“Lucian, I’ve been married to you for three years, but you’ve never once touched me. I’ll give my blessing to you and your first crush by giving up on our marriage. Tomorrow, you’re free to go after her. But for now, just make it up to me for my feelings for you all these years, please?”
With that said, Roxanne Jarvis leaned down and pressed her lips to the man before her as though she was a moth drawn to fire. Her action was both frenzied and desperate.
She knew this was a despicable move, but she had loved him for too long.
All the while, she had suffered greatly, and now, all she wanted was a little consolation.“Roxanne, how dare you!”
Lucian Farwell clenched his jaw as his fury sprang to life. His handsome face was as black as thunder.
He wanted to push her away, but the mounting desire in his body was too overpowering. It threatened to burn away all his capacity for reason.
How dare she scheme against me?
“I’m afraid of nothing…”
A lone drop of tear slipped out of the corner of Roxanne’s eye. Her kisses grew rapid as her inexperienced hands fumbled around his body hastily.
All she wanted was to own him entirely for once.
A wave of fury crashed through Lucian.
Alas, things weren’t under his control.
Soon, his instincts took over. As his body burned up, he lost his rationale completely.
The next day, Roxanne woke up at dawn.
Tamping down on her discomfort, she got out of bed and put on her clothes. After that, she pulled out the divorce agreement she had prepared from the drawer and placed it on the bedside table. Before leaving, she gazed at the man in the bed.
“Lucian, I’ll set you free. From today onward, we shall go on separate ways. We will have nothing to do with each other anymore,” Roxanne murmured.
She averted her gaze and turned to leave.
Her heart was full of bitterness and anguish as she stepped out of the Farwell residence.
Roxanne had loved Lucian for seven years.
She had a crush on him from her teenage years until her university days, so her biggest wish was to be his wife.
Alas, Lucian despised her the moment she married into his family.
Back then, his grandfather was critically ill and needed a joyous occasion to hopefully ward off the bad luck. As luck would have it, she was selected to be Lucian’s wife.
Her greedy father and stepmother immediately agreed to the marriage.
She could still remember how delighted she was as she waited for the night of her wedding.
Yet, when Lucian showed up, he bore a disgusted expression. “Roxanne, I’ll have you know that the person I want to marry is Aubree Pearson. I never wanted to marry you! Only Aubree has the right to be my wife. You’re not good enough for me,” he declared.
Roxanne knew that Lucian wasn’t obliged to love her.
However, she still held on to the hope that the man would warm up to her one day.
In the past three years of their marriage, she did her best to be a good and caring wife.
Every night, she’d prepare dinner so he could come home to freshly cooked meals.
No matter how late it was, she would only go to bed in peace after his return.
If he got drunk at social events, she would take care of him meticulously instead of leaving him in someone else’s hands.
Whenever he got ill or hurt, she would be more worried than anyone else.
Every winter, she would switch on the heater and fill the bathtub with hot water for him. In the morning, she’d wake up earlier than usual to warm his clothes up so he wouldn’t feel the cold.
Nevertheless, he never loved her, and he never would.
The day before yesterday was Roxanne’s birthday, but Lucian went to the hospital to keep Aubree company.
It was then that Roxanne finally understood that her one-sided feelings would never be reciprocated.
She would never make Lucian fall for her, for his heart belonged to another woman.
Thus, Roxanne decided to give up.
Lucian only roused by ten in the morning.
The first thing he wanted to do after getting up was to choke Roxanne to her death.
Lucian was the CEO of Farwell Group, known for his acuteness. No one in the corporate world was his match. Thus, he had never fallen for someone else’s trap.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect to fall for that woman’s trap!
Simmering with anger, he glanced around the room but didn’t see Roxanne anywhere. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the document on the bedside table.
“What is that?”
Lucian’s brows furrowed as he picked up the document with the words “Divorce Agreement” printed in bold text on the front page.
His gaze narrowed dangerously.
First, she resorted to that despicable trick to force me to have S** with her, and now she wants a divorce. Ha! How many tricks does she have up her sleeves?
Lucian refused to believe that Roxanne wanted to divorce him for real.
Getting to his feet, he put on his clothes and strode downstairs furiously. “Did you see Roxanne?” he asked the butler, Lance.
Taken aback, Lance replied swiftly, “Mr. Farwell, Mrs. Farwell left home with her luggage before dawn.”
Hearing that, Lucian halted in his tracks in surprise.
Six years later, at VR Medical Research Institute, Yartran.
Roxanne had just stepped out of her laboratory when her a*sistant, Linda, told her, “Dr. Jarvis, Professor Lambert needs to talk to you. He wants to see you in his office.”
After staying up the entire night, Roxanne was feeling drowsy. However, upon hearing Linda’s words, she snapped out of her daze as her mind cleared.
“Did he say anything? Don’t tell me my little rascals destroyed the research results again?”
“Apparently,” came Linda’s answer.
She shot Roxanne a sympathetic look.
Roxanne was an efficient and capable woman. At a young age, she became the mentee of Harvey Lambert, the best professor in the medical world. With her outstanding capabilities, she was never reprimanded for her work.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop her from being the scapegoat for her naughty sons.
Linda comforted her, “You spent three days in the laboratory, so Archie and Benny were worried about you. They spent their days bumbling around in Professor Lambert’s office. I think he got a few new white strands of hair from the trouble they caused.”
Hearing that, Roxanne felt an incoming headache. She couldn’t help but find the situation funny, too.
Six years ago, she left the Farwell residence and headed overseas without hesitation.
Initially, she wanted to further her studies but soon discovered she was pregnant.
Back then, she was caught in a dilemma on whether she should abort her children. When she arrived at the hospital, she changed her mind, for she couldn’t bear to part with her children.
In the end, she kept her children.
Roxanne was pregnant with triplets—two boys and a girl.
During her delivery, her baby girl was born without any signs of life due to a lack of oxygen, and only the boys survived. She nicknamed her sons Archie and Benny.
The thought of her genius sons gave Roxanne utter bliss.
However, she slumped her shoulders when she recalled she was about to get reprimanded, thanks to their actions.
Roxanne hurried to Harvey’s office.After pushing the door open, she spotted the little rascals inside. They were sitting on the couch in the office and swinging their legs nonchalantly.The boys lit up at the sight of Roxanne. Scrambling off the couch, they ran toward her excitedly. “Mommy, you’re finally done! I thought you’d be staying in the laboratory forever!”“Mommy, you’ve worked hard! Are you tired? Sit down. I’ll give you a ma*sage.”They led Roxanne to the couch so she could take a seat.As Roxanne took in their concern, she suddenly felt it was worth it to get yelled at.“Look at how obedient you are. You weren’t like this when you hacked into my computer earlier!” Harvey huffed angrily behind his desk.Archie declared, “It was all your fault, Professor Lambert! You kept asking Mommy to work overtime. Look, she’s getting malnourished!”“That’s right! Mommy’s an ordinary human being. How could you ask her to work day and night?” Benny chimed in as he kneaded Roxanne’s shoul
Roxanne’s heart lurched to her throat and remained there as she hurried out of the airport. She kept turning at her shoulder to confirm he didn’t come after them.Fortunately, his figure remained nowhere to be seen even after they exited the airport.Roxanne could finally heave a sigh of relief.The kids found it strange that she kept turning her head to glance behind them.As Roxanne seemed anxious, they knew it wasn’t the time to ask questions. Without a word, they allowed her to drag them out obediently.“Roxanne! Archie! Benny!” A woman called from afar.The three of them lifted their heads and saw a lady dressed in a suit, waving at them happily as she made their way to them.Roxanne relaxed gradually at the sight of the woman. Flashing a smile, she said, “Madilyn, it’s been so long!”Madilyn Xander was her best friend back in university and was currently working as a doctor in her own family’s hospital.Shortly after, Madilyn came to a stop before them and flung her arms around
Lucian glared at her silently for a few seconds.Meanwhile, Aubree dug her nails into her palm to stop herself from revealing her real emotions.“You’d better not be lying.”Lucian averted his gaze a while later and turned to Cayden. “Did the police get back to you?”Cayden’s voice was grim. “Not yet.”He glanced at Lucian carefully and asked, “Could someone has kidnapped Ms. Estella?” Concern was evident in his voice.The girl was Lucian’s darling daughter. She was well-adorned in the Farwell family and thus became the target of many of Lucian’s rivals. Previously, she was nearly kidnapped.Now, she was nowhere to be found, and even the police couldn’t find her anywhere. Hence, Cayden couldn’t help but think of the worst—someone had kidnapped her.Lucian’s gaze turned as dark as thunder. “Increase the manpower and expand the search area. I want to see her by the end of today!”“Got it!” Cayden responded loudly.He felt a chill go down his spine when he realized his employer was about
There were now only two people inside the room.Lucian scanned his surroundings before his gaze fell on his daughter.The little girl was still upset by Roxanne’s sudden departure, so upon seeing her father, not only was she completely unafraid, but she even turned away with a huff.A faint scowl appeared on Lucian’s face.Well aware that Estella was just as enigmatic and difficult to handle as her father was, this was a job for Lucian’s assistant, Cayden.“Are you okay, Ms. Estella?”The little girl merely glanced at him before furiously turning away once more.Cayden observed her. Noticing that she was safe and sound, he sighed with relief and turned to report to his boss.With narrowed eyes, Lucian turned to the woman beside his daughter.Madilyn’s chest tightened as she met his gaze, and she secretly squeezed her own hands to compose herself.“Where’s Roxanne?”Lucian’s expression darkened as he took a good look at Madilyn’s face.He could actually tell it was her?Madilyn fretted
Twenty minutes later, the car slowly stopped at the Farwell residence.Estella did not want anyone to carry her. She quietly got down from the car by climbing down slowly.Lucian followed right behind and did not utter a word.The moment the father and daughter stepped into the house, they heard someone calling Estella.“Essie!” Aubree, who was playing on her phone in the living room, exclaimed when she lifted her head and saw them entering the house.The moment she saw the child from a distance, she ran toward her and gave her a hug. “Essie, you’re finally home! How could you run away and not tell us? I got the shock of my life when you went missing, do you know that? Are you okay? Are you injured?”She started inspecting Estella’s body to make sure the latter was all right.Estella froze for a bit, as she was taken aback by Aubree’s actions.But the cold look soon returned to the little one’s gaze when Aubree’s voice kept ringing in her ear, expressing her insincere concern.Does sh
In the middle of the night, Lucian tiptoed into Estella’s room in the Farwell residence and tucked her in.He watched the little girl sleeping soundly in bed for quite a while before he turned and stepped out of the room.The moment he came out of the room, Cayden stepped forward to update him, “Mr. Farwell, I’ve dropped by the restaurant to investigate the matter. However, I didn’t discover anything as the surveillance cameras there were broken.”“So coincidentally?” Hearing that, Lucian knitted his brows. The moment my suspicion was piqued, the surveillance cameras were broken as well?Looking troubled, Cayden replied hesitantly, “It could be mere coincidence. After all, we haven’t received any news about Mrs. Farwell- I mean, Ms. Jarvis, since she left years ago. I don’t think she’d appear out of the blue in this city.”Right after he said that, he noticed his boss’s expression darkening.Cayden’s heart skipped a beat. He cast his head down and dared not utter anything more.“I got
Roxanne was clueless about the incident at the kindergarten.After leaving the kindergarten, she headed straight to the research institute set up in the country by her professor.The moment she stepped into the building, she saw a charming man dressed in a suit approaching her.“Welcome back, Roxanne. I’m excited to be your colleague again.”Colby Galloway stood before her and extended his hand.Roxanne nodded and shook his hand, quickly retracting it.Previously, Colby was abroad. He was also in Harvey’s team and was involved in many types of research and development.During that time, Colby had been her a*sistant. After all, he was a graduate of a famous school, and his capabilities were acknowledged by Roxanne and Harvey.Though Roxanne’s attitude was impa*sive, Colby did not mind it. He smiled and offered, “Come on. I’ll bring you to the office.”With that, he turned around and led the way, introducing the structure of the research institute and the key personnel along the way.Up
Lucian furrowed his brows, and a look of annoyance flashed through his eyes.Am I seeing things again? I wouldn’t bother about it if it’s just once or twice, but this has been going on for two days straight. I’ve been seeing her figure in different places. But the silhouette only flashes past my eyes without leaving any traces behind.He could not help but snort coldly before retracting his gaze.I must be going mad. That’s why I’m thinking of her again.Meanwhile, Cayden had been waiting by the side for some time. Seeing Lucian not moving his feet, he asked carefully, “Mr. Farwell, our client has been waiting for a long time. Aren’t we going in?”Lucian shut his eyes for a while and recollected himself before replying calmly, “Let’s go.”With that, he strode into the building with his long legs.Cayden followed closely behind him.When Roxanne and Colby arrived in the private room, all the employees of the research institute were already there.Colby let her sit in the main seat, whi
Roxanne had long guessed Sonya would treat her with an unpleasant attitude. Although she was displeased, she didn’t show it on her face.“It’s Essie and Mr. Farwell’s wishes that Essie stays here. As you’re her grandma, I have nothing to say if you want to bring her back, but I hope you respect Essie’s opinions.”Sonya frowned in displeasure.I’ve already asked Essie just now. I wonder what sorcery Roxanne has cast on her to make her refuse to go home. That’s why I turned to ask Roxanne, but I didn’t expect this woman to be so tactless!Sonya was livid.Just then, Estella spoke. “Grandma, I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here and play with Archie and Benny.”Estella looked at Sonya pitifully.Usually, when Estella wore such an expression, Sonya would have gone along with her wishes. However, she was filled with rage right now, so Estella’s look only added fuel to the fire.“You have to go home even if you don’t want to. You belong to the Farwell family. How can you stay at some
Ten minutes ago, Catalina had been instructing the rest of the household staff on their chores when she heard the doorbell ring.The moment she opened the door, she saw that it was Sonya.Before Catalina could greet her, Sonya questioned her, “Where’s Essie? Tell Essie to come out. Tell her that her grandma is here.”Catalina was put in a difficult position.Estella had not been in the manor for the past few days.She had thought that the little girl was with Sonya.However, judging from Sonya’s reaction, Catalina knew there and then that Estella was with Roxanne.It was obvious that Sonya must have discovered that, and that explained her anger.As a servant, Catalina did not know how to answer her question. In the end, she replied, “I will inform Mr. Farwell right away.”She was about to go and seek help from Lucian when Sonya stopped her in her tracks.“I want to see Essie. If she doesn’t come down, I will go up myself.”With that, she began to walk upstairs.Catalina had no choice
“Please wait for a moment as Mrs. Farwell is taking a nap. I’ll tell her you’re here.” After inviting Aubree to sit on the couch in the living hall, the butler was ready to go up to call Sonya.Aubree knitted her brows and responded, “It’s okay. I can go up and check on her.”The butler knew Sonya doted on her. He hesitated but eventually agreed to allow her to go upstairs.Aubree responded with a nod. After plastering a smile on her face, she took the stairs and went up.Sonya had just woken up from her nap in the master bedroom upstairs. Upon hearing a knock on the door, she opened it right away.“Mrs. Farwell.” Aubree grinned politely. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”Sonya, too, responded with a smile when she realized it was Aubree. “Not at all. I just woke up.”Aubree walked up to her and held her arm affectionately. “I brought you lots of gifts. Let’s go down and check them out.”“Aww, you’re too sweet.” Sonya glanced at her. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m happy that you’re h
The search lasted the entire morning.The grim-faced Cayden, who returned with his subordinates in the afternoon, said, “We found nothing, Mr. Farwell.”Admittedly, Cory was an excellent private investigator.Cayden could not help but wonder how he had managed to keep in touch with his employers.Not only did Cayden not find any evidence of how the mastermind instructed Cory to spy on Roxanne, but he also could not find proof that could expose Cory’s identity as a private investigator.Cory began playing the sympathy card. “Mr. Farwell, I told you no one instructed me to do anything.”Lucian waited for half a day but did not get the answer he was looking for. His eyes blazed with fury when he saw the pretentious innocent look on the culprit’s face.“If no one put you up to this, why did you stalk her?” he asked.Cory blinked innocently. “B-Because I find Ms. Jarvis attractive. I wished to snap photos of her since I was trying my hand at photography.”He had felt nervous before Cayden
Meanwhile, Lucian, too, ordered Cayden to investigate the issue.With Farwell Group’s financial capability, the investigation was carried out effortlessly.In less than an hour, Cayden had managed to bring the private investigator to Farwell Group.It was not until the private investigator was led to Farwell Group’s entrance that he realized something was off.“D-Did I do something wrong? Why did you bring me here?”Cayden cast him a cold glance. “Why are you asking me that? I’m not the one who calls the shots here. You’ll find out soon.”The private investigator’s legs trembled when he heard Cayden’s words.The only person who came to mind when he thought of the person who called the shots for Farwell Group was none other than Lucian Farwell.The private investigator had recently been following Roxanne around on Aubree’s orders. During those times, he had indeed seen Roxanne interacting with Lucian.Yet, he paid no mind to that.After all, he was merely doing as instructed. He did no
Upon hearing that, the doubtful Roxanne and Madilyn exchanged glances.They had spoken to nearly all the research institutes that could develop that specific bacterium in Horington, and only that research institute confirmed that their laboratory had previously lost the bacteria.Although it happened half a month ago, the bacteria could remain viable as long as they were appropriately preserved.Madilyn was aware of that and didn’t hesitate to ask, “How did you guys lose the bacteria back then? Do you guys have any findings now?”The person’s answer did not disappoint them. “One of the researchers should have taken it,” he said frankly.Madilyn was filled with confusion when she heard that.“Although we have no solid evidence, we were certain about that. Two days after the bacteria went missing, that researcher suddenly quit. We haven’t heard from her since then,” the person continued.Before Madilyn could speak, Roxanne asked, “What’s the name of that researcher?”The person on the o
At the side, Estella had her head lifted and gazed at Roxanne, looking hopeful.Roxanne’s gaze flickered. Only after obtaining Lucian’s promise did she forcibly suppress the worry within her.“Got it. I’ll take good care of Essie for the next few days.”Lucian indifferently inclined his head a fraction in acknowledgment. Shortly after, he took his leave and left.Roxanne watched as his car disappeared into the distance before bringing Archie, Benny, and Estella into the mansion.All three children were already starving to the point that their stomachs growled incessantly.Without tarrying, Roxanne prepared some quick and easy breakfast to fill their stomachs first.After having breakfast, she had the children play by themselves while she stood up and went into the study.She simply couldn’t sit back and do nothing about the person who used the bacteria on the children.Worse still, Lucian left Estella at her place. Hence, she wanted to catch the culprit as soon as possible to eliminat
“Have you and the kids been here?”Lucian came to a stop under a gigantic tree.Stopping with him, Roxanne looked around before shaking her head. “No.”That tree was located at the edge of the woods.Yesterday, she had been with Archie, Benny, and Estella in the woods or by the waterfall.As such, they indeed hadn’t been to that particular spot.Nodding in understanding, Lucian motioned for her to take a look at the bottom of the tree.Roxanne followed his gaze and took a closer look, upon which she made out a vague footprint.From the looks of it, it obviously belonged to an adult.As the footprints moved toward the edge of the gra*sy area, they grew increasingly faint.Therefore, she had no way of knowing whether the owner of those footprints had gone anywhere near the tent.However, it was certain that someone else was there yesterday other than her and the children.In fact, that person had been watching from the side while she was playing with the children.That realization had a
After Archie, Benny, and Estella had dozed off, Roxanne turned off the small night light in the tent.Consequently, the tent was pitch-dark right then, and she had no idea whether Lucian was asleep on the other side.Well, I didn’t hear any movement in a long time, so he has probably gone to sleep.At that thought, Roxanne quietly got up and left the tent. She sat outside under the moonlight alone and stared blankly into space.The weather had been great for the past two days. The moon shone brightly, but there weren’t many stars in the sky.For safety reasons, Lucian had the headlights turned on, illuminating the tent’s surroundings and rendering it like daylight.As Roxanne looked at the scenery around her, her mind gradually began drifting.Too many things had happened that day.At first, the children suddenly contracted a bacterial infection. Then, she inexplicably ended up in the same space as Lucian.Both of the incidents had her emotions turn into a jumbled mess.While she was