Wanda was furious when she heard what Allison said. How could she tolerate her respected father and her beloved niece insulted like that? She stood up immediately and said, "What do you mean by that, Mrs. Crawford? Even if you don't forgive Bianca, you don't have to insult her that way! How could you say those words to someone older than you, even though our families aren't related by marriage yet? I respected you because you are Luke's mother, but I didn't expect you to have such poor character. "You saw that we're a poor family, but how about you, Mrs. Crawford? Oh, I don't think that title suits you. The real Mrs. Crawford is Madam Susan Armstrong. She is the woman that is legally married to Luke's father, and you are nothing but a mistress. You're abusing the support that Luke has for you. Do you feel proud that way? How much more noble can you be compared to us?" Wanda was an outstanding woman. With her abilities, she had married her ex-husband and managed a major corporat
Bianca rubbed her temples. She realized that she was in an unfamiliar place. The bedroom was spacious, and in front of the bed was a large floor-to-ceiling window that showcased the beautiful scenery outside. She could not help but open the window as she looked at the sea of flowers. The cherry trees were in full bloom. The blossoms were as white as snow, and the fragrance was thick in the air. The place was more beautiful than the peach garden Luke brought her last time. However, Bianca was not in the mood to appreciate it. She must have offended the Crawford family by rejecting Luke's proposal yesterday. Not only was the Crawford family angry, but her grandfather and aunt must be very sad too. They must think that she was immature. However, she had no other choice… Just when her brain was in a mess, her phone suddenly started ringing. It was Nina. Bianca answered the call. Nina started rambling worriedly, "Have you scrolled through your Twitter feed today, Bea? Ma
Blue Honors. Charmaine walked into a VIP private room, dressed in the most beautiful and most expensive clothes and shoes that she got from Leia. She got to know from a friend that Mr. Ford, an internationally renowned director, intended to shoot a movie with a hundred-million-dollar budget using only actors with no previous screen experience. That friend knew Mr. Ford's producer, and that was why she recommended Charmaine. After looking at Charmaine's photo, Mr. Ford decided to give her a chance in an audition. Charmaine found out that Mr. Ford had reserved a private room in Blue Honors, and her friend had somehow gotten an invitation for her. She was so happy that she was losing her mind. She arrived at Blue Honors with the invitation card. She wanted to show her face to Mr. Ford. The director might even make an exception for her if he was charmed by her voluptuous figure. "Mr. Ford…" Before she stepped through the door, Charmaine's seductive voice was heard. She
Luke stopped walking. He turned around, and his gaze became colder. "Are you telling the truth?" He waved his hand, and the bodyguards let go of Charmaine. She was on the verge of tears. She loved to play, but only if both parties were consenting. Those instruments might be fun and exciting while making out, but now, it seemed as though the bodyguards were going to use them to kill her. That had made her fear for her life. She slumped onto the floor and begged him. "I was wrong, Mr. Crawford. Forgive me! I don't have any grudge against Bianca Rayne. I only did that because Leia threatened me. She told me that if I don't do what she says, she'll make sure that I can't survive in A City. I had no other choice! I swear that I won't do it again. Please forgive me…" Luke's tall body towered over Charmaine. His figure was as exquisite as a sculpture, but Charmaine was not in the mood to appreciate it. She thought that the man was too scary. "What is inside the CD that caused Bian
After Jason sent his boss back to the mansion, he drove the car away. After Luke stepped out of the car, he could hear Bianca's voice from afar. "Let me go! I want to leave!" "Ms. Rayne, Sir said that we can't let you leave the mansion without his orders." That was the caretaker. Luke hastened his footsteps. He saw Bianca, dressed in a thin shirt, standing at the doorway of the living room facing the two caretakers. Luke's heart ached when he saw how stubborn Bianca was. "Bianca!" He called out her name. Bianca turned around and saw that it was Luke. Tears welled in her eyes. She turned around again so that her back was facing him. She knew that it was impossible for the two of them to be together. However, Bianca was moved when she saw him return. She had to remind herself that she could not turn around. Luke's hawk-like gaze fell on her face, then on her defiant back. He sighed imperceptibly. Bianca was flustered even though she did not see his gaze. She cou
"What? Aren't you worried about your safety?" Bianca's eyes opened wide when she heard what Luke said. She tried to stop her heart from beating too hard. She had lived those past few days in agony because she could not find a solution. Every night, she would have nightmares of Luke being taken away by enforcement officers. She would wake up drenched in sweat, but she was helpless about it. She did not expect that Luke already knew about the CD with the incriminating evidence, but he was not worried at all. Did he not know the grave consequences if the contents of the CD were leaked? Luke's big hand gripped Bianca's lower jaw hard and made her chin hurt. "Why didn't you tell me that something so serious happened? Don't you know that I was so relieved when I knew that you rejected my proposal because of the CD, but at the same time, I was angry because you didn't tell me?" Bianca fell silent. She did not know how to tell him; she did not want any harm to come to him. Lo
An enchanting scene in a hotel at night. A man wore a mask that covered half of his face. The uncovered half was extraordinarily handsome. Gordan Norton was hugging a woman. Suddenly, he saw a very faint red light from outside the window. Hugging the woman in his arms tight, he swiftly rolled off the bed. A silenced bullet sliced through the air and landed on where the man was lying a second earlier. A hole appeared on the bed! Two men in black balaclavas barged in from the window. Seeing that their assassination attempt had failed, they pointed the guns in their hands at the masked man. Before they could pull the trigger, the masked man had already pulled out a gun and delivered a bullet to each of them. Gordan's gun skills were impeccable. The bullets landed between the eyes of the assassins! Blood flowed from their foreheads. The two assassins had died even before they realized it. Their eyes remained wide open in disbelief that someone could have such a fast rea
The next day. Leia sat in the makeup room while a makeup artist worked on her face. She browsed on her phone, eager to look at the latest updates on Bianca's scandal. She could imagine Bianca's face at that moment. However, as Leia scrolled through her Twitter feed and looked at the various accounts of the major influencers and media outlets, she could not find any scandalous news about Bianca. Leia was shocked. She realized that something was amiss. She could still find news and gossip about Bianca at midnight yesterday. How could everything disappear in just one night? Most shockingly, when she tried to search for the accounts that Charmaine had contacted to share Bianca's article, all of them seemed to have disappeared. She could not find anything in the search bar… Leia started to panic. She immediately dialed Charmaine's number, disregarding the fact that she was in a makeup session. However, no one answered the call, no matter how many times she dialed the numbe
Allison was so thrown off by his commanding presence that she took two steps back.When Luke mentioned Susan, her eyes widened, and she shook with anger. “I'm your real mother! Who does that woman think she is?! You call her 'Mother'? No! Susan’s not your mother. I'm your only mother!”Consumed with jealousy, Allison's eyes turned red. She could not stand Luke calling Susan 'Mother'.Furious, she smashed several items in the living room.“Madam Allison, please calm down.” Sophian was startled by Allison's sudden outburst.Allison shattered another item, casting a hateful, challenging glare at Luke. She was like a child causing trouble. When he still showed no reaction, she picked up a vase and smashed it, creating a louder racket.Luke watched the whole scene with an icy calm.These were genuine art pieces from reputable brands. Even though they were not as costly as his grandfather’s antiques, they were still valuable. One piece could cost a white-collar worker half of thei
The two women froze in surprise at the sound of the commanding voice. Allison realized Luke had returned, and from his tone, he was clearly angry. Panic gripped her, and just as she was not paying attention, Susan scratched her again. The pain on her face was searing, and she let out a loud, pained scream, stumbling back and covering her face.Luca, who stood beside Luke, was equally stunned. They were actually fighting! What on earth was going on?!Allison staggered back a few steps and saw Luke's dark expression. Even though she was afraid, she felt reassured that her support had arrived. She cried out, “Luke, you're finally back! Your mom's getting beaten by an outsider!”Luke looked at the two women, whose ages added up to over a hundred years, in complete disbelief. He exchanged a glance with Luca before speaking again, “Are you two going to keep fighting?”Susan let out a cold sneer. She had been scratched by Allison several times, and her face now burned with pain.
Sophian realized she had made a mistake and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, Madam Allison. I saw it was someone familiar, so I didn’t think too much about it.”Allison shot her a furious glare.Sophian knew full well that Allison and Susan did not get along, yet she still opened the door for her. Was she out of her mind?“Oh my, after all that time in Seoul, you didn’t pick up anything good? Still that same fiery temper.” Then came Susan’s mocking voice.Allison froze for a moment and shifted her gaze toward the doorway.“How did you get in here?” demanded Allison. Did she not just ring the bell outside? How did she get in so quickly and without anyone opening the door to the villa?!Susan gave Sophian a smirking glance. “Your helper let me in.”Allison frowned, still confused. Susan continued, “I’m living right next door now.”“Oh, so I heard you got kicked out by Old Master Crawford. Moved right next door, did you? Sticking around like a ghost that won’t go away, living jus
Sophian stood before her. Her face was a picture of hesitation and discomfort. “Madam Allison, how about you order using your phone?”“What? You can’t even handle this small task?” At this point, Allison had completely shifted her view of Sophian, now seeing her as just another maid. Her previous tone vanished, replaced by a much more domineering attitude.Sophian felt helpless and quickly explained, “It’s just that the food from this place is just too expensive. I don’t have that kind of money.”Once she finished speaking, a flush of embarrassment crossed her face.Sophian had come back with Allison to work off the debt she owed from her cosmetic surgery. Therefore, she had no money to spare.Allison paused for a moment, a thought crossing her mind. After a brief moment, she picked up her phone and said, “It's not like I'm having you pay for it. You can't even temporarily cover it?”Sophian smiled awkwardly. “I just transferred money to the hospital.”Allison let out a faint hu
“You don’t like eating outside food, do you?” Luca thought that preparing breakfast and dinner for him was not a big deal.Besides, the main point was that Luke did not like eating out. He always felt the taste was off and lacked nutrition.“Actually, it’s not that I don’t like eating out. It's just that all the food outside tastes the same to me.” Luke gently squeezed her hand.“Hey, focus on driving.” Luca chuckled.Luke withdrew his hand and returned it to the steering wheel. “With that woman around, it wouldn’t be convenient for you to cook. Are you really going to make breakfast for them too?”If that happened, it would defeat the purpose of his plan.Luca thought for a moment. She did not mind ignoring Sophian, but if she cooked for Luke and not for Allison, that might not sit well with her. Allison could easily make a fuss over even the smallest details. “So, should we just eat out for breakfast and dinner from now on?”“Yes.” Luke did not mind.It did not matter where t
“Something I like?” Luca laughed. “What could that be?”“You’ll find out when we get there.” Luke kept it mysterious.“Alright then, I’ll wait for your surprise, Mr. Crawford.” Luca was in good spirits without letting family issues dampen her mood. Therefore, she video-called the kids.Luca dialed Mr. Griffin’s number.After Mr. Griffin answered the call, he handed the phone to Lanie. “Young Master Lanie, Ms. Craw wants to talk to you.”“Thank you, Mr. Griffin.” Lanie took the phone and pressed ‘accept’.Luca positioned the camera to include both her and Luke. She waved at the screen. “Lanie, Rainie, Tommy, what are you all doing?”“Lanie! Lanie, I want to talk to Ms. Luca!” Tommy waved excitedly at the camera, eager to take the phone.Lanie handed it to him. “Go on, tell Daddy and Ms. Luca about your good news.”Luca smiled and asked with curiosity. “Good news?”“Daddy, Ms. Luca, I made it to the next level in the math competition! The finals are this Saturday!” Tommy said e
“Why are you being so slow?” Allison was irritated. She shoved the products into Sophian’s hands.“I told you to use them, so just use them.” Allison ran out of patience. After urging Sophian, she lay back down.Sophian had no choice but to follow her instructions and poured out some product. The texture of the product in her palm made her pause for a moment. It was incredibly moisturizing!She gently patted it onto Allison's face and noticed the area she touched felt just as smooth.Allison let out a content sigh. “This essence is really soothing.”Even though Sophian was still worried about potential side effects, she could not help but admire the instant hydrating effect. She asked in a low voice, “Madam Allison, is this really developed by that woman?”She could not believe that Luca had such skills and wondered if the essence had just been repackaged into another bottle and sold as her own creation.“That's what she says,” replied Allison. “But she's into pharmaceuticals, s
After agreeing to become the maid, Sophian’s excitement gradually turned into anxiety.The villa was so large. Could she really handle all the tasks a maid was supposed to do?As she thought about it, she accidentally left the bread in the toaster for too long. After serving it to Allison, she was scolded.“What’s this? It’s just a slice of toast. How could you burn it like this? How am I supposed to eat it?” Allison was clearly displeased.Sophian awkwardly explained, “Madam Allison, this is my first time using this toaster. I didn’t quite get the temperature right...”Allison was about to keep complaining but paused for a moment, remembering that Sophian was the one she had brought in to be the maid. Now, she was the only one who could make breakfast for her. She disdainfully tore off the burnt part and took a bite. “Where’s the soy milk?”“It’ll bring it out,” replied Sophian, heading back to the kitchen. She brought out two glasses of soy milk and another slice of toast tha
“Are you planning to tell me that Madam Allison brought someone back?” Luca had a feeling she knew what was going on. Luca had been wondering why Allison had taken such a big risk by going out during the day, but it all made sense now.“Yes, she brought someone back and said she'll be taking over my job,” Aunt Neile replied helplessly. She was worried she had lost her competitive edge, which made her feel anxious.“I got it, Aunt Neile.” As soon as Luca spoke, there was a cheer from inside the lab. She glanced back and saw that there seemed to be progress in the research. Rhett gave her a thumbs-up to signal success.She slightly smiled and nodded before hearing Aunt Neile's voice again on the phone. “Ms. Craw, there’s something I’d like to say, though I’m not sure if I should. I’ve thought about it, and I feel like I should. Even though Mr. Crawford isn’t the type to fool around, you have to be careful. He has no interest in that woman, but she’s clearly interested in him. You sh