"We'll know once we find the owner of the eyes," Xavier muttered, putting his hands in his pockets. He felt that it was easy to find such a person, but it was odd that they hadn't found anyone at all even after a worldwide search… and Jovan had found them instead. "It looks like we have to ask Jovan." Leia decided she needed to speak to Jovan. After such an eventful day, she was tired and wanted to head upstairs for a rest. As she was halfway up the stairs, she recalled something and turned to Xavier. "Is there any news about Stefan?" "Not yet." Xavier sounded hopeful as he said, "But no news is good. I believe that Stefan has a plan." "I hope so." Leia clenched her fists and said angrily, "He'd better have a good explanation for my bestie! Ren needs him the most right now, but he's not here. I'm sure Ren won't forgive him, and neither will I. If I see him, I'll beat him up!""I hope you'll have the chance to do that..." Xavier's gaze was unreadable as he said softly, "We'll kno
After Leia left, Renee snuck past the nurses and hurried away to find Briar. She smoothly left the hospital and headed to Hunt Enterprise, then cautiously waited behind a flowerbed in a corner. Leia was right—since Briar was a shareholder and member of the board of directors of Hunt Enterprise, she would probably visit the company often. Hence, Renee figured she would be able to meet Briar if she waited at Hunt Enterprise.Renee waited for over an hour, and the night breeze grew colder. Renee was feeling cold because she had only put on a thin cotton coat. "Achoo!" She sneezed and wrapped her arms tighter around herself, feeling miserable. Time passed by, and though Hunt Enterprise had a culture of working overtime, most of its employees had already left."What's going on? Did she exit through the back door because she knew that I was waiting for her?" Renee wondered, hesitant to enter the company to search for Briar.Suddenly, a young woman came from behind and tapped Renee's shoul
"Mr. Hunt, I gave the blanket to Ms. Everheart. It looks like she needed it." "Of course. It's so cold out there, but she's waiting there like a fool. She'll easily catch a cold!" Jovan had noticed Renee hiding behind the flower bed ages ago, and could guess why she was here. He was quite happy to observe her from his office, looking adorable in her pink attire as she looked out for Briar like a spy. It warmed his heart."Go and see if Ms. Desrosiers is in her office. If she is, tell her that we don't have a habit of working overtime here. Ask her to go home." Jovan turned around and instructed Sage Avey, his secretary who had delivered the blanket to Renee. "Okay, Mr. Hunt..." Sage nodded. When she noticed Jovan staring at Renee tenderly, she suggested, "Why don't you invite Ms. Everheart upstairs? Isn't the view of the flowers nicer from up here?""No, that's unnecessary." Jovan refused firmly. "She doesn't want me to know she's here, so why should I ruin her mood? Just let her
"Of course, it's..." Briar wanted to tell her the truth, but changed her mind when she saw how much Renee cared about it. "Didn't you say you weren't interested in others' business? That was my intimate moment with Stefan, so why are you asking so much about it?" "Of course it's important to me! Now cut the crap, I don't have the time to listen to your nonsense!" Renee grabbed Briar's collar and demanded fiercely, "When did you take those photos?""What's this? Do you want to hit me? Am I obligated to tell you what happened?" Briar wasn't afraid of Renee's threat, and scoffed, "This is Hunt Enterprise, and I'm a shareholder and a member of the board of directors here. How dare you come to my territory and try to rough me up? That's pretty arrogant of you." "Arrogant?" Renee sneered. "You haven't seen the worst of it." Then, she opened the lid on her cup of milk tea and poured the sticky liquid on Briar's head."Ah, you... What are you doing?!" Briar didn't expect Renee to behave
That was why Briar had done so many things. After all, Stefan was missing, and no one knew if he was alive or dead. Briar was the one who had the final say regardless of the truth."Hmph! Do you think I'll believe such a lousy lie?" Renee rolled her eyes. "If Stefan wasn't satisfied, he could always find a more attractive woman. Why would he go for a woman like you who is ugly both on the outside and the inside?" "Why do you ask me if you don't trust me? Isn't that contradictory?" Briar approached Renee, smirking. "You spent so much effort to come here and wait for me. You even scolded and humiliated me, meaning you know what's going on… but you're just deceiving yourself. You just don't want to face reality."Renee was speechless. Yeah, she wouldn't have made a scene if she was indifferent to the whole matter."Everyone has a dark side that's not always understandable. Maybe you don't truly know your so-called Prince Charming." Briar's tone was smug. She knew her words were messi
Sage pursed her lips and started giving Jovan ideas. "You should take Ms. Everheart out for food and comfort her, then take her shopping and watch fireworks with her!" Sage always read CEO romance novels, so she was taking inspiration from those. However, it was usually the hero doing that with the heroine... Jovan was more of a villainous supporting character. It would be going against his station if he did such a thing, but no one said that a supporting character would always remain in that role. As long as he persevered, he could become the hero instead. "Mr. Hunt, our company has always been supporting the romance between Mr. Stefan Hunt and Ms. Everheart, but I'm your secretary, so I've always been rooting for you two. I think that your love for Ms. Everheart isn't any less than Mr. Stefan Hunt's. Just do what I suggested—I'm sure there's a chance for you!" "Really?" Jovan glanced at Renee and laughed at himself. "I feel like I'm just a clown in this game." He knew how to pursue
Renee turned to leave but her belly exposed her by growling loudly."Let's go. You're clearly hungry, so why are you resisting? We're just going to eat, so what are you so afraid of?" Jovan held Renee's arm, smiling in amusement. Eventually, Renee stopped refusing."Wait, Mr. Hunt!" Just as they were about to get into the car, Sage ran over to them, gasping for breath. "Mr. Gunter from Raypeace Group sent over the joint development contract, so please check it and sign it. If everything's okay, I'll send it back to them," Sage said, then handed a contract to Jovan. "Hey, aren't you… that kind person?" Renee immediately recognized Sage as the one who had handed her a blanket and ordered a cup of milk tea for her, and her eyes widened in realization. So she hadn't been lucky… it was just that busybody Jovan."Umm, I... I don't know what you're talking about." After getting Jovan's signature, Sage turned and fled. "So you knew I was there all along?" Renee asked Jovan suspiciously.
Jovan took Renee to a nearby restaurant selling Jamerian food. "This restaurant's food isn't too oily or spicy, which is better for you since your wounds are recovering." While talking, he awkwardly arranged the silverware, and tentatively handed the restaurant's signature dessert to Renee.After such a long day, Renee was starving. She picked up the dessert with her bare hands and started devouring it. "Hey, it tastes pretty good." She generally disliked Jamerian food, especially raw meat. She felt like her brain would get infested by parasites if she ate that kind of food, but sometimes when people were really hungry, it was easy to overlook such things. Jovan smiled as he watched her enjoy the meal, and took out his phone to record the moment. "You must really be starving.""Why are you taking photos?" Renee wiped her hands clean and tried to grab Jovan's phone. They behaved childishly, but looked like a couple being playful and sweet. Unexpectedly, a waiter there snapped a ph
"No, I'm not!" Liam raised his hand to swear. "Trust me. They're just best friends. They're not in that kind of messy relationship. Both of them have a guy they're madly in love with.""I see." Amber watched how Renee and Leia fooled around intimately with each other in the cell. They looked like they were about to kiss! She shook her head and said, "What a pity! They look so lovey-dovey, better than many novels I read about where the women love each other.""You're hopeless!" It was rare for Liam to see such a straightforward and cute side of Amber. Amused, he poked her forehead and sighed. "Stop reading those messy novels! It's harmful."Their actions were loud and finally attracted Renee's attention in the cell."Liam!" Renee, pressed to the chair by Leia, couldn't escape. Finally, she grabbed a chance to leap up and walk to the door.Well… It wasn't a door. Rather, they were iron bars preventing them from escaping.The decoration and facilities in the room weren't bad. Be
Liam tensed up when he heard that voice. He quickened his pace and rushed through the corridor, toward the cell where Renee and Leia were locked up. Suddenly, he became flabbergasted and his face stiffened. For a long time, he couldn't regain his wits."Hey… What are you guys doing?"On a table lay barbecue, jerky, beer, and fruit platters. Meanwhile, both Renee and Leia were playing cards. Leia ran after Renee, then pressed her on the chair and said seriously, "Hey, gorgeous. You can't run away! You got the card for kissing me, so you have to let me kiss you. If not, you're trying to disobey the rules of the game!""Help! Help me…!" Renee kept resisting, amused and befuddled. "Get away from me! I'm a desperate woman who likes men! I can't kiss you! If I kiss you, I'm going to have nightmares… Oh, just kill me! Is there anyone who can save me?" Liam wasn't the only one standing at the door. Amber was also with him since she was following him. Watching Renee and Leia's antics,
"Hurry up and explain to her, then!" Amber said hurriedly. "Matt, you're close to her. You know Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne would never do that on purpose. Try to persuade her to let this go, and then you can immediately set them free.""I don't have a say in this." Mateo shook his head, pretending to be helpless. "You know how much Luneth dotes on her son. Ms. Everheart pinned him to the ground and beat him up. His head got injured and started bleeding. I heard it's a large cut with a lot of stitches. We can't let it go just like that.""But you can't—" Amber wanted to say more, but Liam interrupted her. He looked at Mateo, his eyes cold and fierce. "I know you set them up. Just be frank. Why did you do that?" "See?" Mateo sighed. He pretended to be aggrieved as he looked at Amber. "The guy you like is sinister. I kindly helped him, but he didn't thank me. He even accused me of setting this up… He always sees the worst in people. He criticized me in front of you and sowed di
Liam immediately noticed something wrong. He asked Mateo fiercely, "What do you mean?""Calm down." Mateo put away his gun and placed it back around his waist. "They broke the rules and barged into the orchard. Plus, they hurt Luneth's child. So, I locked them up for the time being."He appeared calm, as if he was discussing what he had eaten for dinner. He didn't feel that he had been over the line. "Go to hell!" Liam finally failed to hold himself back. He rushed over and grabbed Mateo's neck fiercely. "You can harm me, but how dare you harm them!"At the same time, Mateo's subordinates raised their guns and aimed them at Liam. The recently eased atmosphere immediately became tense again."Hey, don't!" Amber, all tensed up, braced herself to try and stop them. Even so, she was mentally exhausted."What? You want to strangle me?" Mateo was fearless. He grinned deviously and teased, "Cool it. I just locked them up, but they didn't suffer. They're fine. If you harm me, though, I
Livid, Mateo pulled the trigger without hesitation. However, he moved the gun less than an inch. The bullet passed by Liam's ear and hit an orange behind him.The fruit immediately blew up, its juices splashing on Liam's face."Aaaah!" Amber, terrified, trembled. Her eyes turned red, and she hurriedly tried to plead with Mateo. "Matt, cool it! Aren't you and Liam friends? You guys drank and chatted together in the past. You were so close to each other. How could you do this to him? Hurry up and put the gun away! If it goes off accidentally, it'll be over!"However, Mateo ignored her. His eyes were red as he glared at Liam. "Did you see the orange behind you? Let go of her now! If not, I'll blow up your head just like I did to that orange!""Is that all you got?" Liam taunted. He refused to let Amber go. He whispered to Amber, "Watch well. If he shoots me today, promise me not to marry such a man. I can use my life to knock some sense into you.""No!" Amber shook her head. Liam
"What bad timing!" Mateo's indifferent voice came from behind Amber.Amber turned around and saw Mateo with a team of armed soldiers. Terrified, she quickly put some distance between her and Liam. She stammered an explanation. "Matt… It's not what you think. Liam and I came here to look for people. Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne are gone. Liam couldn't find them and guessed they might be in the orchard. He wasn't familiar with the orchard and asked me to guide him."Mateo looked livid, but still cracked a gentle smile. "Silly, you don't have to be scared. I know you're prudent. He must have forced you to come here. I don't blame you."He extended his hand and beckoned Amber toward him. "Come here. You're my fiancee. You should stand with me.""I…" Amber bit her lip—Mateo was right. She kept her head low, about to walk to him.But in the next second, Liam firmly grabbed her wrist. "You can't go!" Liam held Amber's wrist tightly and shot Mateo a challenging look."When did Amb
Liam could only see through Amber's true thoughts if she showed her true self to him. "No, I do like you. I love you the most, and I want to marry you. But you neither like me nor want to marry me. You love freedom and Ms. Everheart. You love and yearn for the kind of life ordinary people like. So, I could only choose to give you up and let you get what you want. What else do you want me to do?" Amber was generally shy and reserved, but when Liam drove her anxious, she rambled a lot."Whatever I want is my business. You don't need to sacrifice yourself to grant my wish!" Liam held Amber's shoulders, acting like a kind senior. He tried to persuade her in earnest. "Marriage isn't a joke. Think it through. Do you like and know Mateo well? You won't be happy after marrying him, given the savage culture around here. And can you divorce him easily?""Matt will be nice to me. Even if he changes his mind, he'll still be nice to me because…my father is Benjamin," Amber replied.She chose
Being a sensitive woman, Amber immediately noticed Liam's displeasure. She kept her head lower and explained carefully, "I want a chance to choose again… I want to choose another person to fall in love with. You know that Matt and I grew up together. We're childhood friends. He likes me and always protects me without asking for anything back. I feel that it's happier to marry a person who loves me instead of marrying someone far beyond my reach."For the first time, she expressed the exhaustion she felt from her relationship with Liam. She no longer wanted to be the one who kept fawning over him. She wanted to give up and relax by being the one who was loved and adored in a relationship."Tsk!" Liam snorted arrogantly. "You don't know Mateo. He's not a nice guy. He's just good at pretending. Maybe it's just his means to get what he wants, but you assume that he loves and wants to protect you."Liam hadn't made that statement to purposely put Mateo down. After standing against Mate
Liam focused on holding Amber's hand and leading her through the orange grove. At the same time, he carefully scanned the ground and trees to find any related clues left by Renee and Leia."I don't care what others say, because I didn't do anything wrong," he said indifferently. "I hope you'll feel the same. I don't think you need to stop being my friend after choosing to marry Mateo. Am I not the friend you like the most?""That's different," Amber said.She followed Liam passively. At first, she couldn't adapt to it. After walking briefly, she felt better and found it easier to do. "Although I'm not good at my studies, I know men and women should keep a polite distance. You can't take my hand and sound righteous at the same time," she mumbled."Why not?" Liam retorted firmly. "When I was young, I always held my sister's hand wherever we went. I'm holding your hand because this fog is thick and the ground is slippery. I'm afraid of being separated from you. Just walk with me. St