"Bianca, this is Mrs. Itari," Samson said, introducing her to the teenager."Hello, Auntie. I'm Bianca," she said, forcing a stiff smile. Her hands were visibly white-knuckled as she clutched the edge of Samson's jacket.Samson noticed her immediate apprehension around unfamiliar faces. "Let me walk you to your room first, okay? That way you can get some rest," he offered gently."But you won't leave again, right, Daddy?" Bianca asked, her eyes clouding with restlessness."No. I'll be resting right here on the sofa. You can find me here whenever you look," Samson replied, gently patting her head.The girl nodded and rose from her seat. "Mrs. Itari, I will escort Bianca first. We can talk further when I return," Samson noted."Yes, of course, Sam," Itari replied, still visibly bewildered.As Samson led Bianca away, Itari remained standing in the foyer, her eyes locked on their retreating figures."Good heavens, is that girl truly Samson's daughter?" Itari murmured to herself. "So, that

"Insolent bastards!" Clara hissed, her jaw clenching hard.Samson snatched the phone from Clara’s hand and scanned the article rapidly. The headline was plastered in massive bold letters across various gossip portals and online news outlets."ITARI ROSALINA ALLEGEDLY HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH HER HUSBAND'S OWN BODYGUARD!!!"Right beneath the headline was a photo of Samson carrying Itari the previous night. It was a shot clearly taken surreptitiously from a distance.Samson’s gaze instantly turned glacial. "They moved quickly," he murmured in a dangerously low tone.Rose scrolled through the other articles, and the more she read, the paler her face became. "They’ve already launched a preemptive strike," she whispered.Embedded within the article was a video of Itari’s biological father weeping in front of the camera."My daughter has been unruly since she was a child," the old man claimed in the video. "She always craves attention. Mr. Baskoro was incredibly generous to help our family, bu

The exact second the live clarification broadcast concluded, Rose finally let out a long, heavy breath she had been holding for what felt like hours. Her limbs felt weak, yet an overwhelming sense of profound relief washed over her chest. She turned her head toward Itari, who was sitting directly beside her. Her stepmother was still sobbing softly, but the expression in her eyes was far more alive than it had ever been while she was locked away inside Baskoro's living hell."We did it," Rose whispered, encasing Itari's hand in a tight, reassuring grip.Itari turned to Rose and instantly pulled the younger woman into a fierce embrace. "Thank you, Rose. I honestly don't know... if you hadn't helped me, I might have committed suicide because I simply couldn't endure it anymore. Thank you for pulling me out of that hell," Itari wept against her shoulder.A gentle smile touched Rose's lips, and she extended both arms to pat Itari’s back. For the first time in her life, she experienced a st

SPLASH!!!The ice-cold river water slammed into the chassis of the vehicle with catastrophic destructive force. The windshield, which had already fractured from the collision on the flyover, shattered completely in an instant. A torrent of murky, churning water surged into the cabin at a terrifying speed. Within seconds, the atmosphere underwater transformed into a silent horror.Samson was the first to regain full consciousness despite a severe, throbbing headache from the impact. As the dark water rapidly swallowed the cabin, rising to chest level, he could hear muffled coughing and suppressed screams of terror from Rose and Clara."Rose! Clara! Gopar!" Samson barked hoarsely, his throat choking on the encroaching water.Gopar was only semi-conscious in the driver's seat, fresh blood streaming from his forehead and blurring his vision. Meanwhile, in the middle row, Rose was frantically attempting to release Itari’s seatbelt, which had jammed because the vehicle's frame had buckled i

Samson shifted his gaze from the window toward Gopar, weighing his subordinate's tactical question with careful precision."In all probability, yes, Par," Samson replied, his voice calm yet definitive. "Richard is no amateur. The security details he assigns are highly trained operatives. The moment one of their vehicles took the impact, they would have immediately transmitted a distress signal or contacted their central headquarters if it was at all operationally feasible."Samson walked over to where Itari was resting and knelt beside Rose. He pressed the back of his hand against Itari’s forehead. Her body temperature was indeed burning hot, contrasting sharply with her hands, which felt as cold as ice."Our primary adversary right now is time," Samson continued, locking eyes with a tearful Rose. "Richard needs time to pinpoint the crash site, sweep the river perimeter, and locate our submerged vehicle. We cannot simply sit idle here and blindly hope that reinforcements arrive before