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
Anthony responded, “Okay.”Naomi put the wine glass down, turned around, and left. She carried her dress, walked to the promenade, looked around, and finally walked toward the garden, where the fountain that was located in the middle of the courtyard reflected the colorful lights.She walked to a bench, sat down, tightly wrapped herself in her coat, rubbed her freezing hands, and exhaled warm breaths onto them.Hearing the sound of a piano coming from not far away, Naomi looked around, got up, and followed the sound of the music, only to see a lot of people gathered at a spot as if they were looking at something.She fought through the crowd and saw an elegant-looking man with gold-rimmed glasses who was sitting in front of the piano and playing it.When the music ended, everyone around gave the man a round of applause.Someone in the crowd asked, “What’s the name of the song that you just played?” Before the man could answer the question, Naomi had already uttered the name of
Naomi got up on her own, but her ankle hurt badly after taking two steps forward.Francisco walked over and grabbed her arm. “There’s no need for you to force yourself to walk if it hurts.”Just as she was about to withdraw her arm, Francisco suddenly picked her up in a bridal carry.Naomi was shocked. “You—”“I’ve never seen a woman as dumb as you.” He gnashed his teeth and left the scene with her in his armsThe sudden plot twist made Naomi feel extremely flustered, and she did not know where she should keep her eyes fixed on. All she could do was stay in his arms obediently and quietly, listening to her heart beat at an unreasonably fast rate.They came to a lounge that was located next to the banquet hall. Francisco put her on the couch and frowned when he saw that she had been holding her palm. “Open your hand.”She spread her palm obediently, and a few drops of blood oozed out of the wound on her palm.Francisco went out and asked the waiter to get him a first-aid kit. Af
“Nelly.” Anthony came out to find her because he was worried about her. Seeing her standing at the door of the lounge, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Here you are.”“Dad,” Naomi hid her hands behind her, “I... I met a friend just now, so I chatted with her for a bit.”Anthony felt helpless. “Remember to at least inform me in the future. Otherwise, I’ll be worried.”“I’m sorry, Dad, I’ll pay more attention to that in the future.” She lowered her head. It was indeed her fault for making her father worried.Anthony did not ask her anything, and they did not return home until the banquet was over.Naomi walked back to her room, closed the door, and leaned behind the door. She opened her hand to expose her palm, which was covered with a tiny piece of gauze. Her heart started pounding again upon recalling that scene.‘I seem to have fallen!’...“I heard that Mr. Hannigan’s lover jumped off the hospital room. How terrible is that.!”“Are you talking about the Mr. Hannigan who ran aw