Leia, immaculately dressed, was playing bridge with Allison and two of her other friends. The caretaker brought Old Master Crawford and the twins to the nearby park, and Susan was back at her parents' house. That was why Allison could gather her friends for a bridge session at Crawford Manor. "I win again!" Allison seemed to be lucky that day. She won the last few rounds in a row. She was the one who was laughing the loudest in the living room. "You're so lucky, Aunt Allison. You've won several rounds in a row. That's amazing," Leia said. "I'm done for the day. I haven't won a single round today." Mrs. Willow seemed unhappy. Allison grinned even wider when she heard Mrs. Willow's complaints. "Leia is my lucky charm. I used to lose more than I win whenever I play, but when Leia is here, I have a winning streak!" "I say, Allison, Leia is always here to keep you company whenever she's free. I think she's as close to you as a birth daughter. When is Luke going to propose to
Bianca had thought that the oil paintings in the living room of Crawford Manor and Luke's bedroom were antiques. She never thought that Luke was the one who drew everything. Bianca loved to paint too. She possessed talents in painting. She had studied oil painting when she was abroad, and her teacher had always praised her. However, painting was an expensive pursuit. Moreover, she was working while she studied, and she did not have the time and effort to paint. She gave up after a while. Whenever she walked past the art room and saw other boys and girls focusing on filling their canvases with colorful paints, she would nonetheless feel envious. Luke's imposing demeanor translated into unrestrained brush strokes in his vibrant and moving paintings. Just like him, the paintings were noble, elegant, and carried a hint of mystery… "If you like to paint, I can teach you when we're free." Luke opened a box of paints, mixed several colors, and placed a brush in Bianca's hand.
The soup sent Leia's taste buds into overdrive! The sour, bitter, spicy, and salty taste of her soup assaulted her sinuses. It felt as though a thin needle was poking on her nostrils and caused beads of sweat to form on her nose. She wanted to cough, and there was even an urge to vomit coming from the back of her throat! However, Leia had to maintain her graceful demeanor in front of the two Crawford elders and the two children looking at her with delighted anticipation. She tried her best to suppress the urge to throw up, and her smile froze on her face. "How does the soup taste, Aunt Norman? Don't you like it? Big Bro said that it's very tasty! The chef even added truffles in it. It's not only delicious but also healthy! You're so pretty, Aunt Norman. You'll be even prettier after you finish the soup!" Rainie's fingers kneaded her princess dress, and she smiled sweetly. She looked very adorable. Allison was overjoyed when she saw that her two grandchildren were kind towar
Leia's expression turned unpleasant when she heard Bianca's laughter. 'Did I say something wrong?' Ever since she was adopted into the Norman family, she had gone to an elite school and even studied abroad for two years. She did not believe that Bianca was anything more than a philistine! Leia was not interested in art since she was young, but her mother was a big fan. She forced herself to read up on art history so that she could humor her mother. However, she would begin to fall asleep as soon as she opened a book and read about the boring theories and the lives of famous artists. Eventually, she gave up and instead tried to please her mother with other activities she was good at. Leia stole a glance at Luke. The man sat on his chair elegantly. He was straight like a pine tree, and his silence was imposing. However, his demeanor changed as he filled up Bianca's plate. His penetrating gaze would turn gentle, and the corners of his lips would inadvertently curl up with
Queenie was very protective of Leia. After losing her birth daughter, she had considered Leia to be her only daughter. She felt very sorry for Leia when she saw the aggrieved tears in her daughter's eyes. She hugged Leia and said gently, "Can you tell me what happened, my daughter?" Leia wanted to complain to her mother about how heartless Luke had been. However, she was afraid that her complaints would cause her mother to be prejudiced against Luke. She swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. Her gaze flashed, and she started sobbing. "Mom, I think Luke… doesn't like me. That Bianca isn't a pushover either. She embarrassed me in Crawford Manor earlier. She thinks that she's smarter than me, and she showed off her knowledge in front of Old Master Crawford. Even Old Master Crawford is favoring her more than me now… I really like Luke, Mom. He's the first man that I like. What should I do?" Leia rested her head on Queenie's shoulder, and warm tears slid down h
Johann arrived, examined Luke, gave him a prescription, and fed him liquids. After that, Luke's high fever subsided a little. Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. She was busy the entire day. Earlier, they sent their children to the hospital. As they recovered, Luke fell sick. She had to take care of the big one as well as the little ones. When she prepared the liquid medicine for Luke, she took a whiff of the pungent smell of medicine, which instantly caused intense discomfort in her stomach… Bianca hastily ran to the bathroom and dry-heaved into the hand basin, but nothing came out of her mouth. The nausea subsided a while later. Bianca seemed to have realized something. She remembered how Sue had dry-heaved in the washroom at the office, as well as her reactions when she was pregnant with the twins. She abruptly covered her mouth and tried to recall when was the last time her period came. Her period should have been one week ago, but it had never come. Luke had always
After Luke calmed down from the joy, he asked Johann about taking care of a pregnant woman. Johann told him a lot of things. Luke listened to him attentively. He also used a recording pen in case he forgot what Johann told him. He even asked Johann to email him the relevant information after Johann returned home. Johann recommended to him several famous books about pregnancy. They contained detailed information about taking care of a woman during and after pregnancy, as well as the solutions to any problems that may arise. Bianca wanted to fall asleep as she listened to that. Luke, however, continued to take notes. That was not their first child. Bianca did not expect that Luke would be so concerned… Before Johann left, he said jokingly to the couple, "There's something else I should remind you, Sis. You don't have to be embarrassed after hearing it." Bianca did not know what he was talking about. 'Embarrassed? What is he going to say?' Then, Johann turned to face L
Susan did not expect that Louis was standing at the door. She instantly came to her senses and remembered what she said at the peak of her rage. She had to admit that the twisted marriage to Zachary Crawford had caused irreparable psychological damage, but undeniably, she was a doting and caring mother to her son Louis. Her position in the household was precarious, and she only had her son to rely on. She could not afford any cracks in her relationship with Louis. "What are you saying, my son? I don't understand," Susan said sheepishly. "See, Luke already has a pair of twins, and now Bianca is pregnant with a third child. You'll have to buck up and get your mother a grandchild soon. That way, the Crawford family business wouldn't fall entirely into the hands of Allison and her son!" "Tell me honestly, Mom, did you hire someone to cause Luke's car crash?" Louis was not beating around the bush. Louis's gaze was like Zachary's. Susan felt an inexplicable panic when looking int
“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