FAZER LOGINSharon froze, her hand stilling without her meaning it to.Thomas looked at her. "Sharon, I'm still a patient, you know."She didn't quite catch his meaning. "Are you still in pain somewhere?""Even if you wanted to do something," he said, "as weak as I am right now, all I could do is watch."The meaning landed a beat later, and heat rushed to her cheeks. "I only wanted to check on your burns. I wasn't trying to do anything.""Oh?" His expression turned knowing. "So you just wanted to look at my body?"Sharon had nothing to say to that.It was such an ordinary exchange — how did it always turn suggestive the second it came out of his mouth?"You've got the wrong idea," she said. "That's not what I meant.""What did you mean, then?" He arched a brow. "Sharon, I don't think I said anything at all."Just then, someone knocked lightly on the door. Sharon called out for them to come in, and two figures stepped inside — one man, one woman. She looked closer: Chris and Carmen.Wasn
"No one pours that much of themselves into something worthless," Giancarlo said. "A man like Thomas is nearly impossible to actually win over. Being kind to him, or liking him, isn't enough on its own to move him. If it were, Carmen would have had a real shot — she's known him for years and understands him better than almost anyone."While treating Thomas, Giancarlo had learned a fair amount about his history with Sharon."If you want to be good to him," Giancarlo went on, "it has to land exactly where it matters to him. Otherwise, ten things you do for him won't add up to one thing someone else does right." He paused awhile, choosing his words. "It's easy to say, hard to actually manage — understanding him and sticking around isn't enough by itself."He thought for a moment longer. "Let's just say Sharon happens to be exactly his type. And I don't mean looks — you follow me?"Marina made a face. "You're saying Sharon's just his type, plain and simple. The moment he met her, of c
Marina would admit, if only to herself, that she'd been more than a little biased toward Thomas while she said all that — not exactly fair and objective. Even if Thomas wanted to win Sharon back, Sharon still had every right to refuse him. Tricking her into marriage outright hadn't exactly been decent of him. Of course, Marina would never say any of that out loud — she'd been an accomplice in it, after all. And keeping Sharon dazed and confused for so long, only to pin the blame on Jamie in the end, had been a fairly vicious move too.Still, what goes around comes around. Thomas had schemed against Jamie, and this time around, saving him had nearly cost Thomas his own life. Clearly it paid to do a little less scheming when things were going well.With that, Marina rose to her feet. She'd said about everything she meant to say."Get some rest, Sharon," she said. "Call me if you need anything."…More than ten hours later, the plane finally touched down in Leistre. Sharon rushed s
"Giancarlo finished making every medicine Thomas had asked for and delivered them all. After that, we didn't hear another word from his side. We figured he was toying with us, so we decided to pay him a visit in person and teach him a lesson. That's when we found —"Marina let out a soft sigh. "We found Thomas on death's door, completely burned out. How do I even describe it? Like a candle down to its last inch of wick — one puff of wind and the flame would go out for good. He reeked of death."Sharon's breath caught hard, her lashes trembling. "Don't tell me — the hypnosis didn't work?"Marina shook her head. "Giancarlo and I only came into the picture afterward, so I can't say for certain whether it worked or not. Only Thomas knows that. For the three years after that, he was under Giancarlo's treatment. "What started as a simple trade — us borrowing a slice of the Ferreros' influence — turned into something bigger once his treatment became part of it. Giancarlo had Thomas h
Sharon looked at Marina. "Marina, that whole time — were you trying to warn me?"Marina smiled. "I couldn't ruin Thomas's plan, and there were things I wasn't in a position to tell you outright. Hinting was the only way I could warn you, so you'd at least have some idea of what was coming."Sharon hesitated. "Marina, if you have feelings for Thomas, why would you warn me at all?"Marina's expression turned rueful. "I may have feelings, but he couldn't care less. Thomas never once liked me that way. Not that I didn't try — but it's next to impossible to actually get close to his heart. With women he isn't interested in, he keeps his distance and won't give them so much as a shred of hope. Ferrero men only ever fall for one woman in their whole lives. I never even had a chance to pick up the scraps."Marina took a sip of her lemonade and went on. "Forgetting the past and starting over — that only works for ordinary people like you and me. Every single Ferrero is obsessive to the poin
Wendy murmured, "As long as you don't think I caused trouble for you and Thomas… that's all that matters."Sharon said, "If it weren't for Harley, we would've won this round easily."Wendy lowered her head and fell silent, her thoughts drifting far away.She remembered that night—their promises, their whispered words.She'd been so sure that Lesley was deceiving her that she'd thrown around sweet talk without a second thought, never feeling an ounce of guilt. To make him believe her, she'd even stopped him when he tried to take precautions.What had she said back then?Something about being at the age where she wanted a child—that if she got pregnant, she'd want to keep it. She'd asked whether he preferred a boy or a girl, even talked about picking out names…She'd pulled out every romantic line she'd ever learned online and used them all on Lesley. She'd almost forgotten half the things she'd said.She'd always thought of herself as someone who wore her heart on her sleeve, wh
The company signing a contract with Sharon this time belonged to a foreign family consortium.Yet the other party's CEO turned out to be a very young man.He looked no more than thirty. His short hair was neat and sharp, a pair of diamond studs glinting in his ears. His handsome, heroic features c
Of course, if Thomas wanted to sabotage, cancel orders, or unilaterally make deals with another family, there was no way to do that through the network. Such matters required the family head's personal confirmation.Thomas continued, "Chris and I trained under the same master, so we understand each
Night had already fallen. Brilliant lights lit up the darkness, scattering dazzling streams of color across the sky.Thomas wore a black suit, standing out like the deepest stroke of ink in a bold painting. The pitch‑black night behind him seemed only to exist as his backdrop.A faint gloom linger
"Chris!" Carmen cut Chris off sharply. "Those are all in the past. Don't bring them up again. And Thomas doesn't owe me anything. Everything I did was of my own free will."Chris's tone turned mocking. "What he promised me was never fulfilled. So just because he was hypnotized and forgot, he can be







