"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
Just when Bianca thought that she could relax for a while, the door was kicked open from the outside. Bianca narrowed her gaze as she watched Luca come in through the door. "What do you think you're doing?" Luca's heart ached when she saw the figure of a little girl lying on the bed. She was some distance away, and she could not see what her condition was. "I'm here to look for you," Luca said. Bianca smirked. "You're here to look for me? There's nothing left to say between us. You must be here to look for that stupid little girl, right?" Luca was from the Island of Despair, and she knew that Bianca was an impostor. Bianca was not going to pretend in front of Luca that she cared for the girl. "Yes. I'm here to look for Rainie. I'm bringing her back home," Luca said as she stepped forward. She noticed that Rainie did not stir even while they were talking, and she wanted to check on her condition. "Bring her home? Don't even think about it! Who do you think you are?" Bianca
"Why do you talk so much?" Bianca raised an eyebrow when she saw Luca hug Rainie tightly in her arms. "I don't know why you're so anxious. Someone else would have thought that you're that girl's real mother." Luca glared at Bianca with a chilling gaze for a few seconds. Bianca felt a chill course down her spine. She pressed her lips together. Luca turned to speak to Amur. "You drive, Amur." "Yes." Amur went over to Bianca and stretched out a hand. "Give me the keys." Bianca rolled her eyes. She took out the car keys from her handbag and tossed them over. "Why are you so loyal to her? Are you like her pet dog or something?" Any other person would have flown into a rage when they heard that. Amur grabbed the car keys, went to the car, and opened the door. Luca carried Rainie and sat in the back seat. Bianca grunted coldly and went to the car. She sat in the side passenger seat. Amur sat in the driver's seat. Luca told him the address of Crawford Manor, then placed Rain
As Amur drove the car, he thought that Bianca was truly shameless. Luca did not argue that point. She stroked the little girl's hair. Usually, Rainie was not fond of strangers, but she somehow felt a sense of familiarity with Luca. She wanted to get closer with Luca, but she looked at her dirty clothes and decided to keep some distance instead. Amur drove the car to Crawford Manor. After Amur parked the car, he and Luca stepped out and left. After all, Bianca was not going to run away, so they decided that their intervention stopped there. Bianca's gaze turned sinister as she watched them leave. She opened the car door and planned to move over to the driver's seat so that she could drive the car inside the house. Rainie saw Bianca step out of the car, so she opened the car door and went into the house by herself. Bianca did not stop her. She sat on the driver's seat and drove the car into the house. The situation in Crawford Manor was chaotic because of Rainie's disappear
Lanie sank into deep thought for a while after he heard Rainie's account. It was relatively peaceful when he got home from school, which meant that Old Master Crawford was not angry at Bianca. It seemed that the woman had managed to appease him. "Let's not tell Great-Grandpa for now," he said. Rainie nodded in agreement. "I cooperated with her and didn't call out her lies or say anything that I'm not supposed to. I want to wait until Daddy comes back." Lanie and Rainie believed that Luke was the only person in the family that would be able to help them solve the problem. When Lanie heard that, he took out his phone and sent a message to his father, asking when he would return to A City. After Rainie watched Lanie type the message and send it, she continued asking, "Daddy doesn't know about what happened yesterday, right?" "No, Daddy doesn't know. Great-Grandpa was the one who ordered the search for you." Lanie patted Rainie's head and said endearingly, "I'm sorry that this
Luca sent Sue a copy of the recording. "Actually, Bailey's lackeys have been trying to get you since that day," Amur said. Sue was shocked when she heard that. "How is that possible? Have you been helping me?" Amur nodded but said nothing. Luca explained, "On that day, Bailey found some people to ambush you after you stepped out of the hospital, but he managed to teach those people a lesson. You didn't seem like you'd want to blow up the issue, so we didn't inform the police. I didn't expect that they would come back to cause trouble on the next day." Sue also did not expect that. Even though Bailey's lackeys had been taught a lesson, they continued to harass Sue and her daughters. They were perhaps so brazen because Jason was not in A City at the moment. Sue was grateful to find out that the young man had protected her. She said to Luca, "Thank you so much. Right, Jason will be back in A City in another two days. May we invite you for dinner?" Luca agreed to it, thinking
As she watched the men charge toward her, Luca placed the shopping bags on the ground. Luca had a smaller build than the two men, and they did not think that she posed a threat to them. They raised their fists, thinking that they could settle this through brute force. Soon, sounds of people trading blows could be heard in the narrow alley. A few seconds later, the sounds stopped, following which were the sounds of men panting and groaning. Luca picked up her shopping bags and looked at the two people. The alley was only illuminated by a street light near the exit, and the lighting was extremely dim. Even so, she could tell that the two men were in great agony. One of the men felt great pain in his chest cavity, as though his ribs were broken. He could only make grunting noises, and he did not have the strength to get to his feet. "I'm not as gentle as my younger brother. I'd expect that you've learned your lesson when you tried to abduct my friend, but it doesn't mean that
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
“This cup of coffee is from that gentleman for this lady.” The waiter smiled as he explained, placing the cup in front of Luca.Hera followed the waiter’s gaze and immediately recognized the man Luca had been looking at earlier.Her eyes darkened. She had noticed the man glancing in their direction. However, she had assumed he was looking at her.After all, she was dressed seductively, had put on makeup, and was undeniably beautiful. Any man who saw her would be attracted. If a man’s eyes lingered on her, it was not surprising at all.Realizing that the man had been watching Luca the whole time instead of her, Hera suddenly felt annoyed.Luca noticed her displeasure, glanced at Gordan, then smiled and said to the waiter, “Please thank the gentleman for me.”“Of course, miss. Enjoy your coffee.” The waiter, sensing the tension between the two women, quickly grabbed his tray and left before Hera’s sour mood could affect him too.“Hmph, feeling proud of yourself?” asked Hera.Luca