"I don't want to be around him." Nina shook her head as she looked at the slightly drunk man. Although he had never pestered her during this period, a drunk man could do anything. She was unwilling to keep him company. Luke frowned. “His driver is not here yet. It’s not appropriate for him to drive after drinking so much. And he’s helping to look for Luca too. You know that. If Pierre is the one who did this, then Percy will be the quickest one to find out about it. Otherwise, we won’t be able to get any news on Luca later. What if it’s really Pierre who’s behind this? He has the whole night to transfer Luca somewhere else.” What Luke said was reasonable. Nina hesitated for a moment. She was not worried about what Percy would do to her after he got drunk. She was more worried about Luca. She was partly responsible for it if Luca was really kidnapped by Pierre. After all, if it had not been for her, Luca would not have gone against Pierre. “Fine…” Nina sounded helpless.Percy
Percy stood there, looking disheveled. "Send me back. It'll be inconvenient to drive mine." Nina thought for a moment. Indeed, she had to use her car tomorrow. She would have to hail a ride and drive her car back if she drove Percy home with his car.Although she was disgusted by the strong alcohol smell on him, she wanted to rest early today. Hence, she pulled out her keys and pressed the button.The car that was parked on the roadside beeped at once.Nina said, “Come on, get him into the car.”The waiter chose not to say anything and helped him get into Nina’s car since Percy was one of the bar’s VIPs.She took a deep breath and looked at the man in the passenger seat. Then, she got into the car.She forgot to remind the waiter, who immediately placed Percy in the front passenger seat. She had no choice but to give up on the idea. She would save herself the trouble of moving him to the backseat. The air in the car was filled with a strong alcohol smell when she closed the d
The maid hurriedly came to open the door after a while.Percy held his phone and tried to ask the maid not to open the door. The door was still opened in the end. He sat in the car and put his phone back into his pocket.Maybe he should have told her that he was still staying in the villa they used to stay in.He dismissed the servants at the villa after she insisted on leaving. There was only one maid left there who was responsible for occasionally cleaning the house.Percy sat in the car and listened to the conversation between Nina and his maid. “Hello, your young master is in the car. He’s drunk, and his legs are not working now. Please come over and help him into the house.” Nina did not forget to taunt him when she was talking to the maid.Percy wanted to show her that he could walk, but she had a soft rather than hard temperament. It was better for him to pretend to be weak now.The maid shot a glance at the person in the car. It was indeed her young master. She walked o
"This is what I need." Luca was calm. She knew that pissing off the kidnappers would not do her any good. Nonetheless, she wanted to fight for more opportunities to see if she could find out more information from them.The man rolled his eyes and mocked her. "You’re being kidnapped, you’re not on vacation.""I know. You can let me die of thirst and tell your boss that I died because I was too weak to withstand your beatings." Luca looked at the hideous mask on his face without any fear."Will you die if you drink two fewer glasses of water? Do you think I'm a three-year-old child?" The man pinched her chin. If he was not afraid of hurting her again, he would have already taken action."I was beaten until my forehead bled yesterday and I'm very weak now. You can refuse to meet my demands. However, when the person behind you asks you for a handover, you need to figure out how you’re going to explain it to him." Luca still appeared tough even though her chin was being gripped by the k
Luca was certain after she saw him evade her question.It was Pierre!"Didn't you find out more before you kidnapped me? I was rumored to be romantically involved with Luke Crawford. Also, I work in T Corporation. If I don’t show up to work, they’ll know that I'm missing and call the police." Luca reminded him in a casual tone.The man knew that Luca's kidnapping had been announced on the news.The kidnappers thought that even if a passerby who was around when they kidnapped her called the police to report it, it would take a long time for the mindless police officers to find out Luca's identity.They never expected that on the second day of the kidnapping, the police already knew who Luca was and issued a notice.‘Could it be… that what she said is true?’They had been involved in multiple kidnappings of prominent figures but they had never dared to provoke the Crawford and Mallory families.Everyone in their line of work knew that the businesses those two families were involv
"Of course, your wedding gift will be different from other people's. Let's put it this way. You can have whichever of Mallory Corporation’s subsidiaries you fancy. We’ll go through the transfer procedures. You can build your career and won't have to work for me anymore," Percy said."Subsidiary? I don't want any of them, Brother. I'm happy with how things are now. I get to take the company's dividends and occasionally do what you tell me to do. My life is leisurely." Pierre turned Percy down when he heard that he wanted to give him a subsidiary company.Even though Percy was his brother, he would never hand over Mallory Corporation to him.What he wanted most was Mallory Corporation, not any of its subsidiaries. Nevertheless, he was not stupid. He knew that if he said something, he would be turned down. Maybe he would even reveal something, so he chose to keep it to himself.Percy listened to Pierre, who positioned himself as a hands-off shopkeeper. If he had not investigated him a
"No, we didn't say anything. She was the one who asked us if someone from the Mallory family was involved." Eric did not dare to mention that she guessed it because of what he said for fear of being scolded.Pierre did not expect Luca to be so smart. He yelled into the phone, "Good-for-nothings! How did she act after she asked that?""Nothing. She's very calm," Eric replied as he made a helpless look at his companion."Stay away from her. I'm going to find a way to divert her suspicions," Pierre said. He then hung up the phone and drove to the villa.Percy's men followed behind him, but Pierre did not notice because they were skilled.When Pierre was halfway there, Luke's men met up with Percy's. They talked and changed positions so Pierre would not notice that something was wrong.He drove to the villa. Luke's men arrived and knew that this was not Pierre's usual address, so they sent the location to Luke.At the same time, Percy was also updated on their location.He sent Luk
Pierre clenched his fists when he heard her mock him. ‘Is she really not afraid or is she putting on an act? She’s still making fun of me in the situation she’s in now?’Pierre felt that he had to teach her a lesson so that she would not think she was on vacation.When he thought of that, he raised his hand and slapped Luca in the face.Luca knew that he was going to slap her so she prepared herself. She could not let herself bang her head on the bed like the night before. Even though she was mentally prepared, Pierre did not hold back and gave her a tight slap across the face.Her neck was twisted to the side. She was in pain.‘Does Pierre want to kill me?’Blood spilled from the corners of Luca's mouth. She turned her head and stared at Pierre. "What do you want from me?"Pierre noticed the wound on her forehead and asked Eric, "You did this?""It was an accident. We didn't mean to do it," Eric explained.Pierre did not condemn them. He looked at the blood spilling from
“No.” Shanks’ tone was cold and firm with no trace of hesitation.Abel still looked doubtful.Shanks added, “Would you like to see her medical report?”Abel was startled for a moment. How did Shanks know he had been thinking about that report?Now that Shanks brought it up, the idea lost its appeal.Abel shook his head. “Even if you showed it to me, I wouldn’t understand it. Shanks, Kassy’s life is in your hands. If you can give her a second chance, I’ll provide as much research funding as you need."Shanks remained silent. He could save Kassy. In fact, his research had always been for Kassy.However, he did not expect Abel to be so ruthless as to insist on using a living person as a donor for Kassy. That was something he could not accept.Kassy’s condition could be treated with organs from a brain-dead patient. Why destroy a perfectly healthy life?Shanks was not acting out of mercy. He simply refused to go against his medical ethics.He was not someone who had to save lives
“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.