"It was pouring last night. Why did you open the door as wide as you did?" Mike had already guessed the actual reason, and he just did not want to be explicit about what he actually thought. He would not persist if she did not want to talk about it. "Zoe said she heard my voice as her eyes were gouged out," said Avery in a voice like ice. The expression on her face was glacial. "What a poor lier she is? And yet, she still had people who were willing to believe her." Mike said, "Thank goodness you have Wesley to confirm your alibi. But what were you doing at Wesley's yesterday?" "I was doing some work," Avery brushed off his question and said, "But no one would have believed me if I told them that.""Why would they not believe you? Do they think that you are in a relationship with Wesley? If that's the case you would have been visiting his house long ago," teased Mike. "But seriously, I like men like Wesley, but men like him tend to get into relationships with terrible women."

"I'm torturing her?" Elliot murmured. "Well, aren't you shameless?" he growled. "I'm shameless. You can blame this on me, but please don't view Avery through your narrow scope." Wesley sounded calm, and he was honest. "Avery approached me yesterday because she was looking for some of Professor Hough's notes. She wanted them because she was drawing up a treatment plan which she showed me yesterday so that I could give her my opinion on it. Although my medical skills are not as great as hers, theory-wise, I can still make do."Elliot's breathing turned heavy."Avery took on a case," Wesley continued, " and if you think that she's doing this just for the money, you're shallow. If you love her, can you should learn how to respect her!"Wesley rarely raised his voice at others. He was well-mannered and knew how to control himself. However, he could no longer remain calm with Elliot.After a short moment of silence, Elliot said, "Your so-called respect is just giving in without limits!

"Uncle Richard, you can see the state Zoe is in. I'm very upset. I haven't had any sleep for the past two days. She kept wanting to die, but I don't want her to die."Richard cut to the chase and said, "You're just worried about the child, right? You have no feelings for Zoe at all.""I don't want to contradict you, but you should know that Zoe holds no feelings for me too." Cole looked glum. "Our child is innocent. I will take good care of Zoe until she gives birth to our child. Once our child is born, I will give you some money, and you take Zoe back to Bridgedale to start a new life. Just name your price. I will try my best to match it. I assure you that you and Zoe won't have to worry for the rest of your lives."Richard did not immediately answer, he seemed to be thinking about it.Zoe was standing by the door. She had heard their conversation. At that moment, she ceased to be a human being; she became a tool that both men could use. If it were not for her child, Cole would

Avery had not expected this to happen. She wondered how much despair Zoe must have faced for her to have taken her own life. Zoe killed herself, and by doing so, she killed her child too. Avery began to doubt herself. She began to wonder whether the accusations that Zoe had made were true. "Zoe had said that she heard my voice while her eyes were being gouged out. Could she really have heard me?" thought Avery. "Who attacked Zoe? Why did they put the blame on me?"Could it be Cole?"But Zoe was pregnant with his child. He did not need to do such a thing to Zoe."Could I be the reason that this happened to Zoe? Did the perpetrator want to challenge me? What other reason could there be for using my voice?" thought Avery as sweat poured down her face. Mike was carrying a bowl of hot porridge into her room. He saw her sitting up straight on the bed; her eyes out of focus. She did not even notice him entering."Avery, what are you thinking about?" Mike placed the bowl on the nig

"Damn it! Hayden is in danger!" Mike exclaimed. "Avery, wait for me in the car! I'll go look for him!"Mike quickly parked the car by the side of the road and pressed the emergency button before running toward the metro.The summer camp had allowed the participants to take a break, and the summer camp bus had dropped them off at a huge mall near the subway station. Hayden had bought a gift for his mother. While paying, he realized that someone was secretly watching him. He had exited the mall and made his way to the subway station. He saw that the man had done the same, and he was sure then that he was being followed.Avery could not bear to sit still in the car and wait. After Mike got out of the car, she got out of the car too and rushed toward the subway station. The bodyguard gripped her as he said, "Miss Tate, you must be careful. You are pregnant! If you go into labor, are you planning to have the child on the streets?"Initially, Avery had not felt anything, but at the r

"How are you going to deal with it?" Mike crossed his arms. "You shouldn't have blown up that web page. Since Nora knows about the dark web, it means that she must know a person linked to it or the organization behind it. We could have even found something." Hayden lowered his head remorsefully when he heard what Mike said. He had been frightened, and that had made him impulsive. Thinking about it now, he realized that he should not have done it. "Let me handle this." Mike patted Hayden on the head. "You finally have two days off. Rest well tonight. Stay with your mother tomorrow, and give me the computer. I'll try my best to restore the page."Hayden said, "Nora must be a bad person. Tell Mommy to stay away from her.""That woman's target is your father. She doesn't have much contact with your mother."Hayden did not care whether Elliot lived or died, so he did not say anything.The next day, after Avery got up, she made breakfast for Hayden.Hayden came out of his room. He

"Does anyone want to give it a try?" asked the staff member as he looked at the people around him. Many raised their hands. They wanted to give it a go.Avery wanted to raise her hand too, but she could not. Her entire body was so stiff that she found it impossible to move. It was almost as if someone had hexed her. She had almost forgotten about everything that had happened in Aryadelle. However, when she heard what the member of the staff had said, she fell under the assault of memories.She did not think that technology was so advanced that scientists could create a robot that mimicked human voice.Hence, Zoe could have heard an artificially generated voice when she had her eyes gouged out. A woman was invited up to the stage. She greeted the robot. "Hello, my name is Lily. I want to see if you can really mimic my voice."The robot was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Hello Lily, I'm trying hard to mimic your voice! Do you think I sound like you?"A burst of laughte

Elliot stopped. Avery quickly caught up to him. "When did you get here?" Avery looked at him. His face was blank and impassive. He looked away and said in an extremely low voice, "Yesterday.""What are you doing here?" asked Avery in a voice that was a few octaves higher. "Did you come alone?"She did not know why she stopped him, or why she was asking him all these questions.They had both been in an argument, and neither wanted to admit defeat. Despite seeing each other, they could have each gone their separate ways, but Avery could not control the thoughts coursing through her mind. "What if he came here specifically looking for me?" she thought."There's a speech at a school." Elliot swallowed. He could not help but look at her. "I studied here for a year in high school. I'm going there to give a speech this afternoon. Do you come?"Avery was a little disappointed. She did not hide it very well."I'm with Hayden today. I'm not free," Avery said and looked at Hayden.Hayd

There were only three of them in the huge room. The atmosphere was strangely quiet.The waiter left after serving the food.Elliot was thinking about what to say, and just as he was about to say something, Avery beat him to it. She had spoken because she did not want him to say anything that might upset Hayden."Hayden, didn't you say you were hungry? This restaurant is quite good. Have more food."Avery placed a huge pile of food on Hayden's plate.Hayden lowered his head and ate. He did not even look at Elliot.Elliot picked up a ladle and scooped some soup for Avery. "When are you planning to return to Aryadelle?"Avery did not want to talk to Elliot in front of Hayden because Hayden was extremely sensitive to Elliot. She was worried that the rift between father and son would worsen with a single misspoken sentence. "Let's eat!" Avery lowered her gaze and ate small mouthfuls of food.A moment later, Hayden was full. He placed his utensils down. "Mommy, I'm tired. I'll go h

"Why didn't you bring a bodyguard? Don't you know that you are a public figure?" Avery furrowed her brows. She was suddenly angry. "Did you think that there wouldn't be danger in Bridgedale? It is much safer in Aryadelle than it is in Bridgedale!"Elliot looked at her agitated face. Words got stuck in his throat."Avery, don't be angry. I made a last-minute decision to come here," explained Elliot. "At that time, there weren't any extra seats, so I came alone." "Couldn't you just have gotten on the next flight with your bodyguard?" Although Avery was complaining, she had calmed down. "You're staying at my place tonight.""Okay.""Did you deliberately tell me this?" The more she thought, the more suspicious she got. "Did you really not take your bodyguard along with you?""What about the trust we just talked about?" said Elliot pointedly. "If I wanted to stay at your place, I have a thousand ways of getting that done. The only thing I won't do is lie to you in order to gain your