The one-eyed man didn't believe what Aiden said at all. He gradually lost his patience and directly picked up Aiden by his collar. "Kid, you better start telling the truth, or I'll hit you just like how I hit him!""L-Let him go!" William pressed himself onto his feet and tried to stop the one-eyed man. In the end, he was sent flying with a punch."Let me go, or you'll be in deep trouble!" Aiden shouted angrily. He fought as hard as he could, refusing to get into the one-eyed man's car."Shut up, kiddo. You deserve a beating!" Just as the one-eyed man was about to slap Aiden across the face, a car suddenly sped over and crashed into his car, sending it flying."Damn it! Who the hell…" The one-eyed man began cursing, but his knees went weak the moment he saw the car's registration. He directly went down on his knees and didn't even dare to make a sound.Aiden took the opportunity to set himself free. He slowly walked up to the heavy, off-road vehicle and looked directly at the driv
Aiden stroked his chin and furrowed his brows as he seriously contemplated the matter for a while, looking just like a tiny grown-up. When he was done thinking, he tiptoed and held out a hand for Mr. Q to shake, solemnly telling him, "Since you're repentant of your mistakes, then we can be friends. A pleasure to meet you. Your guidance will be much appreciated."The man's frozen lips arched up ever so slightly without him noticing it. He even bent down his body involuntarily so that he could get closer to the kid. "Pleasure to meet you too," he replied in a deep voice. "Your guidance will be much appreciated as well."Aiden was outstandingly tall for a four-year-old boy, but standing in front of a man who was well over six feet tall still made him look tiny in comparison, as he was not even as tall as the man's long legs. Yet the sight of them together standing side by side made such a comical contrast that they looked inexplicably cute together.Everyone around them, including Wi
The car soon arrived at the infamous Carmine Pawnshop. The place was rumored to be a treasure house, filled with displays of rare treasures, curious cultural antiques, exotic animals, and other peculiar paraphernalia from all over the world.Nevertheless, the actual pawnshop did not occupy a large area at all. In fact, it was just a simple building. It did not even have that many guards surrounding it, so it looked no different from the other buildings in the area.The car drove into the pawnshop's private garage. Mr. Q parked the car and turned to Aiden, and asked him in a leisurely tone, "Are you sure you want to go inside? You do know that anyone who's stepped into Carmine Pawnshop gives up control of their own fate, don't you?""I'm just a kid," Aiden replied chirpily, blinking his big bright eyes innocently, "so anything I say doesn't count. As for you being in control of my fate, you'll have to ask for Mommy's permission before you can do that."Aiden had always been an exper
"Well, about that…"Aiden's eyes darted around as he contemplated the question. He figured that he could not possibly let this man know that he was the villain Stefan Hunt's son, since that would lessen the chances that he would want to be his mother's helper.With that in mind, he told the man in a serious tone, "My daddy is Liam Osborne. You do know him, don't you? Mommy told me that he's not too shabby himself. He's the future heir to the Osborne family, which is one of the Great Eight of Beach City. Mommy also said that with the combined strengths of the Osbornes and the Everhearts, defeating the Hunts is only a matter of time!""Is that so? Hmph, your mommy is pretty ambitious, isn't she?"Mr. Q's words sounded especially curt and surly, as if he was upset about something.'Briar Desrosiers, you sly woman! How dare you lie to me?!'But it's fine,' he thought. 'It doesn't matter whether this kid has the blood of the Hunts or not. As long as he's Renee Everheart's son, then th
Meanwhile, her useless brother was indolently lying on the couch, sound asleep. His clothes were still in perfect order. Not even his hair was the slightest bit ruffled up!There was no need to guess. There was definitely nothing "interesting" going on last night at all!Leia sighed. These two had been dragging it out for close to ten years now, yet they were still stuck in this ambiguous "friend zone" after all this time. She was almost irked to death thinking about it!"Ahem!" Leia dragged her feet into the room and yanked the curtain open, flooding the room with bright sunlight. "Wake up, both of you! Time to get up!"Liam woke up with a grimace and promptly got up to his feet and grabbed his sister from the back by the collar of her shirt."You little shithead!" he hissed. "So you finally opened the door, huh? You're getting too bold for your own good if you have the audacity to play this kind of stupid prank! If you didn't think that I'd teach you a sore lesson today, then yo
Liam and Leia exchanged looks. They thought that Renee was still sleeping soundly, so they decided to take the call for her. But before they could reach for her phone, Renee suddenly got up without a word and calmly answered the phone."Hello, Officer. Yes, I'm Renee Everheart. Aiden Everheart is my son. Is there any news of his whereabouts?"The conversation went on for a little longer, then she finally nodded and said, "Okay. I'll be there right away."Renee's lovely face was calm and serene. There was not a trace of perturbations at all, and she showed no emotion throughout the whole phone call. Instead, it was the twins who were excited and agitated to no end by the latest development."Was that the police, Ren?" Leia asked with gleaming eyes. "Have they finally found Adie?""The officer only told me that they've caught the person who kidnapped Adie," Renee answered calmly. "As for the rest of the details, we'll have to go there to find out."After speaking, she then nonchala
The police officer in charge of recording the interview could not help looking up at Renee. He frowned and reproached, "Your son has been missing for so long, and you still wouldn't report it to the police? Don't you think you're being too reckless as the parents? Thank god the child was clever enough to report it to the police himself! Although we still haven't figured out where he is, we've caught the suspected kidnapper, so the situation might not end up so serious after all."Renee nodded repeatedly, "You're right, Officer. We, as adults, have certainly been too neglectful."But in her head, she silently thought, 'I wonder which unlucky guys had to deal with Adie this time. They should count their blessings if they didn't end up getting sold into a human trafficking ring by him!'Aiden had run away on his own many times before, so it was inevitable that he would encounter bad guys with sinister motives against him, but each time it always ended with the kidnappers calling the po
After considering Renee's request, the police officers agreed to leave the room. Only Renee and Briar were left in the interrogation room, even though in truth, their every word and their every move were monitored by the police.Although she was handcuffed, Briar still appeared proud and arrogant. She chuckled menacingly and asked, "Did you think that I'd tell you where your son is just because you chased them away?"She chuckled again. "You're too naive! The only reason why I attacked your son is that I wanted to take revenge on you. Now that I see how much you suffer, there's no way that I'd back down!""Suffer?" Renee nonchalantly leaned back against the chair with a cool and carefree sneer on her face. "What makes you think that I'm suffering? I know how smart my son can be, and I'm confident that he'll find his way out of trouble in no time. As for you… as soon as I insist on bringing on the charges against you, there's no other outcome for you but to spend the rest of your lif
"Do you want to leave?" Stefan saw Renee. He was calm, indifferent, and distant. His behavior stung Renee. Renee could easily recall their lovey-dovey memories. They had both risked their lives for each other and vowed to be together forever. They had two children, too. Yet, they ended up as strangers.Although Renee was heartbroken, she became competitive. She smoothed her hair and said in a similarly cold manner, "I'm going to the washroom." "Okay." Stefan did not have anything to say. He nodded and walked past Renee before heading to the dining table. "Hmph! I didn't expect you to come so boldly," Quinton sneered.At the sight of Stefan, Quinton subconsciously clenched his fists, acting like he was about to fight Stefan. On the surface, he wouldn't act aggressively because he knew Renee would stop him. "It's not easy for the few great families to get together. It's good and meaningful for us. If I refused to come, it would make me seem heartless."Stefan kept his co
Having said that, Renee lowered her head, about to leave. She didn't even have the time to bother about Adie and Abby, and told Quinton to take them home later. Her strange behavior filled Quinton with displeasure. He blocked Renee and said solemnly, "Are you afraid? Do you want to run away? People might think that you're guilty and have cheated on your husband!""No, I'm not!" Renee refuted him loudly, then explained seriously, "I'm busy. I need to handle something right away. Plus, I'm not guilty. I did nothing wrong. There's no reason for me to feel guilty." Quinton went straight to the point. "What are you afraid of since you know you're not guilty? Why do you want to run away? He should be afraid instead!""I told you. I'm not afraid of him. I'm just…" "What?" Quinton crossed his arms and looked at Renee coldly. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.Renee came up with a ridiculous yet normal excuse. "I… I recalled that the dessert shop that I want to head to is about to
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