After being with Jonathan Lawson for seven years, Giselle Stone asked for their engagement to be called off. She texted him about it, only receiving a reply two hours later.He wrote, "I'm okay with that, but we have to discuss this in person."Giselle sent him her location. It was chilly inside the café; the sun slowly set outside, and the sky gradually darkened.She sat there, her face pale. The moment she shut her eyes, the image of Jonathan and Charlotte Grant entangled with each other would appear in her mind. One was her fiancé, and the other was the biological daughter Giselle's adoptive parents had just found.She had been at the hospital for an IV drip because of severe menstrual cramps. Unexpectedly, she'd stumbled upon the scene of Jonathan holding Charlotte in his arms.Who was Jonathan? He was the heir of one of Seaworth City's most affluent families and the CEO of Lawson Group.With company matters awaiting his decision, every second of his day was as precious as go
Giselle's words mingled with the pattering of the rain, souring Jonathan's mood. He gnashed his teeth and sneered as he watched her leave without hesitation. "Fine, then. Don't regret this, Giselle!"She faltered before striding off, not even bothering to turn to look at him.It was raining cats and dogs outside. She kept a hand on her belly while requesting an Uber ride. Half an hour later, she was still waiting for someone to accept her request. She frowned and switched to another app, requesting a more expensive ride. Finally, a driver accepted. Linda called her five minutes later and asked, "Were you with Jonathan earlier?"Giselle looked down to conceal the mockery in her eyes. She crouched and rubbed her belly; she was still hurting from the cramps. "Is it any of your business who I'm with?"She'd moved out to live alone since Charlotte's return to the Grant family. Most of the time, the Grants would only speak to her to urge her to end things with Jonathan. She was nothing
Seaworth City's upper crust gathered for Richard's birthday celebration the following day. It would start in three hours, but many guests had already arrived.Everyone arrived in expensive cars; an Uber pulled up, standing out like a sore thumb. The guests were stunned when they saw who got out of the vehicle."What's going on? Has Giselle fallen so far that she has to take Ubers now? Didn't Jonathan arrange for a car to pick her up?""…Man, she's a mess. The Grant family kicked her out, and she's yet to marry Jonathan despite already being 25. I bet they're not going to walk down the aisle together."The guests erupted into whispers around Giselle. Their gazes were either excited or pitying. They couldn't wait to see her humiliate herself.She didn't care, though. She went straight to see Richard. When she arrived outside his door and raised a hand to knock, she heard the conversation inside."You're about to be married soon, Jonathan. You need to watch yourself and make sure yo
"Oops. Sorry for accidentally stepping on your gown." The woman sounded gleeful.The hem of Giselle's gown fell to her ankles. When tugged on, it tore at the thigh, vaguely revealing her flawless skin.She turned to see a familiar face—Jonathan's sister, Vivian Lawson. Vivian had picked on Giselle countless times in the past, but Giselle had chosen to grin and bear it for Jonathan's sake.Now, however… Who did Vivian think she was?Everyone waited to see Giselle make a fool of herself.Vivian gave her a challenging look, but a bad feeling arose inside her when she saw Giselle grabbing a drink from the table. Then, Giselle poured it on her, making her scream. Her expensive gown was immediately ruined."Oops. Sorry about that. My hand slipped." Giselle raised an eyebrow and smirked.Her bold action made the spectators gasp. Vivian screamed, "Are you insane, Giselle?"It was Richard's birthday celebration, so Giselle didn't want things to get too nasty. She looked at Vivian and sa
Giselle, Jonathan, and Charlotte were surprised by Chester's words. When had he ever been so enthusiastic to help someone?As far as Jonathan remembered, Chester had always been cold and aloof. He'd migrated abroad after turning 18 to focus on scientific research; he'd never been close to anyone.Now, however, he was offering to drop Giselle home?Jonathan frowned, suddenly feeling wary. He said, "I can drop Giselle home myself, Uncle Chester.""It's Mr. Lawson Senior's birthday celebration. You have plenty to do." Chester's pointed gaze traveled between Jonathan and Charlotte as he smiled a little icily.Charlotte clenched her fists, feeling uneasy. He was so oppressive. Were he and Giselle on good terms? Her mind started running wild, but her thoughts were mostly still on her jealousy toward Giselle.Chester ignored Jonathan and Charlotte. He opened the backseat door and said, "After you, Ms. Stone."Since things had reached this stage, Giselle had no reason to turn him down.
"Let me go! I'm going to call the cops on you, you freak!" Charlotte's hair was a mess, and tears streamed down her face from the pain.Emma sneered and tugged her head back harshly. Then, she slapped her, leaving a clear handprint on her face. The other people in the room were stunned by Emma's boldness. By the time they snapped to their senses and surged forward to break up the fight, she'd slapped Charlotte again."Did you enjoy leaning on my husband's shoulder?" she snarled.Charlotte was dazed from the slaps. She didn't even know what was going on! Emma had burst into the room, grabbed her hair, and slapped her without any preamble. She was insane!"Stop it, Emma!" a man roared furiously. He pulled Emma and Charlotte apart, his expression hideous.Charlotte wept pitifully; the others crowded around her to comfort her."Don't cry, Lottie. We won't let you suffer like this for no reason. Jon will seek justice for you when he gets back!""Hey, go get a towel and some ice. Bo
Jonathan had a bad feeling when he heard that. The number of people in Seaworth City whose last names were Fordham could be counted on one finger. And the only one who could command that much respect… was Chester.The interrogation room's door swung open again. Sure enough, Chester entered the room. He wore a white shirt with buttons all done up and a gray waistcoat on top. His black pants made his legs look particularly long.His features were chiseled, and his hair was neat. The eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses were sharp and cold. He was the epitome of nobility."Mr. Fordham." The police officer who'd earlier been addressed as "Captain Lane" stepped forward.Chester greeted, "Hi, Mr. Lane."Then, he handed Jim Lane a bag. "Fred asked me to bring this to you."Fred Lane was one of Chester's most capable subordinates. He was a genius scientist who was only 30 this year.Jim accepted the bag and thanked Chester with a big smile. "I don't have to worry about Freddie when I kno
Chester was so thoughtful that it left Giselle feeling lost. She changed into the new clothes—a loose, short-sleeved T-shirt and light-colored pants. The designs were simple, which matched her style.She drew the curtain and said, "I'll transfer the money for this to you, Mr. Fordham."In truth, she hadn't accepted many jobs over the years. She'd been under too much pressure because of her desire to marry Jonathan.The Grant family wanted nothing more than for her to end things with Jonathan so Charlotte could be with him. As for the Lawson family… there were people there who didn't like her, either.No matter what she did, she felt like someone secretly controlled her life in the shadows. They were making her run into dead ends everywhere.Chester pulled out his phone. Then, he said, "You should save my number again."Giselle stiffened. Upon learning he was Jonathan's uncle, she'd immediately blocked and deleted his number. She thought he'd have no idea, but he'd been aware of i
Chester looked into Giselle's eyes as he raised the corners of his lips slightly. "You're my wife. You can do whatever you want."After his last accident, he had taken advantage of the situation with Giselle under the pretext of amnesia. He would call her his "wife" or "Gigi" interchangeably.Until now, he had not had the time to come clean to her about this. Chester needed more time.Giselle was overwhelmed by the sudden profession of love.For some reason, her entire body suddenly felt warm. She looked away quickly, rolled down the car window, and let the wind blow upon her face. It was only then that her pounding heart settled into a calm rhythm.Chester caught everything from beside her.A trace of delight flashed across his eyes at the speed of light. When their gaze met again, however, it had disappeared without a trace.Chester decided to take it slow and easy.He straightened up and said, "A new restaurant recently opened in the suburbs. Should we go there for lunch?"
"You don't have to explain anything. Me and Jonathan? We're just aunt and nephew to each other."You're trying to ask him out, aren't you? When you finally win him over, don't forget to address me as Aunt Giselle, okay?"It was a soul-crushing blow.Giselle used their unique relationship as an opportunity to attack them without mercy!The greatest part about this was that they could not do anything to her.Charlotte's and Jonathan's expressions matched, which was a rare sight. Jonathan clenched his teeth in anger. His eyes hardened as he said, "Giselle, you're truly something else!"She knew to hit where it hurt. How did he not know that Giselle had this side to her?Giselle feigned humility. "You're too kind."The whole fiasco between the trio was becoming something of a movie to the passersby. Even when lunchtime was almost over, they were reluctant to leave.Some really were born with the talent to gossip.If they had to choose between money and gossip-worthy news, they
One could easily find Giselle's, Chester's, and Jonathan's names online through related keywords.The news came from an insider, so the credibility was 99.99%.The atmosphere between the two became heated.When Jonathan finally managed to suppress his negative emotions, Giselle's phone rang. Instantly, his heart skipped a beat. Alarm bells started to ring in his head.Sure enough…"I'm sorry, Chester. I forgot that you're no longer at Lawson Group."Giselle addressed Chester affectionately without any hesitation.She did this on purpose, of course.Jonathan was rendered speechless. He was so mad that he could even kill someone right now.But when Jonathan recalled his mother's admonition after his fight with Chester, he did his best to hold his anger back.From the phone, Chester could be heard saying, "Just stay there. I'll come over right now."When the call ended, Giselle could hear Jonathan's sneer. "Do you have to get on my nerves, Giselle?"His resentment was as cle
Jonathan was practically running on autopilot mode as his legs carried him toward Giselle.Meanwhile, Giselle was waiting for Chester's reply.All of a sudden, a shadow loomed over her, followed by a familiar voice that called, "Gigi."Both of them were good-looking people. Their standing side by side drew many people's attention.Passersby—including the employees—looked in their direction. They had even slowed down subconsciously as they walked by, just to catch a glimpse.Giselle's gaze went from casual to chilling in a split second.There was coldness hidden in her eyes, and a look of vexation settled on her face.Giselle took two steps away from him, putting some distance between them.Jonathan felt like someone was gripping his heart tight, making him feel suffocated.Dismay instantly replaced the feeling of excitement he had felt earlier. He stared at Giselle with woeful eyes. "Gigi…"Giselle did not buy into his words and pitiful act.She grunted. "Jonathan, is this h
An hour later, the car arrived at Lawson Group.The sky looked gray and hazy, while the air was hot.It was now lunchtime, so there were a lot of people going in and out of the building. Giselle texted Chester, letting him know that she had arrived.At the same time, Jonathan, in his sleep-deprived state, was staring at his phone. The expression on his face was so dark that Rick, his assistant, was trembling with fear when he came in to brief Jonathan on his schedule. He did not even dare to breathe."M-Mr. Lawson…""This had better be important!"Jonathan was like an explosive that could detonate any second.Rick gulped. "Mr. Lawson, I've notified the board that the meeting will be held at the conference room at 2:00 pm…"His voice trailed off at the end.With a loud bang, Jonathan threw his phone to the ground.When it crashed onto the floor, the screen shattered into pieces.That immediately shut Rick up.Ever since Jonathan had returned from the hospital, his temper had
It was the weekend today, so the café was crowded.The chaos swallowed the woman's voice. Nevertheless, Giselle could still hear her clearly.She paused for a moment to ruminate on the things the woman had just said.Her husband had an affair, and the mistress happened to be a very cunning person. More importantly, the woman's daughter was on the mistress' side.To be hit with betrayal on both sides knocked the wind out of her. Every day, the woman had been drowning in her own tears.Judging from her mental state, depression seemed imminent.Giselle took a sip of her coffee before she asked with a calm tone, "The reason you've approached me is because you want to get back together with your husband and daughter, is that it?"In the public's eye, Giselle was someone who helped mend relationships. In fact, she was a professional who had been mending relationships for a long time.One could just search her name on the internet and find nothing but positive reviews.A majority of
Giselle only went home after it turned dark outside.Penny had transferred some money to Giselle and thanked her once again for today.Penny texted, "I'm not sad at all anymore. If you hadn't gone with me today, I think I would've already died from frustration." As for the aftermath of the storm, Eugene took care of everything. Every single penny that she had spent on Zayn would be retrieved through legal means.Giselle replied, "You're welcome."Only after that did she have the time to check out the link Yvette had sent to her.It was about the incident from earlier today. Videos from the live stream had gone viral.Obviously, it was not from her own live stream but a third party's.Her fans, who had gone down to the location, had captured everything on camera. There was an explosion of comments beneath related videos.One of the videos was of Jonathan. It had been edited to look like he was the hero coming to his damsel's rescue.With the accompaniment of some background
In the past, Jean had reminded Jonathan more than once to keep his distance from Charlotte, but those words fell on deaf ears every single time. He never took her words seriously.It was too late for regrets now.Jonathan lowered his head. With a pair of sad eyes and a dejected voice, he mumbled, "I've said it before, Mom. I won't have anyone as my wife if it's not Giselle."His only wish was to marry Giselle. But everyone was telling him that he had cheated on her.Jonathan found it hard to believe that he would cheat on her. He was certain that there had to be some kind of misunderstanding.And the missing piece to this puzzle was none other than that woman named Charlotte. Jean, Francis, and Martha remained silent. Jonathan was hopelessly in love with Giselle. But if he was so madly in love with her, why did he cheat on her?And if he was not madly in love with her, then why had he not gotten over her yet?But wait. The reason he was still not over her was mainly due to t
It was merely a second ago when Giselle had told him to keep a distance from her, yet she was now in his car voluntarily.Jonathan did not move an inch. He still had his back against the inside of the car door as he faced Giselle, intently looking at her."Women are really fickle. Giselle must still have feelings for me. She's just too proud to admit it," he thought to himself.As for the rumors about her and Chester, they might just be putting on an act.Giselle did not know that Jonathan was in the process of gaslighting himself. When she noticed that he was not about to drive any time soon, she frowned and said, "If you're not going to drive, scram."Only then did Jonathan fix his position. He started the engine, and they headed for the hospital.At first, he was in a joyous mood. He tagged behind Giselle upon arrival at the hospital. It was not until he had reached a ward and saw who was seated on the hospital bed that his expression turned sullen.Giselle had gotten into