He raised his head and stared at Edward, stunned. Then, his eyes gradually reddened before he mustered a whimper, “E-Edward?”No words came out of his cousin’s lips. Instead, Edward shot Seth a stone-cold glare, his lips thinning slightly.“F*ck it! I’m done!” Master Levin exhaled a long, exasperated sigh and shakily rose to his feet with his cane. “I blame only myself for keeping a monster around me and believing that I could tame him,” he proclaimed. “You’ll have your wish, boy. I’ll leave Gol
“Okay. Maybe after we buy you some clothes.”He bought some clothes for her and took her out for dinner, but they did not return to their condo or the house Vivian had hidden in earlier. Instead, they went to a nondescript hotel for the night.Edward was not sure if the incident had somehow motivated Vivian into trusting him more, or if it was all just an illusion. Either way, she seemed to be a lot warmer up to him today. She was still rather apathetic, but at least, there were no stinging rema
Vivian thought about it for a little while before reciting Estelle’s number to Jake. “Text this number,” she added.She then hung up the phone, deleted the call history, and returned it to its spot. It was far from the first time she had done something like this by now, so she was less jittery and haphazard and more steady and calm. By the time Edward exited the bathroom garbed only in a towel, she was already lying down on the bed as though nothing had happened.The television was still blaring
She returned to her room, demoralized, and stared at the television with her thoughts lost in her conundrum. Figuring out the location of the USB stick would be pointless if she couldn’t access the study ultimately.Vivian spent an entire evening pondering about the problem, but no scheme took shape in her mind. That very night, however, Edward pulled her into his study immediately upon returning home and registered her fingerprints into the complex’s security database.Vivian was shocked that h
Vivian’s control of her volatile emotions had slipped drastically, and Edward was smart enough not to raise her ire.Curiously, he had somehow learned to be accommodating and understanding of her needs. If she wanted him out of her sight, he would bend over backward to make sure he stayed out of her view as much as possible. At the end of the day, he cared about her immensely. Watching his woman being cooped up in her room without ever leaving the condominium worried him.One day, he offered, “Y
Vivian turned as white as a sheet. She bit her lip instead of affirming her best friend.“He came to see me the next day after I took the documents,” Renne continued. “As you told me, I passed the documents to him, and that was when he told me you’re expecting.”Vivian had deliberately suppressed the news from reaching Renne ever since it was confirmed despite the latter being her most cherished friend. It wasn’t because she distrusted her. No, it was because Vivian was ashamed. She was ashamed
The phone was picked up almost immediately. However, there was nothing but only silence from the other side of the line. Vivian was so nervous that her voice sounded high and strident. Her throat felt raw as the word slowly wrung out of her, “Hello?” “Viv!” Liam’s anxious voice cut through the line into her ear.Before she made the call, Vivian had commanded herself so many times that she must keep calm and that she must not cry. However, all the mental preparation seemed useless and her ment
In the next second, Edward opened the door. Standing at the door, he sighed and said, “Why didn’t you give me a response? You scared the hell out of me, you know?”Vivian was so nervous that her hands were shaking. She tried to make herself as calm as possible and glared at him. “Are you nuts, Edward? Can’t you see that I'm using the toilet? Get out now and close the door!” Edward was stunned for a moment, and only then he realized that she was using the toilet. It was such an embarrassing mo
Did you know, Vee?I’ve thought of this more than once. If only our beginning from that night wasn’t so unbearable, how wonderful would it be?… The light from the setting sun spilled towards her from the side, casting a glow on the piece of paper, illuminating the words on it, and giving them a slight shimmer. Just like last year, when she emerged from the ultrasound room in the maternity hospital, weak after a mere two steps, she had to lean against the corridor. She covered her mouth with
Vivian arrived home a little late. She parked the car at the side of the road first, then collected her subscribed newspapers and magazines from the mailbox at her gate. She flipped through the mail as she walked in. To her surprise, she found a letter. It was an envelope made from kraft paper with her name on it.It was a rare handwritten letter with the faint print of a bamboo tree, drawn with Chinese calligraphy ink. The bamboo was tall, straight, and fierce just like the script on the lette
“It’s been three months now, why isn’t the little one moving? When will the baby quicken?” he asked her, “Can it hear me? Will it remember my voice?”He even asked, “Who do you think it’ll look like, Vee? Will it be a girl or a boy?”She knew very well that he was harboring evil intentions, but she gave into him and crumbled anyway. She sobbed and screamed, “Kill me, Sean Jackson. Kill me. I will never give birth to this child even if I die! Never!”He soothed her, “Alright. Don’t give birth
His lower jaw tightened. The lines on his face stiffened icily like the cold edges of a knife. In reality, he had given up long ago. His heart was as dead as ash. However, refusing to accept this, he grasped at everything, hoping to find a straw that could save a life, not to save himself but to save his child’s life. That was how well he knew her. He knew that once she escaped, she would never spare his child. Did he hate her? Yes. He hated how he couldn’t shoot her dead. Love triumphed over ha
“Then, what should we do?” his aide asked.A hero’s end was, inevitably, death. He wasn’t afraid of death, but he was simply plagued with remaining grievances. After a bout of silence, Edward calmly said, “Do something for me. Once that’s done, just slip away. There are no lives in your hands and you aren’t in the cops’ database. No one will notice you.”This aide had received a great debt of gratitude from Edward once, so he was solely loyal to him. He became distressed when he heard this, so
“You deserve it for all of the crimes you’ve committed!” Vivian screamed, losing control. Her emotions felt strangely steady after that scream. She threw the gun away as her sparkling, dark eyes were filled with renewed determination. She stared at him and spoke, enunciating every word, “Sean Jackson and those brothers of yours, you’ve all got your justice. Beaten to death, right? Arrested, was it? But when you willfully hurt others and view their lives as nothing more than weeds, you should hav
She hadn’t slept the entire night, and she was extremely high-strung. However, she was feeling slightly fatigued. Perhaps because of the comforting glow from the brightening day outside, she lay down on the bed with her clothes on after a bout of hesitation. She had only intended on taking a nap but unexpectedly fell into a deep sleep.Vivian suddenly woke up, startled. She had lost track of how long she had been asleep. She found a figure standing in front of her bed when she awoke and was gre
Vivian was taken aback by his question. “You haven’t caught him?” she exclaimed in astonishment. She thought that they had already apprehended Edward based on the expression on Jake’s face.“Our men have surrounded the condominium,” he answered simply, “He and Wade seized a hostage and hid inside the study. Both sides were caught in a deadlock for a while, but when they burst the study door open, they only found Wade and that hostage inside.”Vivian trembled uncontrollably as she listened to h
The wedding day was drawing to a close. Vivian stayed at the condominium until the day before the wedding. Then, she moved to Edward’s villa by the lake to wait for the wedding ceremony. Edward drove her there himself, feeling reluctant before he left. He turned around and looked at her, then softly said, “Wait for me. I’ll come for you tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”Vivian didn’t respond and simply stood at the doorway, quietly watching him.For some reason, the sight of her like this