A gentle knock on the door made Mr. Bamford look up from the case file on his desk and stared ahead, calling out, "Come in." When the door opened, his secretary Lucy entered his office with a soft smile, saying, "Sir, there's a visitor for you." "Who?" Mr. Bamford replied without looking up from the case file, still reading through the information about the crime he was currently investigating."Madam Jewel Haye," "Hmm," The pen in his hand dropped on the sheet as he lifted his head slightly to glance at his secretary with an eyebrow raised. Then he rested back in his seat and sighed softly, "Send her in," "Yes, sir," Lucy said with a nod.Silently, Mr. Bamford watched her walk out of his office and waited until she closed his door before turning his attention back to the papers on his desk.A couple of minutes went by, then the door opened again, this time to reveal Mrs. Haye. She had her hands tucked into the front pockets of her black fluffy coat as she stepped inside befor
The sound of her room door opening made Peach raise her head off the pillow and gazed at her mother, standing in the doorway, smiling at her."Can I come in?" Miss Grace asked cheerfully, closing the door behind her and stepping inside the room.Slowly, Peach sat up from the bed, hugging her knees as she rested her head on her kneecaps, feeling a sense of sadness welling up within her as she watched her mother approach her with a warm smile and sit down beside her on the edge of the mattress."James made chicken soup for dinner with rice and vegetables." Miss Grace told her kindly.Shaking her head slowly, Peach said with a sad smile, "I'm too full already, Mama. You should go ahead and eat without me.""Peach, you have been in here all day and have barely put much in your stomach. That's not healthy!" Miss Grace chided her, gently squeezing Peach's hands.One look at her mother and Peach could see her concern clearly written across her wrinkled brows and pursed lips. The sight mad
The dining hall was eerily quiet as everybody slowly digested what Madam Jewel had revealed. “A man like Bryan Checks is getting involved with our family?” Mathew, second to Dean, questioned, frowning slightly. “Why? How can a man like that possibly be interested in helping Peach and Grace though?!” Eli exclaimed angrily, clenching and unclenching his fists, feeling angered and confused. Looking at Madam Jewel, Cora frowned slightly at the stress she saw in her mother's eyes and mumbled, “He is someone that never just gets involved with people without ulterior motives, Eli! He loves money and power... nothing else matters to him-” “Money, power, and women,” Amelia said, meeting her sister's eyes. “What?” “We are all missing the bigger picture here. Peach is a woman. Bryan is a man. Men usually get protective over the one they are interested in and would do whatever it takes to keep them protected no matter what, right mom?” t's like a light bulb switched on in Madam Jewel's mi
A look of fear sparked in Martha's eyes as she helped Dean tie his tie around his neck, and when she got done, she whispered, "Honey, our daughter has suffered a lot.” "What is that supposed to mean?!" Dean said, sounding quite annoyed at the sudden turn in the conversation. Lowering her voice, even more, Martha continued, "Grace hit our daughter when she went to the motel yesterday. Melinda was quite devastated when she came to see me yesterday."At his wife's words, Dean's brows knitted together into a tight frown as he uttered coldly, "Is that so!?""I know Melina did wrong by marrying that man, but Grace doesn't have the right to discipline our daughter when you, her own father, have never raised a hand against her." Martha said, looking up at him with watery eyes as she cried, "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" "I know what you are saying... Grace should worry about training her daughter and not mine. But since she has crossed the line, then I wouldn't have to hold ba
When the door opened again, Ryan and Rookie stepped into the room, and Ryan shut the door before focusing on Elijah.“Boss, you sent for me?” Ryan asked as he approached Elijah at his desk, Rookie close behind him. “I need you two on an assignment. Bryan Checks is you guys' target. Within one month… I need you guys to find out everything that the two of you can about this guy,” Elijah explained in one breath. Quietly, Ryan eyed Rookie, smiling faintly at such an obvious challenge to their abilities. Then he looked back at Elijah and said, “We will need to move out of the motel then, Rookie and I.”A slight frown tugged on Rookie’s lips as he eyed Ryan in confusion, not sure where he was going with this. “We will need to do a lot of Stakeouts and surveillance,” Ryan explained further, “and it would be good to start moving somewhere we can have easy access day and night to this guy, Checks.”“I can find out where he stays.” Rookie responded after just a moment, a small grin playing
The calmness in Elijah’s expression never left his face as Josh met his eyes with a look of madness in his gaze and took a step toward him and Peach. Before Madam Jewel could say anything else to Josh, Matt walked in between Josh and Elijah as he tried to roam over to them. “I will fuck you up if you don’t take a step back now!” Matt threatened while pointing to Josh, his voice low and serious as his hand clenched into a fist. “You should know who to mess with, but I will urge you once, ‘it’s not him.” A sense of fear shot through Josh as the warning bell sounded in his brain as he backed off a few feet. However, it didn't last long as he sneered and said, “You are just an employee here! How dare you meddle with my business, you asshole! You don’t want to mess with me and if you keep interfering with this, you will regret it… so back off.” Frowning at her nephew-in-law, Miss Grace shook her head and said, “Matt is not an employee. He’s a client and a customer at this motel. So I
After a few minutes of silence and tense tension between Elijah and Madam Jewel, Peach broke the silence and nervously said, “This is not Elijah's fault, and if you want me to apologize to you...”“You don't need to feel remorseful for saying your truth.” Elijah interrupted, his voice slightly calmer compared to before.Pinching his shirt, Peach pouted as she thought, ‘I know. But if you keep provoking her like this, you might also get hurt, and it will be my fault. I can’t let that happen, and I won’t let myself be responsible for it!’.Staring at Elijah's body blocking Peach from her view, Madam Jewel’s gaze flickered towards Elijah and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, thinking, 'Is he being this defensive with Peach, so she can shield him too because of her connection with Bryan Checks. Does he know that they are dating, and that's why he's risking it all to gain her favor?!’Raising a brow, Madam Jewel looked down on Elijah and mumbled in her head, ‘That must be it. He's way to
Looking at Peach's eyes, Elijah sighed, walked away from her, and then sat on the edge of his bed, burying his head in his hands, sighing heavily.“My dad was a hard-working man. He loved my mother like crazy and always tried his best to be a good father and husband. He was funny, caring, and intelligent. He had a good heart...” Peach uttered, pausing as her eyes filled with tears and her voice trailed off.Slowly, Elijah raised his head and looked at Peach with a concerned expression, keeping his silence.Taking another deep breath, Peach continued her story, “When my grandfather passed, Madam Jewel suddenly turned against my father, drove us out of the mansion, and from then on she and her children suppressed our family with all of their power...”When she caught Elijah’s eyes, he patted the side of the bed next to him, smiling sadly at her when he noticed her trembling slightly.Pushing back her hair behind her ear and taking a few steps towards him, Peach walked over to him, sitti