Tommy looked at the pile of coins in his money box. The money was to be donated to a rural school, but he was not happy because there were no snacks left. He glanced at the other stalls. None of the other stalls were as popular as his. Tommy pulled Luke's pants and pointed at the stall next to his. "I want some cupcakes from that stall, Daddy." That reminded Luke of Luca's cupcakes. They were indeed very delicious. "Alright." Luke packed up the money box, then led Tommy to the cupcake stall. The stall was manned by a little girl and her mother. When the young mother saw Luke walking toward her, her heart began to beat faster. She had noticed him earlier, but she managed to resist the urge to chat up with him. She did not expect that he would bring his son over to his stall. "What would you like, little buddy?" The woman asked Tommy, though her gaze was transfixed on Luke. "Two cupcakes please, Ma'am," Tommy said while gulping as he gawked at the golden cupcakes. "Co
Luca was in the middle of performing an experiment when her phone began to ring. She was surprised when she saw the familiar string of numbers on her screen, but she did not immediately answer it. She did not save Luke's number on her phone, but she had memorized those numbers well. Luca had placed her phone between her and Rhett earlier. Rhett glanced at the vibrating phone and asked, "Dr. Craw, aren't you answering the call?" Luca came to her senses. She took the phone and told him, "I'll go and answer the call. Please help me record the data." "Yes." Rhett nodded. Luca left the room and answered the call. "Mr. Crawford." "Are you at the company now, Dr. Craw?" Luke hated to admit that Luca's gentle, wispy, and slightly raspy voice was very alluring. "Yes," Luca told him candidly. "Sean is going over to pick you up. He'll be there in fifteen minutes. I'd hate to bother you, but I need you at the hospital," Luke said. Luca frowned slightly when she heard that. He h
Luca did not explain herself. Instead, she said, "I don't have my acupuncture needles with me. Can you find me a set?" The nurse looked at the patient's family. None of them had any objections, as though they trusted that woman completely. On the other hand, they seemed to have ignored her question. "Are you sure that you want to perform acupuncture on the patient?" The nurse asked again. "Yes." Luca nodded and pulled her hand away. Seeing that no one raised any objections, the nurse left the room. Tommy walked up to Luca and asked her softly, "Ms. Luca, can you make Mommy well again?" Luca patted the boy's head but said nothing. If her guess was correct, no one could make Bianca well again. Bianca should have taken a drug that had no antidote. Shanks had discovered the properties of the drug when he was teaching medicine to Luca. He did not find an antidote for it because it was not lethal. Luca knew that Bianca's condition would continue to deteriorate, but she woul
Bianca could also sense the situation she had put herself in. At the moment, she was clearly lucid, but her body was uncomfortably hot. "I took one pill," she said. Luca blinked, though her expression did not change. "That's too much. You can only take half a pill at most." "You're lying." Bianca did not believe her. She thought that Luca was only trying to scare her. "I guess the person who gave you the pill didn't tell you the proper instructions, or you might have missed it." Luca stood up and walked toward the door. Bianca tried to recall what she was told when she was given the pill, but her head was spinning, and she could not remember anything at all. She wanted to ask more probing questions, but Luca had already left the room. "Mrs. Crawford is awake," she told the people waiting outside of the room. Bianca watched Luke walking into the room while holding Tommy's hand. Behind him, Queenie, Jack, the caretaker, and the nurse also followed. She could only swallow the
Bianca glared at the nurse. When she was about to speak, Luke spoke first. "Give her some water." "Yes." The caretaker deftly poured a glass of water, put a straw in the cup, and brought it next to Bianca's mouth. "Please drink some water, Madam." Bianca glared at the nurse, though she had no choice but to drink from the straw because Luke had given her the order. Two hours later, Queenie returned to the hospital with the concoction. Bianca did not want to drink it. After all, it was Luca's prescription. However, she remembered what Luca had told her. Fearing that her brain might melt if the fever persisted, she hesitated for a while when the caretaker brought the straw close to her mouth, but eventually, she took the flask and finished it all. Half an hour later, Bianca's body temperature began to drop. The nurse read the thermometer. "Your temperature now is 99.5 degrees." Queenie was overjoyed. "I knew that Luca was capable. The concoction worked in half an hour."
Queenie understood that one should not judge another by their appearance alone. Even though she had a good impression of Luca in the few times they interacted, she could understand why Bianca felt uneasy. "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on Luke," Queenie comforted her. She knew that Luke was not flirtatious, but many women had tried to get on his good side over the past three years. Bianca took Queenie's hand and pretended to look grateful. "You're so nice to me, Mom." "I'm your mother, silly girl. No matter what happens, I'll be by your side. Don't worry. Luca is only close to me because she treated my illness. I'll make sure that they don't have any private affairs." Queenie patted Bianca's head. Meanwhile, after Luke left the hospital, he sped back to T Corporation. Tommy was sitting in the backseat. He thought for a while and said, "Daddy, shouldn't you let Ms. Luca know that her concoction works?" "Mm." Luke nodded. "Let me tell her then!" Tommy said while grinning.
Jason smiled wryly when he saw Tommy's frustrated expression. He shook his head and went back to work. Five minutes later, he stood up and said to Tommy, "Hey, Little Mr. Crawford, I can't do anything if you miss Ms. Luca, but I can bring you to someone else. Do you want to go?" "Is it Madam Tina?" Tommy asked. Tommy chuckled. Luca and Tina were about the same age, but to Tommy, the former was a "Miss" while the latter was a "Madam." Tina would lose her mind if she found out about it. "Yes. I'll need to attend a meeting with Mr. Crawford in a while. Why don't you go to Madam Tina's office?" Jason said. He did not want to leave the young child alone in his office. "Alright then." Even though Tommy missed Luca, he did not want to burden Jason with extra trouble. Jason took his hand, and they left the office. After handing him to Tina, he rushed to Luke's office to remind him that the meeting was almost starting. It was already half-past nine when the meeting ended. Tina
'Did he skip lunch and dinner again?' Luca remembered the scene at the hospital earlier. She heard that he had been keeping watch in the hospital for the entire night, which meant that he probably had not eaten a proper meal since the plate of spaghetti at her house the day before yesterday. Tommy noticed her hesitation. He wagged her hand. "My Daddy has gastric problems, Ms. Luca." 'Right, he has gastric problems…' Luca gently pinched Tommy's hand and said, "I only have spaghetti, vegetables, and eggs at home, so I can't cook something too fancy. He can come and eat if he doesn't mind that." She sighed to herself. She could not bear to see Luke torture himself after all. 'He must be tired all these years, having to take care of the company and the children…' "Daddy won't mind it at all. Your scrambled eggs are great," Tommy said with a grin. He ran back to the car and told Luke who was sitting in the driver's seat, "Daddy, Ms. Luca promised to cook for us. Let's go." L
“You don’t need to remind me. I was going to check anyway.” Abel shot Luca a chilling look.She took a step back and stayed silent.Abel turned to the pale-faced Hera and said, “If you’ve got low blood sugar, get up and eat something.”“I’ll eat now,” Hera replied, sitting up.Luca handed her the takeout.Abel glanced at the food and then frowned at Luca. “Why didn’t you make breakfast this morning?”“I was busy,” Luca explained with a calm indifference, her expression unwavering. She showed no fear, even under Abel’s questioning.Hera suddenly found herself admiring Luca. Everyone feared this man, yet Luca remained composed even when facing potential punishment. Not just anyone could pull that off.At the thought of this, Hera opened the takeout and kept quiet.Abel narrowed his eyes, glancing between Hera and Luca. His gaze was not exactly gentle as he muttered, “Stop eating this junk. It’s bad for you.”“I know, babe. Just this once. After this, I’ll have what Luca cooks f
Hera panicked the moment she heard that. “I trust her!”Luca and Shanks were both watching her.Hera repeated herself, saying, “I trust her, okay? What kind of treatment does she need? I’ll cooperate with anything. But what about Abel…”“I’ll tell him it’s just to help improve your overall health,” replied Shanks. Then, he turned around, opened the medicine cabinet, and started preparing the prescription.Hera let out a sigh of relief. As long as Abel did not find out about her health condition, that was all that mattered.If he knew she was unwell, he would send her back to A City. Without free medical help and no way to make extra money, she would be in serious trouble.“Thank you,” said Hera.“Wait outside,” instructed Shanks.“Okay.” Hera carefully stepped out.Luca, however, remained where she was, waiting.While preparing the medicine, Shanks asked, “Do you know which acupoints to target for her?”“Yes,” Luca replied confidently. As long as she checked Hera’s pulse, sh
“There are a lot of issues.” Luca did not hide anything and handed Hera the phone.Hera looked at it and frowned.“I can't understand any of this.” Hera felt dizzy just looking at the text, let alone the long list of medical terms. It was giving her a headache.“Look at these summaries and indicators. Compare the values on top with the normal values at the bottom, and you'll see what I mean,” explained Luca.Hera did not trust her. Therefore, Luca decided to let her see for herself. Seeing it with her own eyes would prevent any doubts later.Luca pointed out how to read the test results, and after a moment, Hera managed to understand the report. Her face turned pale. “How can there be so many problems?”She looked at Luca and questioned, “Did you fake this?”“I don’t have the power to make the medical center fake anything. Besides, the report has the medical center’s official stamp. If you don’t believe me, you can go directly to the medical center and ask for the official cop
“I heard from the boss that he's coming because of Vivian.” Gale paused for a moment before adding, “But never mind, you don't seem interested in her affairs anyway. I'm just letting you know he's on his way.”Gordan frowned. Ray was coming for Vivian?What could that ugly woman possibly need?“What do you mean by that?” asked Gordan.Gale smirked. “If you and Ray meet, that’s bound to end in a fight. And since you can't win against him, you might want to mentally prepare yourself, or better yet, find somewhere else to stay. It’d be safer that way.”Gordan's expression darkened. “If you have nothing nice to say, just zip it.”Gale grinned, clearly pleased with himself like he had just hit a sore spot.Gordan exhaled sharply. “Of all times, why is he coming to A City now? He’s just making things worse.”“It can't be helped. Vivian's situation is urgent.” Gale covered his mouth mockingly after he said that. “Oh, right. I forgot you don’t like hearing about her.”Ray wanted to br
Luke sat in the villa, staring at Luca’s message.He was worried.For a moment, he considered calling her, but then he remembered that there were surveillance cameras everywhere on her side. He dismissed the idea immediately.Her safety came first.Luke reminded her: [Take care of yourself. Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything. Just focus on keeping yourself safe.] The worry in his heart refused to subside, but at this moment, there was no better solution.“Boss, you’re worried about your wife, huh? If you really can’t stand it, we can sneak you in again during the next shift change, just like last time,” said Gale.It had been his idea last time.Now, the real Lucius was still locked up in the basement of the villa.It had been nearly a month. Luke had forced him to take the antidote Luca had recreated. The man was still alive, proving the antidote worked perfectly.“That plan is too risky.” Luke put his phone away. His gaze was dark and thoughtful.“Risky, sure. But at lea
Luca had not expected Abel and Shanks’ relationship to be like this.It seemed Abel still did not trust Shanks.Shanks continued, “Abel isn’t someone who trusts people easily. He doesn’t trust anyone. You think he’s devoted to Kassy now, right? That’s just his obsession. He's allowing Kassy to receive my treatment, but if it were him… No matter if he were blind or crippled, his safety would always come first. If he were seriously injured, maybe he’d accept treatment, but he definitely wouldn’t do it right away.”Luca stayed silent. Shanks really understood Abel well.Abel did not trust anyone—not even Kassy.Calling him paranoid would not be an exaggeration.Luca felt like they were getting off-topic, but she had never seen this side of Shanks before.In her mind, he was always buried in his work at the lab, only leaving for meals and sleep. Other than that, he was practically never outside.The lab was like his home…“Are you troubled by Hera’s situation?” Luca asked directly
Hera was startled by Luca's words.The refusal that had been on the tip of her tongue suddenly got stuck in her throat.“I…” Hera hesitated, feeling conflicted. Leaving Abel might not be such a bad idea. At least she would not have to live in constant fear.She was finally realizing how unpredictable his moods were. At first, she thought it did not matter as she could still look at other men. She just had to ensure there was no physical contact. In reality, even if she so much as glanced at someone, Abel's expression would darken with anger.It was frustrating. Now, the only person she was allowed to look at was Gerald. Still, what was the point of just looking at Gerald?At that thought, she lifted her gaze to Luca.Luca added, “I’ll give you five minutes. If you refuse treatment after that, I’ll take the medicine back to Mr. Shanks and won’t try to convince you again.”Hera's heart tightened. She did not even need five minutes. She had made her decision within 30 seconds.“I’
“If Abel finds out that Hera's body isn't suitable for organ donation to Kassy, what do you think he'll do?” asked Shanks.He already knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear Luca’s thoughts.“He has invested a lot of time and money in Hera. If he gets nothing out of it, he won’t let her off easily,” Luca said bluntly.Luca and Shanks were on the same page.They did not have a good relationship with Hera, but they had no intention of ruining her either.Hera’s personality was unpleasant, but that was not enough for them to hate her so much that they wanted to see her suffer.“What methods do you think he’ll use?” Shanks asked again.Luca was silent for a long moment.Shanks already knew the answer, yet he still wanted her to say it out loud.After thinking it over, she finally said, “There are plenty of ways he could go about it, but no matter what he chooses, Hera’s fate is sealed. She’s as good as dead…”She lowered her gaze, her tone firm and certain.Shanks nodded.
Hera heard that Luca had returned and immediately went to find Shanks. She narrowed her eyes.That woman went to see Shanks. Could she be talking about her?The thought made Hera uneasy. She had a nagging feeling that something was wrong with her medical report.However, when they left the medical center earlier, Abel asked Luca when the report would be ready, and she said it would be available tomorrow.Hera turned to Gerald and said, “Take these back for me first.”“Alright.” Gerald carried the bags as he walked away. He could not help but wonder what exactly Hera bought. These bags were really heavy!Only after Gerald went upstairs did Hera slowly make her way up as well. Her room was on the third floor, but she stopped when she reached the second floor. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching before heading toward the laboratory.The door was closed.Instead of knocking, Hera pressed her ear against it, trying to eavesdrop.However, the laboratory was special