"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
Two days later, Luke and Jason departed from New York after having resolved the issues that plagued the subsidiary company. Lanie and Rainie knew that their father was coming home today, and they locked themselves in the bedroom for a long time. They even ignored Tommy knocking on the door and making a fuss about wanting to go inside. After coming to a conclusion that they should hand the DNA test report to Luke, they opened the bedroom door. Tommy's ruckus had alerted Bianca earlier. When Lanie and Rainie opened the door, they saw Bianca outside, preparing to knock. "What are you two kids doing inside? Didn't you hear that your younger brother is outside the door? I'm just about to get the butler to fetch the keys," Bianca smiled and said as she looked at the twins. Ever since the previous incident, Rainie had tried to avoid Bianca whenever possible. Bianca was very frustrated that the three children were not close to her at all. "We were reading," Lanie replied. Bianca
“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