Bianca shook her head and forced herself to not think about the mother whose name and face she did not know. That woman was a stranger to her.After a while, her phone rang.The caller was Bianca’s best friend, Nina Langdon.Bianca picked up.“Hi! It’s been a long time since we video-called. Why are you trying to avoid me?” Nina complained into the phone. She rested her cheek on her hand dejectedly, saying, “Are you sure you wanna go to the UK, Bea? What if someone bullies you there? My fists don’t reach that far.“Also! I hear that guys mature early overseas, and loads of school dorms are co-ed! You gotta be really careful about that when you go there! Hey, do you understand what I’m getting at? Forget it, I’ll just be open with you. If you really can’t hold back when you see those foreign hotties! Remember to use protection!”On her screen, Bianca could see that Nina was sitting in a small restaurant. It seemed like she had just ordered her food and was waiting for it to arrive
When Bianca next set foot in the busy A City once more, five years had passed. She had been away for almost two thousand days and nights. It was not a very long time, but it was not nothing either.Back then, she had been pushed about mercilessly by destiny. She had been completely powerless!Now, she just wanted to use her own strength to take control of her life with her own hands.It was morning.“Bea, over here—” Nina wound down her car window and waved at Bianca, who was walking out of her suburb.Time had passed. Five years later, the two of them were no longer clueless girls of eighteen or nineteen.Bianca and Jean had returned to the country together yesterday, and Nina had been the one to pick them up from the airport.That night, Jean had taken Bianca back to the Langdons’ place for dinner.Mr. and Mrs. Langdon were more than happy with Bianca as their future daughter-in-law.That morning, Jean had wanted to go to the interview at the company with Bianca, but someth
Ten minutes later, Jean was done with his interview.He pushed the door open and walked out.Bianca immediately got to his feet. “How was it?”“The interviewers ask some tough questions, but it isn’t anything we can’t handle.” Jean could not help but kiss Bianca on the forehead, saying calmly, “Overall, it’s not bad.”Bianca heaved a sigh of relief.“Next, Bianca Rayne,” the female secretary called out.Bianca hurriedly straightened out her clothing and went inside anxiously.The second she walked into the room, Luke looked at her with a complicated gaze.Bianca sat down properly and raised her head, meeting each interviewer’s eyes, one at a time.After that, she introduced herself briefly. “Good morning, everyone. First of all, thank you for giving me this opportunity to attend this interview. My name is Bianca Rayne.”Since she decided to return to this country and find a job here, she had come up with plenty of interview openers in her mind.It may not be the most creativ
Bianca left.Luke suddenly put down the blueprint he had been holding. He stood up and left his workstation, walking toward his wine cabinet instead. There, he took out a glass and filled half of it with wine, draining the whole thing with a frown.This cursed lust!It was already quite late when Bianca left the company, but thankfully there was one last subway to take her home.Once she reached home, the first thing she did was reply to Jean’s messages on WeChat.After that, she pulled out her luggage and started to organize the things she needed for her trip tomorrow.Just then, her phone rang.The caller ID said it was Jean.“Aren’t you asleep yet? I thought I told you to rest early instead of calling me,” Bianca said in concern when she picked up.“I’m not done with work yet, so I brought the stuff back to the hotel room to continue overtime.” Jean continued, asking her, “I saw your text earlier. Why are you going outstation too? Who will you be going with?”“I don’t real
Bianca did not dare to say anything more after the little boy turned his nose up at her.The time ticked past.The boy said, “It seems pretty awkward, huh.”The girl nodded.Bianca, “...”“Lady, you can call my father right now and tell him that you don’t want to care for us,” the boy said.He was quite the hostile little boy.“I never said I don’t want to take care of you.” She had to make that clear.How could she dare to say she did not want to care for her boss’ kids? The boss would eat her for lunch.“Since you want to take care of us, then you should act like you do.” The boy clearly did not like this cold atmosphere.This lady was much dumber than the other ones.Bianca, “...”It was her fault for not checking the almanac before she left the house.“Come with me, Big Bro.” The little girl could tell that the aunty’s expression was turning unpleasant, and she dragged her brother away angrily.Bianca let out a long breath, watching as the two children disappeared thr
Little Rainie was unbelievably happy now that she had sneakily eaten some fried chicken behind her father's back. On the way back to the room, Rainie kept sticking to Bianca, hugging her leg like a koala to a tree.It was quite hard for Bianca to walk with a baby hanging off her leg.She had to limp all the way back upstairs. "It's really late now. I'll send you back to your room so you can get to sleep." The adult and two children watched cartoons in the room for a while before Bianca turned to the pair of siblings. The older brother looked up at her and said, “We don’t have the room card.”Rainie was hugging Bianca with her plump white hand, her eyes tightly closed. She was almost completely asleep now.Still, how could they get back without the room card?Bianca was feeling conflicted. She had no idea when the president would be able to finish his work for the day and return to the hotel. "Lemme call Mr. Doyle." Bianca looked at Rainie, who was already falling asleep. S
For a few seconds there, Bianca's mind went blank!She frowned and inwardly berated herself for being so weak-willed.'Bianca, don't forget, you have Jean!'Jean is the only man you can feel anything for!'"You're with me now. How could you get distracted?!" The man forcefully pushed her white coat aside. There was a moist and warm sensation on her lips.He then lowered his head and kissed her hair. After a long time, his low voice spoke into her ear seductively. Bianca was about to explode when she heard the man’s low voice!Luke had a really nice scent of shower foam on him, just like she did. That meant that this man had just used her shower foam when he took a shower earlier.Bianca knew just how dangerous it would be if she did not put up a desperate fight right now.Just plain struggling was not going to work.All she could do was apologize in advance for disrespecting her boss. At least that would be better than whatever was going on now!Bianca’s eyes grew used to
Bianca went back upstairs.The cleaner lady was tidying up her room.Bianca nodded at the cleaner politely and then walked to her closet, opening it and taking out one set of the clothes she had ironed last night. After that, she went to the bathroom to change into it.The cleaner worked very quickly.By the time Bianca was done washing her face, the room had been wiped more or less clean of every trace of Luke Crawford.She heaved a sigh of relief.Ten minutes ago, Jean had sent her a message. “Bianca, my team is done with the project. I’ll go to H City in the afternoon and visit you at your hotel. We get the day off tomorrow.”Bianca had replied with, “Sounds good. I’ll send you the hotel address.”For some reason, as she looked around the room Luke Crawford had spent the entire night in, she felt a little guilty.When the cleaner was done with her cleaning, she found Bianca staring at the bathroom, frowning and distracted.“I’m done,” the cleaner said with a smile, holding
“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