"Adie…" Abby knew that Quinton and Leia were reluctant to tell Renee about Adie, but she felt like she had to tell her mother the truth. "Adie's been kidnapped!""Kidnapped?" Renee's heart skipped a beat. "That's impossible. Adie's so smart, there's no way he can get kidnapped. Has there been a misunderstanding?" Adie had always been smarter and more adaptable than other children, so Renee felt that nobody would dare to harm him. To her, it was more plausible that Adie had kidnapped someone or caused trouble, and he was too afraid to see her."Mommy, Adie really got kidnapped! I'm not lying!" Abby hurriedly added, "Someone called you when you were in a coma, and said you had to go to this horrible place to save Adie. But you lost too much blood at that time, so Uncle Quinton took the call and scolded that person. Then… we lost all news about Adie." The day Renee was admitted to the hospital, Quinton sent a helicopter to bring Abby to the hospital. Abby had stayed by the emergency roo
It was like that name set off a bomb, and the others became furious."Stop thinking about that ungrateful jerk!" Quinton snarled. "It's useless trying to rely on others, we can only rely on ourselves at times like this. I can still find Adie even without Stefan's help.""What… do you mean?" Renee didn't know why Quinton was so agitated. "Where is he now? Is he at the hospital? Does he know that Adie is kidnapped?""Stop talking about him!" Leia gritted her teeth and sighed in frustration. "You almost bled out for him, but what did he do? He turned around and left once he recovered. He's a cruel scumbag!" She was tired of watching Stefan and Renee separate then get back together. Initially, she had supported their relationship, then, she grew to hate Stefan, and now, she was just indifferent about it. She knew how dramatic they were, so there was no point getting emotional over their relationship because things might change again eventually. However, it still infuriated her to see Re
Suddenly, Chase, Quinton's subordinate, rushed into the room. "I have clues! Adie, he…" He stopped when he realized Renee was awake, and glanced at Quinton uncertainly. "What's wrong with Adie? Tell me now!" Renee ignored her injured wrist and leaped out of bed to go to Chase. "Tell me the truth! I'm his mother; I have the right to know!"The bandage around Renee's wrist was red with blood because she had moved too quickly, and when Leia noticed that, she hurriedly held Renee and said soothingly, "Ren, calm down. If not, your wound will open again…""I'll get the nurse!" Justin said anxiously and immediately ran out of the room.A nurse quickly entered a few moments later, and was shocked to see the bloodstained bandage. "Stop moving around. Are you trying to make it worse?""I'm fine!" Renee snapped, determined to get an answer from Chase. "Tell me about Adie's condition now!""Adie, he…" Chase turned to Quinton hesitantly, unsure if he should tell Renee or not."We'll deal wi
After a brief deliberation, Quinton nodded at Chase. "Tell us what's going on then, and don't leave anything out." Then, he turned to the nurse. "Treat her wound carefully. Don't hurt her."The nurse carefully removed the gauze around Renee's wrist. The cut underneath it was deep, and it was bleeding. She hurriedly grabbed some cotton to stop the bleeding, and after a while, the bleeding stopped.Chase swallowed and said carefully, "After a thorough search, our men found Madelyn's location.""Really?" Renee excitedly stood up when she heard that. "Where is she?" "Tiger Island." Chase explained, "Tiger Island is pretty remote and undeveloped. It's quite rough terrain.""I know Tiger Island…" Renee frowned. "It's 100 nautical miles south of the island where the kindergarten held their graduation trip… Why would she go there?" That place was deserted without any shops to provide food or drinks, and today was quite sunny. Renee didn't know how Madelyn got there, and couldn't figure o
"Adie... Well, he..." Chase hesitated, but when he saw Quinton's menacing expression, he hurriedly said, "Adie said that he was happy on the island and didn't want to come home. He even asked us not to disturb him.""What?" Quinton, Leia, and the others were stunned. "Adie was kidnapped—he's not there on vacation! How could he possibly be having fun? Was there some sort of misunderstanding?" Leia asked in disbelief."I'm sure Adie didn't send that!" Quinton glared at Chase. "You're useless. You couldn't handle such a small thing, and you're now trying to lie to us? Get lost!""No, Boss… Adie did say that!" Chase quickly took his phone out and pointed at a text with a picture sent by Adie. "See? That's Adie, right? He even took a selfie, and he looks… happy."Everyone gathered around Chase to read the message. There was a picture of Adie attached to it, and in it, he was sitting on the beach and staring out at the ocean. He looked rather relaxed for someone who had supposedly been
Renee's calmness surprised the others."How do you know that Adie was the one who sent the message?" Quinton read the message over and over again and couldn't see anything unusual. He frowned in concern. "But we can't just let him be. Leave this to me—I'll bring Adie home safely." Quinton knew that Renee wouldn't recover well as long as she was worried about Adie… but Renee seemed strangely unbothered about the situation."Adie always adds exclusive codes to his messages, and if you decipher them, you'll find out his true thoughts…" Renee inhaled deeply and explained, "You won't be able to bring him back unless he wants to come back. You'll just be troubling yourselves, so I suggest waiting for him. Once he sees things through, he'll come home." In the past, Adie had gone to Beach City and even snuck into Hunt Enterprise on his own. If he could survive that, he could survive being kidnapped by an ordinary woman. Given Adie's capabilities, Renee was more worried about Tiffany's mother
Adie recalled how Madelyn acted like a wicked witch in the cave at first, but now, she was gentle and compassionate. It was like seeing two different people, and he had no idea what had happened in between. Maybe he had charmed Tiffany's mother, or maybe she had suddenly realized her mistake. All he knew was that Madelyn tied him and Tiffany up before moving them to that deserted island, and gave them food and water from time to time. At night, she would chat with them and sing nursery rhymes for them to put them to sleep. It was baffling. Tiffany seemed happy, but sometimes she cried and clung to Madelyn. Adie was very curious but kept himself from asking about it. Once Madelyn trusted him more, he would bring it up."It's because..." Madelyn stopped flicking the firewood as her gaze grew fierce. "I think of my dead child every time I look at you kids. It's so unfair... Why are you kids so loved by everyone while my child didn't even get to be born? I want you kids to die with my chi
"Madam, snap out of it!" Adie helplessly pointed at his face. "Look at me—I'm not your son. I'm Renee and Stefan's son, and I have nothing to do with you. Stop trying to steal me away!""You..." Madelyn covered her face as she burst into tears. "Why? Why is God punishing me like this? I just want a child who belongs to me… Is that too much to ask?""It isn't!" Adie shrugged and said bluntly, "Since Tiffany's father stopped you from having kids, you should divorce him and have kids with another man." "Don't you think I've thought of that?" Madelyn looked up, her face wet with tears. "After that incident, I became infertile… I can never be a mother for the rest of my life, which is why I hate her father and her. I hate everyone who stops me from being a mother!" Madelyn sobbed miserably. After graduating from college, she had married Damon, who had been married before. Besides, Damon had Tiffany too. Back then, Madelyn regarded Tiffany as her own daughter and gave Tiffany endless car
Jovan called Stefan to sound the latter out. Anyway, it would be convenient for Stefan to rush over since they were both at the same spot. "I'll be right there," Stefan said. Then, he hung up.For a moment, silence washed over everyone, as if something terrible was about to happen.After taking in the new information, Leia said indignantly, "What's going on? Why does he want to come? Isn't he too shameless? How dare he come?" Although everything wasn't discussed openly, everyone knew why Stefan and Renee broke up all of a sudden, despite how lovey-dovey they were. The reason was that Stefan had cheated on Renee.Even if the adultery was faked, it was still the cause of their breakup. If Stefan were shameful or guilty, he wouldn't have agreed to come. He was going to face Renee there with their friends and family around. Certainly, it was embarrassing. "Hmph! Why not? He impersonated me, seized my business, and snatched away my woman. Plus, he led a steady life, got married
Jovan's words made the atmosphere quiet and bizarre. "Are you out of your mind, Jovan? It's already very annoying to have someone like you here. Do you have to get another annoying guy?" Leia frowned, crossing her arms. She kept scolding him.Initially, the atmosphere was considered harmonious. It was still considered fine even if there was an annoying person like Jovan. Unexpectedly, he wanted to call another, more terrible person to come here. Things would certainly go wrong. "Ms. Osborne, you're famous for talking harshly, too. You're just like me. I love it." However, Jovan was not mad at all. He grinned while waiting for Stefan to answer the call. Generally, Stefan would not answer Jovan's call. Surprisingly, he picked it up that time."What's the matter?" Jovan purposely put it on speaker mode. Stefan sounded aloof and emotionless.Jovan sounded wicked as he calmly asked Stefan, "Do you want to join a gathering, Stefan?""I'm going to hang up if you don't say anythi
In the past, Jovan had always regarded Stefan as a coward. Stefan couldn't forget about Renee, but he kept pushing Renee to another man. It seemed like Justin was more responsible, considerate, and gentle. Of course, Renee would lead a very happy, steady, and comfortable life with such a man. At the very least, Jovan felt that he could not be that meticulous and considerate. He would only drive Renee mad just to get her attention. "Hmph! Are you trying to humiliate me or yourself?" Justin didn't find that a compliment. Instead, it sounded like smockery. Jovan made it sound like Justin was a nice guy, but would not be picked by Renee. Usually, people like that had to suffer and would not end up well."I'm praising you." Jovan was helpless because of his reputation as the villain. Although he had said a lot of annoying things, he did want to compliment Justin. His love was probably as deep as Justin's, but his and Stefan's ways of loving Renee were much inferior to Justin's.
"That's unnecessary." Justin stood in front of Renee, his face cold. He said firmly, "She's unwell and can't have wine." "Is she unwell? I didn't see that." Jovan sized Renee up before he sized Justin up. Then, he sneered, "And who are you to her? You can't stop her from having wine.""It's none of your business who I am to her. I said she can't have wine." Justin always kept peace with others, but at that moment, he was dominant. He didn't always want to control Renee, but she had drunk a lot of wine that day. It might have hurt her belly. Hence, he felt it better for her to abstain from wine lately. However, Jovan was unaware of that affair. He simply found Justin purposely showing his ownership over Renee, which disgusted him."Waiter, get her a glass of milk. She only wants that," Justin instructed a waiter, showing his consideration for Renee. "It's okay. I can have a little wine. Plus, I'm rather good at drinking. It's not easy for everyone to get together tonight. I do
They danced for around ten minutes. Renee danced to the song heartily. Her initial gloomy mood also improved.Renee drank some water and took a few deep breaths. Then, she sincerely praised Leia, "Alright. Your welcome ceremony is bizarre, but it helped relieve my stress. I like it very much!"She could tell that Leia had painstakingly prepared that gift for her. After all, it was not easy to ask the Zambawi people from primitive tribes to sing an English song. "I'm glad you like it. I did this because I wanted you to relax and stop taking things seriously. You need to stop being so hard on yourself and get rid of all the pressure!" Leia said honestly. The Zambawi hand-drum dance came with the charms of a primitive dance. Its goal was to set people free. Of course, it was suitable for Renee to relieve her stress."Yeah, your stress is relieved. From now on, you'll start afresh. This is for you. I'm sure it'll be one of your happy memories." Liam handed the previous Polaroid to
"This is your welcome ceremony. This hand-drum dance is to help eliminate bad luck." Leia held Renee's arm, satisfied with her arrangement. She said happily, "Listen to their song! It's a great song!""Is there a song?" Renee frowned; she felt that Leia was always doing bizarre things. She wondered how Leia could come up with such a preposterous welcome ceremony."Mm, listen carefully! It's English. You can understand it." At that point, Leia said to the Zambawi people, "Put on your microphone. And sing louder."The Zambawi people gave their cooperation. They used their typical Zambawi singing to sing the English song. While listening to the song, Renee found it very familiar. "The flowers will bloom in spring, and the birds are free. I'm still waiting, waiting for my love to come back. Hurry home!""Isn't that Spring Flowers by Curtis Harrett?" Renee finally recalled what song it was. It was a song with a happy beat. It could make people happy. The Zambawi people made th
"I don't know, either. All I ever remember from when I was young is that I led a very painful life. I once tried my best to make the Garcia family accept me. I did all the dirty and tiring jobs. I went out to work at an early age to get money for them. I also did all the house chores. "But my foster parents were never nice to me. They would always beat me up or scold me. My elder foster brother also saw me as an eyesore. He always tried to get me killed…" Quinton calmly described his past. He no longer seemed to be in pain. All that was left in him was numbness, as if he were talking about someone else.However, Renee was always in pain whenever she heard him talk about his past. She felt like she had returned to his past with him and experienced those painful things. It was normal for her to feel that way because they were twins. A lot of their thoughts and feelings were synchronized. "I suddenly recalled that I would inexplicably become gloomy many times when I was young. I
"I'm sorry." When Renee heard that from Quinton, she realized the conflict between him and Stefan had yet to be resolved. It was temporarily put aside because of her. She occasionally saw him and Stefan talk to each other and drink together, but they merely put on a show to ease her mind. Their hatred for each other hadn't been eliminated. Instead, it was growing secretly. If Renee were Quinton, she might never forgive the person who had snatched away her beloved and seized her identity. That person even ruined her face."Why did you say sorry to me? It's the resentment between him and me. It has nothing to do with you. Plus, I didn't know he was my brother-in-law then. If I knew, I wouldn't have fought him." When Quinton recalled those affairs, he realized that people were nothing but the sport of fate. If there had been no resentment between him and Stefan, Renee might not have broken up with Stefan. Their families might even get closer. "Stop bringing up the past. It's
During these days, Renee was under pressure because of her affairs. She had no chance to ask Quinton about it. Now, the long flight gave them a chance to have a deep conversation. They could talk about their woes and seek consolation."Me?" Quinton lowered his head and shook his head helplessly. "I'm still the same old me. Nothing is troubling me. I've been busy with Carmine Pawnshop. I have no time to think about other stuff.""You have no time?" Renee touched her chin and smiled naughtily. "Then, you must have been dwelling on other stuff. Let me guess… Is it the thing between you and Joanne?" "Stop asking so much." Quinton did not deny it but refused to talk much about that. "It looks like I made the right guess. You fell out with Joanne, didn't you?" Renee knew Quinton well. Generally, his work would not affect his mood. The only person who could affect his mood was Joanne, who shared a complicated relationship with him. Before Renee left Beach City, she had created a l