"Why are your eyes swollen?"Alan was genuinely surprised to find his sister's face looking a mess. Red and swollen eyes, a red nose, and slightly swollen lips. A sign that she had been crying for a long time."Just not feeling well because my stomach keeps getting queasy," Elena replied nonchalantly as she waltzed into his apartment.He peeked at the two bodyguards standing on either side of his apartment door. Shrugging, he closed the door and followed his sister who was enjoying a carton of ice cream."How's the company?" Elena asked as she savored the ice cream like a starving woman."It's a mess. The shareholders have called an emergency meeting. Bella messed everything up and the stock price plummeted. Not to mention the viral video of her with you at the mall, the impact is widespread.""Why did you leave it up?" Elena asked with an astonished face."I deliberately let her soar so that she would think that she could be arbitrary. In the three weeks she's been a CEO, the company
"How have you been? It's been a long time since we've met. I heard you're working on a big case.""I'm in a mess. Your hotel is getting better and better. Did you have lunch in your room?""Just in the mood. Would you like some?""Ah, I just had lunch with Claire downstairs."Elena listened to Leo and Jack's conversation from the room that could accommodate one bed in Leo's room. She said she wanted to sleep for a while and asked Leo not to tell his friend about her whereabouts."Why do you still have time to see Claire when you're so busy? Didn't you just catch their gang? The news was all over the TV.""I came here after Claire called me wanting to meet."There was silence after that. Elena felt the pain coming back. Claire's position was still primary in his heart. How could she think that Jack was starting to have feelings for her just because of what happened between them?"Bro, why are you still prioritizing her? She's already married. Don't get into their relationship anymore.
From the start, Elena knew that her marriage to Jack was not the marriage of her dreams. Neither of them had any intention of getting involved with each other if only there was no scandal.Elena wanted a marriage with a man who truly loved her, who accepted her for who she was. Not a marriage because there was a fetus in her stomach and she was in the shadow of another woman.With all her might, she held back the liquid in her eyes that suddenly appeared at an inopportune moment. That woman, the one who was covered from head to toe, was the woman Jack had mentioned on that fateful night.Even when she didn't show her hair at all and covered it with a cloth, her beauty was complete. Elena immediately felt insecure.The photo in one of the rooms in Jack's mansion was nothing compared to the real face of the woman in front of her. Elena now knew why Jack couldn't forget this woman, even when their wedding was on the horizon."He is still accompanying the VIP guests who will be using our
"So they got you scandalized and kicked you out of the mansion?" Julia asked as they resumed shopping as if nothing had happened.Elena shrugged her shoulders. She felt too lazy to talk about them. She wondered if Lucas was also a fugitive? Imagining herself almost married to that man gave her goosebumps."Why don't you send them back? It's your mansion," Julia asked again."Later, Mom. The center of danger is Thomas. How can I suddenly drive them away without getting shot in the head? Jack says he's a good sniper," she replied while choosing some clothes and putting them in the shopping cart."Sometimes I feel unwilling and often anxious about my son's job. What parent can sleep peacefully if their child's job is related to terrorists and other high-profile criminals? Back when he ambushed the serial killer, I wanted to catch up with him and prevent him because it was too dangerous," Julia said, looking sad.Elena smiled as she stroked the woman's back. She understood her concern."N
On the way back to the Pierce family mansion, Lucas was silent. Restraining himself from exploding over the incident at the mall.When they accidentally bumped into Elena at a clothing store, Lucas was already mentally prepared. He had imagined that he would face Elena's passionate anger.But instead, he was transfixed by the woman's transformation. Her appearance now looked completely different and fresher. He even had to blink his eyes many times to convince himself that the woman he saw was indeed Elena Pierce.His ex-girlfriend who used to be so unattractive, now looks like a sexy model and a little bit full in all the right places.He gulped his saliva with difficulty. The last time he saw that woman, her body was so thin like an anorexic. But look at her now. Many men were openly staring at her.But Bella's big mouth made him embarrassed beyond belief. They became a public spectacle and many mall visitors recorded Bella's argument with Elena. The climax was when security dragged
"I think I look better in this dress, Mom," Elena said after an hour of trying on several wedding dresses designed by a famous boutique frequented by wealthy families.Julia had forced Elena to call her "Mom", because she already liked Elena's humble personality. Never once did Elena show off her wealth, although she could have bragged about it."Hmm, I knew your taste would be simple. But this dress did look very elegant and classy when you wore it earlier. It looks like you're more of a model than a CEO," Julia replied while stroking her chin."So this is the dress, Miss?" the boutique owner asked politely."Yes, Miss. I like it very much. You're very good at designing dresses," Elena praised sincerely, making the woman smile happily.It wasn't as extravagant as other bridal gowns or a dress that looked like a princess in a fairy tale. It was more like the dress of a diva walking on the red carpet, only it was covered with brocade fabric all over the dress and fit Elena's body perfe
Throughout her life, Elena had never experienced anything stressful before being exposed to a scandal that Jack was quick to dispel. After that incident, her life turned into a rollercoaster. Having just been almost shot in front of her own father's mansion, she was hit by a bomb explosion on the road which was fortunately held back by her father's car which cost almost a million dollars. If she used to scoff at her father for spending too much money on a car, now she was grateful for her father's choice. Imagine if her father had bought a luxurious but ordinary car. They would have been in the hospital with severe injuries and a wrecked car. Not even a day had passed when a man dressed all in black with a face covering walked into her hospital room pointing a long-barreled rifle. She was really tired. While Rendy and Evan were busy protecting them, her father tried to get them out of the room quietly. It turned out that the man was pretty tough. Despite being surrounded by Rend
In his entire life, this was the first time Jack had been a bodyguard. Honestly, it was boring, because he couldn't be free. But when doing missions, wasn't he also never free to do what he wanted?At first, he thought that being Elena's bodyguard must be very annoying. He had imagined how noisy and troublesome it would be to be next to her.But he was wrong. Elena Pierce was not the kind of woman you would find out there. She was strangely old-fashioned and too formal for her age.Jack even thought that she was in her thirties. He wondered, why would the daughter of a wealthy conglomerate look that unattractive?But his view changed when she treated him like a friend. It turned out that Nathan was right about this one. Elena never treated him like a subordinate, which made him feel at home working with her.Elena also often invited him to have lunch together at the same table. It was more like a coworker or a friend than a boss and a subordinate.So when he saw her lover, Lucas, didn
During his 9-year career with the FBI, Jack never played with women. Although many of his colleagues vented their stress from work pressure with women, he vented it by playing games.Not without reason. He saw with his own eyes how ruined his uncle's life was just because he played around with random women.His uncle died of HIV and kidney failure. That's why Jack didn't want to get close to women and rarely drank alcohol.There were rumors that he loved the same sex, especially after a young Pakistani-American man signed up as an agent two years after he joined the FBI.They were often involved in the same missions until they hit it off. Leonard Abraham, the man's name, never left him even when he was down.Until Leo suddenly brought a curly brunette girl to his house and told him about her origins. The girl named Rose, who was able to thrill his heart when their eyes met.His position at that time had been appointed as the person in charge of the special agent in Portland, and ordin