In the study.Old Master Crawford watched Luke light the incense, then looked out the window. His eyes were cloudy. He seemed to have a lot on his mind.Luke closed the lid and said, "Grandpa, if you have something to say, just say it.""Is your mother's face incurable?" Old Master Crawford knew that Luke had arranged for a doctor to go to prison to check on Allison but he never asked about it. After he saw Allison wrapping herself up like that, he knew that the treatment was not working as well as she hoped."The wrinkles on her face are permanent and irreversible," Luke said.Old Master Crawford sighed. He knew that it was Allison's fault and she had no one to blame but herself. However, she would bring embarrassment to the Crawford family if she insisted on going out in public.He said, "This home is not peaceful, and it’s not good for the physical and mental health of the kids. If you want, you can move out with the kids and only bring them back to accompany me during the hol
The more Susan thought about it, the more she felt that something was wrong. She muttered, "No, I'm going to ask Louis about this. He’s so unsensible. What’s wrong with staying here? Why does he want to move out?"The butler watched her leave in a hurry and shook his head helplessly.Louis was the kind of person who did not fight for anything. It was normal for him to want to move out after being forced by her to fight for everything every day....After Luke arrived at the office, he immediately asked Jason to schedule a meeting.The entire management team was expected to be present, including Luca.After she received the news, Luca packed up the materials she needed for the meeting. As she carried her laptop, she suddenly thought of what Luke had said last night…This morning, she ran away and left like an ostrich. However, she knew that she would have to face him sooner or later...It was what it was. Although she had to deal with Luke because of work, she still felt uncomfo
They stopped talking as soon as Jason walked in.Jason glanced at the seat next to the CEO’s and did not see Luca. He frowned and asked, "Where's Dr. Craw? She’s not here yet?""She's helping Tina make coffee." The executive who led the conversation about Luca earlier replied.Jason nodded. It was not Luca's job to make coffee but he did not say anything. He reminded them, "Get ready. The meeting is about to start. Mr. Crawford’s hands are full, so try to simplify things as much as possible when you present later. Focus on key points so that you can save yours and other people’s time.”"Yes, Mr. Doyle." The executives knew how strict Luke was with work and agreed readily.Luca and Tina walked in with the coffee. When Jason saw them, he immediately stepped forward and picked up two cups of coffee. "Tina can handle this. Dr. Craw, you'd better take your seat.""Yeah, Dr. Craw," Tina said.The executives listened to what Jason said and sighed secretly in their hearts. From his atti
Luke noticed the laptop in his hands and frowned. “Is this Luca’s laptop?”“Yes, Boss. This is Dr. Craw’s laptop. There’s only half an hour left ‘til their lunch break ends, so I told them to go have their lunch first and I’ll bring their laptops back,” Jason explained.Luke’s frown deepened. Would that make Luca think that he was an inconsiderate person while Jason was an understanding person? Jason looked at Luke’s expression. He could not help but wonder and asked, “What’s the matter, Boss?”Luke said in a cold voice, “Well, you sure know how to please others.” He grabbed Luca’s laptop from him. “Is there anything else that belongs to her?” Jason quickly handed two folders to him and said, “These belong to Dr. Craw…”Jason dared not to keep anything as he realized the extent of his boss’ possessiveness over Luca…Luke took them from him and asked, “Where’s my lunch?”“I’ve already placed the order this morning. It should be on the way here now,” answered Jason. As Luke’s
Luca was speechless. It seemed like Jason was not willing to help her.She would have to face Luke alone sooner or later. She pondered for a moment before walking out of the office. Rather than facing Luke alone at home, it was better to face him in the office. At least he would assess the situation and not do anything crazy to her.Luca thought for a moment and knocked on Luke's office door.“Come in.” Luke’s voice came from the other side of the door.Luca pushed the door open and saw the man busy with his work. She took a deep breath and entered the office. “Mr. Crawford, I came to get my laptop and folders.”“They’re here.” Luke pointed at the edge of his office desk without lifting his head.Luca nodded, picked up her things, and was ready to leave. “I need to talk to you,” said Luke.Luca paused, then closed her eyes. She could not run away from him, so she had no choice but to listen. “Yes, Mr. Crawford?”“I’ll be busy for the time being and I’d like to take the apar
The following day.The people from the moving company were already here when Luca woke up. She did not have a lot of things with her. There were only two suitcases of clothes and books, as well as some experiment instruments that were already packed. The people from the moving company were busy for a while, then they started moving her belongings into the truck. One of them asked, “Miss, would you like to follow us to the new address?”Luca thought Luke must have already made arrangements for her, so she shook her head and said, “I have to go to work. Send my things to the address and someone will meet you all there.” “Alright.” The worker from the moving company turned around and left. Luca returned to the apartment. She took the antidote that had been separated from the fridge and put it in her briefcase.She did not trust the moving company to move them there.After Luca brought the antidote with her, she distributed the soup into different flasks and left the apartment
“Didn’t you prepare soup for Boss? You can pass it to him along with the documents.” Jason dared not to enter Luke’s office as he might cross the line. He was just joking before, but he dared not do it anymore. Besides, if Luca did not go into Luke’s office, the rest of them would all be in trouble later. Jason urged Luca to do it. She did not tell him about her hesitation.Jason noticed that she was not taking any action, so he said, "Boss saw me drinking the soup just now. He looked mad." “Did you tell him that I gave you the soup?” Luca wanted to know if he did it on purpose.Jason did not have to piss Luke off. “Yes. Boss was wondering why I was drinking soup early in the morning. His expression changed when he knew it was you who gave it to me. Dr. Craw, we have to attend a meeting later. If Mr. Crawford isn’t in a good mood, we’ll all be screwed.” Jason recalled the look on Luke’s face. It was as black as ink. It would be hard to resolve this. Luca was probably the on
Nina had been lying on the bed for the whole morning. The maid did not come in to disturb her anymore. The bedroom was pushed open when it was noontime. The maid came and saw that the breakfast was left there, untouched. She could not help but mock Nina. "Ms. Nina, you sure know how to waste your food." Nina closed her eyes, refusing to talk to her. No matter what she said, she would not be able to get out of here. She figured that she would save some energy for herself.The maid glanced at the person at the door and said, “Since Ms. Nina refuses to eat, then please give her a nutrition injection.”“No!” Nina opened her eyes. She knew what a nutrition injection was and she refused to get that. She thought of showing defiance against Pierre by refusing to eat and asking him to let her go. If she was given the nutrition injection, it was useless for her to go on a hunger strike.Although nutrition injection was not as good as eating food, it could keep her alive and prevent anyt
“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