LOGINHayes stepped forward, coldly staring at the second sister of the Vale family, who was so frightened that her voice trembled. “Try hitting me! My man is right here!”Hayes said coldly, “I’d be disgusted to hit you!”I saw a rare kind of fierceness on Hayes’s face, a cold and ruthless kind.The second sister of the Vale family was held down by the security guard and shut up reluctantly.Her husband, however, was a reckless man. He struggled to break free from the security guards and wanted to fight with Hayes.He was a country bumpkin, used to doing farm work all year round, so his body was strong. Even the security team couldn’t hold him down. The moment he rushed up, I shouted, “Hayes!”Hayes turned around nimbly and kicked my brother-in-law in the stomach with considerable force. The man fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and howling in pain.His wife cried and wailed, saying she would call the police and put Hayes in jail.Hayes sneered. “Call the police? I’ll help you.”A
When the Vale family was invited to a meal, the house had only been paid for with a deposit, not in full.At that time, I was completely focused on Julian, so I thought it was fine to put both our names on the house, since it would be our little family in the future. But seeing the way his family acted at the dinner table made me a little uneasy.Genny squeezed my hand under the table, signaling me to stay quiet. She would explain to Julian that the house we bought for our marriage was my premarital property and had nothing to do with his family or with him.When Genny said the house couldn’t be registered under Julian’s name, Bree’s face darkened immediately. She asked sharply, “Our Julian and Eloise are married, so they’re family. Isn’t Eloise’s property Julian’s? What kind of friend are you? Are you deliberately trying to cause trouble between them? You’re so narrow-minded, you can’t stand seeing others happy, can you?”Genny let out a cold laugh. “Auntie, your son is well educate
When Hayes dropped me off at the entrance of the residential area, it suddenly started raining heavily.I unbuckled my seatbelt, got out of the car, and politely thanked him.Hayes replied casually, “No need.”His handsome face was expressionless, he just looked at the heavy rain outside the window. He took out an umbrella and handed it to me.“No need, I’ll run inside in a few steps. You keep the umbrella.” I subconsciously said. I thought to myself, what if he needed the umbrella? If I took it away, what would he use?But Hayes insisted on putting the umbrella in my hand. “Take it, I don’t need it.”“But…”“Aren’t you going to see Julian? Shane has already arranged the time. What if you get sick from the rain and it delays things? Time in the detention centre isn’t something we can just pick anytime.” Hayes said firmly. “Take it.”It would be impolite to refuse again, so I took the umbrella. “Thank you….”Hayes frowned slightly.I asked hesitantly, “What’s wrong?”Hayes called my
Hayes looked at me, like he wanted to say something, but held it back then something clicked in my mind.Something more important and I turned to him.“Haye… why did you even start investigating Rite in the first place?”These weren’t things ordinary people could uncover. Even Josh, one of the most in-demand private investigators in the city, had only managed to scratch the surface. But what Hayes found…Hayes answered calmly, “You said before that Rite might be targeting you, but you didn’t know why and Shane felt the same thing. Something didn’t add up.” He shrugged his shoulders. “We analyzed the relationship between Rite and Julian… And came to a conclusion that her real target… was you.”He paused slightly. “Shane suggested we start from her background. So I did. And during that process… I found out that her mother, Reba… had a connection with your father.”At that point, Hayes pressed his lips together and he looked at me seriously. “I’m sorry, Eloise. I made that decision with
“No matter what happened, Reba refused to say who the father was. The family pressured her to get an abortion. She refused and said she would rather die. Even gave an ultimatum: Either they accepted the child… Or they let her go. Her life or death, she said, had nothing to do with them.”“At that time, the head of the family was the old matriarch. She was strict and traditional. She couldn’t tolerate Reba’s behavior at all. So she ordered her son, Daniel, to take Reba to the hospital.”“But before the procedure, the doctor told him something. Reba’s health was already weak. If she went through with the abortion… She might never be able to have children again.”“Daniel had always spoiled his younger sister. He couldn’t bear it and when she cried and begged him… said she would never marry… Said she only wanted this child… so He gave in and He sent her to England instead. The old matriarch was furious and felt ashamed. She cut her off completely and even banned her from ever returning to
I probably looked terrible at that moment.Like a small, angry animal backed into a corner.My eyes were red, my chest tight, and I was glaring at Hayes like he had done something wrong… even though he hadn’t.I was just taking all my anger out on him.Normally, with his personality, he would have told me to get out of the car by now.Or he would have shut me down with that cold, distant tone of his until I had nothing left to say.But… he didn’t. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a checkered handkerchief, then he held it out to me.Another one, I stared at it for a second.A grown man… always carrying clean handkerchiefs? For some reason, I found that strangely… comforting. But I was still angry so I didn’t take it.Also last time I used his handkerchief, I had planned to wash it and return it.I still couldn’t find it.There was no way I was going to take another one.When Hayes saw that I didn’t move, he let out a quiet sigh, clearly losing patience.Then he leaned
Eloise Pov The sun was setting outside my window when I finally asked about Julian.A nurse came in to check my vitals. She was young with kind eyes and she moved quietly around the room."Has my husband been here?" The words tasted bitter in my mouth.She glanced at me then back at the monitor."
The next few days were surprisingly peaceful.Julian was impossibly attentive, smothering, even. Every night without fail, he brought me a cup of hot milk, coaxing me in a dozen different ways to drink it.Just like tonight.I pushed it slightly away. He leaned closer, resting his arm against mine.
The moment I heard Julian's question, a bad feeling rose in my heart. How did he know I was in the hospital? Was following me? But at that moment I told myself not to panic, to stay calm.So I casually asked him, “Yeah, honey, how did you know?”“When you answered the phone just now, I heard someon
In the following days, Julian continued acting like a devoted husband.He ignored my cold attitude, kept apologizing and trying to please me, pretending that he had suddenly realized his mistakes.Soon, the anniversary of my father's death arrived. Every year when I went to visit my parents’ graves







