Ruth brought the topic back to Abel. “Did the incident at the family gathering last time cause Abel trouble? Will it be bad if Nicholas inherits Grandma’s shares?”“Don’t worry. It didn’t cause Abel any big trouble,” Lyla said confidently. “I was too focused on my affairs in the past, so I didn’t notice that they were bullying you two. But don’t worry. I won’t let them bully you anymore!”Then, she changed the topic while smiling. “Besides, doesn’t it depend on Seema whether Nicholas will inherit the shares?”Ruth smiled in embarrassment and thought of it as Lyla teasing her.Lyla was surprised by her reaction. “You’ve told Abel your identity, haven’t you?”Ruth pursed her lips. She wanted to tell Luna it did not depend on her anymore because Lockton Corporation’s situation had become complicated.However, Frank picked on Abel because of her. No matter what, she would not sit by and do nothing.“I’ve told him. Don’t worry. I won’t let Nicholas get the shares!”It was getting
At that time, Ruth was angry with Abel, so she refused to have sex with him by using the excuse of having her period.He actually believed it and thought that her period lasted for more than a week.“What are you laughing at?”Abel frowned.Ruth grabbed his shoulder and kissed him. “I’m laughing because you’re cute. That was obviously an excuse. I was angry at that time, so I didn’t want to have sex with you.”Abel was staring at her with dark eyes.Since they were close, Ruth could hear his heartbeat and feel his breathing. She did not know what to do when Abel’s burning gaze focused on her.She averted her gaze. Even though she felt a little apologetical, she still spoke self-righteously. “Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want to settle scores with me?”Abel looked at Ruth’s red lips and said in a husky voice, “No.”“Then what—”“I was wondering if you feel like doing it since you didn’t give me an excuse tonight.”Ruth’s face instantly flushed. She was too emba
Apollo checked the time; it was only 11 p.m. “I thought you being a health guru was just an act for the public. I didn’t expect it to be real. It’s only 11 p.m., and you’ve already turned in.”Demi was silent for a few seconds.Apollo was worried she might fall asleep, so he asked, “Did you see the trending tag this afternoon?”“Yeah, but it has nothing to do with me. I’m a victim. I won’t take responsibility for it.”“Huh?”Apollo was taken aback and no longer in the mood for discussion.He raised his voice in disbelief. “I’m Apollo Blakewell, a famous actor with tens of millions of fans! What makes you think I need you to take responsibility?!”“I have tens of millions of fans too! Don’t forget you’re the one who dragged me into this mess!” Demi said in mockery.Apollo was furious and stepped on the accelerator. “I dragged you into this mess? I’m also a victim, okay?”“Right, a victim. Are you the man in the photos?”“Yes.”“But the woman in the photos isn’t me!”“…”“Th
Apollo checked both sides of the corridor after he stepped out of the elevator. When he was certain no one was around, he rushed to Demi’s door and knocked on it.This place was Demi’s new house. It was close to the filming site, so she had moved in last month when the shooting began.Apollo knew about the move because Demi had asked him to help.The scandal had caused a stir, so the paparazzi had to be lurking in the neighborhood of Demi’s old house. Fortunately, she was smart enough to hide in this new place.When the door opened, Apollo hurriedly rushed in and closed the door.Demi was still in her pajamas with her hair casually tied up. She was caught off guard by him pushing her in. Before she could catch herself, Apollo pushed her to the cabinet in the entryway.While rushing inside in a panic, Apollo stumbled toward Demi. He managed to avoid falling on her by supporting himself with one hand on the cabinet.Demi looked at him. Their faces were only a few centimeters apart
“Cough!” Demi spurted out the beer and started coughing.Apollo quickly put his beer down and patted her back naturally. “I know you’re excited about getting together with me, but you don’t have to overact.”Demi calmed down and stopped coughing. Then, she stared at him with a flushed face.Her gaze made Apollo feel a bit embarrassed, so he moved back slightly. “W-Why are you looking at me like that?”“I wanted to know what your skin is made of. How can you be so thick-skinned and say something so shameless?” Demi’s expression was serious, and her voice was filled with disbelief.Apollo spluttered.He sighed and explained the reason he thought of on the way to her house. “It’s the only solution if you don’t want me to quit being an actor.”Demi smiled. “I think it’s a good idea for you to quit, so no thanks.” Apollo lowered his head and said nothing.When Demi saw his reaction, she raised her eyebrows and looked at him in surprise.“Seriously? Did your family scold you and
Apollo caught himself with one hand on the carpet to avoid falling on Demi and used the other hand to cover the back of her head.If anyone else saw it, they would think he was hugging her.This was the second time they got so close to each other, and Demi’s face flushed. She was not as insensitive as when Apollo tripped and fell on her earlier, but she could not tell if it was because of the beer or the topic they were discussing.Demi pushed at Apollo’s chest and softly said, “Get up.”Apollo saw her embarrassment, and his lips formed into a mischievous smile. “Give it a second thought.”Demi was at a loss for words.“Hey, are you threatening me? You won’t move away unless I help you?” She tried to lighten the flirtatious atmosphere.Apollo adjusted his posture. He lay sideways and spoke in a lazy voice. “I have to take a photo to pose a threat in this situation.”“You wouldn’t dare!”Apollo stopped teasing her and said seriously, “I promise you’ll just need to help me deal
Apollo’s eyes brightened, and he pretended to be reluctant as he turned back.Demi and Apollo sat side by side on the carpet.After a long silence, Demi still wanted to change Apollo’s mind. “You only want to bring a girlfriend home to meet your parents. It doesn’t have to be me, does it?”Apollo shook his head. “No, they only like you.”Demi then asked, “What about you?”“What?”“Do you like me?”Apollo was taken aback for a moment, then showed a sly smile. “We always bicker and have seen each other’s ugliest sides. There’s no way we could have feelings for each other. Even if I saw you standing naked, I wouldn’t find you attractive!”Demi let out a long sigh of relief. She patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’m glad to hear that because I feel the same. In that case, I won’t have to worry about you falling in love with me.”Apollo’s smile faded. He looked at her with a hurt expression.He only gave a random excuse, but Demi was being serious.Did she not have any feelin
Abel wanted to change the topic to redirect her focus, so he said, “What did you talk about with my mother upstairs?”Ruth was mildly surprised by the sudden change of conversation. Even so, she still picked up her cutlery. “It’s nothing. We looked through your photos. You were pretty good-looking when you were young. You’re certainly my husband.”Abel gave her a stupefied look. “You just looked at my photos? You didn’t ask about the Lovehart family?”Ruth froze. She actually forgot. At that time, all she could think about was Abel. Seriously, men were such distractions.“Did you ask your father?” she retorted. Abel nodded. “But my father doesn’t care about these things, so he doesn’t know much. I think my mother does, so I thought you’d ask.”Most of the time, men were not interested in gossip, but women were, so they would know more about such things. That was why Abel thought that Ruth would ask Lyla about it and learn something. “I forgot. Should we stay here until after
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!