Alec nodded, looking calmer than Jenny. Carefree as always, he'd only take on the problem when it surfaced. He believed that there would always be a solution to any problem.He led her to the sofa, sat her down, and handed her the ointment. "You should at least finish what you started."She didn't object to that and continued applying the ointment to his body. The living room fell into silence when they stopped talking.Soon, she was done and ready to leave. "Have a good rest. It's best if you could rest at home for a few days.""Are you leaving?" he asked. She nodded. "It's late. I need to get home." She knew Graham didn't like that she was in touch with Alec, and she worried she might fuel Graham's dislike of Alec if she got home late."Jenny," Alec called out, his deep gaze fixated on her face. "The truth is, you still care about me. Don't you?" As expected, she was silent. He added, "I'm not strong enough yet. Can you wait for me?""Wait for you?" She was puzzled by his wor
Alec understood her concerns but remained calm. "Don't worry. I can handle it.""Okay. Call me if anything happens. At this point, she can't lay a finger on me, at least not in public." As long as Graham was on Jenny's side, Jolene could only make her moves in secret.Feeling touched by her concern, he smiled at her. "Okay."He sent her to the front door and watched until her car was out of sight. Then, he went back inside.The two were too busy to meet up in the following days. Jenny was occupied with Jeneration Group's headquarters move. Meanwhile, Alec was busy with moving the headquarters of Faust Group to Bardoff City and dealing with the Glasses' harassment.Unlike what Jenny had feared, the Glasses didn't send anyone to harm Alec. Instead, they made their move in the field of business in an attempt to bankrupt him. Despite their efforts, it would take much more to bankrupt Alec.Even so, life wasn't smooth sailing for him, who had to dedicate most of his time to work and d
The branch office of the Faust Group was relatively unknown in Bardoff City, as it was less influential relative to the many big names. However, as most people paid attention to the developments of the Glass family, they noticed that the family had been making moves against the Faust Group, which piqued their curiosity.The outsiders mistook the actions for the Glass family's ambition to acquire Faust Group, but only Jenny knew that Rowena and Jolene were behind the recent moves. Worried that Alec would struggle to fend off the attacks, Jenny wanted to call him out of concern but held back in the end. Based on her understanding of him, he would definitely turn down her offer to help when his ego acted up, just like the average man.With that in mind, she decided to ask James for help later. Well, she wasn't exactly asking him to actively intervene. It'd be great if he could at least hold off the Glass family. Moreover, a stronger Glass family would be bad news for the Walter family.
Jenny was sent flying and landing hard on the ground from a kick. She slumped onto the ground and struggled to get up. The man was serious about taking her life from how mercilessly he attacked her. She was filled with despair when she realized that she was too weak for him. At the same time, she was riddled with regret. In the past, she had always thought she was skilled in martial arts. When she finally stepped into the real world, the huge number of martial arts talents opened her eyes to her inadequacy.The man stood in front of her in no time. She knelt on the ground as she winced from the pain in her stomach—it was so bad that she could not stand up."How much did they pay you? I'll double that amount," she offered, holding on to the last sliver of hope even though her words might not work on him.Just as she had expected, the man was unaffected by her words. He took out a dagger and lurched at her. Fully prepared, she stumbled backward to dodge his attack, but that didn't sto
Alec stared at Vincent. The company was not his priority at the moment when he badly wanted to look for Jenny. However, he knew that the gap between him and Jenny would only widen if Faust Group collapsed, and he might even lose the opportunity to get to her. After some consideration, he sighed and relented. "Send someone to locate her right away.""Sure. Don't worry. I'll send someone to look into that." Vincent nodded in relief, feeling thankful that the CEO had not lost his mind.After Alec went for the meeting, Vincent arranged for someone to look into Jenny's whereabouts. At that time, none of them knew that Jenny had been hospitalized.…The sky was dark when Jenny regained consciousness. She stared at the ceiling for a long time before she recalled the events before she fainted. Smiling wryly, she thought this was the worst injury she had ever sustained and perhaps served as a good lesson. Bardoff City was no Parrington—she had to be extra careful with each step she took. Sh
James let out a relieved sigh after she agreed to have bodyguards. The men he hired were extraordinary, and they would protect her well."Are you hungry?" he asked. "I can get someone to buy food for you." It was surreal to him how they had agreed to meet at a restaurant, but things took a wild turn after that.She nodded, feeling hungry. He asked someone to buy some food for her, and she put in an additional request for a phone charger as well. It was inconvenient to have a phone run out of battery, and she worried about her contacts who couldn't reach her.Not long after, she got her food and phone charger delivered. She charged her phone before digging in. James stayed around, which was awkward for her. "James, why don't you go home and rest? It's pretty late.""It's alright. I'll hang around until you're done eating." He had planned to spend the night by her bed, but he knew that Jenny would be puzzled or even shocked if he volunteered to do that. Jenny didn't say another wor
Despite wanting to stay, James left Jenny's room out of consideration of her injuries and recovery. After he left, she finally returned the missed calls on her phone. First on her list was Jade, followed by Graham. She informed them that her phone had died but did not bring up the topic of her injuries. She hid the truth from Jade because Jade would be worried, and she didn't tell Graham because nothing would come out of it.At this moment, she had no evidence pointing to Rowena and Jolene. If she blindly accused the two in front of Graham, he might think she was up to no good just to bring them down.She needed sufficient evidence to show Graham the true face of Rowena and Jolene, for she wanted him to deal with them with his own hands. That was the main reason she refused James' help. Only by showing Graham the true colors of his wife and daughter would he be disappointed in them.After responding to all the missed calls, she finally got to Alec. She was kept waiting for a long ti
Alec was dumbfounded after hearing what Jenny had to say. He zoomed into the photo and realized that Jenny was indeed unconscious. Upon closer look, he saw traces of blood stains on her body."Something happened to her," he thought as he was riddled with guilt for interrogating her about James instead of noticing her injuries. Even after Jenny had chided him, he still felt horrible about his behavior."What am I doing? How could I have missed that obvious fact?" he silently scolded himself."I'm sorry," he blurted out after a pause, not because he was reluctant to apologize. He hesitated because he knew the apology could not compensate for the hurt he had inflicted on Jenny.Just as he expected, Jenny was calm and composed when she heard the apology, and she even thought he was hilarious. Laughing, she said to him, "I'm sorry doesn't always work, you know.""I know." He couldn't think of a better way to express his regrets anyway. "Are you…okay?" He wanted to ask her about the inc
That afternoon, Gilbert called off his engagement to the Silveras. He did not pick up a single one of Lottie's calls. When he found Marigold, she was taking Caleb on a stroll around the neighborhood. It had been a while since she'd taken notice of anything related to Gilbert. She suddenly felt how nice it was to have her mental energy spent somewhere else, no longer being so hung up on that man. However, when Gilbert appeared before her, her heartbeat quickened. "Why are you here?" Marigold said, snapping out of her reverie. Gilbert smiled lightly. Without saying much else, he pulled her into an embrace. "Didn't you say that I could come to see you once everything is settled?" Marigold was stunned. She was in disbelief. "So, what you're saying is it's all over?" "Didn't you read the news?" Gilbert was speechless. "No. I didn't want to care." Every time she saw anything about Gilbert and Lottie, she felt miserable. She'd rather save herself the pain and block out anything
In the end, Esther went with Gilbert's suggestion. However, she did not trade Bradshaw Operation's projects with Jenny. She went with the Silveras. For one, she did not trust the Walters. On the other hand, the Silveras and the Bradshaws were going to be united through marriage. They deserved to be trusted more. Gilbert didn't mind. After all, if anything happened to the Bradshaws, the Silveras would not help. With those projects in hand, they would only fall further into debt. The plan was going smoothly. Gilbert had not gone to see Marigold once. He knew that before subduing the Bradshaws, going to visit Marigold would only endanger her. After all, Marigold was safe. Nothing had happened, and Caleb was growing up healthily. One month later, things began to feel off in Bradshaw Operations. After Faust Group received their money, they did not start the project. No one knew what they were doing. Esther was feeling antsy. She prodded Gilbert to ask if there was anything wro
That very afternoon, Esther and Gilbert rushed to Faust Group to sign the deal. Gilbert said he was worried that Alec would change his mind, so he urged Esther to sign it. Only through a written contract would they be able to relax. Esther thought it made sense and agreed to rush to Faust Group with Gilbert.In the meeting room, Alec looked at the two people before him, expressionless. "You have a good son, Mrs. Bradshaw." "I'm flattered. My son had Bradshaw Operations' interests at heart. He'll inevitably be a little insensitive. Please don't hold that against him, Mr. Faust." Esther smiled. She didn't mind Alec's sarcasm because it didn't matter. As long as Bradshaw Operations could truly benefit from this, she didn't care how much Alec mocked her. Alec smiled coldly and slid the contract over to her. "You may flip through it." Esther took it and read through it seriously.If this project succeeded, they would reap massive rewards. However, it required a massive upfront inv
In the following days, Gilbert headed over to Faust Group infrequently during the day. To others, he was there to talk business with Alec. But in reality, it was a different scenario altogether. Vincent brought Gilbert a cup of coffee in Alec's office. Because of all the times he'd been there, Vincent knew what he wanted without having to ask. Alec had a cup of coffee placed before him, too. Everyone thought that Gilbert was trying to convince Alec to give him one of the shares, which was why he always came there, but that was not the case. The collaboration was a set-up. As long as the Bradshaws signed the deal on the project, they would not escape unscathed. Gilbert had planned this for a long time just to trick the Bradshaws into accepting the project. However, the scheme had to be executed perfectly. Since Gilbert buttered up the project in front of the Bradshaws, Alec had to feign disinterest in his collaboration. Otherwise, it would seem suspicious if Alec, a smart ma
After the engagement party, Gilbert officially had a stronghold in Bradshaw operations. Because he was already very capable, he had a lot of supporters. No one challenged him in the company. Most of them sucked up to him because they knew that if things went well, he would be the heir of the company.Gilbert didn't really care about that. He didn't even want to be there for long. He knocked on Esther's door and walked into her office."Come, sit." Esther was all smiles when she saw him. It was more sincere than before.She used to doubt him a lot, but now, although she still had her reservations, she mostly believed in him. In her eyes, no one would reject the chance to inherit Bradshaw Operations. This was basically manna from Heaven. Gilbert just didn't know it back then, and now he did. Gilbert sat down in front of Esther and began reporting the information he had gathered, as well as his thoughts on Bradshaw Operations and his plans for the future.When he presented the inf
Gilbert and Lottie's engagement party was held at Bardoff Grand Hotel on Saturday.A ton of people showed up to their engagement party. After all, the Bradshaws and the Silveras were pretty big names in Bardoff City, and plenty of the other families knew of their true wealth. They all came to attend the party. Jenny and Alec had both received invites. Jenny was Gilbert's sister, and on top of that, they represented the Walters and the Fausts. It was to be expected. At first, Jenny didn't want to go. The party held no meaning to it. It was just a show put on for Esther. It would be a complete waste of her time. However, she was talked into it by Alec. It would be weird if she didn't go. Zack brought Janet to the party. He found Jenny and was in a daze. "Wasn't Gilbert courting Marigold? Why is he engaged to Lottie?" Jenny rolled her eyes. "What have you been doing, Zack? You're really bad at keeping up." Gilbert had been courting Lottie for a while now. If Zack paid attention
Gilbert drove to Jenny's villa, but he was in no rush to get down. He didn't unlock the doors, either. He obviously wanted to talk to Marigold. But Marigold evidently didn't want to. "I want to take my child and leave." She was afraid. What if Gilbert and Lottie married and took her child away? She no longer believed in love. The only thing she believed in was her child. Gilbert tightened his grip when he heard that. "Marigold, the engagement is only for Esther to see. I have no feelings for Lottie." "Who knows? People change. You said you didn't have feelings for me, too." Marigold found this all very amusing. Perhaps this was fate. Gilbert wanted to keep explaining, but Marigold did not give him the chance to. "Just let me and Caleb leave. If what you say is true, you can come to find us once everything is over." And if Gilbert didn't come looking for her, the truth would unfold itself, and she would give up all hope. Gilbert understood that Marigold had already made
Marigold was miserable throughout dinner, but she persevered till the end without being too dramatic. After dinner, they walked to the entrance of the shopping mall.Gilbert went to get the car. Lottie stood with Jenny and Marigold. Watching Gilbert leave, she turned toward Marigold. "I heard that you used to like Gilbert very much." "It's all in the past. It's not worth mentioning." Marigold didn't want to talk about it. She was afraid that Lottie would see that she still liked Gilbert. Most importantly, she was afraid that Gilbert's plan would be ruined. Lottie smiled. "That's true. The past is the past. You're such a nice person. You'll definitely be able to find someone better suited for you in the future." Marigold pursed her lips. Gilbert soon brought the car over. Lottie was about to get into the car, but before she did, she suddenly turned to Marigold and said, "Gilbert and my engagement party will be in a few days' time. If you have the time, you're more than welcom
Everyone was shocked to hear her speak so suddenly. Lottie was stunned, and she explained, "You've misunderstood. That's not what I meant. I just think that if the child follows his father, it'll help him develop better, and you'll be less stressed." "I don't need your concern. I can raise my child alone," Marigold snorted. She did not hold back at all. Lottie looked unpleasant. Gilbert had no choice but to step in. "We'll have our own child together. And whoever likes it the most will get to keep it." Although they knew that Gilbert had meant this for Lottie to hear, Marigold found it extremely upsetting. She looked at Gilbert, and for a moment, she was unable to tell if he was being genuine. She thought of all that Gilbert had said to her last night, saying that he didn't like Lottie and had no intention of marrying her. But he looked to be truly in love. Marigold didn't think she could tell if he was faking it. "I'm sorry. I need to go to the restroom." Marigold didn't w