"I betrayed her?" Stefan asked in bewilderment, wondering how that statement made sense."Adie!" A voice called out, and Adie turned around to see Justin waving at him."Coming!" Adie grinned when he saw Justin and ran towards him, leaving Stefan standing there in confusion."Didn't your mommy tell you not to talk to bad guys? Stay far away from him." Justin rested a hand on Adie's head and glared at Stefan. He had heard from Renee that Stefan had lost his memories of the twins too, so Stefan had no idea that Adie was his son. Renee had begged Justin to pretend to be Adie and Abby's father to avoid trouble, so Justin purposely tried to sound like he was Adie's father.As expected, Stefan got the wrong idea, and his gaze turned cold as he scoffed, "I would have stayed away from him if I knew that he was Renee's son. It seems like he's just as dangerous as his mother." After that, Stefan shoved his hands into his pockets and left the garden. He didn't want to admit it, but an unexpla
Seeing how Justin was slowly entering his trap, Adie smiled mysteriously but kept Justin guessing. "You should know my mommy well since you like her so much. Why don't you try to guess?""You want me to guess?" Rubbing his chin, Justin nodded contemplatively. "I guess the thing your mommy needs the most is the sincerity of an excellent man like me. It's the reason why I've appeared in her life, because I'm just the thing she needs." "Ugh!" Adie pretended to vomit and complained, "You're so cheesy, Mr. Baldwin; no wonder my mommy doesn't like you. You say you're sincere but isn't that just an empty promise? You should let your actions do the talking.""Haha! You're so young. Do you even know what empty promises are?" "Yes, I do. Empty promises are promises that are never kept while sincerity is the exact opposite." Adie narrowed his eyes at Justin. " Do you want to make empty promises or let your actions speak for you?""Okay, stop beating around the bush. Just tell me what you w
"Huh?" Renee looked confused. "Benefactor, please come in." Adie beckoned Justin in with a finger and said seriously, "I've already discussed it with Mr. Baldwin, Mommy. He'll give you money instead of making you empty promises from now on. Just give him a figure, and you won't have to work so hard anymore.""What?" Renee's jaw dropped, and she stared at Adie in disbelief. What had the little troublemaker done now?However, Justin walked to Renee's bed and nodded sincerely. "Adie's right—I've never really done anything for you. Please let me do something for you now by giving you money, after all... it's pretty much the only thing I have."Renee massaged her aching temples and grumbled, "Stop being unreasonable.""No, I'm being serious. I want to give you money." Justin wanted to show Renee how deep his feelings for her were. He would have banked the money directly into her account if he could. Helpless, Renee said to Justin, "Don't take Adie's nonsense seriously. Plus, I have
Justin only said that because he had noticed bad things happening to his family ever since he started cooperating with the Everhearts. Most of them were attacks on their finances, like Justin's business partner abruptly withdrawing their funds, one of their factories catching fire, and the higher-ups finding fault with him for no reason. However, there had also been physical attacks directed at Justin and Quinton.Quinton found a man-made bomb under his car the day before, and Justin realized that his car brakes had been tampered with when he started his car. Quinton hadn't told Renee about all this because he didn't want her to worry, but Justin felt that she should be aware of just how serious the situation was."That's why I think someone might have caused your fall!" Justin said urgently.Renee clenched her fists and inhaled deeply. "Okay, I'll be careful. Quinton and I just got some time off, and there are already people getting restless." "So, what's your plan now? Do you
Stefan neither admitted nor denied it because he didn't want too many people knowing about it."If you really want to have the surgery... you should remind your surgeon to be careful because someone is trying to plot against him," Renee said carefully, unsure if what Adie had heard was true or not.Stefan stared at her sharply. "What do you know?""Nothing, I… I just feel that people like us should be careful since we've got so many enemies.""Enemies?" Stefan's frown deepened as he asked, "Did you get into trouble?""I'm safe. Plus, those people can't do anything to me," Renee said confidently. She was the world's top killer, so anyone wanting to mess with her was looking for trouble. Even though she was still recovering, she could definitely handle them."You're very sure of yourself, but you have to be careful too," Stefan reminded her gently."You too. Be careful," Renee echoed. It felt like a silent confession of love, a promise that they would both meet again after the sto
Smiling, Billy explained to everyone, "Relax—it is what it is. When we're on the island, the eight guests will be divided into four teams by drawing lots. It's time to see who you're destined to be with... People who get balls of the same colour will be on the same team… That's what 'In The Same Boat' is."The atmosphere became silent. After a while, Skylar complained, "That's so dumb! What if two men or two women get paired up?"Scratching his head, Billy grinned eagerly. "There's nothing wrong with that. After all, our show is called The Choice of Love, so it doesn't always have to be a same-sex couple. People could even become great friends here! The possibilities are endless.""It's obvious that they're trying their best to get viewers, but I'm looking forward to it. We should just try to have a good time while we're here." Leia was quite eager."Yeah, that's right! I don't care who I get paired with, but I'll surely fall for Miss Osborne if I get a cute partner like her." Me
"Damn, enemies really are destined to meet!" Leia groaned when she realized Xavier and her had both picked red balls. Just when she wanted to get away from Xavier, destiny decided to mess with her. If this had been one of his schemes, she would have refused, but it genuinely was a random result. She would only look pretentious and spoiled if she made a fuss, so she resigned herself to silent fuming. "Well, fate has spoken! You can't say no." Smiling victoriously, Xavier tapped Leia's ball with his. "Hello, my boat partner." "Watch it, or I might just kick you off the boat when we're in the middle of the sea," Leia growled under her breath."It's okay, I can catch up to you even if you do. You may not know it but I was once the champion of freestyle swimming," Xavier boasted, completely unbothered by Leia's aloofness. He firmly believed that the law of the jungle was the truth, and would do everything in his power to win. To him, his love for Leia was more important than his dignit
"Mmph!" Leia was caught off guard by Xavier's sudden kiss. She tried to push him away, but he just held her and kissed her more passionately. Since it was a live show, everyone tuned in to it was now watching them kiss. The netizens went wild, pushing the show's popularity to the max.[Ah! What am I watching? Is everyone seeing this too?][Yeah, they're actually kissing! It's a real-life example of an overbearing president falling in love with a woman. It's so dreamy...][No wonder I heard that Universal Entertainment is going to promote someone else—their boss has had a change of heart!][Does that mean that Leia is a homewrecker? How could they cast a homewrecker in a dating show? It's outrageous!][No, she's not. Obviously, Mr. Stuart has given up on trying to please that pretentious woman...][Hey, who are you referring to? Did Miss White offend you? Please don't slander her!]Endless comments popped up, and the netizens took different sides. Some of them supported Xavier
"I don't know how to tell you. I'm sure you can understand." Renee could not bring herself to say more because it was a humiliating privacy. She might as well keep it to herself."Let me guess…" Justin's gaze grew sharp as he went straight to the point. "The man in your story is Stefan, isn't it?" Silence washed over Renee as she kept her head bowed. It was a silent approval.Justin burst into reckless laughter, which was scary. He looked down at his cut wound and laughed pathetically. "This is why he could make you fall in love with him, and I couldn't. I'm too cultured compared to him.""Don't say that, Haze!"Seeing how defeated Justin was, Renee became uneasy. "It isn't written in the stars for us. Plus, I've fallen in love with Stefan a long time ago before I even got to know you. I also rely on him physically and psychologically. I can't control my feelings. It's not something we can change. We…" "Stop!" Heartbroken, Justin pushed away everything in front of him and s
Time passed by. Gradually, the pain knocked some sense into Justin. He no longer wanted to take advantage of Renee."Let me get you some water." Renee had no idea what she could do for Justin. After some contemplation, she got to her feet and poured him a glass of water.Finally, she studied the room closely and found that it was a wedding room as Justin had mentioned. Everything was set up according to her preferences, which she had occasionally mentioned to Justin. For example, she loved keeping some ceramic ornaments on the bedside cabinet and hanging some seashell wind chimes at the windows. The entire room was painted in beige and green, which were her favorites, too. Beige gave a sense of warmth, while green gave a sense of gloominess. All of those details became the perfect wedding room for Renee.If everything went on smoothly, she would spend most of her time there, and he would be her life companion. Unfortunately, there were no ifs in the world.Renee handed the gla
Renee covered her lips, her tone filled with disbelief. "I…cut myself." Justin leaned against the corner and frowned deeply. He was in deep pain."Why did you cut yourself?" Renee was scared out of her wits and grew more sober. In her panic, she threw herself at him and tried to stop his bleeding.Justin reacted aggressively as he waved his dagger and warned fiercely, "Get away from me! Don't touch me!" "I…" Renee paused, too afraid to act recklessly. She pointed at his wound and said, "I'm just worried about you. You're bleeding. It must hurt a lot. Why did you hurt yourself?" "It's better to be in pain!" Justin gnashed his teeth and said in agony, "The pain will knock some sense into me, so I won't act like an animal and lose control of myself.""I see…" Stunned, Renee was moved to tears. She understood why he cut himself. Surprisingly, he wanted to stay sober and not be controlled by the drug in the wine.He could have used her to satisfy his desire, and she would never b
"You're playing with fire!" Justin leaned close to Renee's ears and said fiercely, "What do you think there is in the wine? Maybe I'm not someone who will take liberty on women, but I can't promise that the wine won't make me so." "So, you're saying that the wine…" Suddenly, Renee realized the wine was not as simple as she thought. She also understood why Rose had behaved in such a mysterious manner. "Stay…away from me!" Suddenly, she became frightened and wanted to keep some distance from Justin. She knew that people could not be trusted completely, especially under the effects of chemical reactions. Things would certainly get out of control. Justin probably did not want to do anything to her, but both of them would lose their minds under the effect of the wine and do something that would fill them with regret. The only way to prevent such an incident was to avoid each other."You want to stay away from me, but it's too late now. I'm no saint. I'm just a normal guy!"Just
"I'm so thirsty!" The burning sensation of the wine made Renee thirsty. She wanted to drink some water.In the dark, she heard some rustling. The next second, something was on her lips. It seemed to be someone else's lips. She wondered if someone had secretly kissed her."Who are you?" Renee grabbed the person in front of her and interrogated angrily, "How dare you kiss me without my permission! Do you know who I am? I'll cut off your lips!""Let's see if you can do that or not." The man sounded dull and drunk, but he was also overbearing.Although Renee was drunk, she could discern who it was. She called out in the dark and tried to confirm her doubt. "Haze…?" "Yeah, it's me," Justin admitted, but he did not plan to let her go. He used a more overbearing manner and trapped her between him and the door."What do you want?" Renee panicked. She wanted to kick him away, but she did not resist when she learned that it was Justin. After she had done so many things to hurt him, s
The servant walked forward with trepidation and helped Justin back to his room. Austin's eyes were dark. He whispered to his assistant, who nodded and immediately carried out his order.After two glasses of strong wine, Renee felt dizzy and could not stand steadily. "It's weird. Is this wine this strong? I just had two glasses of it, but I feel quite dizzy." It was hard for her to exit the hall. She could not stand properly, so she supported herself against the wall."Ms. Everheart, you didn't seem well. Let me help you to get some rest." Austin's assistant caught up to her and stood behind her. He even sounded respectful. "It's… fine. I can go back to my room." Renee waved; she didn't want to trouble others. Besides, she did not want others to see how miserable she was. She had assumed that she was good at drinking and would not get drunk, but it seemed like she had overestimated herself. After two glasses of wine, she became quite drowsy. She would not easily leave if s
Renee blinked and smiled brightly at Justin, asking him, "Are you worried about me?" "No, I'm not worried about you!" Justin said angrily. "I don't want you to get killed here. I can't explain it to your brother and kids. It's hard to handle the three of them."He was not lying. Although he had befriended Quinton, Adie and Abby might make a scene there if they realized that Renee had drunk so much wine at the party. They were witty, always full of ideas.Hence, it was better not to cause trouble. Before they could make a scene and things get out of control, Justin must stop Renee. He wasn't worried about her at all. "So, you're not worried about me?" Renee's gaze turned dull as she sighed. "It looks like you didn't forgive me. So, I must drink this glass of wine." Something was wrong with Renee, or perhaps she just wanted to torture herself. It seemed like she insisted on drinking the wine. She swung off Justin's hand and gulped down the wine."You're out of your mind!" Justi
The aged white wine was strong. Ordinary people would find it hard to drink a glass of it. Yet, Renee had drunk two glasses of it consecutively. It was a little dangerous. Everyone at the dining table was initially watching the fun, but they showed Renee some pity after she drank two glasses of wine consecutively. After wiping her lips clean, Renee staggered and said to Justin, "Let me toast to you now. I've wronged you the most." Justin, sitting there, said with a poker face, "You don't have to say sorry to me. We don't hold each other any grudge. After all, we can't make others fall in love with us.""No, I must apologize to you. It's for my sake." After that, Renee used a bigger glass and filled it with wine."Whatever!" Justin frowned and ignored Renee. He had no idea what was wrong with her. He had yielded and let her off, but she stubbornly wanted to keep drinking the wine.He wondered if she had forgotten the fact that she had just recovered from a serious illness. She
Suddenly, Justin became mature and stopped making jokes. He talked steadily and was no longer emotional. It filled Austin with worry because it made him feel like Justin was an emotionless robot.In comparison, he liked Justin's previous self better. At that time, Justin was simple and sentimental. He was the grandson Austin doted on the most.Sophia grinned and commented, "Dad, you don't have to worry about Justin. Men will change. Previously, he was just a childish kid even though he was in his twenties. He didn't know how to see through people's pretense. But he's all grown up now. He knows what's right or wrong. That's a great thing!" As a mother, she naturally did not want her son to get hurt. Although she favored Renee and wanted the latter to be her daughter-in-law, she would give up since Renee had let her son down and harmed him. All she wanted was to see Renee get away from her son."Yes, you're right. People need to grow up. He has grown up a lot lately, but the price