Xavier took a deep breath and said casually, "Nope. I only smell tea.""No!" Renee's senses had always been sharp. She frowned and said, “I think I smell smoke, and it's really strong!""Smoke?"Xavier inhaled again, and this time, he could indeed detect the smell of smoke, but he did not think much of it. He waved away her concern and said, "Who cares? Maybe your neighbor's having a barbecue party.""I'll go outside to take a look."Renee could not sit still any longer. She immediately stood up and went out of the tea room to investigate."Ah!"What she saw shocked her.The ground floor was on fire, and the fire was spreading to the second floor along the stairs. The entire house was filled with smoke."Holy crap, why is the house on fire?!"Xavier was shocked too.The fire was getting fiercer and seemed to have spread everywhere. The staircase was made purely out of wood, so it had completely caught fire and looked like it was about to collapse."What should we do? We hav
Xavier climbed out of the window with Renee on his back.Due to the weight he was carrying, every step he took was careful and laborious. His arms needed a lot of strength just to hold on...Smoke billowed, and flames raged, “pursuing” them like the Grim Reaper.Xavier moved down one step at a time. Sweat dripped down his face like rain, wetting his clothes. Bulging veins could be seen on his handsome face that was flushed red from using too much force. He was obviously having a really difficult time and was rapidly running out of stamina.They were now between the first floor and the second floor. The blazing fire was above them and the hard ground was below them.Xavier could have just jumped down if it wasn't for Renee. However, with Renee on his back, he could only descend step by step, which meant that they were escaping rather slowly.They were stuck in the middle at the moment, unable to move up or down. They did not know what to do.Renee was touched and felt bad for Xav
Renee dragged the unconscious Xavier through the raging fire and managed to escape with much difficulty.She was completely exhausted. She lay on the ground with Xavier, panting heavily.She looked up at the blue sky with the cool wind brushing against her skin. Life had never felt so valuable to Renee!A fire engine approached the scene. A team of firemen got out and prepared the equipment to put out the fire."How are you doing?" Paramedics dressed in white carried a stretcher towards Renee and Xavier.Renee quickly got up and said, distressed, "I'm fine. Please help him. His leg is broken, and he needs immediate treatment!""He got injured trying to save me. You have to save him no matter what. Please..." Renee grabbed the paramedic's arm and cried.She had just examined Xavier a bit and could tell how severely hurt he was. She could clearly feel the dislocation of his right calf bone.If he became a cripple, she would never be able to forgive herself."Don't worry. We'll d
Fortunately, the painting was hung at a high spot and had not been burned yet. Stefan used the fire extinguisher to put out the fire around it and took it down.However, the so-called “map” Renee mentioned was in the bedroom upstairs, so getting it would be quite dangerous..."Get back here, Stefan! Don't be crazy! Hurry up and get back here!"Renee was shouting so hard her voice had gone hoarse.She could not sit still any longer. She was prepared to rush into the fire too.But right then, she saw Stefan charging out of the fire while protecting her father's favorite painting.His handsome face was also blackened by smoke like Renee's. He was a mess. There were various burn marks on his hands, and his clothes had holes burnt into them.He looked up at Renee and carefully took the painting out of his arms. “Sorry, I tried my best, but I couldn't find the map you were talking about."Looking at his rugged but sincere appearance, Renee's tears fell like rain. She did not even kno
Renee froze. She looked at Stefan with puzzled eyes, not daring to move an inch.Her fair cheeks were blushing so hard that it was visible to the naked eye.‘What... What's the meaning of this?’Stefan seemed quite at ease. He looked straight ahead and said faintly, "Sorry, grabbed the wrong thing."After that, he moved his hand to the gear lever and smoothly adjusted its position from neutral to drive.The sports car whizzed along the road.It moved fast, like Renee's heartbeat!She only realized after a long time that she... just got teased?"Stefan, did you just flirt with me?"Renee tilted her head to the side to look at the man who was focused on driving. Her cheeks were puffed with anger, looking like a little squirrel. It was very cute.Stefan raised his eyebrows and stared at the woman with a smile on his face. Instead of answering, he asked, "What do you think?"Renee rubbed her chin and, after thinking about it carefully, said with a serious expression, “I think yo
Stefan naturally did not stop the car. He said coldly, "Everheart Manor has been reduced to rubble. If you don't go back to the Hunt Villa, where else can you go?”"Anywhere, as long as it's not the Hunt Villa!" Renee's attitude was firm. “I can rent or buy a house. The world is big. There's definitely somewhere I can stay!”"That will be unnecessary!" Stefan's attitude was also very firm. "You still own half the property rights to the Hunt Villa, which means it's also your home. In a few days, I'll transfer the other half of the property rights to you. After that, it'll be completely yours. You can then do whatever you want with it. You can live in it or you can sell it, I don't care."Since he had said that much, Renee decided not to argue with him any further.After all, the Hunt Villa was worth over a hundred million dollars. Stefan was just casually giving her a hundred million dollars. If she kept complaining, it would feel a bit ungrateful.However, Renee still retorted fai
Lydia did not expect Stefan to be so protective of Renee. But now, she naturally did not dare to say anything else. She quietly packed up her things and left.Before leaving, she took advantage of Stefan's momentary absence to threaten Renee. "Hmph, don't think you've won! You're just an ex-wife who got dumped. You're gonna show me no mercy today? Then don't blame me for casting stones at you tomorrow. You just wait. Your peaceful days are coming to an end!"Renee sneered. "I knew you would never change that easily. You'll never take orders from me willingly. Then isn't it perfect that you won't have to serve me anymore? If I hear another grumble from you, you won't even get your severance pay.""I'll remember this, Renee Everheart!" Lydia gave Renee a hateful look and left fuming.As soon as she left the villa, she called Francine."Madam, you must right this injustice! Renee Everheart is such a cruel woman! She's bewitched the young master and occupied the villa. Not only did sh
Of course, Renee herself was not looking that much better.This was no time to be willful. Renee tried her best to calm herself down."Okay, let's tidy up and go to the hospital together."The two went to different bathrooms and quickly washed themselves.But the awkward thing was, because neither of them lived there, they naturally did not have any spare clothes there. They had to come out of the bathrooms wrapped in towels.Renee walked out of the bathroom, wanting to find some casual clothes to wear.Stefan also had the same idea.So, the two ran into each other in this awkward manner.Stefan looked at Renee unabashedly, from her wet hair down to her toes.As for Renee... she was even more unabashed. Besides ogling Stefan, she even felt the urge to run her hands over him."Stefan, have you been going to the gym again recently? Look at those abs. They're like the abs of a fitness coach."She could not help but recall the days when she took care of the “quadriplegic” Stefan
"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
Liam walked ahead of Amber, then turned to glance at her. He faked a smile and asked, "What's the matter? Are you worried that I might take advantage of you?" "No, of course not!" Amber quickly shook her head and pushed her scarf up. It had fallen a little. "I just find it improper," she answered softly.She looked like a typical woman from Southeast Aeos, petite and with a small face. Her skin was tanned, and her facial features weren't very distinct. She was charming and reserved, exuding a girlish pureness. She had put on her country's special traditional clothes. The thick clothes, embroidered with various patterns, wrapped around her petite body and gave her an exotic impression. From afar, she appeared like a colorful oil painting. "Hey, it's not improper. If I wanted to do anything to you, I would've done that long ago. I don't have to wait until now." Liam sounded relaxed and prudent to ease Amber's anxiety."Don't worry. I've always regarded you as my younger siste
Amber hurriedly turned Liam down. "You can't help with my affairs. I can handle it.""Well, tell me why I can't help you," Liam pressed. "I… I want to sew a wedding gown. And there are a lot of details that I need to add." Amber became competitive for no reason, and added stubbornly, "Your words aren't absolute. Yes, your business is important, but so is mine!""Oh, you want to sew a wedding gown. I can help you with that…" Liam said, relaxed. "Maybe I didn't get to tell you that I went to a small country in Southeast Aeos when I traveled around the world. I got to know a great sewing master. The pictures he sewed looked real like paintings! I found them interesting, so I learned from him. My sewing skills are probably better than yours. I can help you with that.""Really? You can sew?" Amber was full of surprise and admiration. Her eyes lit up. "I can't sew well. I want to learn from a great master too! If you can do it, can you teach me?""Of course!" Liam promised. "Can you he