Ch. 1..10

Chapter 1

"Let's get a divorce."

The man, dignified yet arrogant, gazed emotionlessly at the small woman in front of him.

"I'll pay for the alimony," he said indifferently. "If you need money, a job, or a good doctor for your mother, I'll provide them for you."

Rose fought desperately to hold back the tears in her eyes.

When Jay Ares's fiancee ran away the day before their wedding, they were forced to find a temporary substitute bride to feed the appetites of the ravenous paparazzi and media outlets.

He believed that she had accepted the role to claim the title, to be known as Mrs. Ares. However, the woman, Rose, alone knew that the reason she agreed was to fulfill her two lifetimes' worth of love for him.

He never knew how much she loved him.

"I didn't marry you for money," she whispered. The intensity of her love for him had given birth to an inferiority complex.

The man's deep, quiet eyes flashed a hint of

skepticism.

If two complete strangers got married, what reason could it be if not for money?

"My patience runs thin. If there's nothing else, I'll arrange for my lawyer to meet you tomorrow with the divorce papers." The man took a final sip of coffee before placing the cup on the table and turning away t O head upstairs.

Rose's eyes fell on the coffee cup, her timid face slowly becoming stubborn and grudging.

The wind lingers, the geese leave their marks!

Twice she had loved him with all her heart. She refused to give up on him that easily.

Half an hour later.

Upstairs.

"Husband!" Rose called out meekly, standing demurely at the door.

Jay, who was fixated on a document, was taken aback at the word "husband", and he instinctively looked up. He stared intently at Rose.

In their one year of marriage, he had forbidden her to address him as her husband. She had followed that rule obediently all this while. He was certainly not expecting an increase in boldness from her as their divorce drew near.

"Yes?"

"I'll agree to the divorce," Rose announced. "I don't want a house or any money. But I want a child." Although she spoke softly, Jay could sense the resolution in her words.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. 'Huh, someone's getting bolder,' he thought.

"You and me? Never," he spat, disgust in his voice.

Rose calculated the time that had passed and the dosage she had used when she spiked his coffee. 'The drug should kick in before long, right?'

"After all, we are husband and wife," she said. "If this whole thing is going to blow over, I feel I deserve to get something out of it!" Rose steeled her gaze and straightened her back. Her timid demeanor melted away to reveal a gritty resolve.

Jay raised his eyebrows slightly. 'Well, well, well, the little fox's tail is finally poking out of the sheep's skin.'

"Rose, don't play hard-to-get with me. I assure you the alimony will more than satisfy you. If you're too greedy, you will end up with nothing-"

"Sir Ares, I've told you it's not about the money." Rose emphasized again. She looked more determined than ever, her eyes fixed on him. "But I'll have to borrow something from your body."

"What?" Jay frowned, getting a little impatient. At that moment, his body started to feel unnaturally hot. "Rose, you dare drug me?" Jay instantly understood her intentions and his handsome face contorted into countless layers, like deep snow unmelting for millennia.

Rose looked calm and kept quiet. She neither confirmed nor denied it. Then, she pursed her thin lips lightly and slowly stripped off her clothes until her body was completely bare. Unhurriedly, she walked over to him and nestled by his body...

Jay clearly wanted to resist, but he could not fight the urges of his body and he found himself forcefully embracing her in his arms.

The demons sealed in his body clamored to take him from the dark valley to the peak of the sky.

And they shared a spring night of intertwined atrophy.

Early in the morning, the first faint rays of dawn trickled through the translucent beige curtains and fell on the room's marble floor.

On the bed, the man opened his bleary eyes. His handsome, chiseled face exuded a dignified charm.

The passionate yet chilling rendezvous with Rose last night flooded his mind and Jay Ares sat up immediately.

He threw open the blanket and saw a few drops of blood staining the white bedsheets. They looked like blossomed lotus flowers, provocative and incredibly beautiful, blooming right in front of his eyes. A cold fury spread across his face.

Damn. Had he been toyed with?

His slender and well-proportioned legs touched the floor. As he donned a bathrobe, he accidentally knocked something from the bedside table onto the floor.

Jay bent over to pick it up. It was a debit card and an elegantly handwritten note.

"The money in the debit card is the payment for last night. We're even now! Goodbye!"

The handsome man's already insidious-looking expression became even more threatening.

"Rose!" His furious voice, like a clear note of a cello, cut through the air and shook the entire building like a flame.

Did she think his body was for sale?

How dare she use his money to insult him!

Jay's slender jade-like fingers curled and clenched into a tight fist, to the point that his knuckles began to turn white.

"Rose, you better pray that you don't get my hands on you!"

In a secluded rental house in the East side of the city.

Rose laid on a simple fabric sofa, bit into the apple in

her hand, and stared at the television screen.

The host was holding up a black-and-white photo of Rose and was announcing importantly:

"Lady Rose of the Ares Family ran away from home a few days ago. There are no surveillance tapes found that recorded her current location. There are also no records of her checking-in at any hotels in the city. If anyone has any information about her whereabouts, please give a call to the program hotline. Informants will be rewarded with one million dollars."

Rose angrily tossed the apple core at the television.

"I'm not dead yet," she said indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean, Jay Ares? Why would you use a black and white memorial portrait for a missing person's advert?"

Then she burst out laughing. "If you want to catch me, try again in your next life!"

Rose exclaimed with confidence as she caressed her face which was very different from her memorial portrait.

All Jay knew about her was that she was Royan's daughter out of wedlock and that she grew up in a backwater mountain village. All the time, he had looked down on her and written her off as an ignorant, vulgar country girl.

However, what he did not know was that she had lived two lifetimes.

In her previous life, she had been known as Angeline, a well-educated honor student and the eldest daughter of the Severe Family, one of the four aristocratic families in Swallow City. Not only was she a talented student in the Cyber Security Department of the First Academy, but she was also born with a silver spoon in her mouth and had the versatile skills befitting a lady from a wealthy family.

Her expertise in makeup was impeccable; she was able to disguise herself as just about anyone.

Before she left the Ares mansion, she donned a new disguise and carefully avoided all the surveillance cameras in the surrounding villas.

Why should she make it easy for Jay to find her?

Ten months later.

Rose gave birth to three adorable babies in the rented room.

She fell into a daze as she looked at her beautiful babies in their crib, two boys and one girl.

For the past ten months, the search for her had never stopped.

A man as proud as Jay Ares would never release the grudge of being toyed with for his entire life.

If she was caught by him, Rose knew that it would be the end for her. She doubted that his vengeance would be dated even if he tossed her into the ocean and fed her to sharks.

Now that she has children to look after, it was impossible to live a life of hiding.

Rose thought for a long time and made up her mind. She would endure the pain of parting with her love in order to live out the remainder of her life in peace.

Chapter 2

Jay Ares received an unexpected gift. A newborn baby.

As he looked at swaddled infant clamoring for food, a thick layer of frost seemed to cover Jay's handsome face.

"Where's the child's mother?" he asked through gritted teeth, his eyes flashing dangerously.

How dare that woman take his seed and shun the responsibility of taking care of the child?

"My apologies, sir," replied the courier. "The child's mother has died in the hospital, from dystocia.".

Jay tensed up and fell silent. He took a long time processing it, the flame in his eyes mixed with a hint of doubt. "Dead?"

The person nodded grimly, took out his phone, and showed Jay the portrait of the deceased Rose.

"Mr. Ares, this is Rose's memorial portrait that we took of her. I can send it to you if you like—"

Jay's eyes scanned the phone screen rapidly. The woman in the photo was bloated and her swollen face was as pale as a ghost. Her protuberant eyes were opened wide, staring right across the screen. Who could this be if not Rose?

When Jay, who had OLD, saw Rose's dead image, all sympathy and mercy inside him vanished.

"No! Tell me, where is she buried?"

"No. 674 in Mountain's Fork Cemetery."

Jay clutched the child and hurried back into the house.

In a nearby spot, Rose watched from the window of her brown car as Jay's tall figure retreated into the house. There was a sour look in her eyes.

Even the news of her death did not disrupt his calm expression.

Perhaps she was only able to trick him so easily because he did not love her at all.

Her yearning for the man may have finally fizzled out, forever.

If two lifetimes' worth of passionate love was unable to penetrate his heart, why should she keep trying?

Five years later.

Outside the capital city's airport.

Rose pushed her suitcase in front of her. She was wearing a baseball cap, a pair of giant sunglasses, and a dark mask.

Her palm-sized face was mostly obscured, giving her a rather comical look.

Behind her were two beautiful kids.

The five-year-olds were rather taller than their sameage peers.

The boy wore a red jersey with embroidered wings on the shoulders, paired with black slacks and black

Nike shoes. The scooter under his feet was moving harmoniously with his body.

The girl next to him fashioned a pair of pigtails. She wore a pink princess dress, and her face was as smooth and pale as an elf from a fantasy story.

The kids could be likened to princes and princesses from an anime.

As they walked, they garnered a fair amount of attention and compliments from people walking by.

"Wow, what beautiful children! Are they child stars?"

"What sort of genes must the parents have to give birth to such beautiful kids?"

Robert and Rozette seemed accustomed to such scenes; they even posed for photos when people requested them. The passersby loved their charming photoshoots as well as their cheerful behavior as they interacted with others.

"I'm Robert, the older brother."

"I'm Rozette, the younger sister."

When Rose heard the twins handing out introductions yet again, she could no longer keep her cool. As she walked further in front, she turned around to

reprimand them.

"Robbie! Zetty! I've told you time and time again about human traffickers! Do you want to get abducted? Why would you give your names to strangers? Would it kill you if they don't know your names?" The two children scrambled to catch up to their mother. The big brother looked at his mother's annoyed face and pouted. "Mommy, why do you wrap yourself up like that? Are you Belikov?"

Rose felt a little guilty. She had chosen her peculiar dress-code as she was worried about being recognized by Jay.

After all, she had hoodwinked him five years ago and even faked her death. If she were to suddenly appear alive in front of him, he would probably kill her with his own two hands.

Her mother was critically ill and wished to see her daughter and grandchildren one final time. If it were not for that, Rose would never have risked returning to the familiar city. Rose said dismissively, "What do you know? This is called fashion. It's the latest trend."

When she realized her twins had taken off their sunglasses, Rose snapped at them sternly, "Put on your sunglasses."

The two kids sighed resignedly and put on their sunglasses.

The older brother, baby Robbie, looked like a tiny adult as he puffed up. "At least Mommy thinks it's cool."

Rose sighed with relief when she saw that their sunglasses were back on and covering their highly iconic eyes.

The mother and her kids wore the same type of sunglasses, they linked hands and walked side by side out of the airport.

As she walked, Rose gave her kids a lecture. "Our domestic security is not good enough. There are human traffickers everywhere, so you two had better not run around..." Meanwhile, at the airport exit.

Jay was directly approaching Rose. Seeing the familiar tall, slender figure caught Rose off guard.

Rose's heart almost jumped out of her throat... She hastily added on, "Especially men who look like dogs in suits and ties. Who knows? Even if he's dressed well, he may be a beast underneath those clothes. Take a look at that man walking over there. Though he looks chic and elegant, he might be a cruel man.

Most likely a human trafficker, at that. If you bump into men like him in the future, be sure to stay clear of them. Got it?"

As Rose frantically tried to find a way to avoid Jay, he suddenly looked straight at her and smiled warmly.

Rose was instantly rooted to the spot, her body

petrified.

Her mind was awhirl. 'No, it can't be. Has Jay changed in my five years of absence? His frozen iceberg of a face is... smiling?

'For me?

'Perhaps after five years of separation, he finally realized what he was missing out on?'

"Jay!" A gentle female voice from behind her swiftly shattered Rose's naive fantasy.

Jay walked past Rose. His relaxed face momentarily betrayed a hint of annoyance-he had to take a curve to move around the trio blocking his way.

Rose sighed softly. Really, why would this guy smile at her?

He had always hated her.

"Mommy, that man looks like a good person. How could he be a human trafficker..." Her eyes were popping with excitement and fascination, making her look cuter than ever. "What do you know? You can't judge a book by its cover," Rose murmured.

She quickly pulled her child away.

As she walked out of the airport, Rose could not help but take a last look behind her. She saw Jay smiling sincerely at the gorgeous woman.

Jay even took the initiative to take her luggage, a gentle and considerate side of him that Rose had never seen before.

"Scumbag!" Rose growled angrily to herself.

She could not understand what he saw in that bigchested bimbo. Those were the ones who were high maintenance and fragile as porcelain, shattering the moment they were touched.

Surely, they could not compare to the multifaceted Rose, who was capable of all sorts of things. She was not afraid of getting her hands dirty, she was a good housewife who could work outside as well, she was able to bear his children and bring up their kids well. All in all, she was all anyone could ask for in a wife and daughter-in-law, really.

Chapter 3

As Rose began hailing a cab by the roadside, Jay walked over with the enchanting young woman by his side. "Step aside."-

He spoke with his deep and mellow cello-like voice which could cause a woman's ovaries to explode.

Even so, it also contained a trace of superiority that the wealthy possessed.

Rose suddenly realized that she and her kids were indeed blocking their way-they were standing right in front of a Rolls-Royce with a Spirit of Ecstasy ornament on its bonnet.

Rose dragged her suitcase with one hand and her children with the other. Upon seeing Jay, she felt rather panicky, and was slow to move aside-

The voluptuous woman said in a sardonic voice, "You must be in some deep sh*t to have to wrap yourself up like that. Fine, wear your sunglasses if you want, but why force your children to wear them while walking? Isn't that a health hazard, you're not worried they might trip or something?"

Rose felt sick to her stomach. 'I wouldn't be dressing like this if I didn't have to avoid plagues like you.'

The woman's words upset Zetty-Mommy was always right in her books.

Anyone who bad-mouthed Mommy would draw Zetty's ire as she would quickly change from a baby angel into a little devil.

At that moment, Zetty slammed herself into the woman.

The collision knocked her sunglasses off onto the ground.

The woman hastily stepped back, and Zetty's tiny body then bumped into Jay.

Zetty began assaulting Jay with her tiny fists, screeching in her adorable but malicious voice," Mommy is just worried about us getting kidnapped by human traffickers like you. That's why she made us wear sunglasses to protect ourselves. I won't let baddies like you talk bad about Mommy, she is the best mommy in the world."

Jay turned his cold gaze onto Rose. "Did you tell her I'm a human trafficker?"

Faced with Jay's accusatory question, Rose's brain was instantly depleted of oxygen.

Of course, the answer was yes. By all means, she thought that he was more terrifying than any human trafficker.

If Jay found out that Zetty was his daughter, he would likely make a big scene right there and then, demanding for the child's custody.

Rose did not dare to speak up as she feared that Jay would recognize her voice.

Her silence did nothing but confirm his assumption.

Jay's expression turned dark. Did this woman just label him as a human trafficker?

"Is this how you teach your kids?" he spat.

Rose's head sank into her neck like a quail but she could not muster the power to confront Jay as her mind was completely disoriented.

Zetty resembled her mother, so Jay might not make the connection.

However, Robbie was practically a mini version of Jay. Robbie must not show his face to Jay at all costs.

Rose wrapped her arms around Robbie and clutched him tightly; she was worried that he would lose control like Zetty.

Jay shoved Zetty away and patted down the spot where Zetty had touched, looking disgusted. He then opened the rear seat door for the dame, and the two of them boarded the car and drove off without another word.

Robbie, still wrapped in Rose's arms, looked at the Rolls-Royce's license plate number and made a mental note of it.

That man looked exactly like him.

"Mommyyy, why didn't you say anything just now?"

Zetty was so aggrieved that tears were filling up her eyes.

Every time she was bullied in the past, Mommy would run up to teach those bullies a lesson.

"Mommy, you're like a wimp today." Her baby Robbie took off his sunglasses and rolled his eyes at his mother who still had not said anything.

Rose was speechless. Did her two children just renounce her?

Jay was her nemesis in every sense of the word. As soon as he appeared, her kids stopped looking up to her.

It seemed that the pestilence was inevitable.

Disturbed, Rose hailed a cab and the trio headed off to Splendid Town district in City North's Third Ring Road, which was where her mother was currently staying. Inside the luxurious Rolls-Royce.

Josephine Ares crossed her arms as she peered through the window to observe the curious sunglasses -wearing family until they boarded their cab and left. She did not read much into the earlier confrontation.

However, when she saw the little girl, a familiar face flashed in her mind.

"Jay, don't you think that little girl looks familiar? Her

eyes looked just like... just like my sister-in-law's!"

Her older brother Jay held the steering wheel as he replied airily, "Sister-in-law? What sister-in-law?"

"Jay, you were married once, remember?" Josephine reminded him.

The image of Rose flashed through Jay's head, and he mentally compared the little girl's face with Rose's. Screech! The Rolls-Royce came to an abrupt stop.

Rose? That woman, the person who made him grind his teeth at the mere thought of her?

"Ouch!" Josephine jerked forward from the momentum and her forehead bumped the back of the car seat.

"Jay, how could you hurt your darling sister like that? What if I got hurt? Are you going to take care of me for the rest of your life?"

The Rolls-Royce stopped by the roadside. Jay rushed out of the car and glanced at the direction of the airport.

Josephine rolled down the window and said weakly," Don't bother. I saw them getting into a cab just now. We're heading south and they're heading north. You won't be able to catch up to her even if you turned around."

Jay slowly returned to the driver's seat and closed the door.

Josephine chattered excitedly, "Jay, was the woman just now really Rose?"

Jay shifted the rearview mirror so that he was looking directly at Josephine. From the mirror, Josephine could clearly see the frigid look on her brother's face.

Josephine could not help but laugh. "Yup, only Rose can drive you this crazy. Oh yeah, she even called you a human trafficker."

Jay pondered about it and realized that it was indeed something that a person like Rose would do.

After all, the rational thinking of men and the emotional thinking of women were essentially two distinct things. Jay frowned and wondered how likely it was for Rose to appear on this side of town.

"It can't be her, she's been dead for five years." Although that was what he was told, he could find no explanation for the hint of anxiety that he felt.

"Jay, don't you feel that the way Rose died was very fishy?" said Josephine. "None of us saw a photo of her actually dead. A memorial portrait is not enough to prove that she died. Think about it. Photoshopping technology is improving every day."

"I've already sent people to search for her. If she's not dead, why couldn't anyone find her?" Jay stepped on the accelerator, revved the engine, and sped away.

Josephine raised her eyebrows and thought about it for a long time. "The Ares Family's tracking system is pretty impressive and all, but maybe she found a way to slip through the net."

Jay said coldly, "You're overestimating that b*stard of a countryside bum."

Josephine shrugged. "Even though Rose came from the countryside, you gotta admit the way she managed to play you was pretty impressive."

Jay was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning pale.

Chapter 4

After half an hour.

The Rolls-Royce parked at the entrance of Mountain's Fork Cemetery.-

Through the car window, Josephine read the three big words, Mountain's Fork Cemetery, and her delicate face turned pale.

The reason for her trip home was to visit her seriously ill grandmother. Unless Grandma had...

"Is Grandma here?" Josephine gasped.

"Rose is." Jay corrected her.

"Rose? Rose is buried here?"

Josephine breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she asked quizzically, "It's not the Qingming Festival, so why are we here?" (TN: Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors during Qingming Festival to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors, and make ritual offerings.)

Josephine suddenly squealed with excitement, "You still have feelings for Rose, I knew it! I mean, what else could explain that crazy genius baby Jenson?"

Jay was already taking long strides toward the high steps. Large cypress pine trees were planted on both sides of the stairs.

At Josephine's words, he came to a stop. He sighed dispiritedly, "Jenson was an accident. He was not a result of love!"

Josephine smacked her lips and said thoughtfully," Why don't you have more accidents, then? Since your genes are so great, seems a waste to not utilize them more often."

"Not every child will have Jenson's good fortune of not inheriting his mother's inferior genes." When Jenson's name was brought up, a trace of warmth appeared on Jay's cold, handsome face.

His son, Jenson, not only physically resembled his father, but he also inherited his talented genes.

At the age of five, the kid was already a world-class hacker.

Although Josephine was fond of her nephew, she could never get used to Jay's arrogance and narcissistic attitude.

Therefore, she was more than happy to pull the rug from under his feet. "Yeah, he inherited all your good traits but he also caught your bad ones. Mother said he was even more haughty and untalkative than you were when you were a child. For a while, she was worried that he might have autism."

"How about you talk less?" Jay snapped. He never felt that his son had any problems.

Josephine sighed resignedly, "Have you never met kids before? They cry and they laugh. Like kids should."

For some reason, Jay suddenly thought about the little girl he bumped into at the airport exit.

"I met one just now. Even though the little girl was cute, there was nothing else to her. If that's what you mean by being a kid, I'd rather Jenson not be one!"

With that, Jay turned his attention to the tombstones to search for the particular tomb.

After hearing Jay's declaration, Josephine decided to drop the argument.

"What is Rose's tombstone lot number?" Josephine asked instead.

"674," Jay stated.

"674? Go and die?" Josephine gasped exaggeratedly." Rose was really unlucky, huh. Row'd she even get such an unlucky number?" (TN: 674 sounds like go and die in Mandarin.) Josephine had not realized it, but Jay's tall figure had come to a halt. It seemed like a dark cloud had overcast his handsome face.

The temperature of the air around him seemed to have plummeted.

'674?

'Go and die? 'That's what it meant?

'Is this a coincidence or was it on purpose?

'If it wasn't a coincidence, then that must mean that b* tch Rose faked her own death. Did she pull off this classic ruse of misdirection to sway me?'

When Jay found the tombstone with the lot number 674 and read the name that was carved, he was completely frozen.

Sure enough, he was played for a fool by Rose!

The elegant carving on the tombstone read, "Here lies Angeline Severe."

'Angeline? How could it be her?'

Josephine instinctively let out a yelp when she came over and read the name on the tombstone.

"Oh my gosh! Jay, it's Angeline!"

Jay stared at the tombstone. He could not wrap his head around how Rose's tombstone became Angeline's.

Angeline was a highly educated young lady hailing from a respectable family, while Rose was a b*stard bum from the countryside.

How could the two complete polar opposites end up sharing the same tombstone?

"Jay, if lot 674 is Angeline's tomb, then where's Rose buried?" Josephine asked bemusedly.

Jay sneered menacingly, "So, she's not dead yet, huh?

Well, she will be soon."

He would personally make sure of it when he got his hands on her.

Jay stared around the cemetery for a while. His gaze looked nostalgic and somewhat reluctant.

After a long moment, he eventually got up and left.

When Jay returned to the car, he gave a call to his assistant.

"Find a way to get patient Harper's family to transfer her to Grand Asia Hospital asap!"

Over the phone, his assistant, Grayson, was speechless.

Harper was the mother of the supposedly deceased Lady Rose.

He remembered clearly the day he learned of Lady Rose's mother. He had asked for instructions from the president. At that time, the president's original words were, "I'll pay for her treatment. But after that, I never want to hear about her ever again."

Why did the president change his mind so soon?

"Understood, sir," Grayson replied.

As Jay hung up the phone, a thin leer spread across his lips.

Josephine turned away when she saw Jay's ominous expression. She knew what it meant-Rose was in big trouble.

Rose got off in Splendid Town.

That very evening, Rose received a phone call from the hospital concerning her mother.

The person on the line told her that due to the sudden deterioration of her mother's condition, she should transfer her mother to Grand Asia Hospital's nephrology specialist as soon as possible. Grand Asia Hospital, Jay's company.

Rose's mind instantly went blank.

She had vowed to never step foot into Jay's territory again. Alas, you never know what life would throw at you!

Perhaps Jay would not remember her?

Rose convinced herself optimistically, and she gathered up all her courage and decided to go to Grand Asia Hospital.

The next day.

As an extra precaution, Rose dumped her usual ladylike look and adorned a more punk-like style.

She teased her hair into dreadlocks and painted her face with trendy makeup-black eyeshadows and overlined crimson red lipstick. On top of that, she wore her comical round-framed sunglasses before grabbing a taxi to Grand Asia Hospital.

When Rose delivered her mother's file to the registered doctor on duty, the doctor avoided Rose's gaze and slowly moved his mouse...

A notification instantly popped up on Jay's cell phone and he snatched it up eagerly.

After reading the message on the phone's screen, his attractive and mesmerizing lips arched into an evil grin.

"Rose, you can run but you can't hide!"

Chapter 5

Grand Asia Hospital.

Jay went to the monitoring room. As soon as he entered, a young man greeted him and gave his report.

"Master Ares, the patient's data entered our system twenty minutes ago. We've done as you ordered and set up an electronic tracker to track the person who submitted her information. But, this woman looks very different from the photo you gave us..."

Jay's eyes were glued intently on the monitor. The young man shifted the mouse and a woman dressed in punk fashion appeared on the screen.

Jay frowned and carefully observed the woman with dreadlocks, lips smeared with lipstick with a cat-eye eyeshadow, trying to suppress the discomfort he was feeling. "Zoom in!" Jay barked.

Rose's face was enlarged on the monitor and the high-definition image offered a clear view of her face.

She still looked the same...

Jay narrowed his eyes.

How did Rose escape from his escape-proof net back then?

He could not fathom how she had managed to stay hidden when the entire world was searching for her, but her final move of faking her death was admittedly very clever. When Jay thought about how he had been outwitted by a commoner like Rose, he felt a massive blow to his self-esteem.

"Grayson, seize her and tie her up." Jay's thin lips sneered maliciously.

"Yes, Master," Grayson replied before leaving the room.

Rose sat on the bench in the hallway, anxiously waiting for the doctor's analysis.

She was completely flummoxed by the doctor's many inexplicable excuses for her mother's admission.

First, there were problems with her mother's indicators. Then, there were suddenly too many patients in Grand Asia and no spare beds, so she had to wait outside.

In order to get timely and effective treatment for her mother, Rose could do nothing else but wait patiently for the results.

Suddenly, several men wearing tinted glasses and black uniforms approached her.

Rose immediately felt that something was wrong and was about to walk away when more similarly dressed men appeared on the other end of the corridor. "Miss, would you please come with us?" Grayson removed his sunglasses and offered a polite smile.

Rose finally realized that she had walked straight into a trap by willingly going to Grand Asia.

"Who are you? And why should I go with you?" Rose spoke with forced calm.

Grayson replied rather firmly, "Miss, don't make us use force. Our men tend to be a bit rough, one small mishap and we might break one of your limbs by accident." That was nothing short of a blatant threat.

Rose was well aware that Jay's bodyguards were as ruthless as their master.

As such, she chose to give up rather than resist and she followed Grayson down the corridor.

When they arrived outside the lounge, Rose was reluctant to go in. Grayson threw the door open and shoved her into the room. Rose stumbled a few steps forward before stopping right in front of Jay Ares. 2 Jay was sitting on a black rocking chair that seamlessly blended into his black suit. The scene simply emanated nauseating vanity and arrogance.

When Rose came in, Jay's eyes instantly locked onto her face.

"Wash your face clean with that sink over there," Jay ordered her sharply.

Jay's intolerable pompousness sparked the dormant fury within Rose.

"Mister, it's natural for a woman to want to look her best, you know. You're being unreasonable and impolite." She chose to act dumb. Jay leaned forward and said severely, "My apologies, perhaps I just can't see you as good-looking."

"Eh-

"There's beauty in all types of flowers. It's the same for people. I can't help it if you're close-minded." Rose said, holding her ground.

"Fine. If you won't wash your face, I'll get my people to do it for you." Jay's voice was smooth and silky, but it sent shivers down Rose's spine.

"That won't be necessary!" Rose stood up abruptly. "I'll do it myself."

She walked toward the sink, unscrewed the tap, and splashed cold water over her face. She rubbed her face and returned to Jay.

"I'm done."

Jay inspected the unchanged painted face and frowned. He instinctively reached out to touch the multicolored makeup on her face. "Is this waterproof makeup?"

Even after touching the garish makeup, his fingers were unstained.

"I'll give you three minutes. Right now. Clean up your face. Otherwise, I'll have one of my men peel the skin off your face." His voice was so icy that Rose thought she was inside a coffin of ice. 1 Rose remained adamantly seated on the sofa opposite him. "I can't wash it off," she said stubbornly.

"Come in!"

At his command, the door opened from the outside and a group of burly men entered the room and formed two rows around Rose.

Rose was dumbfounded. She stammered, "No... I mean... It's just makeup removal... Is this really necessary?"

Jay gave the men a meaningful look, and then a few tall men aggressively grabbed Rose. One of them tightened a hand around Rose's neck, and she quickly had trouble breathing. Another man took a bottle of makeup remover and sprayed it recklessly on Rose's face. Some of it seeped into her eyes and instantly burned her.

Then, another person took out a toothbrush and roughly scrubbed Rose's face.

Finally, the last person took a bottle of mineral water and poured it over Rose's face.

"We're all civilized people. Why are we acting like primitive monkeys?" Rose yelled angrily.

With the rude and forceful assistance of the men, Rose's true face slowly appeared.

As Rose's face started to look more familiar, Jay's expression became uglier and uglier. "Rose Loyle!"

With their duty complete, the men finally released Rose and promptly left the room in an orderly manner.

At that moment, Rose looked like a drowned rat with her soaked face and dripping wet clothes. To say the least, she was embarrassed as hell.

"So what if I'm Rose? Bite me!" Rose angrily waved her fists at Jay and looked utterly furious.

If Jay felt no compassion for Rose five years ago, he most definitely did not have any to spare for her now.

Rose's evident irritation only made his evil smile grow larger.

That woman used to be a docile and well-behaved puppet, bland and tasteless.

Who would have thought that she turned out to be a scheming pot of black squid ink!

Chapter 6

"Bite you? I wouldn't put my mouth anywhere near something as dirty as you." Jay raised his eyebrows coolly.

He rose from the black leather swivel chair and approached Rose step by step. He peered down arrogantly at Rose from his towering 185cm height.

"So, Rose. How should you pay me back for what you did five years ago?" Jay asked sinisterly.

Rose's memory of that night was crystal clear. Five years ago, with a little extra courage from alcohol, she had...

She drugged that man, and then...

"I-I've already compensated you!" Rose frantically tried to reason with the tycoon.

A flicker of annoyance appeared on Jay's darkening face.

"How about I pay you back tenfold and have you sleep with a man, hm?" Jay reached out and grasped her tiny chin. His anger was like a drowsy lion, ready to pounce at any moment.

Rose saw the flash of scarlet in his eyes. He looked like a predator and she was immobilized by fear.

"What do you want?"

Jay's hand slipped down to her neckline and he tugged forcefully on her linen-cotton blend dress. The tearing of fabric was heard.

"Rose, remember how you humiliated me last time? Well, today I'm going to double what you did to me." His evil voice whispered in her ear, "Tell me, what's your type of man? I'll make sure to satisfy you. If one isn't enough, I can get two."

Rose felt every fiber of her body being frozen solid by Jay's cold fury, every word he said was accentuated by the glee of revenge and felt like slashes of a knife on her skin.

"I want you to taste what it's like to have sex with someone you hate! Rose, how dare you make a fool out of me! I'll show you what the consequences are for toying me!" Rose was hurled onto the sofa, and then Jay's big and tall body pressed against her. He grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him.

He picked up a fruit knife next to him and held it menacingly close to her face.

"I never want to see your face ever again. Because it makes me sick. I'm going to destroy your face, dump you into a brothel and you will never see the light of day again."

A wicked leer spread across his face. "I want you to taste the despair I felt."

The blade penetrated her skin little by little and Rose felt a sharp pain on her face.

She stared at Jay with a forlorn look but then she smiled sadly. "You hate me this much?" she whispered.

Jay's look of disgust was more than sufficient to answer the question.

Rose closed her eyes in surrender.

Whatever! If this was to be her destiny, then so be it.

As Rose awaited her inevitable demise, a phone suddenly rang.

The ringtone was the song Red Spider Lily, sung by Angeline Severe. Her voice was ethereal and beautiful.

Both Rose and Jay subconsciously pulled out their phones at the same time. Jay shot her a derisive look." It's my phone. Why are you looking for yours?"

Rose was stunned. 'Why did Jay set Angeline's Red Spider Lily as his ringtone?'

In her previous life, the only time she sang Red Spider Lily was at her university's graduation party and it was only recorded on the university's platform. Did he download the song from there? Jay whipped out his phone but the screen display was not turned on.

Jay gaped at Rose with incredulity.

"What, did you steal my cell phone ringtone as well?" Jay hissed, his handsome face radiating fury.

Rose was momentarily speechless

This song was, after all, clearly hers. If anyone stole the song, it was Jay.

The phone rang insistently and Jay snapped impatiently, "Answer the phone!"

Rose pulled out her phone with trembling hands and saw that "Little Lover" was trying to reach her. At that moment, Rose was so nervous that the phone slipped from her hands onto the ground. She panicked and bent over to pick up the phone but Jay grabbed it with one long arm before she could.

"Little Lover?"

When Jay read the caller ID, Jay smiled mockingly.

Rose was so anxious that her entire body was as stiff as a taut bowstring.

She feared that Jay would answer the phone and discover the existence of his other son, Robbie.

As expected, Jay answered the call without hesitation.

Rose acted quickly. She shot up like a cannon and crashed into Jay. She snatched the phone and hurriedly yelled at Robbie on the other side of the line, "Help me!" Then, she hung up the phone as fast as she could.

Jay pushed her away, patted down his wrinkled clothes, and plopped himself down onto the sofa in a condescending manner.

"Begging for help?" His tone was light but heavy with sarcasm. "I'm looking forward to seeing this little lover of yours. Maybe he'll rescue you from me with his three heads and six arms!"

Rose batted her long eyelashes sorrowfully. She wondered if her baby Robbie would be breaking down right now after hearing her cry for help.

Would he choose to call the police?

If he knew his mommy was in danger, would he be able to look after Zetty?

After all, that was the consensus between the two of them! i

"Rose, I'll give you a day for your lover to rescue you," Jay said suddenly. "If you guys can escape five of my biggest men, I'll let the matter slide. Otherwise..." Jay's eyes were lit with flames of purgatory. Rose shuddered and her voice trembled from fear. " Otherwise, what?"

"Both of you can go to hell together," Jay growled savagely.

Jay picked up the fruit knife on the floor, and its reflective surface threw a ray of cold light on Rose's face. There was already a red line of clotted blood on her face. Jay stepped purposefully toward her, knife i

n hand.

Rose covered her face and cried out desperately.

"Jay, if you kill me, our son will hate you forever!"

The fruit knife that Jay was wielding fell to the ground with a heavy clatter. Suddenly, Jenson's voice was echoing repeatedly in his head: "I want mommy! I want mommy!"

Jenson had never been a talkative kid in his early years, but three out of five times he opened his mouth, it was to say those very words. He even cried out those words in his sleep sometimes.

When the memories flooded Jay's head, he irritably tossed the knife aside but the anger welling up within him had not subsided.

"How are you qualified to be his mother?" he hissed." What have you done for him in the past five years?"

Rose started tearing up, Jay's dire accusation tore her heart. "No mother in this world would ever abandon her child," she sobbed. "If there wasn't a compelling reason, I would've come back to see him ages ago!"

That did not improve his temper. "You're just a greedy and cowardly wimp," he snarled.

Rose could have argued the point. She had made the woeful decision to abandon her first child to give the other two babies a shot at a bright future.

Furthermore, she knew that her first baby would also be brought up well if he was taken in by the Ares

Family.

However, those were grievances that she could never tell anyone.

"Yes, I am a wimp," Rose howled, shelving her pride and enduring humiliation for the sake of survival.

Chapter 7

Jay picked Rose up and threw her roughly under the desk. He pulled off his azure tie and bound her hands with it to the leg of the table.

He then snatched up a rag from the table and stuffed it into Rose's mouth.

All Rose could do was continuously lash out at Jay with her two free legs.

Unfortunately, her struggles were futile in the face of the vast difference between their strengths.

With his prey immobilized in his net, Jay grinned. "Rose, you can be honest with me." He ruthlessly aimed a kick at Rose's short flailing legs.

Temporarily satisfied, he then casually whipped out his cell phone and called his baby boy.

Rose was left with her hair in a mess, her clothes torn, and her initially snow-white legs covered with bruises.

She stared at Jay indignantly and gave out muffled whines from her gagged mouth. She was, however, not crying or anything of the sort.

Her inaudible screams were, in fact, a string of obscenities aimed at Jay, cursing that he would get hit by a car if he was on the road, that he would be swallowed by a tsunami if he went to sea, and that he would run into a tornado if he boarded a plane.

Suddenly, a tiny and composed child's voice resonated from Jay's cell phone.

"Daddy!"

Rose instantly fell silent.

Her bloodshot eyes were locked onto Jay's cell phone.

Jay spared Rose a contemptuous look. His shirt was hanging loose after he removed his tie, baring his sexy neck.

Rose was actually staring at the phone but from Jay's point of view, it looked like Rose was staring at his neckline.

Jay recalled the night five years ago.

His face soured and he glared at her coldly.

"If it's nothing important, don't disturb me. I'm busy." Jenson said coolly after Jay's prolonged silence.

Just as Jenson was about to hang up, Jay, who knew his son very well, said casually, "Make your own lunch today." "Noway!"

With those final words, the phone gave a beep and went silent.

Jay's handsome face turned darker than Rao Gong's.

In the entire world, only Jenson would dare to hang up on a call from Jay Ares. Honestly, Jay did not quite know how to handle the kid either.

Jay gave a nearly inaudible sigh as the clock on the wall chimed at the new hour.

No one would have ever dreamed that the noble and prideful Jay Ares had been forced to return home punctually to cook for his son. In fact, it had been going on for the entirety of five years. Jenson had many quirks and did not allow any women to enter their villa. He was also known for inheriting his father's obsessive compulsiveness.

Even more peculiarly, Jenson never ate any meals prepared by anyone other than his father.

His reason was simple. Other people's food was tasteless.

If anyone asked him what he felt a dish was lacking, he would roll his eyes and say, "The taste of my father's love." i

Every day, Jay had to rush home one hour before noon. In case of the occasional business trip, he would prepare his son's meals and store them in the refrigerator in advance.

He used to think that teaching Jenson how to cook would solve the problem. Jenson was a natural prodigy with an impressive IQ, but he seemed to have an incurable inaptitude for cooking.

Jay had personally tutored his son countless times but the dishes Jenson made always ended up inedible.

They were so bad that even Jenson himself refused to

eat them.

Finally, after several quarrels between the father and son, Jenson grudgingly compromised and agreed to also accept the meals cooked by his grandparents.

Having to look after such an arrogant and abnormal son, Jay felt rather miserable, to say the least.

He peered at the woman tied to the table and the anger in him started to bubble again.

If it were not for this accursed woman, his life would have been spared of many hardships.

Jay knew he was no saint-minor annoyances in his life were to be expected and dealt with. "Rose." He took a few steps and squatted down beside her.

Rose recognized the unmistakable malevolence in his eyes and her whole body shuddered.

Jay removed the gag from her mouth and said maliciously, "You're in luck. I'm going to leave for a while, so you better pray that your Little Lover will hurry up and save you sorry a*s. If you're still here when I return, you can look forward to a horrendous death!"

"You fuc-" Rose began to yell but was cut short as Jay shoved the rag back into her mouth.

He got up, grabbed his car keys from the pearwood table, and left.

Rose heard Jay instructing his bodyguards outside the door. "You all can leave your post now. No one can unlock the fingerprint lock, anyway. You can go downstairs." "Yes, Mr. Ares."

Fingerprint lock?

Rose paused for a moment and her mind raised a question.

'Are the fingerprints of identical twins the same? If their genes are carbon copies, could their fingerprints be as well?'

At the entrance of Grand Asia Hospital.

A small figure clutching a scooter hopped off a DiDi car and ran into the hospital.

When the little boy entered the hospital's outpatient hall, he glanced at his blue smartwatch. With a few button clicks, the boy switched on the location tracking system. 4

When he saw that the marked location was not far away, the little boy took a deep gulp with relief.

However, he accidentally licked the oversized nonwoven mask on his face and his eyes immediately crinkled in disgust.

He followed the route on his smartwatch and walked through the outpatient corridors and eventually found himself at the majestic marble entrance of an

immensely tall building.

The kid felt that he had stumbled upon the most luxurious hospital he had ever seen in his life. The owner of the hospital must be a rich person. Anyone who could afford treatment in this hospital must surely be wealthy as well.

'Who kidnapped Mommy?

'Is it a rich kidnapper?

'Who could it be?'

When the little guy passed through the revolving door, he rode his scooter and rushed toward the elevator.

Next to the elevator was a gold-painted map and floor guide.

According to it, the first floor up to the fifth floor contained patient wards. The sixth to the eighth floor housed various logistics service rooms, and the ninth floor was the supreme VIP lounge. A few floors above the ninth was another stretch of logistic departments, and the floors further up were more patient wards for various departments.

"This place is huge! How am I supposed to find my way around?" The little guy groaned as he scanned the detailed map.

Chapter 8

The receptionist nurse at the desk noticed the little boy. He had a head of charming black hair and was dressed in a white T-shirt with an armor print on his chest, a pair of black track pants, and a black mask. The monochrome look of his getup made him look stylish, like something out of an artistic painting. The nurse fancied that he looked just like a little prince from a comic book.

'He's so freaking cute!'

"Who are you looking for, little one?" The nurse walked over and greeted him with a warm smile, her voice gentle.

"I'm looking for my-my daddy!" the little boy instinctively.

'Mommy said I should always be careful when I'm outside.

'Don't tell any strangers the truth, except for police officers, of course.'

The little guy looked up innocently at the nurse, "Miss, do you know where my father is?"

When the petite nurse observed the boy's face, with his big round eyes peeking from under his mask, she was awestruck with a sudden realization. 'Those eyes are exactly the same as the cold Mr. Ares's!' i

However, Mr. Ares always had that trademark serious look on his face. Even with the charming good looks he was gifted with, most people would not dare to approach him.

The little guy standing before her was the complete opposite. He looked soft and cuddly and his warm smile could melt snow. Frankly, he was rather irresistible.

"Oh, yes. Mr. Ares's office is on the ninth floor!" the nurse answered quickly without hesitation.

The little boy was a little displeased. Did he really look like this Mr. Ares's son? Or did he just have a common face?

The nurse's attitude took a 180-degree turn. She leaned over and asked courteously, "Shall I take you to his office?" i The boy quickly shook his head. "No."

'This nurse looks pretty but she doesn't seem very bright. If she follows me around, she might ruin my plan,' he thought.

At that moment, the elevator door opened and the boy swiftly hopped onto the elevator.

As he went up the floors, the tracker on his smartwatch told him that he was getting closer.

When he arrived on the ninth floor, his current location and the destination marker overlapped.

The little boy exited the elevator and followed the prompts of the positioning system and soon located the room Rose was surely locked in.

On the big wooden door hung a wooden sign that read "President's Lounge".

The small boy pushed the door but it did not budge.

He noticed the copper fingerprint lock on the door and, with no better plan, tried to unlock it by placing his little finger on the scanner. To his surprise, he heard the fingerprint lock click and the door swung open. The little guy was dumbfounded. 'Is this fingerprint lock specially designed for me?' he wondered.

The boy pushed the door open and saw the humiliated figure of his mother tied to a table leg. Her hair was disheveled and her face was buried in her knees. Her shoulders were shaking.

'Is Mommy crying?' he thought, alarmed.

He had never seen his mother cry before.

'Someone must have done bad things to her to make her cry.'

"Mommy!" yelled the small boy, dropping his scooter and dashing toward the tied up Rose.

When Rose heard her son's familiar cute voice, she lifted her teary face, and there he was. Her baby Robbie, standing right in front of her. To say that Rose was stunned was an understatement. Her gaze wandered to the fingerprint lock and she realized that her hunch was true.

Her baby Robbie really did have the same fingerprint a s Jenson!

Baby Robbie tore off his mask and his small, handsome face scrunched up with anger.

"Mommy, who's the jerk who bullied you? I'll kill him." As he said that, he performed an elaborate and nimble roundhouse kick in the air.

Baby Robbie was fairly talented at Taekwondo.

Initially, Rose had signed him up for Taekwondo classes to strengthen his rather frail and weak body.

To her surprise, the coach was soon raving about the boy's natural talent. Two years later, Baby Robbie's bookshelves were crammed with his many taekwondo trophies.

In the past six months, he had even started to challenge the older groups and performed very well.

Rose helped him put his mask back on his face. "It's dangerous here," she said hushedly, "let's leave quickly, we'll continue later."

"Okay!" Baby Robbie responded obediently.

Before she left, Rose had a sudden thought. "Wait," she said, "we have to find a way to delete the surveillance camera footage. We can't let the bad guys find out

about you." "That's easy. Leave that to me."

Very soon, the entire building's surveillance camera footage was erased.

The villas in City South seemed to blend into the horizon. The area was renowned as the most valuable real estate paradise in the entire city.

The bungalow villas were huge in themselves but their gardens were even bigger.

The microdistrict had a record-low percentage of the city's population-less than 0.5 percent of the citizens lived there. Of course, only the richest and the most powerful people could afford to live in that paradise that seemed to blend into the heavens.

Jay drove his Lincoln into the underground garage. Swiftly and elegantly, he drifted into the parking spot, planting the car perfectly.

Jay quickly got out of the car and hurried into the house.

He unlocked the security door and a delicious aroma wafted into his nostrils. Jay was slightly taken aback and peered around the room.

"Jay? When did you get back?" Josephine was holding a platter of sweet and sour pork ribs and greeted Jay a s he entered.

Jay's mother was setting up the table.

Jay's father was in the recreation area in the living room with his grandson, building a tall Lego robot together.

Or perhaps more accurately, the old grandpa was merely sitting next to Jenson, looking at his grandchild proudly.

On the other hand, Jenson completely ignored his grandpa's presence.

Jay changed into his indoor slippers and walked toward Jenson. He said casually, "If Grandpa and Grandma are here, why did you need daddy to come back? Daddy was very busy at noon today-" 2 'Busy, my foot!' Jenson thought scornfully.

Jenson turned a deaf ear to his father's words. He continued happily building the Lego robot which was already taller than him.

"Say something!" snapped Jay.

"You chose to come back by yourself," Jenson said coolly.

What he meant was, since his daddy had his own free will and full control of his own legs, him coming home was on him and not Jenson, really. Why should he be s 0 displeased if he chose it himself? Jay was speechless for a moment but kept his calm as he tried to reason with his son. "Daddy only rushed home because I thought you didn't have any food for lunch. If you told Daddy that Grandpa and Grandma were home on the phone, Daddy wouldn't have needed to rush home."

"The doctors said I have autism. Why are you expecting me to say that much? Idiot!" Jenson forcefully slammed the last piece of Lego into the robot's eyes and stood up. He shoved Jay away and went upstairs alone.

"Why are you talking so much now?" Jay called out.

"I guess I've outdone myself!" Jenson snapped.

Jay's face darkened from Jenson's retort.

Grandpa laughed and said sarcastically, "Like father like son."

Jay was so angry that he almost smashed Jenson's robot. Grandpa hastily stopped him. "Don't do it. This is Jenson's mommy. If you touch his mommy, your son said that he'll do the same to yours." It had always been this way. The whole family would suffer when Jenson threw a fit over Jay's actions.

And it always ended up with his grandma shedding tears for her dear grandson.

Chapter 9

It was only then that Jay realized that the robot was the image of a beautiful young woman.

'Is this little guy missing his mommy again?' he thought, exasperated.

"Jenson, do you really want to see your mummy-" Jay blurted out without thinking.

Jenson stood morosely on the stairs, his tiny body looking particularly lonely and stubborn. He turned to look directly at Jay and nodded solemnly.

Jay pursed his lips. He supposed he should count himself lucky that he had not thrown Rose into a brothel yet. Otherwise, Jenson's selfish nature would never forgive him if he found out that his father had been bullying his mommy.

However-

Jenson only missed his mommy so much as a result of a poor decision made by Jay.

A few years ago, Jay believed that Rose was dead but did not want Jenson to live in a world full of spite. So he cooked up a lie that his mommy still loved him every day.

Of course, as he recently found out to his utmost shock, Rose was very much alive.

As Jay was contemplating whether to take Jenson to

Rose, his cell phone rang.

On the other side of the call was his assistant, Grayson, who sounded terribly anxious.

"Mr. Ares... Rose got away."

"What?" Jay's handsome face crumpled into an incredulous look.

"I'll be there right away." Without even taking the time to eat lunch, Jay hung up and turned to leave the house.

Grandma and Grandpa looked at their son who was rushing back and forth like a busy bee. Somehow, they felt a little sorry for him.

Both grandparents turned their eyes to Jenson, the cause of their son's hectic scrambling. "Little Jenson, look how tired you made your daddy. How about you let Grandpa and Grandma make lunch for you in the future?

"No, it's not good." Jenson entered his room and slammed the door shut.

Grandma held a spatula in her hand and waved it defiantly at Jenson. "Jenson, you little rascal! Who taught you to behave this way? It's not cute at all."

Josephine sighed weakly, "His daddy."

Jay rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible.

When he got to the VIP section on the ninth floor, the fingerprint lock was intact on the door but the door was wide open. Jay's steely face was lined with shock.

That fingerprint lock was unique, different from all of the other models in the market.

It was not equipped with a password system and gave no leeways for potential break-ins.

The only way to unlock it was to get a fingerprint match on the first try.

Only his and Jenson's fingerprints were registered for the lock.

"Did you find anything from the surveillance camera?" Jay instantly thought of the other security measures of the building. Grayson looked down and said, "Mr. Ares, the back-end storage of the surveillance system was intentionally destroyed." Jay's pupils contracted.

Grand Asia's surveillance system was extremely well hidden and the back-end storage system had many layers of security. How did Rose's unknown helper decipher his surveillance system in such a short time?

Was that person a professional?

"Who was on duty at the front desk?" Without the surveillance system, the only thing Jay could think of was an eyewitness.

Soon, the petite nurse at the receptionist desk was brought to Jay.

Jay sat on the swivel chair and furrowed his well-formed eyebrows.

From the side, Grayson cleared his throat and asked in a voice of authority, "You are required to have a very good memory to work in Grand Asia. Now, I'll give you a little test. Since 11 am, who has been to the hospital?"

That was the first time the nurse was asked to see the president in person, she was a little nervous and stuttered.

"Mr. Ares, everyone who came at noon today were family members of the inpatients, they were... Ward 808... Ward 704... Ward 706... Ward 503..."

The nurse tried her best to scour her head for the details of every visitor. However, Jay interrupted her impatiently. "Skip through the patients' family members that you've seen before. Were there any new faces?"

The nurse scrunched her forehead and thought hard, but finally shook her head. "I've met everyone before."

Grayson was puzzled. He asked, "How is that possible? Unless it was Batman who crawled in through the window?"

Jay frowned as well.

After some time, the nurse remembered something and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh yeah..." Everyone turned to focus on her. The nurse smiled embarrassedly, "Nah, it can't be him." "Who?" Jay frowned.

The nurse hesitated for a long time before she said,' Master Jenson!"

Grayson's jaws dropped. "You mean Master Jenson went to the VIP floor?"

The small nurse nodded.

"When?" Jay asked.

"Around 11:10 am," she said confidently.

After a moment of shock, Jay slowly regained his senses.

Although Jenson only had a tiny time frame to do what the nurse claimed, it was the only explanation for the fingerprint lock breach.

Jay's temper was rising, he felt a sense of betrayal.

Grayson saw what was happening and hurriedly shooed the others out of the office.

Mr. Ares was betrayed by an alliance of his wife and son. One can only imagine how bad foul his mood must be.

Wham!

Jay thumped his fist on the desk and hissed scornfully, "Rose, I guess I've underestimated you. I can't believe you managed to turn my son on me the moment you stepped foot into the country. Seems like you've bought Jenson over."

Grayson gingerly handed a cup of coffee to the president. He said with a trembling voice, "Mr. Ares, since Master Jenson and Rose are already in contact, why don't you just allow them to meet?" Jay raised his eyebrows and looked up at Grayson as he spoke, tapping his fingers gently on the table.

"Goon."

Relieved, Grayson went on, "Mr. Ares, according to past experiences, any woman who tried to get close to Master Jenson always ended up with a life of misery. After all, you should know better than anyone about Master Jenson's ability to make someone's life a living hell.

"After all, Miss Rose is just a b*stard girl from the countryside. If you assign Miss Rose into the house as a babysitter, with Master Jenson's OCD and autism, I'm sure it won't take long for Master Jenson's dreamy image of his perfect mommy to be completely shattered.

"On the other hand, Miss Rose will likely be pestered to death by Master Jenson! Who knows, perhaps you won't even need to dismiss her before she begs you to let her pack up and leave!"

Chapter 10

After giving his long and incisive anecdote analysis, Grayson looked at Mr. Ares with a proud and expectant look.

Just as he thought Jay was about to praise him for his wit, Jay shot him a deadly look full of daggers.

"OCD? Autism?" Jay sounded calm but there was definitely underlying anger in his tone.

Grayson's forehead started dripping beads of sweat.

Grayson bit his own tongue. Even though Master Jenson was a handful and a problematic child, he was still Mr. Ares's beloved son. The only person who was allowed to criticize Master Jenson was Mr. Ares. If anyone dared to say bad-mouth Master Jenson, they were essentially digging their own graves.

Sure enough, Jay said in a dangerous voice, "Grayson, it seems that you know Jenson very well. Why don't I pass the responsibility of taking care of Jenson to you?"

As soon as Jay said that, Grayson's face fell and he begged for mercy,

"Mr. Ares, I have my entire family to take care of. Please forgive me. Master Jenson already made eleven drivers resign within the last seventeen days. Three of them had a relapse of high blood pressure and two of them were diagnosed with coronary heart disease from frustration. And five of them became so messed up that they couldn't find their way back home. And the last one even developed schizophrenia from the trauma..."

Jay self-righteously defended his son. "If they were already unhealthy from the get-go, a high-risk occupation such as a driver is obviously unsuitable for them."

Grayson was sweating profusely from the humiliation.

'Even Mr. Ares knows that being a driver for Jenson is a high-risk occupation,' he said to himself.

Grayson steeled himself and tried to defend the heroic drivers, "Mr. Ares, the dangerous part of the job wasn't the driving. It's just that Master Jenson is too ruthless." "For example?" Jay said lightly.

Jay was always happy to learn about his son's actions.

"Take Mr. Zach for starters. He always had underlying blood pressure issues. One day, Mr. Zach praised

Master Jenson for his intelligence, but Master Jenson replied, "Not as much as you! You're a shining beacon O f knowledge!" For context, Mr. Zach was bald.

Therefore, when he heard Master Jenson's words, his high blood pressure relapsed on the spot.

"And there's also Mr. Lionel. He suffers from anxiety and his eyelids frequently twitch. Master Jenson managed to convince him that he had a serious muscular disorder. Poor Lionel got a panic attack and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment."

Jay's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

'That sharp tongue of Jenson is seriously a force to be reckoned with.' he noted quietly.

Jay went into deep thought to analyze why Jenson acted the way he did.

Jay organized his thoughts. 'This kid has always hated strangers from the bottom of his heart and has always been very dependent on me.' Something pulled on Jay's heartstrings. He made up his mind to make some significant arrangements to cure Jenson's rigid mindset. "Grayson, we'll go with your plan," Jay said abruptly." Find a way to coerce Rose to be Jenson's nanny."

Grayson looked rather bashful and mumbled, "But Miss Rose ran away. Trying to catch her now would be as hard as it was five years ago." Jay snorted. "Oh, did she really?"

Grayson's eyes lit up with realization. Of course... Miss Rose has submitted her mother's application for hospitalization. She can no longer run away

'I guess Mr. Ares really did figure everything out.'

Splendid Town.

As soon as Rose got home, she hurried to the bathroom to clean up the signs of the abuse. Then, she changed into long sleeves and trousers before coming out.

When she saw her two kids silently binge-watching TV shows in the study room, she did not give much thought to it. Instead, she went to the kitchen to prepare their meals. 1

In the study, the two little kids were lying on the floor, staring intently at the monitor. After secretly making sure that Mommy left, Baby Robbie immediately ordered his sister, "Quick, go and shut the door. I have something nice to show you."

Zetty trotted quickly to the door and locked the door from the inside.

When she was done, she dashed back to her brother in anticipation.

"What did you want to show me?" Baby Zetty looked at Baby Robbie excitedly.

Baby Robbie held out his right hand that was clenched tightly into a fist. When he unfurled his fingers, there was a tie clip lying in his palm.

Unimpressed, Baby Zetty grumbled, "Isn't this just a tie clip?"

"This is no ordinary tie clip."

"At most, this is just a very expensive tie clip." Baby Zetty pursed her pink lips disdainfully.

Baby Robbie said mysteriously, "What do you know?

This tie clip was taken from the bad guy who kidnapped Mommy. This is evidence. We can use this tie clip to find the criminal who kidnapped Mommy."

Baby Zetty looked at her brother in awe. "If we find the bad guy, can we avenge Mommy?"

Baby Robbie's eyes glowed with anger. "Of course. I'm all grown up. As a young man, I vow to protect you and Mommy forever."

Baby Zetty took the tie clip and lifted it up to observe i t. "How can we trace a tie clip back to its owner?"

Baby Robbie smiled slyly. "Look at the words on the tie clip."

Baby Zetty turned over and saw the embossed words on the tie clip.

"Jay Ares!" Zetty read the name aloud.

Baby Robbie turned up the volume of the show they were watching but the video player was reduced to the bottom right corner.

He then opened the internet browser and searched for "Jay Ares", i

"I knew it. That jerk who stays in the president's lounge of Grand Asia Hospital is a big tycoon. Look, Zetty. That guy's the president of Grand Asia Hospital ... Whoa, that's a huge net worth" Robbie browsed through Jay's Baidu Baike page. He

moaned, "Too bad there's no photo of him."

Zetty said sagely, "Villains like him wouldn't dare to post their pictures."

Robbie suddenly gave a wicked smile. "Hmph. How dare you bully Mommy. Just you wait, I'll give you a taste of my fury."

After a few moments of fiddling, Robbie finished his handiwork, i

He used his hacker pseudonym-Master Robbie-to hack into Grand Asia Hospital's network where he tampered with the network security key. He altered Grand Asia's elegant web page interface into a crashed system in the form of a challenge that read: 2

"Jay Ares, how dare you bully beautiful girls? Show your face so we can have a fair fight, man to man! If you can beat my challenge, good for you. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that I'm five years old..."

When he was done, Robbie switched off the computer and the two tiny "adults" went outside to have their lunch as if nothing had happened.

Almost immediately, the people of Grand Asia discovered the anomaly in the network. They notified Jay in a trice.

"Mr. Ares, Bad news! Our network has been compromised by hackers!"