Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

That was one thing to say, but a fire still raged in Paige Summers’s heart, one that was difficult to extinguish.

She struggled to calm herself, her gaze slowly growing determined. "I’m going to shut down Summers Armaments. As for Blake Morrison, have someone send him a message for me. Just say that something has come up and I can’t make it over for now. Ask him to understand."

It only took Marcus Monroe a moment to understand her intention. Such a vague message would undoubtedly arouse Blake Morrison’s suspicion. If the Mercers wanted to find something out, they certainly had their ways. "You mean you want to use the Mercer Family?"

"No, that’s just a side benefit. Of course, if the Mercer Family is willing to apply pressure, I won’t object. It’s like you said—Sheldon Reid’s position is too high. To make a move against him, I’ll have to rely on some outside help." After a brief pause, she continued, "Also, please arrange a meeting with Wendy Lowell for me. She must be the most anxious person to know my whereabouts. I want to see her in person!"

At that, Marcus Monroe’s expression turned serious. "I don’t agree. You don’t want to acknowledge her, do you? There’s no need to force yourself for Sheldon Reid’s sake. Do you really have so little faith in my ability to handle this?"

Paige was taken aback for a moment, then tilted her head to look at him.

"First, it’s no trouble. I was going to see her eventually, even without all this. After all, she is ’Paige Summers’s’ biological mother. Strictly speaking, she wasn’t really at fault for not being able to raise her child. And second... why should I push everything onto you? You have your own things to do. Don’t think I haven’t seen the blood in your eyes. If I let you work yourself to exhaustion, where would I ever find another man who treats me this well?"

Marcus Monroe gazed at her, a smile slowly dawning in his eyes.

"Are you done?"

"Uh-huh!"

"I want to kiss you. May I?"

Paige shot him a sidelong glance. "Do you even need to ask?"

Before the last syllable had faded, she was already kissing him.

Marcus Monroe felt that Paige’s kiss was just like her as a person: decisive and firm, but not born of reckless abandon.

She was passionate, yet knew when to advance and when to retreat.

She wasn’t completely unguarded, nor was she entirely dependent. She always maintained her independence.

But he didn’t mind.

In fact, this was what he wanted.

Losing yourself for someone else isn’t love; a life like that quickly becomes exhausting. To go the distance together, you have to learn to respect one another, even to cherish and protect each other’s individuality.

That was the secret to never growing tired of each other!

However, though Marcus Monroe had agreed to the meeting with Wendy Lowell, he still went to great lengths to make arrangements before letting her go.

Wendy Lowell was not only a daughter of the Lowell Family, she was also Sheldon Reid’s stepmother.

It was hard to say whether she already knew the whole story and had chosen to stand against them.

For Paige’s safety, Marcus was determined to assume the absolute worst of the woman.

The meeting was ultimately set at a restaurant under the Jovitas umbrella. Once Marcus had made the arrangements, he told Paige to enter the private room in a light disguise.

Wendy Lowell was already waiting. She froze for a second when she saw Paige, then immediately stood up and rushed over, grabbing her hand. "Paige! Are you okay? Where did you move to? Did something happen? Are you in danger?"

The barrage of questions took Paige by surprise, but she just smiled and sat down with her.

"I’m fine, I’m not hurt. There have been some troubles, it’s true, but they’ll be resolved sooner or later. I might even move back then."

Wendy Lowell’s brow furrowed. "Who’s giving you trouble? Is it the same people who tried to assassinate you last time?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Paige shook her head. "That was over a long time ago. This is someone else. Let’s not talk about it. How have you been lately?"

The more she tried to change the subject, the more Wendy Lowell felt that something was wrong.

She hesitated for a moment before going along with her. "I’m doing fine, I just miss you. Oh, by the way, that dagger you gave me? I carry it with me all the time. A few of my friends saw it and absolutely loved it. They keep pestering me, asking if I could get you to make custom ones for them. I was afraid you’d be too busy, so I didn’t agree, I just said I’d ask you first before getting back to them. What do you think?"

Paige nodded. "I could, but it would be impossible to make another one identical to yours. That dagger is one of my masterpieces; I can’t reach that level of craftsmanship every time."

Of course, that wasn’t entirely true.

If she wanted to, she could make something even better.

It was just that after that one attempt, she realized she really didn’t enjoy making such overly complex pieces.

In her opinion, it was too much of a waste of time!

But when she said this, Wendy Lowell was, of course, secretly delighted.

’This means my daughter made it especially for me. It’s one of a kind!’

So she smiled and said, "Don’t go to so much trouble, then. Simpler is fine. Just write down a list of the materials you need, and I’ll have them find everything themselves. You can make the daggers whenever you have time. There’s no rush."

"That works."

Paige pulled a pen and paper from her bag, wrote down the materials one by one, and handed the list over.

As Wendy Lowell tucked the paper away, she asked casually, "Regarding your trip out of the city, I heard afterward that Reed went too. Was he good to you?"

Paige froze. After a long moment, she changed the subject, her tone stiff. "That’s not important right now. There’s something I wanted to ask you, actually. You know of a man named Milton Faraday, don’t you?"

Wendy Lowell frowned.

’What does she mean, "not important"? Could it be... that Sheldon isn’t good to Paige?’

’But he’s always acted so magnanimous. He was even the one who suggested Paige come to the Reid Family home.’

’He has no reason to act like that, does he?!’

’Could it be that it’s all just for show? That he’s actually deeply bothered by Paige’s existence?’

Come to think of it, she hadn’t had much contact with Sheldon Reid.

Especially after her husband passed away, Sheldon Reid rarely returned to the Reid Family home. On the rare occasions he did, the two of them would only exchange pleasantries, rarely touching on other matters.

Therefore, her good impression of Sheldon Reid was half due to her late husband, and half due to hearsay.

Capable young men always tend to make a good impression on people.

Before, since they’d never had any conflicts, she had never given much thought to what Sheldon Reid was truly like. But with Paige in the picture, she was forced to.

’If Sheldon is really that two-faced, isn’t Paige in terrible danger?!’

The more Wendy Lowell thought about it, the more unsettled she became. She didn’t even hear what Paige said until she repeated herself. "Oh, of course, I know him," she said, finally snapping out of it. "What happened to him?"

Paige looked at her, puzzled. "You don’t know? He defected! Sheldon Reid is furious—he even sent people to capture him."

"What! How could that be?!"