Susan did not know how to react to what Old Master Crawford said. She felt resentful. She said, "If there’s such a need, Louis would know his priorities. After all, we don’t expect Bianca to help with T Corporation."Old Master Crawford did not answer and drank his tea in silence.Bianca stood at the corner near the stairs and heard Susan's every word. She silently clenched her fist. Not only did Old Master Crawford see her as a good-for-nothing but Susan and the others too...They may look down on her now but she swore that she would get her revenge in the future.Bianca walked upstairs with her head held high when she thought about what she was going to do. Since they did not allow her to go to Luke, she would be more than happy to create some chaos for the Crawford family. On the other side, Luca was at work and received a call from Amur."Amur, what's the matter?" Luca glanced at the time. At this hour, Sue would have already sent Kari and Teri to school before going to work
"Who’s your friend?" Lanie was on high alert. Bianca had never been so enthusiastic toward them and had never taken any one of them out alone, so Lanie thought that she was acting particularly strange.Bianca’s eyes flashed with impatience when faced with his endless questions. She did not put too much thought into it and continued to coax them. "You don't know her, she’s a new friend. Her daughter wants to learn ballet and she heard that Rainie is great at it. My friend wants to treat us to a meal so Rainie can give her daughter some tips on ballet."Lanie was still suspicious and was not fooled by her words. When he was thinking about stepping in to help Rainie turn her down, Rainie said, "Okay, but I have to finish my homework first. Can you get out and give me some time?"Bianca smiled brightly when Rainie agreed to her request. She stopped disturbing them so they could leave earlier. "Okay, do your homework."After Bianca left, Lanie closed the bedroom door, looked at Rainie,
Bianca endured the strong dissatisfaction in her heart. She wanted revenge more than anything. After the car left the parking lot, she glanced at Rainie who was sitting in the passenger seat and eating biscuits. Bianca stepped on the accelerator and left Crawford Manor.Rainie ate the biscuits quietly. She did not seem too happy and did not speak.Bianca noticed that she made almost no sound eating the biscuits and remembered what Old Master Crawford was always nagging about. She suppressed her temper and asked, "Rainie, has your Great-grandpa always been like this?"Rainie swallowed the biscuits before she replied, "What’s wrong with Great-grandpa?""Does he dislike me?" Bianca asked. Although it was not the best idea to share that with a kid, she was not bothered as it was not her child.Rainie shook her head and said, "No, don't think too much about it."Bianca was still angry and continued to ask, "Was he also like this before? Has he always been so stern with me?""Although
Bianca noticed that Rainie had never worn the clothes she bought for her. She guessed that Rainie did not like the clothes that she picked for her, and that was why she had used that excuse against Rainie. Rainie only wanted to go home. She shook her head and said, "I have many clothes at home, Mommy." Bianca took Rainie's hand and led her to the shopping mall across the street as though she did not hear what the little girl said. "It's rare that the two of us can go shopping without anyone else following us, Rainie. Let's have a lot of fun today." Rainie wanted to take out her phone to tell Lanie about where they were going, but before she could do that, Bianca dragged her into the shopping mall, and they went to the children's section. Bianca picked a few dresses that matched Rainie's usual clothing style. She smiled and asked her, "Don't you think that these dresses look pretty? Why don't you try them on? If they fit you, I'll buy them for you." Rainie glanced at the exqui
The butler immediately made arrangements. Meanwhile, Bianca drove the car to the outskirts of A City. By the time she parked the car in front of the pre-arranged house, it was already past midnight. She had taken all the precautions. In order to avoid being tracked down by the people sent by Old Master Crawford, she made many detours on roads without surveillance cameras. It would have been difficult for someone else to do that, but she was from the Island of Despair, and it was very easy for her to do so. Bianca smirked when she glanced at her phone that was already out of battery because it had been vibrating nonstop. She brought her handbag and Rainie's backpack into the house. When she returned and sat back in the car, Rainie had already woken up. Rainie was still groggy because she was still under the lingering effects of the drug. She took some time to focus and realized that she was still in the car. She looked at the woman in front of her and asked, "Where am I?" "Y
Lanie could see that Tommy was confused, but he thought it was better that his younger brother did not know what was going on, so he shook his head. Old Master Crawford said, "Alright, I know what needs to be done. Bring your younger brother to the dining table, eat your breakfast, then go to school. Also, don't run around after school is out. Wait for Uncle Sean to come and pick you up." Old Master Crawford did not know about Bianca, so he thought that Bianca and Rainie's disappearance was caused by some other reason. He guessed that someone might have abducted Bianca and Rainie and was holding them ransom. Lanie knew that he had to keep the secret to himself. He nodded, took Tommy's hand, and led him to the dining hall. After they had their breakfast, the driver took them to school. "Lanie, where's Rainie? Why isn't she with us today?" Tommy asked. Lanie did not want him to worry, so he said, "Rainie isn't feeling well today, so she's staying in bed." Tommy nodded, thou
"In any case, I'll have to find Rainie as soon as I can. I don't want the little girl to be in that woman's hands." After her stint on the Island of Despair, Luca knew what those people could do. Kind-hearted people like Eler and Amur were exceedingly rare. Sometimes, the people on the island would harm their family for a warm meal. Everyone on the island only looked out for themselves. Even though the impostor Bianca had lived together with Rainie for three years, Luca could not say that the woman would be kind toward the little girl. Moreover, Luca did not know Bianca's motives for taking the little girl away. When Amur saw Luca execute the program, he immediately began to search for the signal. The program was developed by the people on the Island of Despair. It could be used to search for other people from the Island of Despair within a certain range. The signal emitter was embedded in their phones, and it could continue to give off a signal even after the phone was sw
"You know that your Great-Grandpa doesn't care about me. If I leave alone, I don't think I'd be able to go back anymore." Bianca pretended to look frustrated to gain the child's sympathy. "That's why I brought you along, and it'll be easier for me to go home. Do you understand now?" "But we don't know when Daddy will be back home," Rainie shuddered and said. She could not shake off the fear whenever she heard Bianca speak, though she now understood why she was brought along. That way, Old Master Crawford would have no choice but to let Bianca in. 'Great-Grandpa cares for me more than he cares for that woman… 'She's pretending to be my mother, but she can't stand Great-Grandpa and wants to leave. She's bringing me along so that she can go back… 'It means that she had never intended to leave in the first place…' The more Rainie thought about it, the more afraid she was. What was the woman's motive for staying in the Crawford household? "It doesn't matter if he comes back late
“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