Renee didn't want to pressure Quinton to get married, but she could tell that he was lonely. He needed someone who could understand him and stay with him. The longer he stayed like this, the more he would regret it. The first half of his life had been torturous, and Renee didn't want to see him spend the rest of his life alone."It's nice to have a companion, but the problem is..." Quinton shook his head helplessly. "I'm mentally ill and flawed, so I'd better not burden others. It's fine if I enjoy the moonlight alone. I don't think it's sad." He had gotten used to being lonely, and had anticipated spending his life alone."How could you say that about yourself?" Renee frowned. "I think everyone is mentally sick one way or another, and sickness can be cured. You were living a gloomy life in the past, but you've left that behind now. Once you face the sunlight, you'll naturally become brighter. You're not mentally ill or flawed!" Renee hated Quinton's pessimism. His life was still lon
Renee could tell that Quinton had not forgotten about Joanne, and his feelings for her ran deep. That was why he refused to open up or get close to other women. Hence, Renee hoped that Quinton and Joanne could at least talk so they could let go of their past and start their new lives.Unfortunately, Quinton kept avoiding the subject. "Don't worry about my affairs, especially my love life. Just take care of yourself and get along well with Justin; that's what I really wish for." He had no intention to date anyone for now—he just wanted to restore his family's image and protect Renee well. He knew that he had a lot of trauma, and if he dated someone, he would subconsciously hurt that person."I'm not trying to force you to go on a date or make peace with Joanne. I just hope that you can let go of your past and open your heart to new things. Then, you can truly live your life." Renee sounded urgent as she sighed. "I feel like a doctor. I know the reason for your illness and watch you su
Gina had to have enough experience as a class teacher if she wanted to get a management position. One needed a rich resume to be the class teacher. Since Gina graduated from Coral Coast University, she was confident that the principal would appoint her as the class teacher. To her displeasure, the principal had picked Joanne instead, who was unqualified in all aspects."Ms. Garcia, it's going to be tiring receiving the new students today. What would you like to talk about during the parent-teacher meeting later?" After helping the students settle down, Gina came to the office and spoke to Joanne."I'll talk about my teaching methods," Joanne replied coolly. She had an innate aloofness, which was why she wasn't close to the other teachers there even though six months had passed. Additionally, all the teachers there shared Gina's thoughts in thinking Joanne was inferior and did not deserve to be working there."Gina, you don't know since you just came, but Ms. Garcia is awesome. She j
Gina looked at Joanne and blinked, then grinned coyly and said, "Don't be upset, Ms. Garcia… I was just joking. After all, it's rather odd that you were hired here despite your academic qualifications and experiences. I know for a fact that all teachers here are curious about it.""Can you accuse someone like that just because you're curious?" Hostility gleamed in Joanne's eyes. "If that's the case, can I assume that it's because of your looks that you became the deputy class teacher of the primary school at such a young age?" "How can you say that, Joanne? I graduated with a master's degree from Coral Coast University. I worked hard to get here!" Gina immediately stood up and said rudely, "I must have guessed right that you got into this school by relying on a man—you wouldn't be this upset otherwise!" "Well, you also overreacted, so I must have hit the nail on the head too," Joanne sneered.Gina's eyes widened in rage. "How dare you…"Ainsley Terrell, the teaching director, im
Gina looked at the laptop reluctantly. "But saying she has no academic qualifications or experience won't affect her much.""Well, maybe you can spice it up a little," Calista suggested slyly. "Let me give you an idea… Do you know why Joanne always wears long-sleeved shirts and long pants? It's 104 Fahrenheit now, but she still doesn't dare to show skin.""I don't know... Is she conservative?" "Of course not!" Calista peered outside, and when she saw that Joanne hadn't come back yet, she whispered to Gina, "I'm guessing her body is either really scarred or covered in tattoos. Think about it… No parent would want someone like that teaching their kids.""Is that true?" Gina swallowed and took a deep breath. "Thanks for the advice, Ms. Jude. I know what to do now."Joanne stayed in the washroom for a long time because her stomach was cramping. She thought it was because her period was coming soon, but when she checked her notes, that didn't seem to be the case. After thinking about
Joanne arrived at her class to hold a parent-teacher meeting with the new students' parents. The parents were very curious about the people who taught their children, especially the class teacher. They were very concerned about that.Joanne stood at the door for a while, taking a few deep breaths before striding into the class. "Hello, everyone, welcome to the first parent-teacher meeting for the third first grader class." Joanne was wearing a professional white shirt and pants, with her hair up in a ponytail and a pair of rimless glasses on. She looked elegant and proper, and the parents looked at her in admiration."Let me introduce myself—I'm the class teacher, and my name is Joanne Garcia. Although I'm not very experienced in teaching, I'm well-versed in various teaching methods. Now, I'll explain my plans for the class." Joanne smoothly redirected the topic, emphasizing her strengths. She inserted her USB drive into the computer to open the detailed presentation she had prepared
They felt that Joanne looked sophisticated and had good teaching methods, but Gina's outstanding academic qualifications were hard to beat. They felt Joanne's qualifications had to be better since she was the class teacher."Honestly, I don't really have any academic qualifications, and I've only been teaching for less than six months," Joanne confessed, knowing the parents wouldn't let her off the hook."What? No academic qualifications and you've only been teaching for six months?" The parents were shocked and furious, and wanted to change the class teacher. At that moment, words started appearing on Joanne's presentation slides.[Here's a gentle reminder—Joanne has never been to college. Her life is troubled and messy, and she's hiding something on her body… That's why she always wears long-sleeved shirts and long pants!]"What's happening? Is it true? The class teacher of our kids has never been to college?""What is she hiding? No wonder she put on a shirt with long sleeves o
"Let me go!" Joanne didn't like people touching her, and tried to shake Gina off. Her reaction only made the parents more suspicious, and they wondered if the accusations were true. "We just asked you to roll up your sleeves. What's so difficult about that?""There must be something wrong. We can't let her go. Where's the principal… He has to come here and explain this.""I think we should just tear off her clothes and see if she really has a disease." Some parents even ran to the door to block Joanne from leaving."Yeah, Ms. Garcia. What are you afraid of? We just asked you to roll up your sleeves; it won't hurt you." Gina steadied herself and grabbed Joanne's arms again, then roughly pulled the sleeves of Joanne's shirt, tearing them off. The people there gasped in horror when they saw Joanne's skin."What's wrong with her?""How horrible… Who is she? What did she go through?"Joanne's exposed arms were full of scars and marks. There were burn marks, scratches, and discolor
Mateo swallowed. "Yes, I'm aware of that. The Stuart family has been investing in a lot of entertainment properties in Southeast Aeos in the recent few years. They're controlling more than half of the TV stations. Their power and influence are incomparable.""Looks like you keep up with the current events. Are you involved in the entertainment field too?" Liam asked.He had easily gained the result he wanted with just a few words. He faked a smile and looked at Mateo, who was panicking.Mateo glanced at him and said grumpily, "All that Master ever asks us to do is indecent. If we don't have any people in the media, we're doomed."The Triangle was never governed by the law, but public opinion was a dangerous weapon. If they went over the line and got reported by the media, international law would get involved. Naturally, it would affect their business.The Stuarts did decent business like the Osbornes and might appear easy to control. However, they couldn't be offended casually—a
Because of Liam's declaration, he and Mateo failed to reach a consensus.Mateo's gaze grew colder and more sinister, and he glared fiercely at Liam. "Fine. There's nothing to talk about between us.""No, you're wrong." Liam calmly swayed the wine glass. "You can get down on your knees and say sorry. Maybe I'll let you off by then!""How dare you!" Mateo could no longer take it—he pushed all the cutleries on the table to the floor and pointed angrily at Liam. "You refused my kindness. I won't go easy on you!""Just come at me. I'll wait," Liam shot back provocatively. He knew Mateo well—the man was wicked and cautious, but also cowardly. Under these circumstances, he wouldn't act recklessly. Hence, Liam wasn't afraid to infuriate him. Renee was right. Mateo had done so many things to control Liam. As long as Liam remained calm, Mateo couldn't do anything to Renee and Leia. "You think I won't do that?" Mateo clenched his fists and snarled fiercely, "I'll break one of their fing
Liam casually twirled the wine glass in his hand and asked Mateo coldly, "So, you won't stop until you marry Gem?""Not just that." Mateo tore off a drumstick and bit into it, then cracked a cunning sneer. "Marrying Amber is always in my plans. I'll marry her even if you're not involved. Tonight, I want to talk to you about the few territories in your hands.""The territories in my hands?" Liam frowned. Initially, he was confused—then, he understood it and chuckled. "What territories? I just work for Mr. Jenkins. The territories we took in belong to him. You'd better ask them from him instead of me. That's more straightforward."When Liam and Amber decided to fake their marriage, Benjamin focused on training Liam. In the process, he gave Liam a lot of power and authority.Liam didn't fail Benjamin. He did a great job even with his limited power. In half a year, he took three territories, namely the East River, West River, and South River. The three territories came with an importan
"Just forget about it?" Luneth fell into a daze when she heard Amber's words. She glanced at Amber darkly before letting out a twisted laugh. Then, she shook her head."No, I can't let it go just like that! Grady was hurt. How can I call myself a mother if I let it go like that? I must make the two people who hurt Grady pay dearly!"Luneth's expression shocked Amber. She subconsciously swallowed and asked, "Well, how will you handle it?" "I told Mateo to lock them up. When Grady's condition stabilizes, I'll make them pay!" Luneth's eyes shone with fury and vengeance, and she gnashed her teeth. "They hurt Grady, so I'll give them a taste of their medicine! I won't break their limbs or cut off their tongues. I'll just cut their foreheads and tear off their scalps! What do you think?""You want to…tear off their scalps?" Terror gripped Amber when she heard Luneth's plan. An awkward laughter escaped her. "Isn't that too ruthless? If they didn't do it on purpose, I don't think you sh
Amber grabbed some tissues beside her and carefully covered the scratch between her brows. She kept calm in hopes that she could make Luneth let down her guard. She knew very well that Liam, Renee, and Leia would be doomed if she didn't stop Luneth from telling Benjamin and Macsen about this incident. Although her face hurt badly from the teacup, it was nothing compared to their safety. "I'm sorry, Gem… I didn't do it on purpose. I was too angry and scared!" Luneth realized how aggressive she had been, and apologized to Amber in sobs. At the same time, she complained piteously, "You know how hard it was for me to get a child. Grady is very dear to Macsen and me. We don't even speak loudly to him or beat him up. But today, someone pressed him to the ground and beat him up. There's such a large hole in his head! The doctors told me that we needed to take good care of his wound. If it gets infected or he gets tetanus, the bacteria or virus might invade his brain and turn him mentall
Luneth was staying in the southeast of the fort. Her house was a uniquely styled traditional cottage. Upon arriving, Amber could hear a woman crying from afar. Many servants, doctors, and women were standing in front of Luneth's room. Amber walked toward Luneth's servant Jayna Bowie, and asked carefully, "Hello, is Aunt Luneth around?" "Ms. Jenkins, come another day. Mrs. Klein is crying sadly now. She's furious. I'm afraid you might be harmed if you go in," Jayna advised kindly.Those standing in a row at the door were trying to comfort Luneth. However, they were quickly rebuked and became too timid to approach her."It's fine." Amber was aware of her aunt's temper. Smiling, she kept moving forward. "I heard Grady got hurt. As his cousin, I need to see him. Plus, Aunt Luneth always treats me nicely. She won't be angry at me.""Ms. Jenkins, you don't know how serious this is. There's a big hole in the boy's head. The doctor said it might affect his intelligence. Mrs. Klein beca
After that, Amber looked at Liam, who kept silent the whole time. She tried to make Liam say something nice. "See, Liam? I told you, Matt's a great guy. He was just joking with us in the orchard to scare us. I'm sure he'll take our sides and protect us. Don't worry.""Is that so?" Liam glanced at Mateo and faked a smile. "Well, I should thank him properly."The air between them grew awkward, but Liam didn't care. He wanted to make Mateo uneasy and force the latter to expose his true self.Amber was simple, but Liam was no fool. Mateo's acting was smooth, but he couldn't trick Liam.Moreover, Mateo was the one who came up with that scheme. He wouldn't let anyone expose it—he wanted to be the one to do it."Okay, aren't we going to get a drink? Let's go. I'll make the chef cook us something nice." Mateo enthusiastically held Liam's shoulders and dragged him forward. At that moment, he turned icy. "If you're a man, stop involving Gem if you want to fight against me. Stop showing of
Liam was no fool. He immediately understood the profound meaning behind Renee's words and stopped saying too much. "Fine, be good. You guys are just taking a rest. I'll handle this well. Wait for my news."He knew very well that the conclusion would be the same regardless if Renee and Leia had offended Luneth's son or the child of an ordinary villager. Mateo simply wanted to use that method to control him. The only way to solve this was to defeat Mateo. However, based on the current situation, Mateo had a lot of followers in the fort. It would be difficult for Liam to defeat him.Luckily, Liam wasn't an easy target either. He had been winning people over these days. That, and he was close with Benjamin's other foster sons. If both parties were to get into a fight, he still had a chance to win.After confirming that Renee and Leia were fine, Liam left the cell. Mateo was waiting outside, grinning triumphantly. He sneered sarcastically, "What do you think? I was telling the trut
"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