But no matter what⦠Lucy was Michaelâs ex-girlfriend after all. He couldnât bring himself to treat her harshly because of how similar she looked to Elizabeth. She seemed to be a living shadow of Elizabeth. With her around, Michael felt relieved, as if Elizabeth were still alive. Hence, he couldnât bring himself to destroy this mirage.
However, reality was cruelâshe was Jordanâs daughter, so she would side with him naturally. While holding the phone in his hand, he said, âWhat will come, will come. Donât get too caught up on this.â
Sophia seemed to heave a long, unhappy sigh. âNothing is perfect in this world indeed!â Then, she turned her back to Michael and spoke. âDear, scrub my back for me.â
While holding the phone in one of his hands, he used the other to scrub her back. The scars left behind from her rotten flesh because of Virs-18 were still there. On top of that, much of the skin on her face was transplanted from her back. Hence, she had many scars on her back. She was very careful when she wore outfits that would reveal her back, for fear that the scars would be revealed. There were also some scars on her waist that were left behind from giving birth to Carmen.
While gently stroking these scars, the skin beneath his fingers seemed like the growth ring of a tree, recording all the hardships she had been through all these years. It was simply unfortunate that he wasnât by her side when she was most helpless and desperate.
Michael leaned forward and kissed her wet back. Then, he hugged her from behind, as if he was hugging an invaluable treasure. If thereâs a next life, are you willing to wait for me there?
Michael knew his health condition very wellâthe virus in his body had been corroding his internal organs and his bones. It would be better for him to enter cryogenic sleep earlier, but he simply couldnât bear to part with her. He couldnât bear to leave Sophia, Carmen, Celine, and this entire familyâ¦
Since they hadnât fully utilized the 10-minutes talk time, Sophia continued to speak her mind. âDo you think that Sean has completely given up on Stanley this time around? Is my mom using my dad? Iâm so worried for him!â
Michael shook his head. âYou have nothing to worry about.â
â¦
At the Edwards Residence, because of the incident that happened to Jordan, he was forced to postpone his wedding with Anna, so he rescheduled the date. On top of that, after the news of their wedding was spread, all his mistresses were furious at him and called him all day long. Hence, Jordan disappeared all the time because he had been busy pacifying these women.
Truth be told, Jordan was a pretty impressive man. Even though he was already in his fifties, he was still quite chivalrous. Countless womenâranging from their twenties to fiftiesâhad fallen for him, many of whom were even famous and powerful figures. He also had many illegitimate children.
He thought that he was showing his love by marrying Anna officially, and that this was a blessing that she had hoped for a long time. However, he was unaware that she hated him to the core since day one.
One of Jordanâs mistresses was a young lady of the branch of the Yard Family who appeared before Anna. She had her own power within the Yard Family, and she had been plotting to kill Annaâs sons to obtain Jordanâs love all to herself. In fact, she was the mastermind who hired people to kidnap both of Annaâs sons to force her to death. Anna and Jordan managed to save Cade and Callum together.
However, Jordan only punished this woman lightly; in no time, she went back to her old ways and continued to plot against them.
Men like Jordan didnât even care about such incidents. He was like an emperor who was merely watching both of his concubines fight for his favor. Instead of getting angry, he was delighted to see this. To him, they were fighting among each other because they loved him.
On top of that, it was only a small internal fight between the women. Since they were not trying to take over the âthroneâ and his sons werenât injured, the âspecial concubineâ who attacked actually gained his love more. Hence, the entire incident was over just like that.
However, because of this, Anna couldnât even sleep well for years after that, for fear that her sons would be kidnapped again when she was asleep. Hence, she started plotting ways to get Jordanâs full attention and planned to annihilate all the women who had been planning to hurt her and her sons. Not just themâshe also wanted to kill all their children as well. By stepping on their corpses, she would become the head of the Yard Family. The final person to be killed was Jordan himself.
At this moment, Jordan had been busy pacifying all his mistresses. After all, for the past 30 years, he had never officially announced his wife. Since the rest of them were not presentable, they were fighting to be his official wife. However, everything was different now after he had officially announced his relationship with Anna. Furious, many of the women plotted against her. It was no problem for Jordan to appease them, but he had to visit them one by one, so he couldnât return for the time being. Hence, to Anna, this was the perfect opportunity to deal with Jordan.
Now that Anna and both her sons were at the Edwards Residence, with Jordan away and Sam being estranged, she was only slightly wary of Lucy. She had long heard of this daughter of Jordanâs. Lucy was a powerful character who had been taking charge of the Edwards Group when Jordan was away.
Her first step was to use Cooper to send out their wedding invitation to all his mistresses. I just want to show off and anger them, so Jordan would be in trouble! And then⦠the second step is to get rid of Lucy! After sheâs gone, both my sons could replace her officially and take care of the affairs of the Edwards Group and slowly penetrate them. However, Lucy is still an unknown variable.
âCooper, Iâm still at Edwards Residence now, so I canât move about freely. I still have to depend on you to get rid of Lucy for me.â
Anna secretly called Cooper, who nodded. âAlright. You have to be careful there.â He softened his tone when he spoke to her. In fact, Cooper was very worried about Anna, who was alone at the Edwards Residence with no one to take care of her. He didnât even know how she had been doing there.
Anna also sensed the worry in his voice, so she reassured him, âDonât worry. Iâm doing well here. We are on our way to success.â
Iâve been waiting for this day for many years⦠After Lucy is gone, we can take advantage of Jordanâs preoccupation and penetrate the Edwards Group while slowly leaving the Yards Family. I have the patience to do that. Iâm about to regain my freedom and return to Cooper officially!
At the Imperial, Cooperâs heart felt heavy after he hung up the phone. At this moment, he was at the breaking point where he had to fight till the death with Jordan. I have to get rid of Lucy. Sam probably knows that Iâm about to attack Jordan soon, hence why he abruptly decided to leave the Edwards Family because he doesnât want to get caught up in the middle.
However, he felt pressured to get rid of Lucy as well. Sophia seems to be quite close with herâ¦
Sure enough, in no time, Sophia opened a small slit in the door and poked her head in. âDad⦠are you going to attack Lucy soon?â she asked hesitantly.