“Okay.” Luke's eyes held endless affection as he looked at her.Luca took the cup downstairs. After setting it down, she went back up to check on the kids. When she saw that all of them were in bed, she returned to the master bedroom.“What are you looking at?” Luca saw Luke sitting on the couch, staring at his phone. She could not help but ask.Luke's expression was grim.“Luca.” He looked up at her.Luca turned around and looked at him, feeling puzzled, “What's wrong?”“Just got word that Karen’s crew hired extra hands.” Luke's tone was heavy.Luca frowned in confusion. “Why did she hire more people?”“Gale investigated and found out that they were hired to capture you,” answered Luke. Gale's intel was always accurate, so if he said it, Karen definitely had such a plan.Luca frowned. “I made things clear to her this morning. Some people just don't give up until the very end.”She hated being treated like a prey.Matysh was like that before, but Luke took care of him.Now,
“Okay, thank you,” thanked Luca.“Luca, what's going on?” Vivian's voice came from a distance.Luca looked toward the sound and noticed that Vivian had already approached. Vivian glanced at the man in a security uniform standing next to Luca and recognized him as a security guard from Capital University.“It's nothing,” replied Luca. She did not intend to tell Vivian about the incident to avoid making her worry.After nodding at the guard to show her gratitude, she took Vivian's hand and started walking toward the restaurant where they had reserved a table.“Let's go. I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat.”“Sure.” Vivian noticed that students were looking in their way. She was puzzled, but since Luca did not say anything, she figured it was not the right place to discuss it and left with her.Once they were seated in the restaurant and ordered their food, Vivian handed Luca a bottle of water. She asked, “Now that there aren't many people around, can you tell me what happened?”
After hanging up the phone, Luca let out a helpless sigh. “What's with the smile?”“Your call was so loud that I heard everything,” replied Vivian, pointing at her phone.“You’re even making fun of me now? Your English is getting better and better,” said Luca, sticking out her tongue at her.Vivian nodded. “Of course. I’m the fastest learner in my language class. The lecturer even said that if I kept it up, I could skip the language class and go straight into my major next semester.“Are you planning to go straight into your major?” asked Luca.Vivian nodded. “The new school year starts in September in A City. I’m working hard to keep up with the new semester so that I won’t fall behind."“Don’t worry, you already know quite a bit.” Luca was impressed by Vivian’s progress.“That's for everyday language. I still struggle with professional terms. Besides, I'm better at speaking than writing. And I can’t answer the exams in Russian, right?” Vivian shared her recent experiences. S
Therefore, Luca could not quite connect with Vivian emotionally in this regard.After lunch, they decided to head to Vivian's apartment to rest. The two of them headed toward the apartment.Vivian’s apartment was close to the university. Vivian had eaten a bit too much and suggested they take shared bikes back. Luca agreed happily.They each rented a bike and headed toward the apartment. The midday sun was strong, but luckily, the road was shaded, so it was not too hot. As they rode along, three men suddenly appeared and blocked their way."Ms. Craw, we meet again," said Gerry. He was the same burly man who had stopped Luca earlier.Luca was rendered speechless. She did not expect them to show up again after their failed attempt just an hour before. “I underestimated them,” Luca said in Russian.Vivian did not expect them either. She replied in a guilty tone, “I'm sorry, Luca. I didn't think they would be this persistent…”They could have had Warren drive them, but Vivian
The man who talked to Luca gave the other thug a look.The other man immediately understood and tried searching for information. However, he could not find anything using A City’s intranet.“Boss, she's just bluffing. There's nothing here!” reported the man as he handed over his phone.Luca chuckled.Gerry’s expression turned sour. “What's so funny?”“I'm laughing at how clueless you guys are. You used A City’s intranet, didn't you?” asked Luca.“Is there a difference between the internet and intranet?” Gerry was confused.Luca was puzzled by the type of people Karen had hired. They seemed less competent than those she had dealt with before.“I've never heard of intranet and internet. Boss, don't let her mess with you,” the other man chimed in.Luca nodded repeatedly.“Why are you nodding?” Gerry narrowed his eyes and looked at her.“I'm agreeing with your friend. Satisfied?” Luca was starting to get impatient.Gerry had a gut feeling she was not lying and continued fiddlin
“Luca, I'm going to kill you!” Even though Pierre knew that Luca could help him, he could not tolerate her mockery. He was about to lunge at her and was ready to slap her!Karen rushed in to stop him. “Pierre, calm down!”Pierre’s eyes were bloodshot with anger. “I can’t! I’m going to make her submit and make her fix my leg today!”Luca felt a wave of nausea. With Pierre in this state, he was still thinking about making her…Vivian, who did not understand the situation, turned pale and asked in Russian, “Luca, what should we do?”Luca calmly shook her head.“Mr. Pierre, are you still able to do that?” Luca mocked him. “I heard that your nerves are severed, so you're probably affected in that area too."Pierre’s expression darkened.Karen was startled for a moment and screamed, “What do you mean?! Does this mean Pierre won’t be able to have kids in the future?”Johann mentioned that Pierre’s leg nerves were damaged, but he did not say it would affect his ability to have kids!
Luca noticed a change in Pierre's expression. She reckoned that they had already found something out, so she said, “It looks like you found something. I think you'd better let us go.”“No!” Karen's tone was assertive. “No matter what, you have to perform dry needling on Pierre today.”Luca frowned in silence.Pierre set his phone aside. A mocking gleam flashed across his eyes. “Yeah, you’ll be performing dry needling on me today, no matter what.”He did not plan on having Luca perform dry needling on him for the long term. The room was filled with surveillance cameras. As long as he got one more session from her, another naturopathic physician could learn from the footage afterward. This was the plan Pierre and Karen came up with.They could not afford to offend Luke’s people, but if they had to, they would do it once and then send Luca back unharmed.“Anyway, if you don't help me with the dry needling, I'll be useless. The Mallory family doesn't need useless trash. But thi
Karen felt sorry for her son, but when she heard Luca say she could stop anytime, she dared not tell her to stop. If they stopped now, everything they did today would have been for nothing!Karen looked at Pierre, planning to let him make the decision himself.Pierre clenched his teeth and said, “Keep going.”Luca could not help but secretly exclaim. It was not that Pierre could not endure the pain. If enduring the pain meant he could stand up normally again, he would endure as much as it took.She continued with the dry needling treatment without giving him a moment to catch his breath. Pierre felt like cursing, but when he saw the serious expression on Luca's face, he held back.The dry needling treatment lasted for half an hour. Luca used two packs of needles before stopping. “Alright, now we wait.”“Wait for what?” Karen immediately asked.“Wait for half an hour to remove the needles and for the damaged nerves inside to repair themselves,” explained Luca.Karen immediat