Wildflowers grew along the lakeside. Rainie was restless when she saw those beautiful flowers and grasses. "Alright." Bianca fed Tommy the last piece of apple and watched him chew it happily. She wiped her hands and asked, "Shall we go and pick some flowers with Rainie?" Tommy shook his head. "That's girl's stuff." Bianca was caught in a dilemma. She could not leave Tommy alone there, but she did not want to let Rainie wander off on her own either. Tommy stood up and pointed at where Luke and Lanie were. "I want to go and see the fishies, Mommy." Bianca smiled, held his hand, and brought him to Luke. "Daddy! I want to see the fishies!" Tommy said coyly as he hugged his father's arm. Luke was attaching the bait to the hook. When he saw his youngest son grinning at him, he put the fishing rod away and brought him to his lap. "Alright, but you can't make any noise," he said. Tommy did not understand. "Why can't I make any noise?" "The fish won't bite if you make noise!
Bianca crouched down so that the three children could look at the photo too. "Daddy, Mommy, why don't we print a big one and frame it in the living room?" Lanie suggested. "Alright." Luke thought that it was a good idea. Other than the wedding photo with the children, they did not have any other family photos. The photo would complete their home. Bianca took the camera and snapped many photos of the children. Their laughter echoed at the lakeside. At that time, they did not know that a sinister pair of eyes was watching them from a small patch of forest on the opposite side of the lake. "Luke Crawford…" There was a vicious ferocity in that man's gray eyes. He wished that he could tear the man in front of him into pieces! … Luke, Bianca, and the children went to Crawford Manor the next day. Bianca held Rainie and Lanie's hands while Luke carried Tommy. The family of five entered the door. Before the adults opened their mouths, Rainie and Lanie greeted Old Master Craw
Old Master Crawford chuckled. The two children loved their mother very much. Tommy also tugged Old Master Crawford's pant leg. Old Master Crawford lowered his head and looked at the little boy. "Do you have anything to tell me, Tommy?" "Great-Grandpa, if you scold Mommy like that again, I won't play with you anymore!" The three children looked at their great-grandfather determinedly. Old Master Crawford looked at the three children and shook his head helplessly. "Looks like you don't respect your great-grandpa after all." Lanie corrected him, "We respect you, and we love you, Great-Grandpa, but we'll have to point out your mistake." Since young, Luke had told Lanie that he should be righteous and just. Lanie thought that Old Master Crawford had not been just. "Alright, alright, I was wrong. I won't do that next time." Old Master Crawford felt comforted by the determination in Lanie's eyes. The Crawford family needed people like him to pass on the family legacy. Lu
Everyone in A City knew about Allison's extravagant lifestyle. Old Master Crawford was not close to other wealthy ladies, but he had heard rumors. The Crawford family might be wealthy, but all that wealth had to come from somewhere. Old Master Crawford had worked hard since he was young and had amassed a lot of wealth. People from his generation were very thrifty, and they would save every cent whenever possible. Even until today, Old Master Crawford would not waste any money. His clothes were expensive, but they lasted for a long time. He always believed that clothes made the man, which was why he did not spare any expense on his clothes. What Allison had been doing was the exact opposite of Old Master Crawford's principles. Allison might have moved out of Crawford Manor, and her personal life was no one else's business, but all her money came from the Crawford family! Susan looked at Allison smugly while waiting for Old Master Crawford to continue speaking. "If you
Allison became nervous, seeing that Luke did not say anything. She had already maxed out her credit card, and she would be blacklisted if she did not repay the debt. One of her friends was the wife of a banker. Everyone would know if she got blacklisted. "Can you bear to see your mother starve?" Allison began to cry again. Her red and puffy eyes looked more realistic than ever. Rather than trying to evoke pity from her son, those were tears of desperation. Luke stood there with his hands in his pockets and looked at his mother coldly. Allison was used to Luke's cold treatment, but she was losing her temper. No matter how useless she might be, she was nonetheless his mother! Allison did not want to throw tantrums because she wanted money. All she could do was cry and evoke pity. Luke was getting impatient with his mother's waterworks. Through the entirety of Riley's incident, his mother had never even given him a phone call. Now that the matter was settled, he saw her in
Allison closed her eyes and tried to recall. "About half an hour." "Alright, Madam. I'll perform heat therapy to open up your pores before we proceed with the treatment." Elsa covered Allison's eyes with a damp towel before starting the treatment. Allison felt a blast of hot air on her face. She felt slightly uncomfortable and asked, "Why does my skin feel off recently, Elsa? It gets very uncomfortable with the slightest irritation." Elsa's hands that were mixing the beauty essence paused for a while as she composed herself. She smiled gently and said, "It means that your skin's condition is becoming better, Madam. Your skin is so soft and tender, so it's not surprising that it gets irritated easily. Look at the people who work menial labor every day. Their skin is rough, and they won't be as sensitive as yours." Allison thought that it was quite strange, but what Elsa said made sense too. Her skin was well-maintained, and it should not be surprising that it was more sensit
Elsa took out her phone and read that person's phone number to Allison. Allison took that number down. "Madam, may I know which of your friends it is?" Elsa asked curiously. "None of your business." Allison put her phone away and lay down on the lounge chair. "You two can go out for now. I want to rest for a while." Elsa nodded, stood up, placed a blanket over her, and left the room with Elise. The siblings went downstairs. "Elsa, why do you think Madam wants Jonny's phone number?" Elise asked curiously. "I don't know either. Try not to make yourself sound too close to him though. She'll be wary of us if she knows that we're friends with those people," Elsa reprimanded her sister softly. "Alright, I know." Elise nodded. "We'll just have to ask Jonny… Jon when we meet him." Elsa took off her gloves. She would wear gloves whenever she applied beauty essence on Allison's face so that her bare skin would not have to touch it. "There's no other reason why wealthy people
"Louis is quite egoistic. We shouldn't interfere in his family matters." Louis took the book from Rainie's hands and underlined the difficult words. He and Louis were brothers, and they knew each other's personalities well. Bianca nodded. She sat next to Rainie and listened to her read. In Louis's bedroom on the second floor, Yuri hugged Thea and gently coaxed her. The little girl was crying miserably in Yuri's arms. Her huge eyes were blurred with tears, which made people pity her. "Alright, don't cry. I'll buy a ballet dress for you." Yuri was angry after hearing what her daughter said. Louis was inferior to Luke in every aspect. He could not even afford a custom-made ballet dress for her daughter. 'Our daughter wouldn't want something that Rainie can't wear, you good-for-nothing!' She cursed in her heart as she listened to the heart-rending sobs of her daughter. "Mommy, I want a better dress than Rainie's dress." Thea did not want to be outdone. "Of course. Your dr
“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