"A secluded little town… A single man and a single woman… burning with passion and desire…" Each phrase that Yvonne mentioned led Allison toward far-fetched thoughts! When Allison thought of that, she realized that she had to stop something from happening! It was a well-known fact that even the greatest hero would eventually stumble when faced with the allure of a beautiful woman. History had proven that fact time and time again. It did not matter whether Bianca was objectively beautiful. She was a beautiful woman in the eyes of her son Luke, and that had clouded his judgment! Allison was once young. She knew that the passion between a man and a woman could flare with a single stray thought. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She lifted her fist and continued to pound on the door. The sounds of the knocking reflected the increasing anger in Allison's heart, from "knock knock knock" to "bang bang bang"… "Bianca, if you're at home, stop hiding from m
Outside the door, Allison's gaze moved from the phone screen back to the door. Her feminine instincts told her that something was not quite right since the morning. 'Bianca called me but did not say a word… 'What is she trying to do? 'Also, I thought I heard… soft moans? 'Were they from Bianca?' A chill went down Allison's spine when she thought of that! "Open the door now, Bianca! Open the door!" Allison could not wait to see who the other adulterer was. Before she got there, she had given a call to her brother to confirm that Xavier, their son, was still sleeping upstairs. Allison also knew that it was impossible for her son to be in the house. Jason had said that his boss had worked overtime for the past two days. After work, he would sleep in the office. According to Jason, Luke worked overtime so that he did not have to bring any work to the small town and could give all his attention to Bianca. Allison was resentful. Since when had she, Lanie, or Rainie, e
Luke was caught by surprise. Any lucid person capable of reason could understand what was going on from the conversation. "Don't think that I don't know what you're doing inside, Bianca! Let me tell you, I'll be waiting for you in front of the door today! I won't leave unless you open the door! If you want to sneak away, you'd better grow a pair of wings and fly out of the window!" His mother yelled those words while he was making out with Bianca. At that volume, it was impossible for him to ignore it. He did not stop his actions because he thought his mother wanted to stop her son from making out with his cousin's wife. After all, that was against all social norms. However, after his mother stepped into the house, she had said, "Not bad. Did you manage to lure in a bigshot?" Luke knew that something was amiss from those words. He could not exactly tell what was wrong, but he knew that his mother came to Bianca's house for a totally different reason than what he expecte
Allison did not like Bianca. She hated her ever since she knew that Bianca was a Rayne and was Kevin Rayne's daughter. Any other woman could marry Luke and be her daughter-in-law, but absolutely not Bianca! She had concealed her true sentiments about Bianca out of consideration of her son's feelings and the family's harmony. Instead, she plotted covertly to keep her away. She felt a little guilty looking at how angry her son had become, but at the same time felt that she did not need to keep up with the act. She would openly and brazenly keep that woman away from him! Even if she would burn bridges with Luke, they were nevertheless mother and son. That was a relationship that no one could write off for the rest of their lives. "You want an explanation? About what? About how I've gone with that scumbag Kevin Rayne after I was dumped by your father?" Allison confessed, considering her son's intelligent and relentless temperament. As expected, Luke looked extremely shocked.
The caretaker immediately did what she was told. Her fingers were trembling as she dialed Luke's number. No one picked up the first call, and the second call was also unanswered! However, the call went through every time. After countless calls, the call was eventually picked up. "Sir, Old Master Crawford had a heart attack and is not in the hospital. Please go and visit him!" The caretaker said hoarsely. … A City Hospital. Old Master Crawford lay on a bed. The doctors managed to resuscitate him, and his vitals were returning to normal. Allison was sitting on a chair next to bed, guiltily wiping away her tears. Susan and Louis were informed about the news and got to the hospital as quickly as they could. As Zachary's second son, Louis had a deep affection for his grandfather. After all, he had spent most of his time as a child with Old Master Crawford. Old Master Crawford might be strict, but he was a responsible grandparent. In fact, he was closer to his grandfa
Old Master Crawford lay on the bed with his eyes closed, listening to the conversation between his daughter-in-law and his grandson. In that half a minute, Allison had found an excuse to shift the blame to Susan. "I've never known that you've suspected me so much… I would tell you if you asked, but you've never asked!" Allison revealed a pained look, as though she struggled to recall her insufferable past. She started sobbing again, soaking the napkin with her tears. "I was forced out of A City when I had to leave your birth father. What else could I do when you were so young? I could only hide in the remotest towns. Susan Armstrong was relentless. She and her minions could find me no matter where I went! "Back then, Susan was childless. You should know how much importance a woman married into a wealthy family places on providing an heir, and you too, Old Master Crawford! And I had to give birth to a boy! "I don't know if Susan knew that I had given birth to a boy, so I had t
After the explanation, the colleague went downstairs. On the second floor, Bianca opened the door with the key. It was a room of about three hundred square feet. The floor was covered in light-colored wooden tiles. In the apartment were a single bed and a simple closet. Before she managed to unpack her luggage, another colleague from another department appeared at the door. It was a young male colleague in his late twenties. He stood outside of the apartment without going in. "You're Bianca Rayne from the design department, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Joe Carlson." "Nice to meet you. I'm Bianca Rayne." She greeted the colleague. Joe pointed downstairs and said courteously, "Everyone hasn't had lunch yet. We went to the restaurants in town, and the conditions were… less than ideal. Some of the girls who are used to living in the big city could not accept it. I heard from my department lead that you grew up here, so I thought I'd ask if you could bring everyone around to fam
After successfully raising a ruckus in the Tanner family, Allison went home. Back at the hospital, Allison did not see Susan and Louis. Old Master Crawford was lying on the bed while Luke was sitting next to him. She could see that her son was very concerned about his grandfather's condition. Looking at the scene, she mouthed a silent prayer that Old Master Crawford would recover slower. If his condition worsened, her son would have to stay by his side! That way, the eldest grandson of the Old Master would not be able to leave for the small town! Otherwise, constrictive social norms would label him as an unfilial grandson! Allison felt as though she was losing her humanity in her attempts to separate Bianca from her son. She had no other choice. If Luke married Bianca, her life would turn into a living hell. Bianca seemed like her nemesis! The caretaker in charge of Old Master Crawford's diet arrived to deliver lunch. Allison took out the lunch boxes from the bag. "Fa
“You!” Hera was clearly caught off guard that the driver had the nerve to talk back to her.She yanked off her sunglasses, just about ready to snap back at him when the driver got a good look at her through the rearview mirror.“Oh, it’s you?” said the driver.“Who the hell are you? Do I know you?” Hera’s tone was arrogant as though she was naturally above him.The driver reminded her, “Remember yesterday? You had me tail a cab and park outside some ancestral hall for half the day, and you refused to leave. I wasted a ton of gas just idling there with the A/C on because of you.”Hera’s face turned red, then pale. She did not expect Luca to randomly call a cab and end up with the same driver from yesterday.Luca also found it a funny coincidence and glanced back. Hera’s expression was awful.The driver, being a straight shooter, did not hold back. “Huh. Funny how you didn’t complain about my car smelling bad yesterday, but today, all of a sudden, it stinks? After I dropped you of
Luca also reminded Luke to tell the kids not to contact her during this period. The device could not be removed. If it was, Abel would definitely notice. Rather than making him suspicious or prompting him to install even better devices, it was better to just leave this one in place.Luke quickly replied: [Got it.]Luca put on a faint smile and began narrowing down the search, trying to figure out where that man had installed the device.If it was just for listening, she did not care. It could stay. However, if it was a surveillance camera, she needed to be more cautious. In the end, she found the device under the bed.She did not bother checking whether it was for listening or monitoring. After all, if it was placed there, the only possibility was that it was an audio bug. A camera in that spot would not capture anything useful.Anyone trained on the Island of Despair would not make such a rookie mistake.After a quick wash-up, Luca went to bed.The next morning, she receive
“Babe, don’t listen to her nonsense. She’s just trying to drive a wedge between us,” Hera said gently, hoping to earn Abel's affection.Abel did not take Hera’s words seriously. Instead, he picked up his phone and made a few inquiries.After checking with multiple sources to confirm where Lucius and the others had gone, the person on the other end of the line reported that Lucius had not left home in the past few days.As Luca listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, her expression remained calm.Gerald let out a sigh of relief but was also puzzled. He had always felt there was something going on between Lucius and Luca, yet unexpectedly, Luca’s outing this time had nothing to do with Lucius.Hera’s face turned pale. So, it really was not because of him.In that case, she…Hera instinctively looked at Abel, only to find that he was already staring at her. Their eyes met, and Hera could not help but shudder. Abel’s gaze was terrifyingly cold.Just when she thought he
“Oh? What made you so happy? Spill the tea.” Hera’s curiosity grew. Whatever it was that had Abel smiling like this had to be something big.The last time she was with him, he had closed a billion-dollar deal over the phone, but his expression had remained indifferent. It was like it was just another ordinary day at the office.However, he was currently grinning from ear to ear. Could it be something even bigger than that?Abel set down his unlit cigar. His fingers lightly traced along Hera’s cheek before resting on her eyes.“Your eyes… They’re beautiful,” murmured Abel.It was not the first time he had complimented her eyes.Hera had gone for the perfect foxy-type eyes, and every man she met would gush over how stunning they were.However, Abel was different. Other men would say her eyes were beautiful and then follow it up with praise for her face, her figure… The whole package.Yet Abel? He never mentioned anything else but just her eyes. It was as if her face and other par
“Alright. Ouch, it hurts when you flick me, Lanie!” Tommy pouted.“Don't cry. You were just saying you’d protect your sister, and now, you’re crying? What’s going on?” Lanie rubbed Tommy’s forehead. “Alright, I’ve rubbed it. Stop crying.”“Heh, Lanie, you're the best to me!” Tommy immediately beamed with happiness.“The whole grandma situation is over. From now on, let’s just behave ourselves and wait for Daddy and Ms. Luca to come back,” Lanie told his younger siblings.Even though their parents were not around, he had taken on the responsibility of being the elder brother. Despite being the same age as Rainie, he was much more mature.“Yes, I’ll listen to Great-Grandpa and you, Lanie!” Tommy nodded eagerly.…After Jason hung up on Allison, he let out a deep sigh.Sue walked over with a plate of fruits and placed it beside him. “What’s with that look? Have some fruits.”Jason picked up a toothpick, speared a piece of fruit, and brought it to her mouth.Sue opened her mouth
“Good evening, Madam Allison.” Jason quickly answered the phone.Allison wasted no time and demanded, “Why did you only send me such a small amount of money?”“It’s Mr. Crawford’s decision,” replied Jason, “If you suspect I’m withholding anything, you may ask him directly…”He reckoned that Allison might not be able to get in touch with Luke, so he added, “Or I could show you the chat records.”By now, Allison could not really doubt him anymore.However, with frustration in her voice, Allison asked, “Why is it so little? How am I supposed to live in A City on this?”“Mr. Crawford said that you have no extra expenses. You’re not shopping, so a hundred thousand dollars should be enough,” Jason relayed Luke’s words.A hundred thousand dollars was an amount that the average working family could not even earn in a month.Allison could not go out shopping right now, and she was not making any other extra purchases while staying at home every day. Why would it not be enough?Sophian, who over
“She's busy, so use something else. I’ve got stuff to do. I’m hanging up now.” Luke did not want to hear her rambling.Allison quickly added, “Wait, there's one more thing.”Luke frowned in annoyance.“I don’t have any money left. Send me some,” continued Allison. She was worried he might refuse. “It’s been over a month, and you still haven’t sent me my living expenses.”“Don’t worry, Jason will transfer it to you in a bit,” replied Luke. It had indeed been a month. However, he had been too busy to remember.“Alright.” Allison was about to say more when Sophian called out sweetly, “Mr. Crawford…”Before she could finish her sentence, Luke hung up the phone.Allison stared at Sophian. “What did you say that for?”Sophian was confused. She had only said a word, and the call was already disconnected. Was it her fault?“I just wanted to talk to him…” replied Sophian.“You didn’t have to say anything. I wasn’t done talking yet, and you made him hang up.” Allison was furious. She k
“As long as what Lanie wants to do isn’t illegal, I’ll support him.” Old Master Crawford rose to his feet with the help of his cane after saying that.He had known all along Allison would not have come here for anything important.This conversation was so dull.If it were not for her pestering Lanie with questions, Old Master Crawford would have pretended he did not know she was here and let her do whatever she wanted.The three kids had overheard the whole conversation between their great-grandfather and grandmother around the corner of the stairs.Once they sensed that the discussion was wrapping up, Lanie made a hand gesture to his younger siblings.Rainie and Tommy understood the gesture and nodded, following their brother upstairs.Lanie waited until he was sure no one downstairs could hear them before asking, “Why were you two eavesdropping?”“You were listening in, so why couldn't we?” Tommy grinned. He understood most of what they had talked about. What interested him m
“It looks like you're completely clueless,” scoffed Old Master Crawford. “If it weren’t for your return, do you really think Luke would've sent the kids to Crawford Manor?”Allison was not convinced and was about to argue that it was not because of her.However, before she could speak, Old Master Crawford cut her off with a blunt remark that left her speechless. “Have you looked in the mirror? With the way you look right now, just walking around at night would be enough to scare the kids. And you still think you can help take care of them? If my precious great-grandchildren see you like this, they’ll have nightmares. If it weren’t for the kids’ well-being, Luke wouldn’t have sent them here in the first place.”Allison felt a deep sense of humiliation. Being criticized like this in front of Sophian and Mr. Griffin, she felt as if her dignity had been completely shattered.Yet the worst part was that Old Master Crawford was absolutely right.Her face really was terrifying.“I can