After recovering from the violent coughs, Kevin said, "Can you apply for leave these two days... To visit Luojiazhen? Your grandfather is in the old house, and Marie’s mom might also be going there...""Grandpa?" Bianca was surprised.‘Didn’t Grandpa go to Japan with Dad’s sister? When did he come back?’Kevin held his daughter's hand because he was worried that she would get angry. He coughed and told her everything weakly. After he told her everything, the doctor came in just in time.The doctor was there to do the daily monitoring and examination."Dad, I have to go first," Bianca said.Kevin nodded.She was lost in her thoughts as she tried to digest what her dad told her about Grandpa. She walked out of the hospital.In the ward, Kevin stretched one arm over to let the doctor draw his blood while his other picked up his ringing cell phone. "Hello, this is Kevin." Kevin was focused on the needle sticking into his arm and did not see who was calling before he picked up.
"He is..." Grandpa did not want to guess who the person was. If he guessed wrongly, it would be awkward.Luke walked in with his suit and straightened back. He reached out his hand politely and intimately wrapped his other arm around Bianca's waist. His gesture seemed to allow Grandpa to understand their relationship. "Are you the Jean Langdon that my son told me about?" Grandpa smiled and stood in front of the fire pit. He said, "I tried to remember your name well after Bea's father told me the two of you have been together for more than five years now and that the two of you are getting married soon."Bianca was worried that Luke would correct him, so she immediately interrupted and said, "Grandpa, look how thin you’ve gotten! Were you not used to life in Japan?""I'm old, and old people look like this." Grandpa put his arm around his hunched back and took the fire stick to another dilapidated room.After he searched for something for a long time, the old man took two small sto
Bianca held the bowls and chopsticks. She looked at Luke who was sitting across from her with her sorry eyes. Luke probably hated Jean. When Grandpa called him Jean, even though it felt bad, he had to swallow it for the time being."Grandpa, you should eat more too." Luke did not correct him and made sure the old man ate first.After he picked up food for Grandpa, he picked up two pieces of ribs for Bianca."Thank you." Bianca picked up a few grains of rice with her chopsticks but did not dare to look up at him. She took a small bite of the rice before she bit into the ribs that he picked up for her.It was then when Bianca noticed that the ribs that Luke picked up for Grandpa and her were fine pieces of ribs.It was the type with one single bone and had meat that could be easily bitten off.He ate the backbone.The small town was not fancy, so ribs were sold together with the backbone.Bianca picked up a piece of fine ribs and put it in his bowl. "You should eat too. Don't j
"The owner’s my buddy, so I asked him for a spare key to your room..."From what they heard, the unidentified man Jennifer was struggling from had a wife. His family lived in the small town.Bianca’s hand was grasping the sheet hard.She felt sad for her dad.Dad had struggled for more than 20 years to earn money to support Jennifer and her daughter.In the end, however, Dad was in the hospital enduring the pain from his terminal illness while his wife Jennifer was cheating on him."You dirty man...""Don't you like me being nasty? Anyway, I’m better than that guy of yours who either has this cancer or that cancer... Say it... Don’t you agree...""Ah... You’re good. You’re the best… Ahhh… Don't thrust so hard… You’re going too deep…”"Too deep? I think you can still take a couple more inches in you!" the man said crudely, "You’re at such an old age now. Why are you still pretending… I can go deeper… You’re not that tight either… And I’m the only one who can make you come…”Bi
The manner Allison was speaking in sounded very strange. Bianca was so shocked that she had forgotten to greet her."Where are you? I want to see you right away, Bianca Rayne. I think we need to sit down and talk seriously. It’ll be good for both you and me," Allison said selfishly.When they met at Crawford Manor, Allison treated her very warmly and called her Bea. This was the first time she had called her by her full name, Bianca Rayne. Bianca remembered that when she was five years old, she was pushed to the ground by other kids and ended up knocking her knee under her skirt on the gravel. One of her knees bled after getting scuffed badly.She had cried and gone home to look for her grandpa. She told him that she wanted her mommy and asked why everyone else had a mommy but her.The kids who had mommies always bullied her, calling her ‘little bastard’ and that bastards deserved to be bullied!Grandpa, who was exhausted from her crying, stopped his kind demeanor and had a very
Luke leaned in front of the car, his fiery body wrapped under his shirt and trousers. He was still clamoring to ejaculate.The man frowned and opened the car door to take his box of cigarettes and lighter. He lowered his head, lit a cigarette, and inhaled fiercely. It seemed that the only thing he could do was to smoke to suppress the unrest in his body.His eyes that were as black as ink looked at the room with the dim lights. The old house had been empty for several years, so there were no curtains installed. Luke continued staring at the room until she turned off the lights after a while. That night, Bianca did not sleep well.Luke barely slept in the first half of the night either. He returned to the town. The quiet night inevitably made him feel emotional as he thought back about everything that he experienced in the town.All the good and bad flooded into his mind vividly.Bianca woke up with a headache just a little after five in the morning.She could not sleep well i
"What did you just say?"Bianca's face stiffened.Allison must be joking.Perhaps that rich lady really hated her to the extreme and wanted to separate Luke from her. However, it was a little absurd to say such blatant lies."I said, you’re my daughter. Am I not clear enough?" Allison finished her sentence, reached out, and picked up her coffee cup. She took a sip from it, then raised her head to show an expressionless face. "So you can’t be together with Luke.”Bianca stared at Allison across her. One of Bianca’s hands was clasped across her other hand beneath the table. Her palms were slick with cold sweat.She never told Allison that she had lost her biological mother when she was a child. ‘How does Allison know about this? Did Luke tell her about it?’Bianca's mind was in a mess.She also remembered that Allison was the mistress who separated Susan, who had gone crazy that day, and Luke's father, Zachary. Allison then succeeded in taking over Susan’s position in the family.
"You can’t pick up the phone the way you are now." Allison did not need to look to guess who was calling.Bianca lowered her head as her tears continued to flow out."Come on, wipe your tears and follow me." Allison could not say anything comforting. She took out tissues and handed them to Bianca as if it was the best thing she could do.Bianca rejected the two tissues Allison was giving her. She took another deep breath, wiped the tears from her face, and walked into the hospital.A sad person who kept crying while they walked in the hospital would attract a lot of people's attention, but they would not stare because sad people were aplenty in a place like that.The elevators in the hospital were not busy in the afternoon.Soon, Bianca arrived at the floor where her dad was hospitalized."I need to go to the bathroom."She knew she had to take into account her dad's feelings and not let him see her embarrassed and sad.Allison stood silently at the bathroom door, waiting.Bi
“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