"If you don't know something, no one will help you. Drinking without eating? Watch your stomach. You're already a loner, and if you end up in the hospital, no one will take care of you. It's really pathetic." Gale's words were harsh.Gordan rolled his eyes. "Some friend you are, cursing me like that!"Gale shrugged his shoulders and handed him some grilled beef. "You do look pretty pitiful. Here, have some. This is Dr. Craw's homemade marinated beef. It's better than anything you'd get outside."Gordan knew Luca was a great cook. He raised his eyebrows. Even though he had not eaten all day, he was not particularly interested in food at the moment.As he looked at the beef Gale handed to him, he pondered for a moment before taking it from him.Even though he did not have an appetite, he knew he needed to eat something. Otherwise, his body would suffer, making it difficult to carry out any tasks later.He took a bite.The beef was brought over by Gale from Rain. It was a bit charr
"Why don't you just sit a bit farther away?" Gordan wanted to switch places with Gale. Everyone else had someone helping them with the barbecue except for him and Louis.Even Gale had Rain as a great partner to help him out. However, Louis' situation was different. He was single. Louis’ wife and kids could not come because they had other commitments. That was why he was barbecuing alone.Gale, holding a glass of wine, looked at him cheerfully. "I won't. If you want to switch places with me, why don’t you fight me for it?""Do you think I'm afraid of you?!" Gordan, a bit tipsy, felt unusually frustrated with today's barbecue and had no objections to Gale’s suggestion.Just as Gale was about to stand up, Luke's steady voice interrupted them, "Sit down."Gale immediately sat down and said, "It's a barbecue. No fighting today."Gordan sneered, "You're the one who brought it up."Gale took a sip of his wine, pointed behind him, and reminded him, "There are kids here. Fighting in fr
Luca understood the meaning in Luke's eyes. Even though she did not agree, she continued to grill the meat without saying much.Vivian also witnessed the scene. Although unsure of what was happening, she felt a bit worried. Hence, she asked in a soft voice, "Luca, are they okay?""It's nothing, just a conversation between a mother and son." Luca shook her head, refraining from gossiping to Vivian about Louis and Susan.Vivian was not one to pry. The reason she asked was because she could not shake off her concern seeing that both of their expressions were not quite right. When Luca said that, she did not press further. She simply nodded and passed over her already-cooked food to Luca. "I can't finish all this. Could you help me with some?"She noticed Luca either passed the cooked food to Luke or the kids, hardly eating anything herself.Luca accepted it and replied, "Thank you. You're really good at grilling."Vivian modestly responded, "During the university's anniversary cel
"Invading your privacy? Are you kidding me? You're my son! It's only right that I do this!" Susan did not feel she was in the wrong at all. She let out a cold sneer and added, "Louis, I raised you and let you grow up safely in such a complex family environment. "Now that you've grown up, you can't wait to soar free, huh? Let me tell you, you can't ignore me. No matter what, I'm still your mother, got it? I'm your mother, and you have to listen to me. So, move back here!""I'm not moving back." Louis took a deep breath, restraining the anger inside him.In his eyes, Susan's every move seemed excessively controlling. He used to understand her strong need for control, especially when the heir to the family had not been determined yet. He could understand how difficult it was for Susan to accept his father taking in another woman and even having a child with her. Hence, he would cooperate with her and satisfy her maternal desire for control.Now, he did not feel the need to comply w
"Listen carefully, I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm not going back to work at T Corporation, and I'm not moving back home. You'd better give up on that idea,” repeated Louis.Susan, trembling with anger, replied, "Louis, have you considered that I'm your mother? I'm not young anymore. What if something happens to me in the villa and you're not around—"Louis interrupted her, "You're my mother, so of course, I won't ignore you. As long as you stop frantically trying to find me like before, I'll unblock your phone number. Besides, there's a live-in maid at home. If one isn't enough, I'll hire two more to take care of you. "If anything happens, the maids will inform me immediately,” explained Louis. He never intended to leave Susan alone in the villa.Susan was not young anymore. He would feel more at ease with two more maids looking after her. Plus, his company was doing well, so hiring a couple more maids was no big deal."Fine, if you're not coming back, then don't ever come
As they talked about what Old Master Crawford did, Louis could not help but feel resigned.However, the old master's intentions were good. He just could not bear to see Louis be looked down on by the others, so it was not really his fault. Since Old Master Crawford was the one behind this whole thing, Louis could not say much about it.Louis let out a light sigh.Luke said, "Grandpa is tired of Mother's nagging. If you talk to her, she won't bother Grandpa anymore."Susan's request was simple. She wanted Louis to move back. Whether he moved back or not did not matter much. As long as they had a conversation, Susan would stop returning to Crawford Manor to bother Old Master Crawford and force him to intervene.Louis understood. Even though it was Old Master Crawford's mistake, only he could resolve it at this point. It would be good for Susan to know that he had no intention of selling his company. That way, she would not hold onto such thoughts.After all, he had invested a l
Luke nodded and asked, "How much did they offer?""It's quite a sum. Helping with the kidnapping nets one million while escorting the person onto the plane fetches two million," answered Gordan. He felt a bit regretful thinking about not being able to earn this money himself. "I'm missing out on two million dollars in income.""Are you in need of that two million dollars?" Gale could not help but tease him when he saw the expression on Gordan’s face. "You’re hurting because of women, not money.""You're the one who’s hurting because of women." Gordan rolled his eyes. He accidentally had an embarrassing moment yesterday, and today, Gale could not stop bringing it up.It seemed he should be more cautious about choosing drinking companions next time. Drinking with a stranger was better than drinking with Gale, the unreliable friend.Percy did not tease Gordan but instead asked about the reward offered by the Abaza family, "Is this price reasonable?""It's in US dollars," Gordan adde
Tommy rolled his eyes, unfazed by Simon's words. "If my dad finds out you bullied my sister, he'll beat you up.""Mr. Crawford wouldn't do that." Simon knew what kind of person Luke was. He might spank Lanie and Tommy, but he would never hit him.However, if this escalated, his dad would definitely punish him.Simon looked at the little girl next to Rainie and said, "Teri, I'll give you some candy if you switch seats with me, okay?""No way." Teri shook her head. "You're just going to bully Rainie. I'm not switching seats with you!""You little brat!" Simon was frustrated. He had not tugged on Rainie's hair in a long time, and he could not help himself today.After all, Rainie was such a cute little girl, and he just wanted her to notice him more. That was why he could not help himself...Who knew he would end up annoying Rainie?Lanie looked at Simon with a serious expression on his face. "Are we still playing or not?""Of course, we're playing! Just watch me beat you!" Simon
“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.
Hera heard that Luca had returned and immediately went to find Shanks. She narrowed her eyes.That woman went to see Shanks. Could she be talking about her?The thought made Hera uneasy. She had a nagging feeling that something was wrong with her medical report.However, when they left the medical center earlier, Abel asked Luca when the report would be ready, and she said it would be available tomorrow.Hera turned to Gerald and said, “Take these back for me first.”“Alright.” Gerald carried the bags as he walked away. He could not help but wonder what exactly Hera bought. These bags were really heavy!Only after Gerald went upstairs did Hera slowly make her way up as well. Her room was on the third floor, but she stopped when she reached the second floor. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching before heading toward the laboratory.The door was closed.Instead of knocking, Hera pressed her ear against it, trying to eavesdrop.However, the laboratory was special