ANMELDENSierra picked up her phone and went back to the work messages she had not finished answering. After wrapping things up with the product manager and technical director, she looked at Marcus and Tony again.Over the past two days, she had received the files on both of them. Everything looked clean and it showed that they were just two ordinary people looking for work. But after spending this much time with them, the way they saw things and the calm way they handled everything still made her suspicious about who they really were.Marcus was so calm he almost seemed like an android, while Tony knew so much that he felt like a walking encyclopedia."Tony." Sierra decided to test him again."You rang, miss?" Tony had a way with words that made everything sound like a drama."You said earlier that ninety-five percent of the way Daniel looked at me was about benefits," Sierra said. "How could you tell? Say whatever that's in your mind."Tony glanced at the man in the passenger seat. "M
"We still don't know," Tony said to Sierra back in the car. "But from now on, don't take anything Daniel said too seriously.""Agreed," Marcus said.If even Marcus agreed, Sierra answered without hesitation. "Alright.""You trust us that much?" Tony was a little surprised she had not even stopped to think about their assessment. "Aren't you worried we're simply making things up to stop you from getting rich?""You might," Sierra said. Now that he had been around for a while, she could joke with him too. "But Marcus wouldn't."Marcus looked pleased and he sat up a little straighter. He absolutely would not let his boss down."Not necessarily." Tony drove with easy confidence in his tone. "Haven't you noticed that in a lot of movies, the real mastermind is always the one who seems harmless at first? The one nobody suspects?""That's in movies," Sierra said."Real life can be more dramatic than movies," Tony said."Then you must be the villain," Sierra continued.Tony blinked.
Daniel said to Nathan who appeared after Sierra left, "I wanted to see how much progress you've made these past few days trying to win your wife and daughter back." Nathan said nothing. Daniel didn't hesitate to give Nathan a piece of his mind. "From the looks of it, you've made no progress at all." "If you hadn't been the greatest obstacle between us back then, would things have turned out like this at all?" Nathan knew he had been at fault too, but Daniel was hardly innocent out of all this. "You couldn't clean up your own mess back then and now you're blaming me?" Daniel said bluntly. "Don't say I didn't warn you. The annual shareholders meeting is coming up soon. When it does, your youngest uncle won't let this slide." Nathan replied calmly, "You can't keep your own brother in line and that is somehow my problem?" Daniel opened his mouth, but he only gave a cold snort in the end. While he was his younger brother, their parents had him a lot late in life. That left a wid
Sierra arrived at the Lynch family's estate around six-thirty that evening. Looking at the sharp-eyed old man seated at the head of the table, she asked plainly, "Why did you ask me here, Mr. Lynch?" If she had been alone, she would not have come at all. The Lynch family might look alright from the outside, but she knew there was a lot of problems inside. But with Marcus and Tony with her, she did not need to be on her guard that much. "It's nothing serious," Daniel said. He looked even sterner than Cyrus, but this was already as gentle as he could manage. "I just wanted you to come and have dinner with me as we chatted a little." Sierra did not say much. If this had happened when she first arrived in Harbor City, she might have gotten up and left on the spot. But after everything she had been through, she understood something new. In this circle, even people who disliked each other would still sit down for a meal and a conversation. Every meal and every word said during every
"Solomon," John started over the phone. It was rare for him to decide to be so straightforward with Solomon. "If you want to be our father's good son, I won't stop you. If you want to court Sierra, I'll assume you've lost your mind, but stay out of her work." Again, Solomon could not understand what his younger brother was thinking. If someone set their sights on Tammy, even if it was only for show, he would do everything he could to get that person out of the way out of sheer rejection. But John... "Don't you love her?" Solomon asked. "I do." John admitted. "And this is all the reaction you have?" Solomon asked. "Wouldn't me courting Sierra make you angrier than me messing with her career?" "If you court her, all you'll get is rejection," John said bluntly. "A man like you, irresponsible and cowardly, is exactly the kind of man she hates most." Solomon did not get angry, but simply asked, "What about you? Did she ever love a man who is as responsible and brave as you?"
"You wouldn't," John said into the phone before Solomon could answer whether he would actually realize his threats. "You care about profit more than anything." "Stay out of our business," Solomon said, referring to Tammy and him. He did not waste time and repeated the warning. "I suppose we're now even after I meddled in Sierra's business earlier. From now on, we stay out of each other's lives." John's lips curved faintly. "Is this your first day knowing me?" Solomon's face darkened. "What do you want, then?" John did not answer and merely hung up. Robin had heard the whole call from the side. Once he was sure it was over, he asked carefully, "Do you need me to prepare anything?" "No," John said. "And Solomon..." Robin still could not tell what John was thinking. John and Solomon had crossed each other many times, but their conflict had always been in the shadows. They had never been this direct and out in the open. "Just keep an eye on the King family," John said, th
Lucy stared at the blank screen with a frown. "Huh."Kenneth caught the shift in her expression. "What is it?""The records for Sierra's mom were scrubbed by an extremely skilled hacker," Lucy said.She stopped her fingers on the keyboard, then propped her chin on her hand. She stared at the blan
"I don't want to say it a second time," John said as he knew exactly how to corner Sierra. "There are only two of us in this room right now. I can't guarantee what might happen in a little while.""What else can you do other than to threaten me?" Sierra said, feeling just how despicable he could be
Sierra's lips turned into a mocking smile as she looked at John. "Keep dreaming." "It's not a dream," John shot back."You can give up already," Sierra had never once backed down on this. "Even if I end up begging on the street and starving, I won't ever come back.""Don't jump to conclusions ab
"You can give up already. No permission from me," Tommy said to John with utter seriousness through his watch."Your mom's company had an accident at their anniversary party tonight," John said, deciding to sacrifice his son just so he could get in. "She was badly hurt and didn't get treated before







