"Who . . . who are you?!" The woman named Eleanor struggled to free herself as both her wrists were grasped as a stranger suddenly pinned her against the cold stone wall of the old church .

"It's not important to know who I am . . . but if you really know the husband you are keeping at home . " The strange man had a mocking smile as he stared down at her .

"O-of course . . . he's my husband . . . I . . . I married him!"

"Oh really? Is that really the man you married? I heard people in town talk about how you picked up a person from the sh.o.r.e then claimed him as your husband . . . "

"How dare you!" She tried to free herself again, to no avail .

"Don't you know that you could end up in jail for what you're doing? You don't know the man you're living with right now . Keeping him will only bring you trouble . "

"Why are you doing this to my family?! My husband had been missing for years! It was only a miracle that he came back! Stop bothering us!"

The man tightened his grip on her . "That man inside your house had only been missing for more than a month . Before that, he had a wife and a son . Aren't you feeling guilty by keeping him away from them?"

Her expression revealed the truth .

"You took advantage of his memory loss and introduced lies to him . Continue this and you and that cute daughter of yours shall pay the price . "

"No! No . . . Louella!" She stared at the direction towards their house .

The man had a sly smile as he released his grip on her .

The woman dashed towards the direction she was staring at after being freed .

_________________

"Verdan Zhou . . . "

"I said I am not him! My name is Luis de Castro! Leave my family alone!" He glared at the bespectacled good-looking tall man, then anxiously glanced at the little girl being restrained by two men .

"Alright, alright . . . " he held up his hands as if in surrender . "Mr . De Castro, you should come with us . Otherwise, we cannot guarantee her life . " He raised a brow and tilted his head to gesture towards the girl .

"How dare you! She's only a little girl!" He struggled to free himself from two large men clad in black who looked like bodyguards .

"Mr . De Castro, you should just willingly come with us . " The man nodded on the man in black who was holding the girl . The latter then took out a handkerchief from his side pocket and covered the girl's mouth and nose until she lost consciousness . After which, the bespectacled man pointed a 9mm pistol with silencer towards her direction .

"You're a monster!"

Lu Shaoting s.h.i.+fted the direction of his gun towards Verdan Zhou . He still held a grudge during the time he was punched when Verdan met Midori again after several years . He was secretly slightly hoping he could elicit fear from this once powerful man .

However, to his dismay, he concluded that the man before him is really Verdan Zhou .

When the gun aimed at him, there was no trace of fear in him . He looked at the bespectacled man as if ordering him to aim towards himself . He might have been stripped off his business suit and oxfords, but the composure and determination is definitely that of a big company CEO .

Lu Shaoting snickered . He slowly walked towards the brave man, still aiming the gun at him .

When the barrel landed on his chest, Lu Shaoting gave him a challenging smirked . "Trying to be tough, huh?"

Before the man who identified himself as Luis could even utter a word, a hard fist landed on his abdomen, and he almost became limp .

"Take him away . " Lu Shaoting instructed the men .

"Mr . Lu, what about the girl?" asked another man in black clothes .

"You can leave her here . She's not gonna die anyway . "

"I found it!" Romina Ta came out of the small bedroom, holding up a rose gold twisted wedding band .

"Good job! We can leave now . "

The woman named Eleanor hurried back home . As she entered the nipa hut, she saw her child unconscious on the old rattan sofa .

"Louella!" She checked up on her . Seeing that her pulse and breathing was regular, she was relieved .

Then she gasped as she remembered something .

"Luis!" she called out, but no one answered .

She dashed into the bedroom, only to find it as if everything was turned upside down .

She went and knelt to open a drawer . She cried to find the clam sh.e.l.l which she had hidden empty .