Before he could do so, Alana drew in a deep gulp of air and wheezed, “I…I’m much better now.”

Quentin straightened up, feeling considerably relieved; however, he could not help being somewhat disappointed as well.

Alana took another few labored breaths, then gave Abel her most pitiful look.

Abel deliberately averted his gaze and refused to look at her. Instead, he told Quentin, “Take her back to the hospital, Dr. Anderson. Make sure nothing happens to her.”

“Abel…” Alana protested, pouting all teary-eyed like a spoiled child.

“I’ll visit you later.” Abel gestured impatiently and turned away.

“Let’s go, Ms. Lane,” Dr. Anderson murmured, wheeling her downstairs.

“All of you, leave now,” Abel ordered. “Everything’s fine here.”

Luca hurriedly ushered everyone out of the room like a mother hen herding a disobedient brood.

Abel stopped him at the door before he left as well. “Luca, give the children breakfast, then send them to kindergarten.”

“Yes, Mr. Abel. I’ll do that.”

Abel shut the door firmly in his face.

Emmeline emerged from under the blankets where she had buried herself the moment everyone invaded the room. “Oh shit, oh shit…how the hell am I going to show my face in public?” She wailed in agitation.

“We haven’t done anything we shouldn’t,” Abel said placatingly. “There’s no need to fear rumors if we haven’t done anything wrong, right?”

“Then you go explain the entire mess to them and tell them nothing happened between us. Who’s going to believe you?” Emmeline shot back derisively.

Upon consideration, Abel had to admit she had a point. If everyone knew that he had spent the night with a beautiful woman in his arms without doing anything about it, they would suspect he was either lying or something was wrong with him.

Right at that moment, Emmeline’s phone rang.

Abel looked as if he had just bitten down on a lemon. It must be Benjamin, calling to check up on her.

However, when he glanced at her phone screen, the name on the display read, “Film Set.”

“Film set?” Abel blinked. “What film set?”

Emmeline had already snatched up the phone to answer the call. “Yes, Mr. Faughn?”

“Hey, Emma,” Simon replied. “Everyone’s here on set except for you. Is everything alright?”

Only then did Emmeline recall that she had taken on a stunt job with the film crew. Her face burned. “Yes, yes, everything’s okay. I haven’t forgotten about the stunt job, Mr. Faughn! Something came up, that’s all. I’ll be there in half an hour! I’m so sorry!”

“Sure. Just get here as soon as you can; everyone’s waiting on you.”

Emmeline hung up at once. As she turned, Abel leaned over and stared at her full in the face, startling her so much that she pulled the covers up over herself and shrank back involuntarily. “What are you doing? Why are you giving me the evil eye?”

“Stunt job?” Abel eyed her narrowly. “Emmeline Louise, are you out of your mind, taking a stunt job? Has being poor stunted your brain somehow?”

Being poor has stunted my brain? Emmeline stared right back at Abel, bereft of speech for a good few seconds before she pulled herself together enough to retort, “That’s right, being poor has definitely stunted my brain. The coffee shop isn’t a booming business like yours, after all!”

Abel immediately turned and reached for his wallet, then pulled out a bank card. “Is ten million enough? If not, I can give you more.”

Another bank card with ten million, just like the last time. Emmeline’s mind flashed back to that scene from five years ago, and the old grievance rose up within her again. Waspishly, she shot back, “Why don’t you give it to Alana instead?”

Abel almost choked at that, and his brows raised so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. “Ms. Emma Emmaline Louise, Alana set her pretty little trap so well back then that the entire incident remains a blur to me still. You can’t use that against me. It’s just like you and Adrien; you can’t tell me that’s not a blur to you as well.”

Emmeline swallowed. Abel was right; she remembered nothing about that incident at all, not after that wretched man had drugged her. She hadn’t even been able to call for help. “But why did Adrien have your bank card with him, though?”

“When I went overseas, I gave him both of mine since I figured I wouldn’t be able to use them anyway.”

“Really?” Emmeline had to let that sink in for a moment. She nodded slowly after that. “Alright. I believe you. But I’m still not going to take your money, though. I’ll manage on my own.”

An inexplicable pang shot through Abel’s heart. He knew how stubborn Emmeline was and he did not dare to insist on her taking the money. However, his mind went to Adrien, and he said bitterly, “Well, it’ll have to be Adrien then, if not me. No matter what, he can’t stand by and watch you and the children suffer!”

Adrien?

Emmeline had to pause and think for a moment. True, Adrien should take some responsibility, but…she didn’t need his help. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.” She got out of bed and began getting ready as fast as she could. “I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to send the kids to kindergarten. I’ve got to get to the set right away.”

“Emma…” Abel caught hold of her wrist. “Then…”