Angela ignored the man’s inexplicable words.

Her eyes stayed fixed on him. “Put the child down first.”

He didn’t move.

Angela was trained in martial arts since childhood and had once taken down five karate champions in a row.

She wasn’t afraid at all. She swung again.

This time, the man moved with unexpected courtesy.

He blocked with one hand, only dodging and never striking back.

Angela spotted an opening and lifted her leg to kick.

The little girl cried out anxiously, “Ma’am, he’s my dad!”

Angela stopped mid-kick, stumbling a few steps before regaining her balance.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of well-made casual sneakers step up to her.

The man’s voice was gentle and calm.

“Are you alright?”

Angela didn’t answer.

She looked down at the girl. “He’s really your father? Then why were you shouting for help?”

The little girl nodded, embarrassed.

“I wanted to light a candle, but Daddy wouldn’t let me.”

Angela glanced at the man.

He seemed to be around her age, but his aura was complicated.

He was ruthless and precise when he fought, yet now, with that faint smile, he looked calm and almost scholarly.

He adjusted his glasses in a polite, almost understated way as he explained, “There were too many people. I didn’t want her to get lost.”

“I wouldn’t get lost,” the girl muttered. “It’s Daddy who’s the real problem.”

She leaned toward Angela and whispered, “Ma’am, my dad looks really impressive, right? But he’s actually a super big direction dummy. He can’t even follow a GPS.”

Angela blinked in surprise.

So, that made him a super big dummy.

The man shot the girl a look, clearly not pleased with the description.

When Angela looked at him, he calmly accepted the label of having no sense of direction.

"Yes, I got lost. Could you help us find the way out of the cemetery?"

Angela didn’t respond.

The little girl hopped along in Angela’s shadow, happily introducing herself.

"Ma’am, my name is Sunny, like sunshine. My dad is called Leon Wright, like the word ‘lion’ in English."

She shouldn’t have been thinking about anything unrelated at a moment like this, yet one word popped into her mind:

Tranquil.

Angela turned her head and studied Leon beside her.

The crisp white shirt paired perfectly with the understated black trousers.

With his hands clasped behind his back and his gaze lowered, his calm expression carried an air of detached serenity.

But it was nothing more than an illusion.

If he were truly detached from everything, how did he end up with a daughter?!

Maybe she was staring too openly at him, because Leon looked her way.

His tone was as natural as if he were chatting with an old friend.

"You move well. Forgive me for asking, but how did your face get hurt?"

Angela answered plainly, "Isn’t it obvious? Someone hit me."

"Who did it?"

Angela shot Leon a look. "That’s a question you shouldn’t be asking.

"The exit is just ahead. Goodbye."

Angela walked into the darkness alone, never looking back.

She didn’t know the man behind her stood watching, the warmth behind his glasses steeped in something far darker beneath the surface.

Northhaven Airport

Angela had barely stepped off the plane when her assistant, Annie Hayes, called.

"Miss Bailey, I’ve sent the report on Donald’s assets and the transfer records between him and Nina over the past six years to your email."

"Got it. Don’t shortchange the private investigator."

After checking the files, Angela steadied herself and called Donald.

"Where are you?"

"At home. My parents just got back from Westin."

Donald ended the call with a blank expression, then looked up to see Nina cautiously pleading with Richard Turner at the head of the table.

"Mr. Turner, Angela didn’t mean to hurt me or Donald. She finally calmed down and came home. Please don’t scold her anymore, okay?"

Richard slammed his teacup onto the table.

"Unbelievable! First she hits her sister-in-law, then her husband. If this gets out, the Turner family will be humiliated."

He glared at Donald. "This is your doing. You spoiled her."

"It was clearly Angela’s fault. Why blame your son?"

Yuna Gray immediately shielded Donald, pushing all responsibility onto Angela.

"She’s been riding on our favor for too long. When she gets back, she needs to be taught a lesson."

Dolly listened to the adults, then walked up to Donald and asked, “Daddy, is Mom coming back?”

Donald ruffled Dolly’s hair and told the nanny to take her upstairs to play.

Dolly was completely annoyed. Why was Mom coming back? She only ever made everyone unhappy.

If she came back, she would start controlling everything again. Just the thought of it was exhausting.

Donald felt irritated too.

After their marriage, he kept his distance from other women and only cared about lonely little Nina. He didn’t understand why Angela was always jealous.

Hadn’t he given her enough security?

Among his friends, not one of them didn’t have a couple of women on the side. They all joked he was a strange one for keeping himself in check.

They even claimed that the more a man indulged a woman, the bolder she’d get until she ended up running right over him.

Thinking about it now, they weren’t entirely wrong.

–

Angela soon arrived at Rosewood Manor.

Looking at the exquisite mansion, she remembered how Donald proposed to her right here.

“The moment I saw you at that campus recruitment event, I told myself I had to marry you and that I’d love you for the rest of my life.”

It had only been six years.

But because Nina returned to the country, everything changed.

She couldn’t help wondering if Donald had loved Nina from the very beginning.

But Nina was only his sister in name.

When he wanted to get married, Nina wasn’t even an adult yet, so he pulled Angela in as a substitute.

Angela’s eyes turned ice-cold.

She left her suitcase at the door and stepped into the foyer when a teacup suddenly flew at her.

She turned her head and dodged.

The cup shattered across the floor, but the scalding tea splashed over her arm, and small blisters rose instantly.

Donald’s expression tightened; he almost stood, then thought of something and sat back down.

Sweat beaded on Angela’s forehead from the pain, her gaze cutting across each face like a blade.

Donald stayed unmoved.

Richard sipped his tea leisurely.

Nina looked pleased.

Yuna let out a cold laugh.

"Angela, this is your lesson. The Turner family won’t let you cause trouble. Get on your knees and apologize to Nina and Donald…"

Before Yuna could finish, Angela bent down, grabbed a shard of the broken cup, and hurled it at Donald’s head.

Donald never saw it coming; a shard cut his forehead and blood spilled immediately.

Angela looked at Yuna. "You dare hurt me? Then your son can pay twice over."

She wasn’t heartless; hurting her own husband still pained her.

But the truth was her husband and his family hurt her first. She wasn’t going to spare anyone who harmed her, not even the man she once loved.

"Enough!" Richard slammed the table and jumped to his feet, but before he could erupt, there was a heavy thud.

Yuna collapsed like a bird struck mid-air.

Chaos broke out instantly.

Donald lunged forward, grabbed Angela by the throat, and pinned her against the foyer wall, veins bulging along his arm.

"Angela, you really outdid yourself!"

Angela had come here intending to talk openly about divorce, not expecting the situation to nearly turn fatal.

Yuna’s fury sent her blood pressure soaring; her hardened vessels burst, causing a cerebral hemorrhage.

The bleeding was extensive, and even with surgery, she would most likely end up in a vegetative state.

The doctors kept their distance.

With the Turner family’s influence looming over them, none of them dared take on a case where doing their best might still lead to blame.

The director of Gracewell International Hospital recommended a medical doctor who had just returned from abroad—Leon Wright.

But Leon wouldn’t officially start until tomorrow.

He still gave Donald the contact information and told him to try reaching out.

An hour later, Donald came back, wearing a rare look of defeat.

Leon was gentle in manner, but his temperament was so strange it was impossible to read.

At first, Donald called, introduced himself, stated the situation, and even offered an enormous payment.

Leon simply replied, calm and indifferent, “Sorry, Mr. Turner. You should find someone else.”

Donald then went to the address the director provided, hoping a face-to-face request would work.

Leon stared at the cut on his forehead for a long moment, then asked thoughtfully, “Who did that?”

What did that have to do with anything? And what did it have to do with asking him to operate on his mother?

Donald didn’t answer and was shut out on the spot.

He couldn’t explain it, but Leon seemed to harbor some inexplicable hostility toward him.

Richard didn’t allow any argument. “This surgery must be done by Leon Wright.”

Then he shot Angela a malicious look.

“I don’t care how you do it. Get him here. If anything happens to Yuna… think carefully about the Hope Haven shelter in Morrow City.”

The Hope Haven shelter in Morrow City had been built under Angela and Donald’s names through HeartLogic Technologies.

The residents were all earthquake survivors who could no longer live independently.

Richard, as chairman of HeartLogic Technologies, had full authority over Hope Haven.

Angela felt as though someone had seized her lifeline; her fingers tightened in front of her.

Richard left, and Donald didn’t even look at Angela as he told the director to schedule another surgeon.

He didn’t believe Angela could convince Leon.

He had brought priceless collectibles, and Leon didn’t even glance at them.

Angela held her scalded arm and called out to Donald as he walked toward the doctors’ offices.

He turned, his handsome face devoid of warmth.

Angela said, “I have one condition. If I can get Dr. Wright to operate on your mother, you agree to a clean divorce.”

Donald’s shoulders visibly tightened for a moment. “Get him here first, then we’ll talk.”

Who did she think she was?

Aside from him, what man would ever indulge her?

And he would never indulge her again.

Angela stared at the phone number in her hand and let out a long, heavy breath.

If she had known she would end up needing Leon’s help, she should have treated him better yesterday in Morrow City.

But things had come to this.

She could only swallow her pride and try.

Angela dialed the number.

As she waited for the call to connect, her heartbeat, steady for years, suddenly turned chaotic.

The line picked up just before the final ring.

A clear, gentle male voice came through, carrying the faintest tremor.

“This is Leon Wright. May I ask who’s calling?”

His politeness left Angela momentarily unsure of what to say.

“I… this is Angela Bailey.”

Then she realized Leon had no reason to know her name, so she quickly added, “We met last night in Morrow City… I led you and your daughter out of the cemetery.”

“Yes, I remember.”

Angela chose her words carefully. “I’m sorry to bother you so abruptly, but I have a difficult request. My mother-in-law had a cerebral hemorrhage and she’s at Gracewell Hospital…”

“I’ll head over immediately.”

“Hm?” Angela froze, wondering if she misheard.

He added, “I can be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Oh, okay!”

Even after hanging up, Angela still felt a beat behind reality.

He agreed just like that?

It must have been because she helped Sunny last night.

So, kindness really could return as unexpected blessings.

…

Angela hadn’t eaten lunch, and as she pressed a hand against the dull ache in her stomach, Leon’s voice sounded above her.

“You’re hurt again?”

Angela slowly lifted her head and saw Leon staring at the blisters on her arm.

His chiseled features were almost impossibly handsome, marked by a gentle, refined calm.

“Dr. Wright.”

Angela stood, ready to explain Yuna’s condition, but Leon spoke first.

“I’ll treat your injury first.”

His voice was warm, like a breeze in early spring.

Angela said, “No need. There’s a far more serious patient waiting for you.”

Leon paused for a moment. “I treat patients in the order they come to me. If I don’t handle your injury properly, I won’t be able to focus on the next one.”

Angela lifted her brows in surprise.

“Fine.”

They walked side by side, keeping a polite distance.

A male doctor in a white coat spotted Leon and turned a corner to greet him.

“Leon, I thought you weren’t starting until tomorrow?”

His gaze drifted to Angela, and awe flickered briefly across his eyes.

“Hey, isn’t she…”

Leon cut him off immediately. “Dr. Shea, I’m in the middle of a consultation. If you’re busy, go ahead.”

The doctor seemed to understand the message and drew out a long, knowing sound. “Ohhh… Alright, alright.”

Angela’s shoulder-length curls had been casually tucked behind her ear when she sat down, revealing the delicate, porcelain clarity of her ear’s curve.

She wasn’t someone who smiled easily, and in a moment like this, she couldn’t force one.

The cool, distant air around her felt even more pronounced.

But Leon seemed unusually talkative, as if he’d known her for years, and asked whether the injuries on her face and arm had anything to do with her husband.

Angela never shared her troubles with strangers, so she shifted the topic immediately.

“Dr. Wright, my mother-in-law has struggled with unstable blood pressure for years. She got upset, her temper spiked, and it triggered a cerebral hemorrhage.

“Please do everything you can. If she recovers without complications, it would mean a great deal to me.”

Leon paused in the middle of applying the ointment. “You and your mother-in-law… are close?”

“No. Our relationship is terrible. Either way, I’m asking you to help her. Life is long, and I’ll repay the favor when the opportunity comes. I won’t forget it.”

Leon looked at Angela for a moment.

Even with those clear, bright eyes and the emotional words she spoke, her gaze was icy, carrying a faint trace of quiet hardship.

She hadn’t been living well these past years at all.

Donald stepped out of the doctor’s office and immediately called Nina.

He knew how easily frightened she was.

She must have been terrified earlier.

Sure enough, she was still crying when she answered.

Her trembling voice sounded like she was walking on thin ice.

“Donald, how’s Mrs. Turner? Is your cut still bleeding? I was so scared something would happen to you both. Is Angela still there? I want to go to the hospital, but I’m afraid she’ll be upset…”

Donald didn’t respond, his eyes fixed on the pair not far away.

They were standing close.

Leon was slightly bent forward, his shadow completely covering Angela.

And on the ground, their silhouettes overlapped as one...