After sending Aiden to the lounge, the security guard zealously went to get snacks for him. However, when he returned to the lounge with a plate of cake and fruit, no one was there!Adie successfully evaded all the cameras with perfection and got to the top floor of Hunt Enterprise. The top floor exclusively belonged to Stefan. It was where the CEO's office was.The floor was so spacious and cold that it was close to empty, save for his secretary and the executives.Because there was no news of Stefan these days, his secretary and the executives were so swamped with handling important business that they rarely went to that floor.Adie soon made his way to the door of the CEO's office. He entered the cracked code and unlocked the door easily."Hah! It's just as Mommy said. The security system of Hunt Enterprise sucks. That wasn't even a challenge!"The little boy shook his head in disappointment. Clenching his teeth, he pushed the door with all his might and strutted in.Stefan's
Aiden put down the envelope and looked at Briar calmly. "Who are you? Why are you here at Stefan's office?"His questions only invoked Briar's guilt."I…"Now, she was almost sure that this boy was Stefans's son. Not only did he look exactly like the childhood Stefan, but he carried the same strong and confident aura his father had! "Adie, I am your Mommy's good friend. You can call me Aunt Briar."Briar was all smiles as she approached Aiden gradually.She could only be sure that this kid was Stefan's. As for his mother, she was still unsure if it was Renee.Stefan was so outstanding. There were countless women who wished to bear his children. It might not be Renee, after all."You are Mommy's good friend?"Aiden's chubby but handsome face showed a confused expression.His mother had only talked about one best friend, Leia Osborne, his Aunt Lei. He had never heard of her having any friends named Briar.However, he heard that Aunt Lei often cursed a woman called Briar, sayi
"Aunt Briar, don't you like me?"Aiden blinked his eyes like how his sister, Abigail, always did. He tried hard to act cute with the same intention as Briar, to gain her trust, as he knew that it was her who worked with Bad Daddy to bully Mommy. Therefore, he needed to find a way to teach this woman a lesson!"I…"Briar couldn't bring herself to even say that she hated this little kid the moment she looked at his adorable face."Aunt Briar, can you pat and hug me? You are just like my Mommy. I like you very much!"Aiden beamed and held Briar's hand.Briar was instantly defeated. She failed to restrain herself and cupped Aiden's fair and soft cheeks and said, "How can I not like you? You’re so cute! Don't worry. I will take good care of you. Why don't I take you somewhere to play later?""Sure. You’re the best!"Aiden continued to hug Briar tightly while plotting a small plan in his mind.She indulged in the feel of Aiden's soft cotton-ball-like cheek, unwilling to let go.She
A week later, Renee recovered well from her leg injury. She was now able to get her cast removed and was discharged from the hospital.Liam, Leia, and William came to pick her up."Today is such a good day. Our Boss can finally remove her cast and come back to life with full blood in her veins. We must celebrate this!"Liam was apparently excited and even thoughtfully prepared a wheelchair for Renee."Of course! I have booked a restaurant and prepared a surprise for Ren. I think that she will like it!" Leia said in suspense, smiling like a flower in full bloom.They drove to the restaurant Leia had booked in advance.The feast on the table made Renee drool. She couldn't wait to dig in."Take your time, Boss. Don't choke yourself."Liam patiently cut the steak for Renee and put them onto her plate quietly as if he was taking care of a child. He did everything so meticulously.He could not help it, as he cared too much for her. He would not allow her to be hurt even a bit, so he
Leia tried her best to play matchmaker. William also strongly agreed. "Ms. Everheart, just act spoiled with Mr. Osborne," he encouraged. "I'm sure no man can resist it when you do that." "Yes, just do it!" Leia clapped and encouraged Renee. However, Renee appeared to be in a dilemma as she stood there awkwardly. She did not make a move after a long time. It was not difficult for her to act spoiled, and she had experience with it. However, she couldn’t force herself to do it when the other party was Liam… Liam saw through her dilemma, and his handsome face showed a tinge of sadness, but he hid it just as quickly as it appeared. "That's enough. Where did you get the guts to pick on your elders? Do you still want to hold your wedding at the end of the month?" Liam scolded the two sternly. With that, William and Leia reluctantly dropped the topic. Liam asked Leia, "Didn't you tell me you prepared a surprise for Boss? Why haven't you brought it out?" "Be patient. Just wait
Renee's heart skipped a beat. "Margaret, what happened?" she asked gravely. "Calm down and tell me slowly." "I felt that something was wrong just now, so I forced my way into Adie's laboratory, but I… I found that he wasn't there. I looked around the island, but I still couldn't see him. He's so young. Could some bad guy have taken him? Ms. Ren, what should we do?" Margaret cried profusely and described the incident with a shaky voice. Renee had left the two children in her care, but a second of carelessness caused her to fail to realize that the child had gone missing. She wished so much that she could just kill herself now as an apology, not to mention Renee blaming her. "What did you say?" After Renee heard Margaret's words, her heart twisted painfully. Her mind then went completely blank. Both Aiden and Abigail were of the greatest significance to her, her sole motivation to strive hard and live on. However, Aiden disappeared just like that, and it was hard to tell w
Margaret walked into Abigail's small bedroom and called the little girl, who was still lying in her tiny pink bed. "Hmm… I'll talk to her another day. I want to sleep." Abigail curled up and retreated into her blanket. She knew that Renee would interrogate her sternly, but she promised Aiden that she would never expose his whereabouts. She could offend neither, so… she chose to hide. "Abby, be good. Your mommy has to ask you something very important. Come out now!" Margaret tried to persuade the small bundle that was balled up under the sheets. "No, I'm sleepy, and I want to sleep! Tell Mommy to call later!" After that, Abigail made snoring noises and softly said, "I'm sleeping, so I can't hear you guys." Margaret appeared slightly awkward. She tried her best to pull aside the blanket that Abigail was under, but the little girl had wrapped herself as tightly as a burrito. Consequently, Margaret failed to pull it aside. After a few failed attempts, she was so exhausted
Those two troublemakers were so bold! "Abigail Everheart, just you... wait and see. I'll get your brother back now. I think it's been too long since I taught you guys a hard lesson. You’ve become so bold and fearless!" Renee was so angry that she lost her rationality. She then clenched her fists in front of the phone and cracked her knuckles. Abigail blinked her large, round eyes. She looked naive and innocent. "Mommy, didn't you promise you wouldn't get mad? Your nose will grow longer if you lie, and you'll age faster too. If you want to teach us a lesson, you'd better hit Adie. I'll lend you a ruler." "You didn't tell me what you know, and you tried to hide it from me. Of course, you guys deserve a beating!" Renee wished she could jump into the screen and give Abigail a proper beating for treating Renee like a fool all this time! Alas! Her son and daughter were extremely witty. They were a handful. Aiden had an extremely high IQ, while Abigail had an extremely high EQ.
"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
After a while, a servant quickly came back with a bottle of wine tied with a piece of red cloth. "Sir, Madam, this bottle of white wine was brewed more than ten years ago. It comes with a rich taste and is strong. I'm sure it's suitable for Ms. Everheart to toast to everyone as a form of apology.""That's good. That's what I want." Rose accepted the heavy bottle of wine. Although it was yet to be unscrewed, she could smell its pungent scent. "I won't easily let anyone drink this. Plus… Believe it or not, a glass of this wine can knock out anyone here." Rose carried the bottle of wine and walked around the table. Finally, she stopped in front of Renee. "I'm letting a sinner like you enjoy such a great thing today. You must drink all of it. You can't waste it.""Huh? Does she have to drink it all? I'm afraid she'll vomit from drinking.""People will lose themselves with only three to five glasses of this wine. If they drink half of it, they might get alcohol poisoning no matter
If any Baldwin demanded an explanation from Renee, she would not resent them."Fine, I won't go easy on you since you said so." Rose laughed recklessly, looking malicious. Everyone knew Rose was fierce and malicious. But none of them said anything, including Justin. They behaved like onlookers and wanted to see how Rose would punish Renee. "Please go ahead." Renee nodded and sounded very calm. "Don't worry. Regardless, you were the only woman my dear grandnephew had loved and wanted to marry. So, I won't be harsh on you. If not, he won't forgive me." At that point, Rose purposely paused and wanted to see how Justin would react.However, Justin merely sat there indifferently and had no intention to get Renee out of the predicament. Hence, Rose became bolder. "Well, let's do this. You've wronged not only Justin but everyone in my family. Since you're here to apologize, you should toast to all of us. Then, we can forget about this."After that, Rose turned to Austin and asked
The party started officially at night. It was a small party, and only some close relatives of the Baldwin family attended.Austin took the main seat while his son and daughter-in-law sat in the secondary seats. Justin and the others sat accordingly.After dressing herself up, Renee attended the party in simple clothes. She looked like a young lady from a great family. Adie, Abby, and Quinton did not attend the party to avoid unnecessary disputes. Renee was the only one who attended the party. When she reached the hall, the people had already taken their seats. They sized her up maliciously and studied her as if they wanted to make her pay a heavy price."Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I got here late." Renee took a deep breath and naturally greeted everyone. She appeared composed, but she knew she was rather frightened. She never panicked when she faced such a scene alone in the past. She could easily handle it because Justin would always take her side no matter what happened.
Quinton was fine even if Renee wasn't that happy. But she must lead a steady life and live beyond a hundred years old. "Quinton, I know I owed the Baldwin family a lot, even if you didn't tell me. I won't be back if not for the sake of their kindness."Renee did not hide or lie even if Justin was around. She merely wanted Justin to hold no hope in her. "How could you be this straightforward?" Quinton had purposely brought Justin along because he wanted to bring Justin and Renee together. He felt that they could still be together since things weren't that hopeless. But the disappointing Renee ruined all possibilities easily. Kindness didn't exist between a romantic couple."It's fine." Justin looked indifferent before he snorted. "I'm glad she made things clear. It's better than being ambiguous.""I'm sorry." Renee looked at Justin. Although she had made herself clear, her guilt did not diminish. She immediately expressed her guilt and helplessness since Justin did not igno