“Honey, I’ve been abused.”In a show of solidarity, Kallan and Eilam turned their heads to the side. Abel looked down at Ruth’s face and cocked his eyebrow in amusement. “Who could possibly abuse you?”“Callum.”Abel’s smile faded away. “What happened?”Ruth did not answer straightaway. Instead, she tilted her head and pondered over her words for a while. “Did you know that Lockton Corporation is going to throw Seema’s welcoming party here?”“Yes,” Abel answered. Ruth said nothing for a moment and just gave him a profound look. “So, are you here solely to attend my company’s celebration party?”Abel understood what she meant. The amused glint in his eyes disappeared, and he answered coolly, “Of course not.”Ruth unwrapped her arms from around his neck and straightened up.She knew it. His nonchalance was just a facade. He had not given up on going to Lockton Corporation’s welcoming party. She could not be this tolerant all the time. While she was thinking that, Abel pul
Everyone looked toward the door and saw two people come in. The man was handsome and elegant, while the woman pretty and full of life. The two were clearly from completely different worlds, but, when they stood together, they looked like a perfect fit. Perhaps this was because when a handsome man and a beautiful woman stood together, they were a pleasant sight.The invited news media reporters lit up when they saw Abel. There was an immediate sound of camera shutters. Mr. Herbert was surprised, but he quickly went to the two people. Naturally, he first addressed Abel. “Mr. Blakewell, what brought you here? Regardless, welcome!“And you! Why didn’t you tell me?! I didn’t prepare anything!” He glared at Ruth reproachfully. Mr. Herbert had wrinkles on his round face, and their lines became even more prominent when he smiled, so he looked like a shriveled raisin. Ruth shuddered and took two steps back in fright. “I was waiting for him downstairs. That’s why I’m late,” she expla
When Ruth saw Pearl’s smug expression, she giggled and, just like she did, whispered into her ear. “Yeah, you are. I’ll send you a set of Seema’s jewelry later.”Pearl’s eyes flew wide open, and she was so excited that she nodded rapidly. “You’re amazing! I’m going to be your friend forever!”Once Ruth sent Pearl off, she continued talking to Albert. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she said, “By the way, I’d like to introduce you to someone, Uncle Albert.”Albert’s eyes lit up, and he used his chin to gesture at Abel, who was surrounded by a group of people not too far away. “Him?”Ruth nodded. “Exactly.”Albert was delighted and relieved when he looked at Ruth. “I was worried that your party won’t be lively, so I decided to come here and take a look. Looks like I was worried for nothing. Though, I would have never expected you to invite such an important person over.”Ruth smiled. “He’s not important. You’re the important person here.”Albert was a little confuse
Mr. Herbert went up to talk to them and exchanged pleasantries with them. He managed to get Albert involved in conversation without leaving Abel out of it. He was friendly with both of them and gave them his attention equally. He was also displeased with Ruth for not being more friendly with their VIPs. Albert’s eyelids twitched as he looked back and forth between them. Understanding flashed in his eyes. Apparently, he was among the early ones to learn the secret. Because of it, he immediately puffed out his chest with pride and assumed the role of Ruth’s godfather in the conversation. Once Mr. Harbert finished greeting the two men, he took a look at the time and told Ruth, “It’s eight now. All the guests are here, right? We should start the party.”Ruth looked toward the door and said airily, “Just a bit longer. We’re still missing some people.”Mr. Herbert frowned in puzzlement. “Who are they?”“Some people you would never expect.”Mr. Herbert thought about it in silenc
But, judging by how familiar they were with Ruth, they did not look like they had gone to the wrong place. Mr. Herbert might not have met Alex and Dulcie before, but they were famous and undoubtedly the stars of Lockton Corporation’s welcoming party. However, they showed up here. A bold thought popped up in Mr. Herbert’s head. “If you’re here, does that mean that Seema is going to show up here as well?”When he asked the question, Alex and Dulcie looked at him with dumbfounded expressions. Then, he realized why they reacted this way. “I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously. I had a momentary lapse of judgment. All the VIPs made me so excited that I lost my reasoning. I even spoke out of line!”“It’s fine. If Seema were free, they would’ve come too, but they’re busy today,” Dulcie answered. She was known as Kaylen in Seema’s workshop. Her voice was sweet, and she sounded really friendly. She discreetly looked at Ruth. Ruth remained calm and agreed with what Dulcie said. “W
Abel turned to her and smiled politely. “She’s beautiful, true.”Dulcie’s smile grew wider. Right when she wanted to say something else, Abel said, “Honestly, you can just call me by name when there’s no one else around.”Dulcie’s eyes went wide with surprise. She was not expecting him to be so straightforward, but it did save her the effort of having to beat around the bush with him. She grinned, then pointed at his ring and said sweetly, “Did you know that I personally supervised the creation of the ring?”Abel nodded demurely and politely. “Thank you.”Dulcie was stunned for a few seconds. “Aren’t you surprised?”“Why should I be?” Abel asked in amusement. Compared to the time he learned that Ruth was Harper Williams, he was much calmer and relaxed this time. He knew that Seema designed the ring, and he also knew who Dulcie was. After all, Ruth did answer practically all of his questions. That was why he held the reins of the conversation right now. He also knew that he
When Ruth saw how guilty Dulcie looked, she grew wary. She turned to Abel, who looked as calm as ever, and gave him a serious warning. “Honey, that girl is always scheming. Don’t get tricked.” Abel nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll only fall for your tricks.”Ruth felt speechless. What on earth had they been talking about?She observed his expression. When she noticed that he did not look angry or displeased, she felt a little more at ease. After some thinking, she said, “Do you have any questions for me?”Abel took a sip of wine and countered, “What do you want me to ask? Or rather, do you have something to tell me?”Since Ruth asked him the question, she intended to be honest with him. So, she took over the conversation smoothly. “It’s about my relationship with Dulcie and Alex. Aren’t you curious about why they showed up here?”“They’re your friends. It’s normal for them to come here.”…Huh. Her husband had suddenly become really empathetic!Ruth smiled and drew closer to hi
“If you figured this out so easily, why didn’t you manage to figure out that I was Harper Williams?” Ruth pouted and wanted to use this embarrassing stain in Abel’s life to knock him down a peg. Yeah. He managed to figure out that she was Julius’s student, so? In any case, he was smart. But even someone as smart as he was failed to guess that she was Harper Williams. Abel’s eyes sparkled in amusement as he stared at her deeply. “So, are you saying that my guess was correct?”Ruth wanted to deny it, but she remembered their promise.They were to take their time understanding each other and be honest with each other. Fine, then. She would keep him guessing. ......Lockton Corporation had booked the entire top floor of the Sky Hotel to throw the internationally renowned Seema a welcoming party.They also invited famous jewelers and presidents of famous businesses. Blakewell Corporation was among them. Aside from the person-in-charge of Blakewell Jewelry, plenty of people
Galen stood nervously at the side. At first, he wanted to step in and help, but he held himself back.In the end, he gave up and watched the fight.The more he watched, the more startled he was.Despite her delicate frame, her moves were calculated and ruthless.Many of her moves were lethal.She was a young woman who was loved. She was pampered and adored by everyone. How was such a person so ruthless in combat?It was as if she often fought to the death…Mr. Watson was shaken as well. He covered his neck with one hand, while his other hand hung limply by his hand. He looked at Lily in shock. His other hand hung weakly by his side. He looked at Lily in shock.How could such a small and delicate-looking person possess such strength? Was she really the heiress of the Cavendish family?“Do you want to verify it? The wounds match with the one who attacked me. I broke his right wrist on the spot, though. After that, I didn’t wait for reinforcement to come. I moved immediately an
Her hand paused while hefting the silver fork.Ruth’s husband was really very considerate. He loved her sister truly and everyone in her family.She decided to find a boyfriend like him for herself in the future.“I definitely will!” She thought.She stood in the spacious living room and looked at the man beside Galen who wanted to get to the bottom of this investigation. Her fingers tightened on the fork. “Words might not be enough to explain. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you give this a try?”Galen had not reacted when Charles spoke, nor when Abel had talked about switching it to a blunt weapon, but he definitely did now. “Nonsense!” he said sternly and stood up.Lily’s fighting spirit was ignited, but his stern rebuke deflated half of it. “Why not? Is it now allowed? You said attacking a police officer wasn’t allowed, didn’t you?”“He doesn’t count!” Galen said with disdain.Lily’s aggressive stance was completely deflated. “Well… if he doesn’t count, then his skills
The seemingly innocent question was directed at the young police officer.He looked troubled.Her delicate appearance did not help.The young police officer turned to the stern-faced man beside Galen for some help. The man pursed his thin lips and spoke in a deep voice.“Your Excellency… Madam… the nature of this case is severe, but the process of investigation is smooth. If your daughter doesn’t reveal the whole truth, it’ll be difficult for us to reach the crux of the issue. I assume that you don’t just want the result from this investigation but also the truth?”His firm voice was authoritative yet respectful.Charles turned to look at him. His brown eyes were calm, and he was sizing up this person.The police officer’s cold demeanor momentarily faltered. He quickly looked away and did not dare look him in the eye. “We’re just following procedures. To prevent this matter from escalating further, we hope for your cooperation.”He sounded intimidated yet resolute. It seemed
He was already determined to stake everything on his plan.“Right,” Lily said, “What about those bodyguards assigned to protect me? How were they swapped?”“Abel offered them ten times the price and bribed the group of bodyguards hired by Denver. The two poor people were taken down. The rest were replaced by our own people,” said Galen icily.Lily was shocked. She looked at him and then at Abel, who was driving calmly.Ruth looked at her husband with the same shocked face.So, this was how money made the world go round!When Denver had transferred money to that company, Lily had caught wind of it, but it seemed Abel had found out even sooner.He had already made arrangements to take drastic measures.“Don’t they have any morals? I heard that those kinds of organizations have principles. They won’t willingly betray the ones who employed them,” said Ruth.“As long as it’s not a terrorist organization, every organization needs connections. William’s group was already in dire stra
It was mainly because Denver clearly fabricated an alibi. But he had appeared on the scene and had been taken away.It was indeed quite puzzling.At that point, everyone looked at Abel in confusion.Abel looked straight ahead and did not speak. He only spoke when he was asked directly.“The father and son lost because they didn’t know each other’s motivations. It’s easy to bribe their people to send a message to the other and get them to the scene…”Before they set off, Sean received news that Denver was going all out and wanted to go down with Lily in the manor in the suburbs.Sean did not doubt it because Denver had been acting increasingly strange recently.He was transferring his assets and buying and renovating manors. It was as though he was prepared for death.He had even arranged for his funeral.Afraid that his son was taking things too hard, he put down whatever he was doing and rushed over to the scene.Since that was taken care of, it was easy to deceive Denver af
“See what you are doing? What if something happens to your sister?”Charles was not known for showing affection or caring about people outright.However, when his daughter cried and threw a tantrum, he could not stop himself.Charles stood by Lily without hesitation and scolded Abel for his incompetence.Ruth was originally filled with resentment and wanted to vent it out on Abel too, but when she saw that the father and daughter duo had joined forces to attack her husband, half of her resentment dissipated.With four bodyguards that had been arranged to deal with two outsiders, coupled with Lily’s abilities, her life was indeed not in danger…She glanced at Lily hesitantly. At this moment, Galen had cleaned up all the stains on her palm.Other than the redness between her thumb and index finger, she did not seem too badly hurt.All the resentment was gone. In fact, she was even a little protective. “Why did you have to deal with the four bodyguards?” Lily lowered her head an
Everyone was speechless.This discussion was fruitless. Everyone had their own opinions, and no one wanted to give in.In the end, Reina and the old man took a car, while Ruth, Abel, Charles, Galen Barker, and Lily got into another.The fire slowly died down.The cars left one after another.After Mr. Lockton got into the car, his cloudy eyes became shrewd. He asked his daughter, “Do you think that police officer is also interested in Lily?”Otherwise, why would he be so active and rush to the front? Why would he find such a lousy excuse to be the one to drop her home?“I think so, but unfortunately, Lily doesn’t seem to be as interested as before,” Reina said helplessly.Otherwise, why would she reject such a good opportunity to get into his car?Wouldn’t she have acted pitiful enough to earn his sympathy to get into the car?Mr. Lockton frowned. He was in deep thought.The last time he had heard that his granddaughter had fallen in love with another man who happened to be
Also, she was sure that if it was Luna being attacked at that time, he would have helped her without hesitation.This man was just like Notus. He was stupid, stubborn, and hypocritical.The reason why she spoke on his behalf was that she could not stand Luna’s smug face. Even if she wanted to drag someone down, she had to ask first.It was just the truth. She would not die if she made that clear anyway.Luna’s smug look cracked as she stared fixedly at her. Her gaze shifted from doubt to resentment and unwillingness.Aquilo was not surprised when Lily accused him. He knew that he had done something wrong. If not for Abel’s careful consideration, they would have died here today.However, he was quite surprised to hear her defend him.As he was handcuffed and escorted to the police car, he could not help but turn to look at her.“Lily…”Lily was about to walk to her car.She paused for a moment and turned to look at him calmly.Her usually playful eyes were indifferent at that
Aquilo opened his mouth but did not know what to say.Just then, a team of uniformed police officers rushed over to the scene to rescue the hostages.Looking at the people standing before them, they could not tell which ones were the hostages.Galen Barker walked over from behind and glanced at them. “What are you still standing here for? Get out quickly!”This manor had an ancient Sommersetese courtyard.The place where they were gathered was a small open space in the courtyard.After passing through the desolate artificial mountain pavilion, they arrived at the large courtyard outside the manor. There were many people gathered there, with many police cars parked nearby.A fire truck had also arrived.To Lily’s surprise, Sean Lovehart and his father were also there and were being escorted into the police car.When he saw her coming out, Denver’s face filled with hatred. He wanted to rush to her and strangle her. “You’ve got guts! You risked your life to drag us down with you!