At night, Yvonne took the flight directly to the border. It was already dawn when her flight landed. As soon as she stepped out of the gates, Howard's subordinate immediately walked up to her. "Ms. Y, you're finally here! You have to speak up for Mr. Howard!" Yvonne had gotten a rough idea of the situation before coming here. Two months ago, Mark had assigned a stranger he'd brought over to a new mining site. Since then, that man had been throwing his weight around, taking advantage of Mark's support.Not only had that man poached Howard's employees by offering them higher salaries, but he'd also often snatched business deals from him, causing a tense relationship between the two mining sites. Howard didn't want to offend Mark, so he endured it over and over again. It wasn't until they sat down for a negotiation yesterday that Howard blew his top upon hearing that man mention his daughter, Jade. They broke out into a fight in the end, leaving Howard in the hospital with a broken
Before Yvonne left the hospital, she told Howard to rest well and said that she would handle matters at the mining site. Howard lowered his gaze, feeling a pang of guilt wash over him. Back then, Yvonne had been the one who'd trusted him to be in charge of the mining site. Now, he couldn't even deal with an outsider. Sensing what was on Howard's mind, Yvonne sighed softly. "I think they're targeting me, so don't be too bothered by what happened. Right now, you should focus on recovering; that's the most important thing." Then, Yvonne left the room, with the two subordinates following closely behind her. "Can I meet that Thom guy if I go to the mining area now?" One of the subordinates replied, "No. He's been in town with a group of people to have fun for the past few days." The other subordinate added indignantly, "Ms. Y, you have no idea how smug they were after injuring Mr. Howard. They even celebrated it openly! Aren't they humiliating us? In fact, some of them used to b
Thomas' eyes widened in shock as Yvonne calmly sized him up.It had been several months since they'd last met, and Thomas was no longer the same as before. His hair was disheveled, and his beard was unshaven. His skin seemed a lot darker; it was hard to tell if it was because of dirt or sun-kissed. Rather than the ex-owner of Jones Jewels, he somehow looked more like a local resident living in the border area.Withdrawing her gaze, Yvonne faked a smile. "It's just been a few months. Can't you recognize me?" Thomas came to his senses and pulled a long face. "What are you doing here?""I'm the one who wanted to meet with you, so naturally, I'd be here." Yvonne leaned to the back and crossed her slender legs. "But I never expected you to be at the border. I thought you'd holed up somewhere."As soon as she finished speaking, the subordinates behind her burst into laughter. Thomas clenched his teeth fiercely. "Don't be too arrogant, Yvonne! You're the one asking for my help today
Upon hearing that, Thomas finally sat down and opened the file reluctantly. As soon as he saw the documents inside, his expression changed drastically. He took them out at once in a fit of panic, some of them falling from his hand. They were all return orders! The goods that they'd sent out not long ago had all been returned!"You ..." Enraged, Thomas slammed the table and shot up from his seat. "Yvonne, what the heck have you done?""Well, you should ask yourself that," Yvonne replied calmly, staring into his eyes. "The merchants here are all shrewd, yet you still had the guts to treat them differently. Not only that, but you also took them for a ride by giving them the inferior gems that you'd altered." She clicked her tongue. "You sure have a nerve of steel. Aren't you afraid that your mining site will be destroyed by others one day for doing this?""You ..." Burning with anger, Thomas was at a loss for wordsSince Thomas had taken charge of the mining site, he'd been ma
In the dead of the night, Yvonne woke up to thick smoke permeating the room.Struggling to open her eyes, she faintly caught sight of the flames in the midst of the smoke. Her heart skipped a beat, and she became clear-headed at once. For the sake of convenience, she'd decided to temporarily stay at the workers' dormitory at the mining site instead of checking into a hotel room. The shabby four-story building held nearly a hundred workers. Not only were the rooms cramped, but they were also cluttered with various items. If this place caught fire, it was going to be hard to put it out.Right then, she heard smashing outside the door. "Ms. Y! Ms. Y!" "I'm here—" As soon as she parted her lips, the smoke instantly rushed into her mouth, leaving her coughing violently. The person continued to shout, "Ms. Y, your room has been locked with a metal chain! We'll find tools to break it open now! Hang in there!" Listening to the receding footsteps, Yvonne felt her heart sink. A fierc
The fire raged until the crack of dawn, leaving the entire dormitory building reduced to a blackened frame. Yvonne was worn out. She sat on the ground, watching the ambulance take the last victim away.Stephen handed her a towel and a bottle of water before taking a seat beside her. At this point, they no longer cared about the difference in their statuses."You did a good job yesterday." Yvonne took a sip of water and gave him an appreciative look. All of a sudden, she caught sight of the bloody wound on his arm and subconsciously grabbed his wrist. "When did you get hurt?""It was probably when the door frame fell after I kicked open your room door." Stephen wanted to pull his hand back, but Yvonne tightened her grip on him. She glared at him. "Why didn't you say it earlier? You even helped carry so many victims out last night."Stephen had joined the rescue efforts yesterday too. He'd rushed into the fire several times to bring the trapped people out. At first, Yvonne wasn't
"Did I ask you to kill her? If something happens to Yvonne, I'm going to make you pay it back with your life!" Mark threw another punch in Thomas' face.Despite being stunned by the blow, Thomas still tried to defend himself. "Mark, I didn't do it on purpose. Yvonne's the one who went overboard. She threatened me, forcing me to—Ah!" Before he could finish speaking, his remaining words turned into cries of pain.Mark rained punches on him. It wasn't until his rosary was covered in fresh blood that he finally stopped his attacks.Meanwhile, Thomas was lying on the floor, on the verge of death. His subordinates were pale with shock as they watched the scene. They huddled in the corner, too afraid to even breathe properly. Mark was literally a devil from hell! "I heard that you broke Howard's arm," Mark said, stepping on Thomas' left arm. "You'll need to pay it back with yours to settle the score between you and Yvonne."Thomas had passed out, so he had no idea what Mark said. Ho
When Stephen came back after speaking on the phone, Yvonne had already asked the subordinates to deal with the severed arm. Curtis stared at him suspiciously. He had a hunch that the person who'd called Stephen earlier was a woman. Stephen ignored Curtis' eyes on him and walked up to Yvonne. "I'm going back today. When are you planning to leave?""I'll wait until Howard is discharged from the hospital." "Okay." Then, Stephen moved his eyes to Curtis and casually asked, "Are you going to wait for Yvonne to return together?"Curtis tapped his chest and replied, "Of course! Now that I'm here, I'll have to make sure that she gets back safely.""Okay."Even though Curtis looked like a simple-minded, burly man, Stephen didn't doubt his loyalty toward Yvonne. With Curtis staying back with Yvonne, he could return to the country with peace of mind too.Before leaving, Stephen gazed at Yvonne deeply, as if he were reluctant to part ways with her. However, Yvonne seemed to be bothere