Anthony’s eyes grew a layer of frost. Was she genuinely threatening him? He had to put her in her place. He walked toward the piano and sat down elegantly. Waverly exhaled in relief. Perfect—she managed to intimidate Anthony! At last, she could perform something with him in public! She walked over and sat down. Susan and Grandma Bailey let out a breath of relief, pleased with the outcome. Thus, everyone waited silently. Anthony’s delicate fingers landed on the keyboard as he started his performance. The beautiful sound came out from the piano, and it was Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. This was the most difficult piano concerto in the world! A famous music critic once described the performance as energy-draining, and that the physical energy required was equivalent to ‘ten tons of coal’. In the documentary of an Australian musician [Flashing Glory], he once described a pianist who mentally collapsed due to performing this piece...yet Anthony was able to perfo
How fake! Grandma Bailey was not pleased, but since she was the host, she tried to defend her. “Hand cramps are normal, very normal. Even a prodigy will slip up at some point. Look at this, the flowers are blooming so beautifully. Let’s go and admire the flowers.” Dorothy instantly went forward to help up Grandma Bailey. Since it was Grandma Bailey, the rest followed her to admire the flowers. Waverly followed behind Anthony, tense-looking as she did. She had never been so embarrassed in public before. These people might tell everyone else that she could not play the piano! She was embarrassed. She must make Charmine embarrassed as well! As she followed behind Anthony, she secretly texted Britney when he was not looking. [Go with the plan. Make sure nothing goes wrong!] With that, she admired the flowers with the rest as if nothing was happening. The flowers bloomed so beautifully as they seemingly glowed in yellow majestically. With Susan’s approval of letting a
The loud cry attracted everyone’s attention. Everyone turned back to see Waverly falling to the ground. Her originally beautiful face was filled with panic, and strands of her hair fell out of place. She was in so much shock and did not look elegant at all. Susan was angry. Waverly was trying to embarrass her! However, she had to calm herself and support her. She asked, “What happened?” “Worm…a worm…!” Waverly looked badly shaken, still. When she was about to put the flower on her ear, she noticed a thumb-sized worm on the flower and it wiggled toward her palm. She gradually felt the worm’s soft flesh. Disgusting! Utterly disgusting! Susan’s face darkened. She could no longer hold back her fury. In a wealthy family, even if they had flowers, they would have maids picking out worms by hand every day. Waverly called out a worm in the flowers she grew, and that was indirectly embarrassing her! The people admiring the flowers kept some distance from the flowers instant
With that, she hung up and let Adam take over the company matters she was handling. She left the company exactly three minutes later. Kay walked over to report to her, “After investigating the matter, we found that Momo left school. We haven’t found his current address, but we’re certain that the last message was sent out from the Bailey mansion.” The Bailey mansion? Charmine frowned. Had Chris gone to the Bailey mansion to look for Anthony? The Baileys never liked Chris. With Waverly and McKenzie around, if they did anything to Chris… With that in mind, she went inside the car and rushed toward the Bailey mansion, all while she attempted to call Anthony. He did not pick up. She had to go ahead alone. At the same time, Anthony was trying to get away from Waverly. Since Senior Bailey looked for him, he went inside Senior Bailey’s meditation room. The meditation room was a resting space for Senior Bailey. Upon entering, they had to remove all weapons and phones. They
Within a short period of assessment, someone had reached out to grab Charmine’s arm. Charmine’s body turned away with agility. “Grandma Bailey won’t live past five minutes if nothing’s done to help her!” she snapped. What? Would not live past five minutes? Everyone reeled back in shock. Susan scoffed angrily, “Who are you? Not only did you harm Grandma Bailey, but you even cursed her? Someone, come here and remove her mask!” The people surrounded Charmine and were about to grab her. Charmine merely said, “You don’t have to, I’ll do it myself!” In front of everyone, she took the initiative to remove her mask. Her stunning face was shown, calm and cold. When everyone saw her face, they all gasped instantly. “Ch…Charmine!” “The Jordan Group’s director?” “The Jordan Group’s director pretended to be a maid and came in to harm Grandma Bailey?” The most shocked of all was Susan. Realization dawned on Susan as she noticed it was Charmine’s voice, no doubt. She did
Only then did Susan think about it. Waverly had a point. Grandma Bailey once went to look for Charmine. Other than Anthony, Charmine hated everyone in the Bailey family. She must have thought of ways to kill the Baileys, whoever stopped her from being with Anthony! Since Waverly had the approval of the seniors, why would she attack Grandma Bailey? “Call the police,” fumed Susan, “call the police right away! Send Charmine to the police station!” Ten or so bodyguards went toward Charmine. Abruptly, Grandma Bailey bled even more, and Charmine instantly pushed the bodyguards away, taking out a bag of needles once she did. “Only I can save Grandma Bailey. It’d be too late by the time the doctor comes here!” “Go away! Are you not tired of harming Grandma Bailey? Are you that raring to want to attack her again? Do you think we can’t do anything to you?” Susan blocked her from getting closer to Grandma Bailey. She said to the bodyguards, “Are you even trying to keep your job? Yo
Anthony, Darryl, and Senior Bailey looked at the yard. They saw that Grandma Bailey was on the ground, pricked with needles on her head. Blood oozed almost everywhere. They also spotted Charmine dressed in a maid’s costume, kneeling by the side. Overtaken with rage, Darryl roared at the row of bodyguards, “What are you standing there for? Hurry and capture Charmine! Save Grandma Bailey!” “These aren’t our bodyguards. They’re all taken down!” yelled Susan in reply. It was not until then Darryl noticed that there were bodyguards lying on the ground in pain.Charmine’s bodyguards, on the other hand, were strong like a wall as if they were warriors in the desert—undefeatable! His eyelids jumped. Charmine had such powerful bodyguards! As he gazed at his wife on the ground, Senior Bailey demanded, “Charmine, you let go of her! Hurt me instead, but let go of my wife!” He stumped his walking stick as he yelled. Darryl was even more furious. “Look at what an evil woman you’
Grandma Bailey suddenly started coughing. A mouthful of black blood spouted from her mouth as she coughed, though her sickly green face slowly eased for the better. Moreover, the needles on her head no longer vibrated. The crowd reeled in shock. Grandma Bailey woke up? She was visibly on the brink of death, yet she managed to regain consciousness? Also… Charmine was using the needles to save her and not to harm her? Charmine exhaled deeply in relief. Once she removed the needles on her head, she stood up and said to Anthony, “Grandma Bailey is stable right now, but she’ll be weaker in the following days. She’ll need some time to recover.” “Okay.” Anthony trusted her, he reached out carefully to help Grandma Bailey up and signaled to Luke with his eyes as he did. Luke and his men instantly brought the stretcher toward them. Anthony helped Grandma Bailey onto it, but since her body was quite heavy, Charmine had to help out. Grandma Bailey, with her complexion purpli
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