로그인But inside, she could not stop blaming Sarah and Zachary. If the two of them had not stepped in and ruined everything, the marriage alliance might already have been settled by now.Instead of standing here worrying in a hospital room, they should have been preparing Melvin and Quincy’s engagement.Shawn did not think this was something that would blow over so easily. His frown stayed fixed in place.“But now Sarah has something on us for no reason,” he said. “How do you know she will not use this against us someday?”Mrs. Sanders had thought about that too. But Sarah and Melvin were close. And if the Sach family ever found out what had happened, Melvin would not come out of it untouched either.So in her mind, Sarah would never expose it, if only for Melvin’s sake.“And whose fault is that?” Mrs. Sanders shot back. “You are the one pretending to be unconscious, leaving me to handle everything alone. And now you are blaming me for not doing it right.” Her voice shook with anger. “
She kept glancing at her watch as she urged the staff to hurry.Once everything was finally packed and ready, she picked up her purse and headed for the car waiting outside.Not long after, the vehicle pulled smoothly into the hospital parking garage. Mrs. Sanders led the staff straight to the private elevator that went directly up to the VIP floor.The moment she stepped into the room, she saw Shawn bent over his work, dealing with company business. He did not hang up until after Mrs. Sanders had finished setting out all the food.“How much longer are you planning to keep pretending to be sick?” Mrs. Sanders asked, handing him a spoon, her tone edged with irritation. “You cannot hide from Melvin forever.”He knew that faking illness could only buy him so much time. But for now, he had no better way to deal with Melvin.“There are things he still cannot know,” Shawn said with a weary sigh. “If I can avoid it for one more day, then I will.”Maybe it was because the food suited hi
For something this reckless and baseless, she had actually drugged the food. She did not care who got hurt, and she did not care if she humiliated the entire Sanders family in the process.“So this was your plan all along?” Melvin’s face was pale from the drug, but his expression had turned ice-cold. “You wanted to force me into sleeping with Quincy so you could pressure me into marrying her. Is that it?”He looked at Mrs. Sanders as if she were not his mother at all, but a stranger he had never met.“Melvin was never supposed to be your bargaining chip,” Sarah said, unable to stay silent any longer. “If you like the Sachs family that much, that still does not give you the right to sacrifice his whole marriage for it. This is unbelievably selfish.”Melvin let out a cold laugh, the anger inside him close to snapping. “So that was the real reason you called me back. Just to force me to marry Quincy.”“I just want you to settle down,” Mrs. Sanders said quickly. “Your father is still
“I’m not drinking,” Mrs. Sanders said at once. “I have to go to the hospital tomorrow morning to see your uncle.”The moment she finished refusing, she quickly added, “You young people can have a little more. Sarah, you should try some too.”Across from her, Melvin and Quincy had already taken a couple of sips. It really was good wine, smooth going down, with a faint oak-barrel aroma.Sarah did not know what had been slipped into it, but judging from the look on Mrs. Sanders’s face, there was definitely something in that wine.“Melvin drove here tonight, and he’s already had some,” Sarah said. “So I definitely can’t drink too.”With that, she set her glass down.Seeing that Sarah was not taking the bait, Mrs. Sanders immediately smiled and said, “That’s true, but we’re drinking at home tonight. Even if you get drunk, the worst that happens is you stay the night here and head back tomorrow morning.”No matter how much Mrs. Sanders urged her, Sarah refused to touch the wine, and e
Mrs. Sanders led Quincy toward the dining room, glaring at her “hopeless” son as they walked. “If family is eating together, then how is this not a family dinner?”Quincy was guided into the seat beside Melvin, while Sarah sat across from him.The two exchanged a look, both thinking this dinner was probably a trap.But since they were already here, they might as well stay and see what kind of “main course” this trap had in store.Sure enough, not long after dinner began, Mrs. Sanders steered the conversation toward Melvin.“The thing your father and I want most is to see you settle down as soon as possible. Your father’s health is still poor, and he’s still in the hospital. If your marriage could be settled sooner, I’m sure his recovery would go much faster.”Quincy glanced up at Melvin’s expression, then lowered her head and quietly stared at the food in her bowl.“Mom, why are you bringing this up again? It’s not like this kind of thing depends on me alone. When the right pers
He was forced to stay late with everyone else and did not dare make a single move.After the meeting, Steven was just about to slip away when Zachary stopped him.“What’s Mia been up to lately?”“She’s been at Lucas’s film set the whole time,” Steven said. “Mostly just watching, though. My guess is she’s worried he might really make some impulsive decision to quit acting, so she came up with this excuse to stay close to him.” Then he could not help adding, “The men in your family really are all hopeless romantics.”“Enough with the smart mouth. Get out now. If I still see you in a minute, I’ll take it as you volunteering to stay and work overtime.”Steven bolted for the door at once, but not before throwing out one last line.“You got this, Zachary!”After hanging up, Sarah went back to what she had been working on. It was not until she got a text from Melvin saying, “I’m done. I’m heading over to pick you up now,” that she hurriedly straightened up the mess on her desk.Since
Mia looked at her freshly painted pink nails. A tiny bunny sticker sat on her ring finger. She gave a faint smile. “They’re pretty.”After what had happened last time, she had improved a little. At least now she could manage simple conversations with Lucas.As he carefully brushed on another coat
“Miss Garner, please don’t panic. I’ll check with the guy who left the baby at the hospital entrance,” the man said.Five or six minutes passed before his voice came back on the line. “Miss Garner, I asked him. He said he dropped the baby at the gate and ran right after. Have you checked the hospit
Charlotte laughed through her tears and, furious, swept her coffee cup off the table. It hit the floor with a loud crash and shattered, which finally made the man at the door stop.James turned, his face colder than before.Only when she made him angry did she get a moment of his attention.Charl
Nick frowned and reached a hand toward Lucy. “Grab my hand.”Lucy looked at him in pure terror. Her hand trembled as she stretched it out. “Nick!”Her soft, pale fingers landed in his palm.In the next second, Nick yanked her toward him and pulled her onto his horse in one clean motion. The saddl







