go back to what we once were.”“I’ll help you to settle your debt.” Tanner turned around and walked away. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and said, “Sandy, this is what I owe you.”He left the ward afterward.Sandy broke into tears as Tanner slowly disappeared from her vision. If she could go back in time, she wo