With that thought, a chill ran down Renee's back as she considered her options carefully.There was no movement inside the house as if the cries for help had just been Renee's imagination."Okay. I know you're scared. You don't have to answer me. I'll kick the door open and get you out. All you need to do is expose the ugly side of that guy to my two children after this!"As Renee said this, she prepared her hands, reaching out to break down the door.Suddenly, a deadly vibe burst out from behind her, and someone reached out to catch her wrist in a deadly grip, freezing her completely in her tracks."Why are you in the restricted area of the shop?"The man's low voice gave off an eerie chill as it resounded from above her head.Renee turned around to see Mr. Q standing behind her with a cold look on his face.In the darkness of the night, the name 'Midnight Demon,' coupled with the black mask he wore, really suited his image.Though Renee was not a coward, she was still in som
Renee suddenly felt a chill run up her spine as she shoved Mr. Q away and coldly. "There's something wrong with your head, isn't there? How could you joke about something like this? I'll cut you down if you do it again!"Even though her financial strength may not compare to his, she could definitely subdue him in a matter of minutes. If he forced her hand, she wasn't about to show him any mercy!Mr. Q approached Renee again with a solemn expression as he said seriously, "I never joke. To have given birth to two lovely children like Adie and Abby, I'm sure you have good genes. It's barely worthy of me, but I'm sure if we come together, we can give birth to a child more perfect than the two. Are you sure you don't want to try?""Blargh!"Renee didn't buy it at all. She made a throwing-up motion before shooting back sharply, "Please get this straight. Children aren't the product of just one parent. That's impossible! My children are great, maybe because they got my perfect genes, and
Back then, when Renee had fallen in love with Stefan at first sight, wasn't it also because of his appearance? If he didn't have that handsome face of his, she wouldn't have foolishly waited for him for four years, and she likely wouldn't have agreed to marry him. That's why being obsessed with appearances only called for bad luck. Despite that, she was a die-hard lover of outward looks, even now!"I see..." Mr. Q said with a sigh as disappointment streaked across his face. "If that's the reason, then I really can't compare. I used to be very handsome, but unfortunately, I'm disfigured now. The scar on my face... let's not even mention others; even I can't stand the sight of it!"Renee couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy upon seeing the proud and arrogant man suddenly become so self-deprecating and downtrodden, She forced a smile on her face and comforted him, "Hey, it's okay. Men don't have to rely on looks to get a wife, you know? The treasures in your collection alone
Aiden and Abigail blinked their big, innocent eyes and immediately jumped to Mr. Q's defense."Mommy, you must have misunderstood Daddy Q! He's the most gentle and kind person I've ever met besides Daddy Liam! How could he be a bad guy?""Abby is right!" Aiden said as he rubbed his chin, a serious expression on his face. "I introduce Mr. Q to you as a husband candidate after careful consideration. You may not believe in my sister's judgment, but you must believe in my intelligence.""Well..." Renee was momentarily speechless.Disregarding everything else, Aiden's intelligence was truly unbeatable. Anyone who passed his assessment was either a super intelligent person who could beat Aiden or genuinely a good person.Currently, Mr. Q didn't seem like a good person at all. That meant his intelligence must be extremely high to have the two little children be so obedient to him."It doesn't matter if you don't believe me. Once I kick down this door, you'll understand my good intention
After hearing Chase's words, Renee became even more confident of her suspicions. She quickly pulled her two children aside and warned them, "Close your eyes first. Wait until I confirm that there's nothing inside there that's inappropriate for children, and you can open your eyes."Then, Renee turned to Mr. Q and said, "You don't have to open the door. I'm not interested in your perverted things. As long as you admit before my children that you're a bad guy and promise to stay away from them in the future, that's enough."Renee had considered many things and was worried that the pervert would attack indiscriminately if he were exposed, so she planned to take her children away before figuring out how to save whoever was inside the room.Mr. Q ignored her and ordered Chase again, "I said to open the door. Didn't you hear me?""Um..." Even though Chase was visibly unhappy, he didn't dare disobey a direct order from his boss. He pulled out the key and opened the door."Watch out!" R
"Um..." The woman hesitated to speak as if she had difficulty expressing her thoughts."If you're in any trouble, just let me know. I'll shoulder the consequences for you. But if you insist on protecting a bad person, then I won't care about you!" Renee was a little angry when she saw how the pitiful woman so quickly shouldered the blame when she'd done nothing wrong.It was precisely because of their weakness that evil had become so rampant. After all, it would "cost" nothing to be evil."No, you've misunderstood! I'm not trying to protect a bad person! I just..."The woman took a deep breath and mustered up her courage before continuing, "Fine. I don't want you to misunderstand Mr. Q, so I'll be honest. I'm a single mother, and it's been hard raising my child all alone. At one point, I couldn't even afford to eat. I had to work in a nightclub, which was filled with bad hats. I unknowingly got involved with them."One time, a client tricked me. Mr. Q and Chase saved me. They
"Mommy, Daddy Q has been busy all night. Do you know what he's doing?" Abigail asked Renee in a soft and gentle voice.The corners of Renee's eyes were slightly red, and she asked hoarsely, "What was he busy with?""You'll find out if you come with us!" Abigail said mysteriously. She led Renee to the observation deck on the second floor of the shop.The observation deck was built by the seaside at the junction of the three countries, and the view up there was breathtaking."Abby, why did you bring me here?" Renee asked in confusion as she looked up at the stars in the sky.Abigail smiled mysteriously and asked, "Do you know what day it is, Mommy?""Huh? The day? Uh... the weekend?" Renee answered with a puzzled look on her face."It's the ninth of August, which is your birthday, silly Mommy!" Abigail said sweetly."Today... is the ninth of August?" Renee suddenly realized.Today was her birthday!"Look behind you, Mommy!" Renee turned, following Abigail's finger, seeing Cha
Renee snapped out of her immersion immediately and turned around to face the man with a guarded look."What are you going to do?" Renee asked."It's simple!" Mr. Q continued whispering in her ear. "Last time, I asked you to let me take Abby as my goddaughter before reclaiming Sun Island. Now I want to add on to that...""What do you want to add? You can't possibly want my son as your godson now?!""That's not all!" Mr. Q grinned and continued whispering, "I want Abby to be my goddaughter, Adie to be my godson, and you... to be mine.""You're insane!" Renee jumped away from him as quickly as a lightning bolt, standing warily as if facing a fierce beast. "I knew it! You're like the weasel who pretended to pay homage to the chicken so that it could steal food! You only have bad intentions!"I knew you were too good to be true! You made my favorite food, baked a cake with the kids, and even set off fireworks for my birthday... It turns out you were just waiting for this! You're so gr
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
After a long while, Quinton turned around. He looked at Renee, who was across from him, and heaved a long sigh."We're about to go home soon. Why do you look this gloomy? What's wrong…? Are you reluctant to part with this place?" Quinton said. "No, I'm not." Renee poured herself a glass of orange juice and sipped it. She frowned and dwelled on it before she said, "I feel empty inside. I don't know if I made the right choice.""Empty?" Quinton asked curiously."I think I've said goodbye to a steady life since I decided to leave. Maybe I'll keep on wandering from now on," Renee said melancholically. The reason why she chose to give it a try with Justin because she was tired. She was exhausted from leading a wandering life and wanted to settle down with someone. Others could not give her the sense of security like Justin. When she saw him, she inexplicably wanted a home. At that time, she thought she could forget about everything and start a new life with him. Unexpectedly, she
Adie was still a child, but he acted like a smart person and could see through a lot of things. He could guess why Austin took them to the Baldwin residence. He had also heard the servants of the Baldwin family rebuking Renee in secret. After combining various situations, he learned about what had happened between Renee and Justin. Despite everything, Justin could forgive Renee under such circumstances. He also treated Adie and Abby nicely. It proved that he was a very compassionate man. A small regret gripped Adie. He wondered why Renee didn't date Justin right from the start. If Renee were with such a kind man, she might be very happy. She wouldn't have to suffer through so many hardships either. "No, you don't know me. I always sweat the small stuff."Justin was displeased since Adie had claimed that he was a good guy, like Renee had. He heaved a long sigh and said, "But it's useless even if I sweat the small stuff, so I stop trying. It all comes down to fate. We can't forc