LOGINMarina continued, "Lex's grip on the family headship might be shaky right now, but even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. "The Malcolms are probably in for a stretch of infighting first—let them wear each other down on their own for a while. Theo needs time to grow up and learn things anyway, so there's no rush. We can bring him to see Uriah first. With your connection to the family, Uriah should be able to get the Malcolms to formally recognize Theo as one of their own, once he gives the word."Sharon was head of the Kalen family, and Thomas headed the Ferreros. With backing like that behind him, Theo had nothing to fear—no one with any sense would ever try to push him out. Sharon nodded softly. Everything Thomas did was for her sake, down to arrangements for Theo. He'd truly gone to such lengths for her.The two of them talked a while longer, but Marina lingered, clearly hesitant to leave. She seemed to want to say something, yet held back, as if weighing whether she shou
"Why's that?" Sharon asked.Marina smiled. "Three years ago, Lex went up against you again and again over Victoria. As long as he held power, he was always going to be a threat to you. But even if Lex really does go down for good, there's no telling whether the next head of the Malcolm family might get jealous of all the resources and backing Uriah's given you. "Human nature never holds up under real scrutiny, after all. There are no eternal friends in this world—only eternal interests. Taking Lex down would just be settling a score. It treats the symptom, not the root cause."If you actually want to sleep easy going forward, you can't just stop at stripping Lex of the family headship. Sure, it'd be easy enough to prop up a different Malcolm as the new head. But people's hearts are hard to read—who'd want to spend their whole life being pulled around by someone else's strings? "When they have no power of their own, they naturally lean on Thomas's help. Right after taking over a
Marina said, "You know as well as anyone, Sharon—anything that can't be traced usually means something's wrong. Thomas had a hunch that Carter's biological father might not be an ordinary person, so he kept digging. After a long investigation, he finally turned up a few clues. Guess what he found?"Marina worked as a hacker too, and she often took on jobs digging up information like this. Back when Thomas had been undergoing treatment with Dr. Giancarlo, he hadn't had the time to look into it himself, so he'd had Marina help instead. It had taken her considerable effort to piece together even scattered fragments of information.But not long ago, she'd finally uncovered the truth about who Carter's father really was."Marina, you've actually found out who Carter's father is?" Sharon asked.Given how close Sharon and Thomas were, it didn't really matter whether Marina told Thomas or Sharon first.Marina lowered her voice. "In Lex's generation, there was a Malcolm who supposedly ra
"Why did you decide to have the daughter inherit the Kalens and the son inherit the Ferreros?" Wendy asked, curious."Thomas says the Ferrero family is more complicated and dangerous than the Kalens," Sharon said. "Harper's a girl, so it's not really suited to her, getting caught up in all that fighting and killing. Grayson's a boy—he can shoulder more of it.""Trust Thomas to think it all through so carefully," Wendy said with a sigh.There was something a little off in the Ferrero bloodline, and given how much Grayson already resembled Thomas, he might well have inherited more of it than just his looks. That resemblance would also make it easier for him to move through the Ferrero family with less friction. When the Ferreros turned on each other, their methods were never pretty—Harper, as a girl, really wasn't suited to taking that family on."Thomas is already starting to favor Harper over Grayson," Marina said. "What's it going to be like once he really gets going? His heart's
Marina smiled. "Those really are lovely names."Grayson—after the clearing skies once the storm passed, when the stars and moon shone their brightest; he was the first clear night after the gloom had finally lifted. Harper—for brightness, for the kind of radiance as brilliant as sun and moon together; she was the light that everyone had hoped for and blessed.Thomas was a man who cared deeply about doing things properly. He had no interest in a quiet, secret marriage, and he refused to skip any of life's major milestones just to avoid the hassle. So when the twins turned one hundred days old, he threw them a lavish celebration, overseeing every detail himself to make sure nothing went wrong.Marina was invited to Grayson and Harper's hundred-day celebration as well.Even though Sharon had given birth to twins, her figure had bounced back beautifully, and her complexion glowed with health. One look at her and it was obvious she was steeped in love and happiness. A smile played at th
Marina's pupils shrank as she rushed forward to check on Little Tabby. But the cat had already stopped breathing where she'd landed in the puddle, her heart still.Marina's eyes turned red with grief. She came by the café often to feed the cats and had gotten to know Little Tabby well—the cat really had been sharper than any of the other resident pets. Marina had grown fond of her. Seeing her die right in front of her was devastating.Just then, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man climbed out of the car that had hit her. He looked stricken with guilt over having killed the cat."I'm so sorry," the driver said with a sigh. "Visibility was terrible in this rain, and the cat darted out of nowhere—I didn't react in time and couldn't brake. I hit it, so I'll take responsibility and cover whatever compensation is fair."Marina looked up to see Jamie already crouched beside Little Tabby. The rain was falling harder now. Jamie lifted the cat's drenched, lifeless body into his arms.Marina
Richard didn't look the least bit concerned."This is Amstern City. Did you think I'd kidnap my grandson and disappear? Besides, if Carter can't even keep an eye on his kid, how is that my fault?"Victoria was about to argue further when she noticed Carter and Sharon had entered. She lowered her v
Rick said, "But even after all these years, those company elders remain loyal to Mom and still refuse to sell their original shares."Richard sighed. "Those people were handpicked by your mother when the company faced crisis. They're grateful to her and haven't forgotten her after all this time. So
Wendy couldn't make sense of what Carter was doing."What's up with Carter? He's bidding on Victoria's painting? Since when are they so close?"Then another possibility struck her. "Wait… don't tell me he's into Victoria?"Wendy and Sharon shared everything. Just like Carter knew the truth about
"Wendy, go ahead and do it. I know what I'm doing," Sharon said calmly.Wendy hesitated for a moment but decided to trust her."With the concert coming up, boosting your public profile isn't a bad thing. Still, there are always some people online who can't tell right from wrong. They jump to concl







