Bianca remained uneasy. She gently tugged Luke's shirt sleeve and said, "I know that I'm at fault, Luke. I can explain." Luke pulled his arm away and said, "I've already dealt with the aftermath. You'd better not contact that reporter again." "Yes." Bianca suddenly had the urge to grab onto something, but Luke had already left. He did not ask her why she had contacted the reporter or why someone was harboring the reporter. It was as though the incident was not related to her at all. Even so, Bianca could clearly feel that Luke's attitude toward her had become more distant. She knew that if she listened to what he said and did nothing, Luke would only grow more distant from her. She closed the door, took off her clothes, and looked at her back in the mirror. After one night, her wounds were already healing, even though it was still quite painful. Using a cotton swab, she slowly applied the medication to her wounds. After that, she changed into a fresh set of clothes and we
Luca smirked when Mo told her that someone was waiting for her in the guest lounge. Even if Mo did not tell her who it was, she could guess the identity of that person. She sauntered over to the guest lounge, opened the door, and saw Bianca sitting elegantly but slightly stiffly on the couch. Luca closed the door and sat down opposite her. "You're looking for me?" "You don't say?" Bianca rolled her eyes. She felt an instant disgust when she looked at Luca's facial features; no wonder Luke would fall for her bewitching charm. According to the report she was provided, Luke preferred pure-looking faces. She was doubting the accuracy of the report now. "I'm busy at work. If you have anything to say, make it short." Luca said brusquely and crossed her legs. Now that they knew each other's identities, there was no need for courtesy. After all, both of them were Abel's minions. "You already know who I am." Bianca glared at Luca as though she was in control of everything. She wan
"Yes, Mrs. Crawford." Mo was overjoyed as she held Bianca's name card. After escorting Bianca to the exit, she returned to the Technical Department to continue her work. Cole went into her office and asked her, "What were you busy with the entire morning? I asked you to compile the interviewees' resumes and put them on my table. Where is it?" Mo stood and explained, "I was busy taking care of Madam just now, so I didn't have the time to do it. Let me get it done for you now." "Madam?" Who's Madam?" Cole thought that Mo was trying to find excuses for herself. The Technical Department had two assistants, but Rhett had been recruited by Luca to be her personal assistant, so Mo was tasked to do everything else. Mo had been busy the past two days because she had to help the department manager hire another assistant. "She's Mrs. Crawford, Mr. Crawford's wife. She just left," Mo explained. If he did not believe her, he could go downstairs and check with the security department.
Jason had not gone too far when he heard the loud thump. He paused and turned around to see, wondering what was making his boss so unhappy. Was the lunch not to his taste? Jason shook his head. He remembered that he had something else to tell his boss, so he went back to the office. "Boss." He knocked on Luke's office door. Luke turned around and looked at him. "What is it?" Jason guessed that Luke had punched the window. He glanced at the window to make sure that there were no cracks on it and said, "You have a meeting at two-thirty this afternoon with the CEO of Belpharma." Luke did not remember the meeting. He frowned and asked, "When was this meeting scheduled?" Jason replied, "Two weeks ago. You agreed to the meeting." Luke thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case. Belpharma was a pharmaceutical company that received foreign investment. It invented many types of medicine after setting up its headquarters in A City, and its sales accounted for fifty
Jason had been working for Luke for a long time, and he knew what his boss wanted before he was told. "Mm." Luke nodded, leaned back on his chair, and put the invitation letter into his drawer. Jason continued, "Boss, should we invite Cole Kidman to join the party?" Abel's words earlier left a deep impression on him, as though Abel deliberately wanted Luke to bring certain people along with him to the party. "Inform Cole Kidman." Luke paused for a second and said, "And Luca too." Jason was quite surprised. Usually, people would only bring one extra guest to such parties, but Luke wanted to bring two. Even though the scandal had already concluded in their favor, it was good to behave tactfully to avoid any suspicion. Clearly, Luke was not bothered by that. "Alright, I'll inform them now." Jason nodded and left the CEO's office. The decision was not up for him to make. Jason informed Mo, who in turn informed Cole and Luca. Luca was surprised when Mo told her about the p
Cole dialed Dr. Muller's number with the internal phone and told him the good news. When that was done, it was time to go off work. Remembering his promise to Talia, he stood up, whistled, and went downstairs. While he was walking, he let Jason know that Luca had given her invitation to someone else. After Luca left Cole's office, she went back to her office and happened to meet Rhett coming out of the laboratory with the documents. "Are you done?" She took the stack of documents from his hands. "All the documents are here," Rhett smiled and said. He suddenly felt the load in his hands become lighter. "Let me do it, Dr. Craw." "It's fine. It's not heavy anyway." Luca continued walking toward her office with the thick stack of documents in her hands. "You should go home." "Alright." Seeing that his work was done for the day, he went to clock out and leave the office. After Luca returned to her office, she stashed an important document in her briefcase, then put the rest in
Talia felt unhappy when she remembered the scene where Luca stepped into the CEO's car. She thought that she was quite beautiful, and she was younger than Luca, so why did Luca manage to seduce Luke, while she had to settle for someone like Cole? Talia glanced at Cole, who was driving, and said emotionally, "I didn't expect that the rumors were true. I pity Mrs. Crawford now." Cole would hear a hint of pretentiousness in her words. "It'll serve you well to leave them alone." "Ah, I'm just saying." Talia could sense his unhappiness and realized that she had misspoken. She thought that she was the same as Luca. Both of them have sold their bodies in exchange for their jobs. Luke was married, and so was Cole. When Talia approached Cole, she promised him that she would not interfere with his family life. That was why Cole was willing to give Talia a chance. Talia's words earlier reminded Cole that he was having an affair too. She smiled apologetically and hoped that he wo
"Not bad," Luca said after being stunned for a few seconds. She was not planning to be romantically involved with anyone in the office anyway. The new rule would not affect her. When Luke heard her nonchalant response, he stepped on the gas pedal harder. Luca could feel the car travel faster, but she did not gasp or exclaim in surprise. She sat there calmly, as though she was used to traveling at this speed. The car was traveling on the open road, and traffic was very light. Luca was not worried that Luke might rear-end another car, so she managed to keep calm. She knew that Luke was a skilled driver. Luke stopped his car outside Luca's neighborhood. After the car came to a complete stop, Luca unfastened her seatbelt and said to him, "You're a skilled driver, Mr. Crawford." She opened the door and stepped out of the car. Luke raised an eyebrow and asked, "Aren't you inviting me to go upstairs?" Luca was taken aback, not expecting Luke to say that. When she came to h
“As long as he stays out of your sight, I won’t make a move,” said Ray.If Gordan were not one of Luke’s pals, he would have been long gone.Anyone who dared to mess with someone Ray cherished would not be let off easily. The only reason Gordan was still breathing was thanks to Luke.“Alright, Ray. Just let it go. I’ve moved on and started a new life. Plus, I’m studying at Capital University. We have mutual friends, so running into him is inevitable. If that happens, we’ll just be strangers. There’s no need to step in for me or act impulsively.” Just as Vivian finished speaking, the doorbell rang.“Is it the clothes delivery?” asked Ray.“No, while you were talking with Mr. Crawford, I asked someone to buy some medicinal cream. The ones here work better than the ones in Russia. A little massage with it should help you heal faster,” Vivian said, grabbing a mask and hat before heading to the door.“Miss, is the boss alright?” asked one of Ray’s subordinates.“He’s fine. Did you ge
When Ray heard that there was a 90% chance of success, he could not help but ask, “Can you walk me through your plan?”“The prison where Kassy is being held actually has an underground passage. I’ve already spoken with the prison officials, and we can use that passage to transport her out. It connects to the sewage system, which leads directly to another detention facility. "The only catch is that this facility’s underground pipes don’t connect to the outside world, so the remaining 10% risk lies in moving Kassy onto the main road and securing her at the new location.“This whole operation can be done without anyone noticing, which is why I’m confident it’ll work.” As Luke explained, he pulled out a detailed map of the sewer system. “Here’s the layout I had someone retrieve. This is the starting point, and this is the destination. If we take this route, we can move Kassy without alerting Abel’s people.”Abel’s men were keeping a constant watch outside the prison now. That was prec
Luke had no idea what kind of mindset the person who poisoned Vivian had. However, he found Gordan’s current behavior quite intriguing.“Luke, what’s with that look?” Gordan felt uneasy under his gaze.“You seem pretty concerned about Vivian,” Luke leaned back on the couch and said thoughtfully.Gordan froze for a moment before laughing it off. “What? No way! Why would I care about her? Come on, Luke, don’t say stuff like that. If she hears it, she might start getting ideas.”Luke could not be bothered to expose his act and got straight to the point. “Why are you here?”“Speaking of that, I almost got sidetracked by that woman.” Gordan quickly pulled out his phone, grimacing. “Man, Ray really didn’t hold back. I need to get some treatment for these bruises later.”Luke took the phone and tried to unlock it. It needed a passcode. He handed it back. “Unlock it.”“All set, boss.” Gordan unlocked the phone and went back to pressing an ice pack against his face.Luke scanned the scr
It was the sound of a body slamming onto the ground.Gordan’s furious curses rang out. “Damn it! You're really going all out, huh? Do you think I'm scared of you?”Another loud thud followed.Vivian frowned. What the hell were they doing? Were they really going to fight until one of them won?Both of them were skilled fighters. If they kept this up, neither would walk away unscathed.“Enough!” shouted Vivian.The two men locked in the fight froze for a moment.“Vivian, stay out of this. I’m beating him to a pulp today,” growled Ray, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. He was not in great shape, but neither was Gordan.“Ray, I don’t want to see him,” said Vivian. She did not want Ray fighting him. It was not to protect Gordan but because she did not want Ray getting hurt.Also, she definitely did not want Gordan to see her like this. She could already picture his smug face, his sarcastic remarks and his gloating.“Fine. If you don’t want to see him, I’ll just beat
After returning to the hotel from the hospital, Vivian felt much better.To her, the fact that Ray had taken her to the hospital meant there was hope for the future, which lifted her spirits. She picked up an apple from the fruit platter the hotel had provided and took a bite.“Ray, this apple is really good. Want to try one?” asked Vivian.Ray shook his head. “You go ahead. By the way, can I take a look at the luggage you brought from Russia?”Vivian nodded. “I only hung up my clothes. Everything else is still in the suitcase. You can just take the things out.”Ray walked into the bedroom, pulled out her suitcase, and opened it. Inside were just books and a few other small items, nothing unusual.“You didn't bring any food with you?” asked Ray.“I haven’t really been in the mood, but the food here is way better than Russian food, so I didn't feel the need to bring anything.” Vivian’s tone was lighthearted now that she was in a better mood.“That's true.” Ray agreed, then asked
Ray's tone turned serious. “Alright, I'll make the arrangements immediately. Dr. Craw, once the toxicology report is out, we’ll still need your help.”“For toxicology cases like this, I recommend combining both modern medicine and traditional herbal medicine. Don’t worry, if I can help, I definitely will,” Luca assured him.“Alright, thank you.” Ray expressed his gratitude and ended the call before updating Luke on the situation.Luke reassured him, saying, “If Vivian was really poisoned, don’t worry. Previously, Luca discovered that her biological mother had been poisoned with a slow-acting toxin. She prescribed herbal medicine and used purely traditional herbal medicine to detoxify her. It didn’t take long for all the toxins to be expelled, and her health fully recovered. So, rest assured. If it’s something she can fix, she’ll do everything she can.“Besides, once we identify the exact problem, the doctors will be able to step in and help, right?”“Yes. Thank you both in advance
Gerald walked over. “Ms. Sanchez, what's wrong?”He was eager to get back upstairs and stash his cigarettes before someone noticed and took them.Hera yanked open his bag, glanced at the cigarette brand, and scoffed. “I thought it was some expensive brand. But it's just this? And you’re acting all deferential to her over this?”Gerald was rendered speechless. “I knew Ms. Craw was going out, so I asked her to bring these back for me. This is the brand I’m used to. Maybe it’s not expensive to you, but for me, it’s what I can afford.”Realizing she had misspoken, Hera felt a bit awkward. She quickly changed the topic. “Still, is a pack of cigarettes really worth you being so grateful to Luca? How much could it have cost?”“It’s not about the money,” replied Gerald. “It's just a nice surprise. I never expected to get anything out of helping Ms. Craw, and this kind of unexpected gift has nothing to do with the price. Besides, I'm not being overly grateful. I'm just happy.”He was ba
Luca’s lips were already swollen and flushed from Luke's kisses.That deep shade of red, reflected in Luke’s eyes, was utterly captivating. It tugged at his nerves, stirring an uncontrollable desire within him.At that moment, he had only one thought, and it was to completely lose himself in her.…The two of them stepped out of the bedroom.Vivian quickly turned her back and greeted Luke when he saw him coming out, “Hello, Mr. Crawford.”“Vivian, don’t worry. Everything will get better,” replied Luke.Vivian simply hummed in response.Ray gave them a grateful nod as Luke took Luca’s hand and led her away.It was only after hearing the door close that Vivian finally turned back around.Ray glanced at her and said, “Vivian, they’re your friends. You don’t have to act this way around them. They won’t judge you.”“I know they won’t…” Vivian let out a soft sigh. “I just feel like I look terrifying right now. I didn’t want to scare them, so I avoided facing them directly. But it’
“I once treated someone who had been slowly poisoned over a long period of time. Their pulse was similar to Vivian’s. Given that your family has good genetics, yet Vivian is different from the rest of you, and her skin improved after leaving her original environment, all of this confirms my suspicion.“Could it be that someone in your family has been poisoning Vivian? That would explain why her skin ended up like this.”“If she really has been poisoned, then would staying away from that environment or identifying the person responsible help her get better?” asked Ray.Luca shook her head.“The poison I’ve encountered before was a slow-acting toxin that kept the victim’s skin dark. I don’t know exactly what it was, but long-term exposure to any poison has an effect on the body. It's just a suspicion now. I need to consult someone I know. And honestly, I can’t be sure what’s really causing Vivian’s condition.“Is her skin deteriorating so quickly because she was poisoned once more a