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
After Luke promised them what he would do, the twins exchanged relieved glances. Luke had always carried through his promises. Lanie and Rainie knew that Luke had always loved the real Bianca. The impostor Bianca, who had lived in their house for three years, had never received his love. Rainie yawned and rubbed her eyes. Luke stroked her hair and said gently. "You should go to bed if you're tired." "Alright. Good night, Daddy." Rainie nodded and walked toward the door. Before she left the room, she turned around and said, "Good night, Lanie." "Good night." Luke looked at the two children. It must have been hard for them to keep their discovery a secret. However, he could not expose the impostor's lies before the real Bianca was found, and he was worried that the children might not be able to keep the secret anymore. "I'll handle this. You have to pretend that you don't know anything." Lanie and Rainie understood what he meant, so they nodded. After Rainie left, Luke stoo
Sue and Jason wanted to invite Luca for dinner to thank her. They did not want to make it too restrictive, which was why they had planned for a home-cooked dinner. Now that Luca had come to their house bearing gifts, it felt too formal. It would be rude for Sue not to accept the gifts, so she took the bulging shopping bag from Luca's hands. "Thanks, but you shouldn't have. We should be the ones to thank you." "You're welcome," Luca smiled and said. She saw Jason come out of the kitchen wearing an apron. She smiled and said, "So this is how you look when you're out of a suit, Mr. Doyle." Jason smiled. "Don't tease me, Dr. Craw. Sue, what do you plan to do with the fish?" "How about roasting it with herb stuffing?" Sue said, then turned to ask Luca, "Dr. Craw, do you like roast fish? Let me know if you'd rather eat something else. We've prepared a lot of ingredients today." "I'm not picky. I'd be glad to eat whatever you serve," Luca said. "If that's the case, I'll make you
Sue took the tray and started stuffing the fish with herbs and vegetables. She remembered Luke's character and asked Jason, "Mr. Crawford is a picky eater. Is he going to comment on my cooking?" "I don't think so," Jason said after giving the question some thought. He added, "He probably won't touch it." "That'll be so awkward. I don't even know why he wants to come," Sue mumbled. Jason shook his head and continued to help Sue in the kitchen. In the living room, Kari and Teri were holding their dolls in their hands while Luca helped them dress up the dolls and braid their hair. She found the tasks easy because she had played with dolls with Rainie before. Kari smiled sweetly when Luca was done with her doll. "You made the doll look pretty, Ms. Luca," she said. "Yes! That's better than what Mommy can do," Teri said. Luca smiled sheepishly. Sue would not be happy if she heard her daughters say that. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. The caretaker, who had been sitting in the
Luca lifted her head, and the two pairs of eyes met, which caused her to shudder involuntarily. Sue took out a bottle of red wine from the cabinet. She smiled and said, "I'm in the mood today. Shall we all have a drink? I know it's weird to pair red wine with fish, but we're all friends here, and we don't really mind that, do we?" Luca's alcohol capacity was quite high now, and she did not have to drive herself home later, so she had no problems with drinking during dinner. She nodded and said, "Alright." Luke did not voice his opinion. Jason said, "Let's not, Sue. Ms. Crawford drove here. If he drank wine, how is he going to drive home later?" "If he can't drive home, he can spend the night here," Sue said matter-of-factly. "Mr. Crawford, if you don't want to spend the night here, I'll get some freshly-squeezed orange juice for you. That's what the children are drinking too." Luke glanced at the bottle of red wine in her hands. He knew that Jason had bought some bottles wh
Jason saw them off at the front gate. They were about a hundred meters away from where Luke's car was parked. While they were walking toward Luke's car, Luca took the opportunity to say, "It's fine, Mr. Crawford, I can go back on my own." "Are you afraid of me?" Luke suddenly stopped walking, turned around, and looked into her eyes. Luca was taken aback by the question. Was she afraid of him? She could not say so, but she hoped that she could avoid any interactions with him. If she eventually failed to escape from Abel's clutches, or if she was too late and he had already found someone else, she would not have to be so sad. By reducing her interactions with him, she hoped that she would be able to accept the eventuality that she might not meet him again. "I'm not afraid of you. It's just that it's already so late, and our houses are in separate directions. If you send me home, it'll be very late by the time you get back to your house. Mrs. Crawford should be waiting for you a
After Luca left, Sean returned to the driver's seat and asked Luke, "Shall we go back to Crawford Manor now, Sir?" "Let's go." After watching Luca's figure disappear into the night, he turned his head away and said. After Sean heard that, he started the car. Luke continued, "Don't tell anyone about what happened earlier." "I saw nothing, Sir," Sean replied. He understood what Luke meant. Luke said nothing. He leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes. The odd sense of familiarity became more intense when he went closer to her earlier. When she said the words "Mrs. Crawford," that had made him inexplicably angry. It was as though those words should not have been spoken by her mouth. He could not describe the feeling he had earlier. He knew that he had never lost control like that for a long time. When he was at the closest point, his full attention was focused on her lips. If she did not stop her, would he have kissed her? Luke was suddenly reminded of the impostor