The Cherished Wife

Liliana was Charles' half-sister, born out of wedlock. The reason she was never accepted into the Hoffmans was largely due to Clarisse's doing. Back then, Clarisse drugged Mateo and a young university student in order to force him into a divorce, leading the two to get into a relationship. That student gave birth to Liliana, but Clarisse's marriage with Mateo did not end. Instead, the young woman was suppressed by the Bakers. Though the most innocent of all, Liliana was sentenced to a fate of never being acknowledged-forever excluded from the Hoffman family tree. She became a person whose existence would never be recognized.

Sean clenched his fists. His tone was filled with resentment, causing Charles to frown.

"If you're angry, don't take it out on me," Charles said calmly.

Sean suddenly laughed. "Why would I be angry? Oh, by the way, aren't you coming to check on them? They're both injured. Planning to stir up some trouble?" "It's not the right time yet," Charles replied softly. "It's getting late. I'm going to rest now."

"Hey..." Sean called out a few more times, but he did not expect Charles to hang up so smoothly, leaving him no room to continue.

He stared at the dark screen, gritting his teeth. "Charles Hoffman, you bastard," he muttered in frustration.

In a foul mood and desperate for someone to vent his frustration on, Sean had hoped Charles would engage. Instead, Charles simply hung up on him. Clenching his phone, Sean unlocked and locked the screen repeatedly, trying to calm himself.

his photo album and scrolled through the few remaining

gazed at something unseen in the distance, her long dress flowing around

...

violent outburst and attack, the news did not even take until the

he was utterly shocked. He never expected Janet to have an episode

also injured both Clarisse and Mateo. This news was nothing short of a disaster for the

did not sleep that night. Instead, they gathered to discuss how to

Charles anymore. The real question now was how to smooth things over

certain that they would seize this incident to make a bigger issue out of

be far more complicated than