Spencer's face darkened, and Nia, who was standing next to him, leaned over and asked gently,

"Spencer, what's going on?"

"Shut up!" Spencer was angry and took his anger out on Nia. Nia was reprimanded for being innocent, and she shrank to the side in grievance.

"What do you want me to do?" Finally, Spencer gave in.

Jacob gave a smug smile and began to propose conditions. "First, you have to send someone to pick me up from here. I don't want to live in a rich family's compound, but at least I want to live on Prisidio Street. It's okay if you don't want me to join the company, but you have to ensure my basic living expenses."

"Prisidio Street has a lot of rich citizens of Athegate. Are you sure you want to live there?" Spencer asked with a sneer.

Jacob hesitated for a moment, then said, "Look around and find a place. If I don't like it, I'll tell you."Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

How dared him! Spencer cursed in his heart, but to calm Jacob, he held back his temper and said, "Well, you just wait. I'll make the arrangements as soon as I can."

"Please," Jacob said with a smirk in his voice, "Spencer!"

As he just hung up the phone, Spencer directly threw the phone out. The phone hit the wall, and the screen immediately shattered.

"Jacob! Good for you!"

Nia, who was watching from the side, saw that Spencer was so angry that she was afraid to touch him. She wanted to show him that she was gentle and thoughtful, so she curled up beside the bed and asked in a soft voice,

"Spencer, what's going on?"

Spencer, after all, had a lot on his mind, and he calmed down quickly enough to sort of understand why Jacob was so desperate, that he had made his life so difficult and that the slums were his own creation. The neighborhood bullies were his idea, too. But he forgot that Jacob was a man who risked his life for profit just like he was.

"It's okay. There's something going on at the office. You should go home. I have to take care of something," Spencer said to Nia when he calmed down.

"Now?" Nia raised her eyebrows. It was almost ten o'clock, and he usually let her stay over.

"Well, I'll have the driver take you home," Spencer said impatiently.

"Okay." Nia had to do as she was told, get out of bed, get dressed, and leave the room.

She was his beck and call. That was it.

Spencer didn't go back on his word. Afraid of what Jacob would do, he called and made the arrangements. Within a day, Jacob had moved from the slums to a luxury condo near the Gold Coast.

Lying on the soft, comfy couch, Jacob looked out the window at the blue sky and felt like he was finally getting back on his feet, but this was only the first step in his plan.

After a sip of wine, Jacob smirked and planed his next move.

At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the trees in the city began to lose their green and turn to the yellow color of the harvest. Every morning, the streets were covered with dead leaves, but there was no sign of depression. The whole city had been coruscating vitality.

Lucia was three months pregnant, but her belly wasn't obvious because she wasn't fattening. If she didn't say it out loud, no one would have expected this slim beauty to be a pregnant mother.

Lucia kept the pregnancy a secret from Theodore, because the baby's background couldn't be revealed. She didn't want Theodore to make wild guesses, but the shrewd child had already found out about the pregnancy through other channels. He simply didn't ask, or perhaps he already had the answer.

Arthur, who was nearing the end of the first phase of his development project of South Sea, didn't want to make it clear, but instead threw a victory party and invited Spencer and Lucia.

It had been more than two months. Arthur's silence was beyond everyone's expectations. He never mentioned Lucia again. Juliana and his friends couldn't figure out what he was thinking. However, nobody dared to bring it up without him mentioning it.

One thing they did know for sure was that Arthur, although he didn't say so, was definitely keeping an eye on Lucia. Otherwise, why would he have invited Lucia, or even Spencer, to the celebration, just to look at her fair and square.

They knew his care, but they could not relieve his loneliness.

Juliana and Kane had moved into their new home a month earlier and were talking about it when they were told about the party.

"Kane, did Arthur invite Lucia and Spencer, too?"

"Well, yes."

"Why would he..." Juliana's heart ached for Arthur.

"Ever since she became pregnant, Lucia has kept a very low profile. She has refused to go to any social engagements. Now I am doing all the talking on her behalf. It has been almost two months since she and Arthur last saw each other on the official occasion," Kane said.

"How much Arthur will miss her..." Juliana frowned. "I wonder if Lucia will miss Arthur."

Kane didn't say anything. He was the closest friend to Lucia. In Kane's opinion, Lucia didn't show any signs of suffering for love, and she was in a good mood every day. But he was afraid to say it to Juliana. Juliana's more persistent insistence on Arthur and Lucia's relationship may be related to her past attempts to sabotage their relationship.

"You see Lucia every day. Don't you talk about Arthur in front of her?" Juliana asked, seeing that Kane was silent.

"I wouldn't dare," Kane said, opting for a compromise.

"Why? I thought, at a time like this, Lucia would remember Arthur's good..." Juliana whispered.

Kane knew what Juliana meant. For the past two months, word had spread that Spencer was cheating on Lucia's assistant, and the paparazzi had been snapping pictures of the two of them together. Lucia had become a victim of pity, but Kane could see Lucia didn't mind it in person.

"I'm not sure, but Lucia doesn't seem to mind..." Kane said.

Juliana's eyes lit up and she said, "Does this mean that Lucia doesn't have feelings for Spencer? How else could she be so calm?"

"Stop guessing," Kane laughed when he saw Juliana's eyes bulging. "Arthur has a mind of his own, and so does Lucia. There's nothing we can do about it."

"Why not," Juliana said, pouting. "If Lucia doesn't have feelings for Spencer, she'll go back to Arthur."