“Is there anything you need our help with?” Eliana volunteered.“Not yet, thanks. We’ll be very happy to join forces with you later but we’ve all suffered a lot lately. You, Enoch and Antoine should take some time to help your companies recover.” Kevin said thoughtfully.Eliana and the others nodded in agreement again when they heard him say this.A few Veridonia companies hadn’t survived the financial battle that had just ripped through the economy.Three days later, the whole city of Veridonia was buzzling with the latest news.The Stainless Hotel broke ground with much fanfare.The ceremony was attended by Collins Coke, the owner of the White Field hotel, Eliana Wright, the president of the West Veridonia International group, Antoine Bridge, the owner of the Sparkling bar, Enoch Spain, a leader in a private security industry and Johnson Anne, the chief of staff of Williams Media.Everyone in Veridonia knew that these people had helped the city to survive the recent economic crisis.
“Don’t tell me you want people to go back calling you a freeloader.” But just as Lily said this, she cut herself.“I’m sorry, Kev. I shouldn’t have said that.”“That’s ok. Anyway, you are wife. You can say and do whatever you want to me.” Kevin said seductively.Lily blushed a little.“Then let’s go right now!” she said excitedly as she smiled and took Kevin’s hand.So they headed out to go shopping together.The problem was, Kevin just wasn’t used to wearing fancy clothes.He preferred casual wears.Not only was it cheaper, but it was also a lot more comfortable.Finally, after making Lily roll her eyes in frustration at least a dozen times, Kevin had no choice but to give in.He ended up buying two shorts, two shirts, three pants and three jackets.When he got to the register, the associates smugly looked Kevin up and down before saying, “The total is eighteen hundred and thirty-two dollars. Cash or credit?”Kevin took a deep breath and reluctantly said, “Credit.”“Wait a minute.” L
As they settled in, Lily suggested that she and Kevin should go hunting in the woods but Shantel Blare asked the families to play high stakes game.Every family would chip in ten million dollars.Whoever caught the most fish in the game would win the pot.Lily finally agreed to let the Jones family participate too.Soon, the teams were decided.There were Kevin and Lily from the Jones family, Ivy and her brother Blake, representing the Andersons, Shane Blare and Officer Helene from the Blare family and there were six other families too.“I’m not launching to hunting or fishing so, I’ll be the judge.” Neo Blare said as he looked at his watch.“It’s 9:00am and you all have three hours to catch as many fishes as you can. Be back here by noon. Good luck to all of you!”Seeing that everyone had already started to move, Lily immediately pulled on Kevin’s sleeve and nudge him, “Let’s head up that way, into the woods!”“Don’t panic.” Kevin said very calmly.“We just spent ten million dollars!
Just as they reached the clearing, Kevin dropped to the ground and the Cougar ran past him, smashing into a tree.Kevin immediately jumped up and left back into the forest.When Ivy finally limped into the camp, Blake saw her and ran over to help her.“Ivy, where is Kevin?” Lily asked anxiously when she realized that Kevin wasn’t with her.“He… Kevin… in order to save me, he lured the Cougar in the other direction.” Ivy said sadly.They all heard a whamming sound that echoed from one end of the woods to the other.“That sounds like the Cougar got him.” they all thought.Some of the Jones’s were finally happy to get rid of him.At least, Ivy had made it back.They had no sympathy for Kevin at all.“No… no… Kevin can’t die!” Lily sobbed as she kept shaking her head unable to hold back her tears.“Kevin…” Officer Helene was starting to tear to up too.Was Kevin still alive?“Which one of you is willing to follow me back into the woods to find Kevin?” Lily shouted desperately but nobody r
“Hi! My name is George Steel. I could certainly use a friend like you.” the man said.Then he held out his hand to Kevin,“My name is Kevin.” He said as they shook hands.After all the things he had put up with the Jones family and their friends, it was nice to see someone treat him well.A lot of them were jealous to see George being so friendly to Kevin but what Kevin didn’t know was that George was the only heir to the Steel family business.His grandfather Dan Steel, had arrived in Veridonia fifty years ago and grown his business from the ground up with his hard work.Up until now, the Steel family’s holdings include some legitimate business and lots of entertainment facilities.They also have a strong reputation in Veridonia underworld.Nowadays, Dan Steel no longer cares about the family business so he transferred his authority to George.If Lorenzo and Archer respected the man.“I’m really lucky to be friends with George.” Shane muttered to himself.Nobody was a good enough coo
“Kevin, what do you mean by that!? Can you save my wife?” George said hopefully.Before Kevin could say anything, Lily grabbed him by the arm and quickly pulled him back. “Mr. Steel, please don’t misunderstand. Kevin doesn’t have any medical training.” Lily said in a panic.She was worried that George would ask Kevin to ask his wife.She had been married to Kevin for three years and she still didn’t know him that well but she knew that she’d never seen Kevin treat anyone. More importantly, Marine was George’s wife. They couldn’t risk dealing with that kind of family.“George, don’t worry.” Kevin started to say.But Lily interrupted him, “Kevin! Don’t be silly, please!” she was getting angry with her husband.“Don’t worry, Lily. I know what I’m doing.” Kevin said as he slowly patted her hand.Then he walked over to the man and asked him, “George, tell me. Did Marine eat anything in the woods?”Kevin had clearly noticed something yellow around Marine’s mouth.“Did she eat something?” Ge
As long as George wouldn’t hold it against them and Kevin could do what he wanted, they had no issues at all.Lily was stunned to hear this.Then she remembered how Ivy had trusted Kevin in the antiques shop even though she still had doubts about her husband and now George is trusting Kevin with his wife’s life even though he’d only known him for less than three hours.Lily had been married to Kevin for three years and still doubted him.“Maybe I really don’t understand him!” Lily thought to herself.Then George asked Kevin, “Now, what are we going to do with these plants?”Kevin took the plants from George’s hands and set them away as the doctor continued to treat Marine.“I need to go over to the chef’s station to make an herbal remedy that will help her recover more quickly.” Kevin said calmly.“You know how to make herbal medicine!?” George
George had been quiet until now because he didn’t want to risk distracting Kevin.He still had some doubts about the remedy and it will be awful to have it fail because he had interrupted Kevin.Nobody could believe that Kevin had made something that could Marine Steel just from plants that were going at the river side.Lily stared at Kevin in an amazement and seeing that this might just work, she finally relaxed a little.But it still bothered her that she didn’t know Kevin or trust him yet.Officer Helene walked over to him and asked him in disbelief, “So… you… you… really know how to make herbal remedies! Then you actually made that pill that you gave me!?”Kevin didn’t answer her right away.He just shrugged his shoulders and walked over to see how Marine was doing.Everyone was watching anxiously, wondering when she would show some signs that the herb was working.A