Sophian did not dare to speak when she saw that Allison was frowning.10 minutes later, the maid brought the instant pot pie and put it on the coffee table. "Madam Allison, breakfast is ready."Allison looked at the ready-to-eat pot pie in front of her. She frowned and said, "Is this the pot pie you bought at the supermarket? I want to eat fresh ones made by you."The maid felt cornered and replied, "Madam Allison, we have no ingredients in the villa to make pot pies. If you want to eat fresh ones, I’d need to go to the supermarket to buy ingredients.""Why didn't you prepare for anything?!" Allison scolded her. She was dissatisfied with the maid's efficiency."Madam Allison, I thought that you would be spending the new year at Crawford Manor, so I didn't prepare much. If you’re not satisfied with what we have, I’ll go to the supermarket to buy groceries now," the maid said quickly. She was scared of Allison's reprimand and her horrifying face.Her face was terrifying. It had wri
Sophian was surprised when she heard how Allison described Bianca.Sophian had always thought that successful men like Luke preferred sexy and alluring women. She did not expect he would like women who were pure and innocent.She lowered her head and looked at her body figure. There was no way her curvy figure could look innocent. She could only change her makeup style to make her look that way.“I got it,” replied Sophian.Allison raised her brows, looked at her, and asked, “Although Bianca looks innocent, her tricks aren’t innocent at all. She found ways to get closer to Luke and gave birth to two children. Only then was she acknowledged as his wife. So, let me tell you, he might not like pure and innocent women. It’s just that her tricks happened to work on him.” Sophian wanted to tell her that being good at wheedling was considered amazing too as long as she could attract Luke.However, Sophian dared not to say such things in front of Allison when she had shown so much hatre
"Sit down. Let me get it for you," replied Luca. She did not put the snacks she made this morning at the usual spot where the children took their snacks.Tommy nodded. He returned to the living room and sat on the sofa.Rainie lifted her hand, tapped on Tommy's nose with her fingers, and laughed at him, "Tommy, you're a greedy little boy."“I’m not. Ms. Luca makes good and tasty snacks.” Tommy stuck out his tongue.“That’s true. Ms. Luca makes the best snacks.” Rainie nodded and agreed with him. She could not blame Tommy for being greedy. Their mother was too good at making their snacks.Tommy nodded and replied, “Great-grandpa loves them too.”“Tommy, I don’t like to eat snacks.” Old Master Crawford shook his head and explained.“But Great-grandpa, I heard you telling Mr. Griffin that you like eating Ms. Luca’s homemade food. That’s why you came here to have a taste of Ms. Luca’s homemade food.” Tommy tilted his head. He had heard what the old master told Mr. Griffin when they
Old Master Crawford put down the vegetable juice and turned to look at the TV. It was replaying the New Year Gala from last night, so he asked, “Isn’t this last night’s New Year Gala?”Luca nodded. She smiled and explained, “I fell asleep when I was watching it last night. I didn’t manage to finish the show. I turned on the TV and watched the replay when I was bored just now.” “The New Year Gala last night was interesting,” Old Master Crawford said. Then, he picked up another snack. It was not a cookie this time but Luca’s homemade nougat.Although it was a nougat, Luca had used a sugar substitute and sugar-free marshmallows. “Yes. It was awesome. Ms. Luca, how could you have fallen asleep?” Tommy grinned and looked at Luca, waiting for her reply.Luca was rendered speechless. There was no way she could tell him that she fell asleep while watching the show because it was too quiet.“It was probably because I did some exercise, so I was tired.” Luca found an excuse to brush him
Luca watched the two of them play chess for a while. She glanced at the time, and when it was almost time to prepare lunch, she stood up and said, “Old Master Crawford, Mr. Crawford, please excuse me. I’m going to prepare lunch now.”“Do you need help?” Luke asked. Aunt Neile usually helped Luca out when she was busy preparing meals in the kitchen. Now, she had to prepare lunch for six of them. Luke was worried that she would not be able to handle it herself. Luca shook her head, pursed her lips, and said in a gentle voice, "It's okay. I can handle this. You can play chess with Old Master Crawford."After that, Luca walked to the kitchen.Before she walked into the kitchen, she heard Old Master Crawford making fun of Luke, “Hah, I didn’t know you’d step into the kitchen.”Luca smiled without turning around. She headed straight to the kitchen.Luke did not look like someone who would enter the kitchen, but there were times when he would help her in the kitchen. Her heart pounded
“I’ve already cleaned myself up. I’ll feel better after eating breakfast,” said Louis as he walked to the dining room.Susan shook her head helplessly. How could Louis slack off during the New Year? It seemed like she had to talk to Yuri about it and asked her to keep an eye on Louis.“This child…” She could not help but mutter.After a while, Susan noticed that Louis had not finished his breakfast yet. She walked into the dining room and saw him eating breakfast while looking at his phone at the same time.The burning rage in her exploded uncontrollably. She snatched Louis' phone and said, "Don't look at your phone when you're eating. Your grandpa will be mad at you if he sees you like this.""Mom, Grandpa's not here…" Louis felt helpless. Old Master Crawford did not allow them to look at their phones while having meals. However, Louis could not be bothered since Old Master Crawford was not around."Does that mean you can relax when he's not here? Your grandpa isn't back yet.
After a while, Mr. Griffin brought the brewed tea over and said, “Old Master Crawford, the tea is ready.”“Okay.” Old Master Crawford took a sip of the tea. He could not help but exclaim, “The tea smells good.”“I should’ve brought some tea leaves to Luke’s place.” Then, he took another sip of tea.“Grandpa, why are you craving for tea? Didn’t you have any tea yesterday?” Louis asked with curiosity and poured a cup for himself too.“Luke doesn’t like drinking tea. How could I expect him to have good tea leaves there?” said Old Master Crawford. After all, Luke did not entertain guests there, so he would not have prepared tea leaves. Some tea leaves were meant to be gifts for the guests. Old Master Crawford knew about that, so that was why he did not say that he wanted to have some tea.“You always drink a pot of tea in the morning. Won’t you get upset if there’s no tea?” Louis knew the old master’s habits well. Old Master Crawford loved drinking tea."It's still fine. The vegeta
Luca gently shook her head and said, “Mr. Crawford, it’s inappropriate for me to go along with you. They’re your wife’s family.”Luke stared at her with his deep eyes. Wife?Was she not his wife?She clearly wanted to see her family at this time, but she was unable to visit them due to her identity and the forces behind her…Luke did not expose her and said, “If you’d like to visit them but you’re worried that they’ll overthink, you can go after us. Lliam is on duty today.”Luca looked down and pondered for a moment. She still thought it was inappropriate to do so and said, “Mr. Crawford, I heard Nina say that locals here always visit the wife’s family on the second day of New Year. I shouldn’t do this.”She was actually the most suitable person to visit them, but she had no choice but to tell Luke that it was inappropriate for her to do so in a soft voice.Luke knew what she was thinking about. He did not force her. He carried the two bags and headed outside. Then, he asked,
“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