When Grandma Bailey realized she made a slip, she quickly retracted herself and said, “I don’t know… I don’t know anything…” “Okay, then. Get ready for the wedding,” declared Anthony. With a frown on her face, Grandma Bailey fretted, “But does she have the support from the Cherny family? The seniors in the Bailey family knew about this, and they said Charmine’s background isn’t good enough for you. Without the Cherny family’s approval, they would resign their posts instead of permitting you to be with Charmine!” Anthony scoffed, “Really? Make an announcement then—I’m having a full family meeting.” With that said, he hung up and walked out with Chris, saying, “Remember: you might be in danger in the following three days. No matter what happens, stay close to me. Your safety determines whether your Mommy and I get married. Understand?” Chris sensed the importance of the matter, thus he nodded heavily. “Yes, Sir!” … At the Bailey mansion. Once the call ended, Susan, next t
When Susan saw how determined Grandma Bailey was, all she could do was follow her request and make the notice. Since the rest of the family would not agree to this, she might as well wait for them to arrive. Dumbfounded, Fredrick glared at Grandma Bailey with disbelief. “Grandma Bailey, have your gears rusted in aging that you can’t decide properly? You don’t want Waverly but want a woman like Charmine? Have you considered the outcome?” “Oh? I do want to know what outcomes there are!” Grandma Bailey met his glare fearlessly. Fredrick did not expect her to be so determined, and he halted before arguing coldly, “Back then, the deal between Burlington and Kansas was signed due to the engagement between the D’Cruz family and Bailey family. If you do this to Waverly, the deal will be canceled! Furthermore, we’ll fully boycott the Baileys as well. We’ll become enemies!” “Hahaha! My good enemy. Well said.” Grandma Bailey smiled coldly and looked at him mockingly. “I’m almost a hund
“Grandma Bailey, you must teach your grandson well. You can’t let him mess around!” “Charmine was engaged to Julian, and her reputation is ruined. Marrying a woman like her will make us a laughingstock!” “I won’t approve! All of us won’t approve!”The crowd disapproved in unison. Grandma Bailey sat by the side, bombarded with the protests. She rubbed her temples. They were so noisy, and the internal conflicts were… How annoying! How would Anthony fix this? Suddenly, a tall and well-built figure walked in through the door. The moment he walked in, it was as if the sun had disappeared into the clouds. The temperature in the hall dropped significantly. Even though he said nothing and merely made his way toward them, he exuded an oppressive temperament. The rambunctious crowd fell silent instantly, and they dared not breathe too loudly. Some members who acted out before he came quickly went back to their seats, as if they were the students and Anthony the teacher. A
Everyone in the meeting hall assumed Anthony would be intimidated, threatened. They thought he would compromise, but little did they expect… Anthony remained unperturbed as he met their eyes. “Since I’m here, I have another matter to speak of.” With a wave of his hand, Luke walked toward them and placed a pile of documents he had in his arms on the table. Everyone looked over and noticed that they were the share-transferring contracts with the words printed, [Anthony is willing to transfer 70% of his shares to ___ unconditionally.] He even signed it! Everyone was stunned. “President Bailey, what are you doing?” “Are you giving up all of your shares and authority in Bailey Corporation?” “You’re giving up your company for a woman!?” They slowly rose and spoke of their disagreements and distaste. Senior Bailey, who had been trying to keep calm, could no longer hold himself back as he turned to Anthony and blurted, “Have you lost your mind, Anthony?” He gave up his 30-
Furthermore, the Bailey Corporation only had deals with 50 countries before Anthony took over. After Anthony took charge, he signed deals with almost all countries around the world. If he left with the deals with 108 countries, would the Bailey family return to the point they were at before he came? Would they not be left with only deals with 50 countries? Instantly, they understood. Anthony was not trying to scare or threaten them. He had all the rights! Even if he left the Bailey Corporation, he could build another empire within five years with his own capability! He would not be the one at loss—they were! The younger members instantly ran out as they blocked Anthony from leaving. “Boss Bailey, please, don’t leave!” “The six seniors were joking with you! It wasn’t serious!” “We’re a family! A family! Why make it so awkward?” “Don’t you just want to marry Charmine? We agree! We all do!” They spoke one after another to please Anthony. Anthony merely looked at th
At a hospital. Waverly was in the emergency room, and doctors that attended to her were helpless. The needle was inside her vein, and if they were not careful, Waverly could die of massive blood loss. The solution Waverly came up with before she fainted was temporary anesthesia. This was achieved by injecting enough local aesthetics around the painful area. She had three injections on her stomach with that. Fredrick and Max accompanied her, pitying her as they felt utter rage toward Charmine. Max watched as she was still unconscious with her complexion extremely pale. He stood up in anger. “I’ll find Charmine right now. I’ll make her endure a hundred times more pain than Waverly’s feeling!” “Alright, sit down.” Fredrick scoffed. He glared at Max. “Since when have you become so impatient? Since when has the D’Cruz family become so short-tempered?” Fredrick did not sound pleased. Max frowned. “My sister is being bullied. How can we stay quiet? Do you want to let Charm
Once Waverly had both Max and Fredrick leave the ward, she picked up her phone and sent Britney a voice note. “Listen carefully…” … At Violet Residence. Anthony had just returned after a long day at work when Nial hurried toward him, near tears. “Bro, it’s bad! Something’s up! Annabel somehow disappeared!” “Disappeared?” Anthony frowned. “Yes,” replied Nial. “I noticed that she was in good sleep today, so I excused myself to the garden on the first floor for a breather, but she suddenly disappeared when I went upstairs ten minutes later! I checked all of the cameras and saw that a person dressed in black came in through the tunnel, and whoever it was managed to avoid all of the safety alarms and left with Annabel!” Anthony’s cold expression hardened. Charmine was the one who implanted the safety system. The staircase and the tunnel had alarms attached to them, yet this person managed to evade every single one? All thoughts of resting flew out the window for Anthony as h
Was Annabel not staying at Violet Villa? Was Nial not looking after her? How did she end up missing? Guy explained, “Anthony announced his upcoming wedding, and the D’Cruz family turned against him. Many inside people have learned about this, and perhaps someone kidnapped Annabel to threaten you and Anthony. Anthony had his men looking for her in the past two days, but they’ve yet to find anything. If you leave with us now, maybe the wedding ceremony will halt tomorrow.” Dior handed a black bag to Charmine through the window as he spoke. “Uncle Hugh got this from the government agency. Put this on and jump out of the ventilating window of the toilet on the second floor.” Although there were electric wires outside the ventilating window, the electricity surge would be the weakest there due to the water tank. This top-graded insulating jacket could withstand weak currents, and it would be sufficient for Charmine to escape. Charmine took it with a small frown on her face; s
There was an unnoticeable glint in Sonia's eyes. She nestled herself further into Harry's arms as she added, "Let’s go to Pares. We'll come back after I give birth to the baby.""Alright."Harry stayed by Sonia's side as he watched over her, cared for her, and talked to her until she finally slept in his care.He stood up tiredly and walked out of the room to sit in the living room.Thuck!Something fell out of his pocket.He narrowed his eyes to the source of sound and spotted a USB.Since when did he have a USB in his pocket?With a small frown on his face, Harry curiously picked it up and noticed the front side of the USB glowing. Something was carved onto its surface, too.[Granger].Was it Dior’s USB? Why was her USB inside his pocket?Harry’s clear fingers held on the USB tightly. He thought for a moment before he took out a laptop, turned it on, and plugged in the USB.A moment later, the screen showed what seemed to be peculiar surveillance footage with a descriptio
Dior was still lost in her storm of thoughts when a shadowy figure zipped past her and ran toward Harry.When she spotted this familiar figure, she reacted quickly and held onto him."Let go of me!" growled Guy. "How dare he slap you and misunderstood you? I have to beat some sense into him!"Harry broke free and chased after Harry.Dior, despite having lost all hope and life in her, mustered the last strand of her will to chase after Guy and reeled him back. "Brother, don't," she muttered, "spare your energy…" Her sorrow clouded her eyes as she mumbled, "He’s the man I love. Even though he hates me, I won’t allow you to hurt him. As for the explanation…"Dior smiled ironically. "Whatever. That slap decimated every beautiful daydream I have about him, anyway."She no longer expected anything from him.He had no trust in her, so what would it matter if she finally got him? He did not even love her, and he did not trust her either.Dior smiled elegantly, but her eyes were fille
Dior looked forward to that new shift.She watched as Harry made his way into the restaurant silently, unable to deter her mind from the daydreams she had of him, of the new chapter of their story they would have.He would apologize to her, trying to redeem himself, and kiss her dearly as he embraced her. Later down the line, they would have a child of their own, too.Harry's long legs walked in strides, his dark gaze trained on Dior.The bright light shone on Dior’s delicately stunning face, and she also wore a red dress.He remembered her wearing this back in Mount Village.He could remember how alluring she looked back then, how they stayed in the same room, how she put down her ego to treat him with so much gentleness.Harry’s cold face mellowed down, but recalling a certain memory, the vague wistfulness in him vanished and he sat in front of her.Dior looked at him fondly, like she always would. "Long time no see."Her eyes burned brightly as if she wanted to drink in his
Dior examined the footage the moment she received it.True enough, it showed Sonia and George talking about their little deal. It also showed how Dior was telling the truth while they both ganged up on her.Dior’s frail heart felt as though it was rejuvenated once more, feeling as though blood was once more pumped into her heart. Her dull eyes devoid of hope regained their lost luster once more.Not thinking twice, she dialed Harry's number with this evidence, though he had to be busy, seeing as he did not pick up even after the phone rang for a long while.Just as she was about to hang up, Harry picked up the phone."What do you want?"On the other end of the call was the voice that she had missed for so long. His low, hoarse voice sounded so cold and emotionless.Hearing his voice brought Dior back to the image of his handsome face, and her heart skipped a beat.She tried her best to restrain her fluttering emotions as she tried to speak calmly, "Do you have time? I’d like to
At Mount Village…Inside the elegant bamboo house was Dior, dressed in a beige dress. She sat in the front yard as she took sips of her wine.The sunlight shone past the leaves and illuminated her, yet she exuded an air of loneliness.She swirled the glass and could not help recalling the moments she spent with Harry.In the beginning, she was attracted by his looks; he looked so gentle and elegant.She gave him money, kept him company, and continuously showed up around him in hopes of conquering him.Alas, she ended up in this state.The time she spent with him in Mount Village was the happiest time she had ever had. They had lived inside the bamboo house together, where he took care of her and claimed her to be his woman.They even laid inside the same room.Everything was so beautiful.Cursed was her luck, however, that it was just an illusion. He had been using her from the start, while he chose to stay with the woman who lied to him and even hurt him!No matter how mu
"Although Susan was unhappy, she should've voiced out her displeasure instead of bottling things. Cheating is wrong, regardless. Furthermore, if she wanted a career, she didn't have to stay home and depend on her husband."Grandma Bailey halted.Was that what Charmine truly thought of?Grandma Bailey thought Charmine would find Susan too aggressive unto herself.Charmine glanced at Susan again and apathetically commented, "She doesn't want to make money on her own, but she wants to be rich while complaining about her man not making time for her and taking care of her? If a woman has no ability of her own and also blames others for her miseries, all she's worth is to sit quietly at home and wait for her husband to come home. She also has no right to cheat! This is how the world works."Charmine patted Grandma Bailey’s shoulder and held Anthony’s hand, her words met with everyone's evidently surprised gazes and their silence.Grandma Bailey was shocked. Sure, Charmine sounded rathe
The colossal cruise started to drift away from the pier.Eric stood on the cruise and let the wind blow at him, loneliness and hatred still oozing from his being.He stared at the blue ocean ahead of him as Charmine's words rang in his mind unceasingly.'Will you really feel good after you've killed them?''You saw Susan suffering from a serious wound; would you still kill the one sibling you have left in the world?'"Forgive them and yourself.'Deliberating everything carefully, his lips curled into a bitter smile.It was true, after all, that Charmine understood him the most.Eric poured himself another drink and downed it with loneliness as he allowed the cruise to bring him wherever it would take him.…Susan was still inside the operating room when Charmine and the rest of the Baileys rushed into the hospital.Darryl stood before the room, his expression blank, his figure lonely and helpless.So many things had happened in half a day.He found out about his wife's inf
"No one's stopping you now. Eat!"Anthony clenched his hands tightly and took another glance at Charmine. He was more determined than before, and he was close to eating the pills in the bottle.Charmine, who was held hostage, gradually opened her eyes at that moment. Her gaze drifted toward Eric before she asked, her tone challenging, "Will you really feel good after you've killed them? You saw Susan suffering from a serious wound; would you still kill the one sibling you have left in the world?"Eric halted, and his eyes darkened.Charmine had just woken up, yet what she said…He cast a cold glance at Charmine. "It's my business, and it has nothing to do with you!"They were his family, and he did not want a family like this!Charmine looked squarely at him. "Eric, I don’t care if you used me or plotted against me all these years; I've treated you like a true friend, nothing more nor less. You were the only person who stayed by my side in the past five years, so I hope that you
Anthony's breath hitched when he saw Charmine.He clenched his fists and, without doubting himself, relented "I can agree to your terms, so let her go right away. This has nothing to do with her; you only hate me after all. As long as you let her go, I'll take the pill. Everything will end right away."Susan shook her head. "We'll die after eating the pill. I’m not taking that!"She had just reunited with Eric, and she did not want to die yet. She looked at Eric and begged, "Please let Anthony be, why don't you? He’s your brother, after all, and he doesn’t even know about your existence. If you’re really angry, just kill Charmine, and I'll make it up to you—"Anthony's expression contorted in sheer fury upon hearing Susan's plea, and he glared at her with murderous intent."This was all your fault, so what right do you have to make Charmine take your blame?!""What on earth are you going on about?" snapped Grandma Bailey. "Charmine has been kidnapped because of you, yet you want