What Giselle said was one thing, but how they carried out the operation was another matter entirely.Three hours later, the SUV came to a stop across the street from the target location.The street was essentially a strip of private clubs. Impeccably dressed elites were seen coming and going. The cleaner the facade, the filthier the secrets hidden underneath. Suddenly, Giselle's phone rang. Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the car, she reluctantly answered. "Mr. Fordham." "Where are you? I'm across the street from Luxe Haven." Giselle was surprised. She hadn't expected Chester to be here as well. Maybe he had just arrived.Her emotions grew slightly complicated, but she quickly suppressed the strange feeling. "I'll come to you," she said. Giselle got out of the car and scanned the area. She spotted a sleek Maybach parked nearby. The window rolled down, revealing Chester's strikingly handsome yet cold face.…"Mr. Lawson, could we revisit the terms of this collabo
Giselle tensed immediately. The next moment, Chester leaned in, his warm breath brushing her ear. It was a foreign sensation. "There's surveillance," he murmured, his voice soft.Giselle forced herself to remain calm, ensuring she didn't expose herself. She pointed at the woman standing at the end of the line.The unselected women filed out one by one. As the door clicked shut, Chester pulled Giselle onto the couch beside him. The room was dimly lit, its air filled with a faint sandalwood fragrance.They looked every bit the picture of a couple—a handsome man and a beautiful woman seated closely together.Chester's hand remained firmly around her waist. Giselle felt an inexplicable heat rise within her, the warmth at her waist particularly searing. She forced her thoughts elsewhere and lifted her gaze to the young woman now standing before them."How old are you?" Giselle asked.Yvonne Sullivan kept her head down, clearly uneasy in her revealing outfit. Tugging at the hem
The noise was deafening. Yvonne clutched Giselle's arm and gulped in fear. "Just say it was me who broke the camera. This way, t-they won't go after you," Yvonne stammered.Giselle grasped her hand firmly and said, "Do you really think the person taking you away can protect you?" This shattered Yvonne's delusion, and she froze.There was no time for further discussion. Giselle quickly found a cabinet large enough to hide someone and pushed Yvonne inside. "Don't come out," she instructed before shutting the cabinet door and walking over to Chester. Chester frowned. "You're not needed here." "Mr. Fordham, don't underestimate me," Giselle replied. She wasn't oblivious. From the moment they had entered the club, she had felt the weight of a gaze. It was disgusting and ever-present.Perhaps their enemy had seen through their disguise from the start.The noise outside grew louder. The sound of shouting merged with the relentless pounding on the door.Chester glanced at his p
Giselle looked at Jonathan like he had sprouted another head. "What's wrong with you?" They were nothing to each other now, yet he had the audacity to order her to go to the hospital with him. What gave Jonathan such courage?She was so angry that she laughed instead. Her eyes flashed with scorn, a look that struck Jonathan like a painful blow.He clenched his fists, and his eyes quickly filled with anger. "Giselle!" He felt stupid now. At that moment, his body had acted before his mind could catch up.His thoughts drifted back to their school days. Whenever Giselle was bullied, he was always there to protect her. With his strength, it was impossible for him to get hurt. But back then, he would deliberately injure himself in obvious places just to gain her concern. Now, he was seeing the same Giselle before him, but there was coldness in her eyes. It made him choke up, and his heart throbbed with pain.Chester had been observing the entire scene. He looked down at his phone
Giselle was certain that Yvonne's mother had not divorced and was still desperately clinging to their broken family. Yvonne was the only thing holding it together."I'm already 22. I dyed my hair, and do you know what she called me? She called me a whore…"…Four hours later, Giselle and the others arrived at the Seaworth City Police Station.As soon as they got out of the car, a middle-aged woman rushed forward and slapped Yvonne across the face."So, you're finally willing to come back! Why didn't you die out there with your useless father?" she shouted, her chest heaving with rage as she hurled insults at Yvonne.Everyone around them fell silent.Giselle frowned. She stepped forward and stood protectively in front of Yvonne.Yvonne clutched her reddened cheek, her short hair falling over her face, obscuring her expression."I fed you, clothed you, and raised you just so you could run off with those men? Yvonne, can't you think?" The woman continued her tirade. She even re
"Ms. Stone." His voice was clear and rich. It cut through the sound of the rain and lingered in her ears.Chester stood at the bottom of the stairs, his umbrella tilted forward, signaling for Giselle to come down and join him.Giselle paused, lost in thought. When had she become this close with Chester? Was it normal for a friend to come out in the rain and pick her up like this?An answer was almost on the tip of her tongue, but she forced herself not to overthink it. She and Chester were two parallel lines, destined never to meet.Chester was the heir to a prestigious family, so he had encountered many types of women before. On top of that, she had once been his nephew's fiancée. That made it even less likely for them to get together.Even if they did, others would surely gossip about her behind her back. They would say, "Giselle couldn't marry Jonathan, so she married his uncle!" It was scandalous just thinking about it.Giselle quickly pushed these absurd thoughts aside.
To be honest, Vivian held a grudge against Richard. Although she was his biological granddaughter, Richard chose to dote on an outsider instead. What was so special about Giselle? She was nothing more than a child with an unknown parentage!Vivian thought Richard had become senile. He couldn't even tell right from wrong anymore.That was why she had decided to visit only Jonathan today. If it hadn't been for Jonathan asking her to visit Richard, she probably would have found an excuse to leave. A grandfather who favored outsiders wasn't worth her time!Reluctantly, she had come, but to her surprise, Chester was there as well. Chester simply acknowledged her with a soft sound, not even sparing her a glance. Vivian had grown used to this.Her uncle had been working on his research abroad for years. She had only seen him a handful of times in her life. She had heard plenty of rumors about Chester, and with those rumors in mind, she subconsciously feared him. She tried to ent
"Chester is a good judge of character. If it doesn't work out, I can have him look into a few solutions…"Giselle felt a bit embarrassed.Chester, however, quickly caught on to what Richard was suggesting. Richard wanted him to introduce someone to Giselle.Chester walked over without showing any emotion and casually took Richard's book out of his hands. "Uncle Richard, it's getting late. You should get some rest," he said.Richard chuckled. "Chester, surely you know some single young men? Pick someone with good character and introduce him to Gigi."Giselle quickly interjected, "Grandpa, really, there's no need. I'm not looking for a relationship right now…""No introductions," Chester said, and Giselle's words trailed off with that firm response.He didn't even bother with being polite and had rejected the idea outright. Even Richard was surprised by his decisiveness.Richard didn't ask any further questions and simply watched as Giselle and Chester left.Afterward, though, h
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