Sue shook her head indignantly. "Not good. Ever since that incident, we've received far fewer orders. Some clients would rather pay the penalty for breach of contract than let us do the design for them." Bianca was not too flustered, knowing what those people were thinking. "How does it compare to the previous month?" "It's at least a forty-percent decrease. We're not a big company, and there are several designers without any work on hand. Even St. Heckler Hotel is already looking for another company," Sue reported. St. Heckler Hotel was a three-star hotel construction project in A City. It took Bianca a lot of effort to convince them, but Riley's incident happened right before they were about to sign the contract. She was not at liberty to continue negotiations, so she delegated the task to Sue and Nina. "Have they signed the contract with the other design company?" Bianca asked. "No, they're still negotiating. I've heard that the company is charging a high price, which is
"Yes, I've met her before. I always remember the beautiful women I meet. Your company really has a lot of beautiful women. Ms. Langdon is one, Ms. Rayne is too." Mr. Steven's eyes on his corpulent face narrowed into slits as he ogled brazenly at the two women in front of him. Bianca and Nina exchanged glances. Both of them thought that Mr. Steven's perverse gaze was quite disgusting. Bianca tried to hold back her disgust as she smiled and said, "Please have a seat, Mr. Steven." Mr. Steven's beautiful secretary pulled a chair, then removed his coat with her delicate fingers and hung it on the rack. "Please sit, Mr. Steven," she said coyly. "Yes, yes." Mr. Steven copped a feel as he sat down on the chair. The secretary smiled and said nothing. She sat down next to him. Nina could not help but wonder how that perverted man managed to get to where he was. She smiled brilliantly, hiding the disgust in her heart, and poured some tea for the man. "Please have some tea, Mr. Steve
Mr. Steven took a step forward in front of Bianca, sniffed the air in front of her, hugged her waist brazenly, and smiled. "Yes, we can talk about the price. After all, your company seems quite capable. So how much will it be, Ms. Rayne?" Bianca turned her head away in disgust when she saw his oily, sausage-like lips leaning close to her face. She discreetly distanced herself and said, "We can talk about it, Mr. Steven. How about if we sit down and talk?" "Alright, alright, alright. Sit on my lap and we'll talk." Mr. Steven prepared to sit down while hugging her. Nina stepped in between the two. Mr. Steven let go of Bianca and hugged Nina instead. He did not mind that. After all, both of them were beautiful. He smiled at Nina and said, "Would you rather sit on my lap, Ms. Langdon?" After many drinks, all Mr. Steven wanted was to cop a feel. Nina was appalled, but she would rather Mr. Steven take advantage of her than her good friend. "How about if we give you a five percent
Percy's dark eyes dripped with spite. He stared intently at Steven's fat hand that was on Nina's waist. ‘How dare this pig lay his hands on my woman? Is he tired of living?’ Percy asked Bianca, "Is Luke aware that this is how you have business meetings?" Bianca’s scalp felt numb. If Luke found out, she would never hear the end of it. Just as she was about to explain further, Nina got closer to Steven and said in a chilly tone, "We're just talking about work and didn't do anything else. What's wrong? Does it feel dirty? To a dirty man, everything looks dirty." Steven hugged her and said triumphantly, "Yeah! Who are you? You barged into our private room, how rude!" One could seemingly smell gunpowder in the air, and Bianca was caught in the middle. She tried her best to diffuse the situation. "This is Ms. Langdon's—" "Nina, come home with me now." Percy clenched his fist, walked over, and grabbed Nina's hand. "Hmph..." Nina snorted and was taken away by
Percy's body temperature turned warmer as he pulled off his tie impatiently. The smile on Nina's mouth carried a touch of mockery. She was well aware of what was coming next. She stood up and took off her coat with one hand. "I reek, I'll go wash up first." She was still sober. As the most special character around him, she was well aware of his likes and dislikes. Percy hated women who smelled like alcohol. She planned to take a quick shower before they got down to business. Percy gave her a push and she landed on the sofa. "No need, I want you right now!" After an hour, Nina was exhausted and lay on the sofa. She watched him dress himself up and leave. She slowly let out a sigh when she heard the sound of his car driving away. In Percy's heart, she was nothing more than a tool. Her status was lower than that of bottle girls in the nightclubs. Bottle girls could choose which customers they wanted to accompany. They had money in their pockets and were
After Percy left with Nina, Bianca had to spend some time reassuring Steven and promising that she would arrange for another meet-up soon enough. Steven was dissatisfied but did not say much. Bianca knew he was upset and bought two bottles of fine wine at the hotel. When she sent him off, she handed him the wine and the other's mood seemed to ease a little. She was relieved when she watched him leave with his secretary. Bianca was not confident that she could secure this partnership. Bianca massaged her face, which had been cramping from smiling all night. She sighed helplessly. She called for an Uber because she did not want to drive after drinking. When she got home, she walked into the living room and found that Luke was not working in the study as he usually was. He was sitting on the sofa waiting for her. "Luke?" Bianca called out to him softly. The moment she saw the man waiting for her in the living room, her foul mood was gone. She did not
Half an hour later, Luke presumed Bianca was asleep when he heard her breathing slow down. He picked up the phone on the bedside table and sent a message to Jason. [I want everything you can find on the CEO of the developer for St. Heckler on my table tomorrow morning.] Jason was coaxing the twins to sleep. After he received Luke's text, he immediately replied: [Okay, Mr. Crawford.] Kari was awakened by the notification. She opened her eyes in a daze and muttered, "Dad." Jason put his phone away. He was a workaholic. Even if he was asleep, his phone would never be on silent mode. That was so that he could attend to Luke’s requests at the first instant. He apologized. "I'm sorry, baby. Did it wake you up?" Kari glanced at her sister who was sleeping next to her and found that Teri was still asleep. She shook her head and said, "No, Dad." "Baby, go back to sleep." Jason tucked her in, then gently rubbed her belly and soothed her. Kari smiled sweetly and
Bianca's eyes widened as her spoon fell on the table. The red tablecloth was covered with cream. Luke went slow, unlike his past enthusiastic self, and licked the cream from the corners of her mouth little by little. Bianca could not breathe. His slow-paced kisses were heavenly. Her heartbeat sped up and eventually lost its rhythm. She felt like she was in the clouds. She could feel her body, but it felt like nothing else was in her mind as she indulged in his graceful warmth. One of their phones rang, disturbing their kiss. Luke slowly moved away. He held her face in his hands, rubbing it gently with his fingers. Their love was in the air. Bianca gasped lightly. After her cheeks were rubbed by him, they turned even redder. She was swept off her feet by him. Luke looked at her affectionately but did not say anything. He answered the phone. Jason said, "Mr. Crawford, he’s at Club Gravity." "Okay, we’ll be over." Luke ended the call, to
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
“This cup of coffee is from that gentleman for this lady.” The waiter smiled as he explained, placing the cup in front of Luca.Hera followed the waiter’s gaze and immediately recognized the man Luca had been looking at earlier.Her eyes darkened. She had noticed the man glancing in their direction. However, she had assumed he was looking at her.After all, she was dressed seductively, had put on makeup, and was undeniably beautiful. Any man who saw her would be attracted. If a man’s eyes lingered on her, it was not surprising at all.Realizing that the man had been watching Luca the whole time instead of her, Hera suddenly felt annoyed.Luca noticed her displeasure, glanced at Gordan, then smiled and said to the waiter, “Please thank the gentleman for me.”“Of course, miss. Enjoy your coffee.” The waiter, sensing the tension between the two women, quickly grabbed his tray and left before Hera’s sour mood could affect him too.“Hmph, feeling proud of yourself?” asked Hera.Luca