Wayne frowned. He didn't even have experience dating women, and he was trying to get married right away. It was only natural that he didn't know the complications of that. "If you think the conditions I provided weren't enough, feel free to make some requests. I'm willing to lower my bottom line for her."Olivia looked at his confused gaze. She smiled and shook her head. "The Heath family doesn't need to sell out its daughters for profit. A marriage shouldn't be treated as a transaction."Mr. Maxwell, if you have no idea what marriage is about, you should date a woman and find out. Marriage is not fun and games. "If you really want to form an alliance with Arlandia, why don't we set this marriage aside, and focus on the alliance? It would benefit the citizens of both countries."Wayne grunted. "If we're not going to proceed with the marriage, why would I want to do anything to make the people happy? If I'm not getting what I want, no one's going to get what they want."Olivia
Mason didn't talk about business while they were at the dining table. He finally got Wayne to shut up. Ethan felt a sense of danger. He had been rivals with Wayne for many years. He knew how stubborn Wayne could be. He knew Wayne wouldn't give up so easily. He was sure that Wayne had backup plans prepared. As expected, Wayne asked to talk to Mason in private. Mason had no reason to refuse. …Marina's legs started to improve three hours ago following a few days of rest. Although they would still hurt from time to time, it wasn't unbearable for her. Fabian felt bad for her. He was afraid that she might hurt her legs if she forced herself to walk. He wanted her to stay in her wheelchair and rest as often as possible.Fabian felt more at ease after the tracker was placed in her leg. She would never be able to escape from him.Marina had pretended to be obedient for the past couple of days. That was why Fabian allowed her to go out.Her maid pushed her wheelchair and accompani
Marina saw a face that looked exactly like Kurt's. Even though she never saw Kurt's body, she knew Ethan wouldn't lie to her about that. Besides, if Kurt was alive, he wouldn't have stayed away from her for so many years. Back then, Kurt was like her lapdog. She never really cared about him. But she hated him after he took her virginity. She only had eyes for Ethan back then. She had the urge to get an abortion. When Kurt knew about that, he pleaded with her not to do it. He promised to take responsibility after his mission. When he left for the mission, Marina had just gotten pregnant. It wasn't the best time to get an abortion.She didn't expect him to die. Some nights, she would think about him. She would think about him when she looked at Erina, too.Seeing that face again, Marina couldn't just leave him to die, no matter who he actually was. She carried Jack into her car with great effort. Then, she drove toward the hiding place she had prepared in advance. She knew
If Kurt hadn't died, at least her daughter would still have a father. Perhaps things wouldn't have turned out like this.The doctor dressed Jack's wounds and exited the room. With an inquisitive look, he asked, "Miss, this man has a lot of scars on his body. Who is he?"Marina gave him a stack of cash. "Don't ask anything you shouldn't. This is your fee."The doctor's eyes lit up at the sight of so much money. He understood that Marina had to be someone important, and he should just take the money and shut up."Understood, miss. His condition is stable. He just needs to rest for a while.""Thanks."Marina called Tim over. "Send the doctor back."She went back to the bedroom. Jack was topless and lying in bed. She could see his bandaged arms while his torso was covered by a blanket. The lighting in the basement was bad, so she hadn't gotten a good look before. She finally had a chance to get a good look at Jack.He almost looked identical to Kurt. Marina couldn't tell the di
Marina looked at Jack's face. He looked exactly like Kurt, but his eyes scared her. "I'm not. I just…""Marina, you're disgusting. You forced Ethan to marry you while you were carrying Kurt's baby. And there's also all the despicable things you did to separate him from his wife."Jack struggled to get up and grabbed Marina's arm. "What are you doing?" Marina asked as she tried to break free."I want to bring you somewhere."Jack forced her into the car. Marina started to think that Jack was out of his mind. She was still on the run."Where are you taking me?"Jack fell silent and didn't speak another word to her. The car sped along the roads in the middle of the night until they arrived at a manor. There was a garden of black roses. The roses stood out in the white blanket of snow. "This is…""Kurt had planned to propose to you here. He wanted to give you and the baby a home. But he didn't get to live to see that day.Marina looked at the roses and thought about the one
Olivia wiped away her tears frantically as she repeated, "I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so glad you're okay."Jack was with her during the hardest times in her life. He knew that she was afraid of death. She had already become traumatized.The reason Jack helped Olivia so much in the beginning was because he found out that she was Ethan's wife. Her family was ruined because of Kurt's dying wish.He was just trying to atone for the pain caused by Kurt and nothing else. Then, they went through a lot of hardships together. Both of them lost all of their loved ones. So, they treated each other as family. That was why he gave up on trying to kill Wayne immediately when he saw that Olivia was also in the car. "Don't cry. You're all grown up. There's no need to act like a child." He didn't want Olivia to worry. So, he contacted her as soon as he was able to.Their intimate interaction caused Ethan to feel a little jealous. But he knew that Olivia wouldn't fall for Jack. If not,
Fabian froze as he came back to his senses. He knew Marina wouldn't do it with him willingly without reason. "Are you crazy? Do you know who she is?"Marina had been stuck in the Carlton residence for quite some time and hadn't heard anything about the outside world. "I don't care who she is. She took everything from me. My parents, my child, my lover, even him…"Even though she had just met Jack, she felt frustrated when she thought about a man who looked like Kurt cozying up to another woman.She had been the center of attention since she was young. But since Olivia showed up, everything she had crumbled away. At the same time, Olivia's life had improved immensely. Ethan was treating her way better than before. As a fellow woman, Marina couldn't help but feel jealous."Shut up. She's not who she was before. You're crazy if you think I would even try to hurt her."Marina was confused. Olivia had been looking for her parents for as long as she could remember."What's wr
Olivia tried asking Ethan about it, but he only told her parts of the story. It was understandable because of the nature of his job that he was required to keep some secrets. Mason and Linus were very important people, too. She couldn't just ask them about classified information. She was an adult and knew how to respect boundaries. The reason she wanted to get to the bottom of it was to prepare for the future. She was a member of the Heath family, after all. She wanted to be able to prevent getting dragged into troublesome matters.Fabian and the Kingston family should be able to dig something up. Fabian was able to beat the competition and surprise Otto. He should be quite capable. Olivia made a deal with Fabian with Marina as the prize. Fabian would be more than happy to do her bidding.She was able to keep Marina under control with the microchip. It would also prevent Marina from acting out again. That killed two birds with one stone. She was finally able to relax