Lucian’s frown deepened when he heard the boys, and he eventually decided to hold his tongue. As the children looked on eagerly, Lucian sat down at the table and took a sip of the drink made by Archie and Benny.Estella, too, happily joined her father and drank a mouthful until she ended up with a milk mustache. “Archie, Benny, you guys are amazing!” she exclaimed.Wow! I’ve never even made breakfast for myself before!Amused by the look of admiration on Estella’s face, Roxanne chuckled and promptly handed her a piece of tissue.Archie and Benny, on the contrary, were feeling mighty proud of themselves after the little girl’s compliment.“You could’ve told me if you didn’t have time to prepare breakfast. I can always take the kids out to eat,” Lucian said in a low voice.Right there and then, Roxanne suddenly remembered why she had wanted to call earlier and turned her attention to Lucian. “I’ve already settled everything on my end, Mr. Farwell. I won’t have to trouble you again.”As
After hanging up the call, all Aubree could think of was everything Lucian had done for Roxanne. At the same time, she felt grateful for staying out of that matter. If I’d done anything, Lucian would definitely find out. If that happens, I’m afraid I’ll face a fate as terrible as Jessica’s. Still, Lucian is blatantly favoring that b*tch, Roxanne, now. If this situation drags on, I’ll risk losing my position as Lucian’s fiancée! I need to make a move.Aubree sat inside the room for the entire morning but failed to come up with any plan.In the afternoon, when the waitress came to deliver her meal, she got up to open the door.Aubree frowned slightly at the sight of the waitress pushing the cart full of food into the room as an idea popped into her head.The waitress was shifting the plates of food from the cart to the dining table when a hand suddenly appeared from behind her.“That’s not needed. I’ll do it myself,” Aubree uttered gently.The waitress was stunned after hearing that. S
That night, after Lucian picked up Estella and returned home, he saw his mother and Aubree sitting on the couch. Rage was seen on Sonya’s face, while Aubree looked troubled. The latter stood and greeted, “Lucian, Essie, you’re back.”Expressionlessly, Lucian nodded at her and turned to look at his mother.As for Estella, after she saw Aubree, she timidly hid behind her father and didn’t even greet Sonya.Holding Estella’s hand, he wordlessly comforted the child as he asked in a deep voice, “Why are you here with Aubree, Mom?”Upon hearing her son’s question, Sonya’s scowl grew more intense. “You’re still wondering why the two of us are here? I entrusted Aubree to you, yet you refused to let her stay at home. To make matters worse, you didn’t even check up on her when her injury relapsed!”Annoyed, Lucian felt his head throb. “I already asked someone to send her to the hospital, but she didn’t want to go.”He was telling the truth, but the person he sent informed him that Aubree refus
Initially, Estella only hid behind Catalina, but after she heard what Aubree said about being her future mother, her expression instantly changed. She glared at Aubree angrily before running upstairs by herself. Aubree’s face fell as she watched the girl leave.Catalina breathed an inward sigh of relief when she saw Estella running away. “Ms. Estella’s emotions are often unstable. I hope you’ll forgive her, Ms. Pearson.”In response, Aubree flashed her a forceful smile.Amidst her frustration, she heard sounds at the mansion’s entrance. Subsequently, she saw Lucian stepping back into the building.“Has Mrs. Farwell left already, Lucian?” Aubree made swift adjustments to her expression before staring at the person at the entrance pitifully.After shooting a glance at her, Lucian nodded indifferently and turned to Catalina. “Where’s Essie?”He asked Catalina to take care of Estella before he went out, which was why he was wondering where his daughter had gone to.Catalina subconsciousl
Aubree was already waiting at the dining table downstairs. When she saw Lucian and Estella coming downstairs, she faced the girl apologetically. “I’m sorry, Essie. I think I said the wrong thing again earlier.”Estella grabbed her father’s hand tightly as she glanced at him, nonverbally asking him if she really could ignore the woman.He patted her head in consolation and pulled her to his side.Both of them ignored Aubree.The atmosphere at the dining table was incredibly awkward.Aubree was enraged when she saw the father-and-daughter duo sit down to eat without paying even a bit of attention to her as though she wasn’t there. However, she couldn’t vent her anger and even had to try and please the little girl.“You’re still growing, Essie. You need to eat more so you’ll grow taller.” Wearing a fake smile, she put a piece of pork on the girl’s plate.Estella paused in her tracks as she stared at the pork on her plate.Lucian scrunched his brows as he removed the pork from his daught
The next morning, Lucian heard a series of careful knocks on his door when he woke up. The only person who would do that was Estella.As expected, he saw the girl standing in front of his bedroom with puppy dog eyes when he went to open the door.Upon seeing him, she greeted sweetly, “Good morning, Daddy!”Nodding slightly, he patted her head. “What’s the matter? Why did you wake up so early today?”After glancing at Aubree’s room, she lifted her head and stared at her father. “I want to meet Ms. Jarvis! Take me to see her!”The last thing she wanted was to spend time with Aubree, and even the mere thought of having breakfast with the woman filled her heart with disgust.A frown marred Lucian’s face as he knew what the girl was thinking and understood her feelings.However, he needed to attend an important meeting that morning. He would be late if he sent his daughter to Roxanne’s place before going to the company.Thus, his initial plan was to let the girl stay in the house, but whe
Not long after, Lucian brought Estella downstairs. Aubree was already sitting at the dining table.When she saw them, she stifled the displeasure in her heart and smiled at them before pointing to the spot next to her. “Come over here, Essie. Let’s eat breakfast together.”She thought her threat from earlier would make the girl listen to her.To her surprise, the little girl blatantly ignored her. Grabbing onto the hem of her father’s shirt, Estella followed him to the dining table and allowed him to lift her and plop her down on the seat next to him.Aubree’s expression froze when she saw neither of them had any intention of paying attention to her.“You’re heading to work in a while, right, Lucian?” she asked a few seconds later, refusing to give up.He nodded indifferently.Aubree’s rage dissipated slightly when she at least got some response out of him. With a smile, she suggested, “Then let me take care of you today, Essie! I’ll make sure you’ll have tons of fun!”The instant sh
In truth, Lucian was stifling a hint of a laugh as he noticed that Roxanne’s lipstick was drawn out of line. It seems like she was still in a daze when she was doing her makeup. She doesn’t have a clue that her lipstick is out of line.He felt the urge to tease the woman when he saw the blank expression on her face.Lucian let his mischievous side get the better of him and reached out his hand.Upon noticing that Lucian’s hand was mere inches away from her face, Roxanne flinched and hurriedly took a step back to keep some distance between them.His hand was left hanging mid-air, and he titled a brow in displeasure.“Do you have anything else, Mr. Farwell?” Roxanne asked warily.A ghost of a smile fleeted across his eyes as he noticed Roxanne getting all flustered. “Your lipstick is out of line,” he said impa*sively.Roxanne’s face was tinged pink as she instinctively lowered her head to avoid meeting Lucian’s gaze. “Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Farwell. I’ll deal with it myself.”
On the way to the Farwell residence, Estella puffed up her cheeks as she sat in the backseat. She stared at her father through the rearview mirror. “Daddy, did you make Ms. Jarvis angry again?”Lucian frowned slightly when he heard Estella’s soft and adorable voice.Estella caught on to the change in Lucian’s expression and knew that she had guessed correctly. She snorted angrily.She had thought that Lucian wanted to bring her to meet Roxanne.However, it turned out he had gone to create trouble for Roxanne instead.“I won’t listen to you anymore, Daddy!” Estella said gloomily.Lucian’s frown deepened. He patiently explained, “It’s because of work.”It’s this excuse again!Estella looked at the rearview mirror unhappily and said, “You only know how to lie to little kids, Daddy.”Lucian’s eye twitched in anger when he heard that.Estella continued listing out her grievances. “You also said that to me the previous time! Earlier tonight, you tricked me into bringing you to Ms. Jarvis t
Lucian stared at Roxanne with a grim expression. Even if she did not say it out explicitly, he could tell that she was still being suspicious of him.Realizing that, Lucian’s expression darkened terribly, while the tone of his voice became colder.“Since you are refusing my offer, Ms. Jarvis, I won’t insist upon it anymore.”With that, he turned around and left the study.As she watched his retreating figure, Roxanne’s eyes glinted with an unfathomable emotion. Confusion filled her heart at that moment.Lucian’s words still left her wondering why he had decided to come all the way to see her in the first place.She wouldn’t believe his claim that he was merely here to provide the medicinal herbs.However, Lucian did not mention anything else besides that.Roxanne mulled over it in the study alone, but she could not find an answer to her doubts.After quite some time, she finally decided to leave the room.Meanwhile, the children had finished their dinner and were playing in the livin
Roxanne could feel Lucian’s heavy gaze on her back. Although her back was facing him, she still could not ignore the fact he was staring at her.Due to Lucian’s presence, she was no longer in the mood to eat anything.“You kids go ahead. I have something to discuss with Mr. Farwell,” said Roxanne softly after taking several quick bites and placing away her cutleries.She could not stand having Lucian staring at her all the time, and she wanted to know why he came to her place.The kids did not think too much about that and nodded obediently in response.Seeing that the kids had agreed to let her go, Roxanne stood up and walked over to Lucian. “Let’s talk in the study.”Lucian nodded casually and stood up, following her to the study.“Mr. Farwell, to what do I owe this pleasure of having you over at my place? Do you have something important to tell me?” Roxanne stood in the center of the study, looking at him warily. “If you’re here to offer me the technical advisor’s position for Her
That night, Lucian went to the kindergarten to pick Estella up. It was already late by the time he arrived, so Estella was the only kid left at the kindergarten.“Daddy,” Estella greeted him aggrievedly after noticing his arrival.He patted her head apologetically. “I’m sorry that I’m late.”Then, he looked up and nodded at Pippa.Pippa had waited with Estella the whole night. Now that Lucian had finally shown up, she could rest a*sured and let him take the little girl home.After bringing Estella into the car, Lucian sat idly for some time instead of starting the vehicle.Estella urged him in puzzlement, “Daddy?” Her voice pulled him back to reality.He glanced at the little girl through the rearview mirror and saw a bewildered expression spread across her face.“Have you seen Ms. Jarvis in the past few days?” he asked.Estella became crestfallen upon listening to his question and shook her head dejectedly.However, she quickly turned delighted. “Archie and Benny said I’ll be able t
Jonathan cleared his throat at Lucian’s lack of response.“I heard a fire broke out in Dr. Jarvis’ research institute two days ago.”Hearing that, Lucian snapped his brows together.Jonathan was satisfied to see his response. “What’s the matter? Did you not know about this?”Lucian nodded, his expression somber.He had not seen Roxanne since the kiss the other night.Therefore, he knew nothing of what happened to her.Although Estella would try to get news about Roxanne from Archie and Benny before telling her father what she learned, Lucian knew that Roxanne would not let the boys know that she had been in danger.Jonathan fell silent when he saw his friend’s grim expression, and he waited for Lucian to speak instead.“Was the fire a bad one? Was she hurt?” Lucian could not help but ask.Jonathan lifted a brow. “Won’t you know if you go and take a look at her?”At that, Lucian’s expression turned dark again.Jonathan was bewildered by that.What does this mean? Did they have a fight
When the a*sistant thought about how Jack had invested twelve billion in Herbscape Group, he found himself unable to continue speaking. Despite everything, twelve billion was a hefty sum.Even if Herbscape Group was a hot potato, keeping it around meant that they would be able to see where the twelve billion was going.If they threw the hot potato away, it would mean throwing the twelve billion into the gutters.“Do tell me how you’re planning to deal with this,” Jack urged with a frown.Jack’s voice snapped the a*sistant back to his senses, and he had no choice but to steel himself and continue.“If we keep Herbscape Group around, I’m afraid it’ll affect Damaris Group’s reputation, so…”Jack arched a brow.The a*sistant squeezed out, “So, the best way to deal with this is to cut ties with Herbscape Group as quickly as we can.”It’s even better if we do it before the news of Herbscape Group’s executives landing in jail spreads.That was what Jack thought as well, though his heart ach
Only after hearing Colby’s response did Roxanne relax slightly. “I see. I’ll leave it to you, then. Feel free to come to me if you need anything,” she said.Colby agreed.Roxanne couldn’t help adding emotionally, “If you can find those medicinal herbs again, you’ll solve a huge problem for me.”Finally, Colby felt chirpy upon hearing Roxanne’s tone.Ever since Roxanne went to the research institute, she had been solving all kinds of problems on her own.She would only let him, the person in charge of the research institute, help her with trivial matters.Therefore, Colby knew that despite her praises, she had always only regarded him as an ordinary researcher at the research institute.After all, he was nothing compared to the men she had by her side.This time around, he was rather surprised at the fact that it didn’t take much to trick Roxanne into holding him in high regard.No one would’ve expected him to do so much just to create a distance between Roxanne and other men. It’ll b
Jason was regretting what he did dearly. In fact, he regretted it the moment he did it the day before. However, Colby had already locked the research institute up, so he couldn’t salvage the situation, even if he wanted to.That morning, he made the effort to arrive at the research institute to see if there was anything he could do to fix it.However, he was wrong when he thought he had arrived early enough. By the time he arrived at the entrance, the firefighters were already at the scene.Jason couldn’t help but slap himself twice across the face when he recalled the burnt storage and what Roxanne had said.“This is my fault, Dr. Jarvis. I’m so stupid!” Utterly embarra*sed, he asked, “Since I’ve come forward on my own, c-could you please let the matter slide? My son is still in the hospital…”Roxanne dug her fingers into her palms to force herself to stay calm. “That’s not up to me, Dr. Coleman.”“This matter is being investigated by the police. Jason, how could you be so foolish?”
In the research area, the researchers had just regained their composure from the fire incident earlier and got back to work. When they saw two people walking in, they stopped what they were doing in unison.With a grim expression, Roxanne swept a glance at everyone and asked, “Did anyone come to the research institute yesterday afternoon?”Coincidentally, the surveillance cameras were down, so Roxanne could only a*sume that someone had gone over at that time.As soon as those words fell, everyone exchanged glances with each other silently. Yesterday was a Sunday. It was such a good opportunity to rest at home. So why would anyone come to the research institute without a reason? Besides, she’s asking questions that has something to do with the fire. Even if someone was here, why would they admit it?Suddenly, Roxanne was exuding a fearsome aura as she threw a cold glance at everyone. “I have no desire to suspect anyone here, nor can I think of a reason why an employee at the research