A faint smile curved on Gale's face as soon as she stepped out of the detention center. She looked at the open sky, closed her eyes and took a deep breath…


  Life would never be the same for her again, a vacuum would always remain that would be impossible to fill by anyone.

  'How I wish you would come to pick me here Gilbert, just like you always did… this freedom feels nice, but what do I have in my life worth living without you now?' she mused as she felt a gush of humid air touch her skin. Tears unconsciously fell from her closed eyes as the fleeting memories and a feeling of emptiness filled her heart.

  She felt a little alive when she heard the city buzz, honking vehicles and people chattering. She was still in a state of feeling everything and accepting things when she heard a man's voice, "Madame Gale Ming…"

  Gale opened her eyes and saw a familiar man. She creased her forehead, thinking about where she had seen him before. He was young, well built and handsome.

  He raised his hand and said, "This is my calling card. I'm Craig Chang, Mr. Noah Yu's executive assistant. We watched your trial the other day. My boss wanted to talk to you, Madame Ming. He's inside the car and if you allow, he would like to grab lunch with you to have a talk."

  "But, I don't know your boss and obviously I won't go into a stranger's car. If you want you may tell your boss to meet me in the nearest restaurant since I'm headed there to eat lunch." Gale said as she turned around to walk at the restaurant.

  But then it dawned to her that she had nothing at all with her, so how could she eat without any money in her hands? She halted in her steps and bit her lip. Lana and Liam had offered to pick her up today, but she was shy to trouble them any more, so she lied saying that a friend of hers would fetch her but in reality she had thought of getting a cab directly to her apartment.

  Gale bit her lip and turned around. She knew Noah Yu by name because Gilbert had mentioned the man to her once regarding a pending business venture, if she was not mistaken.

  The man Craig stood still at the same place where she left him, as if he was waiting for her to turn around. Gale gave him an awkward smile before saying, "Alright… I will go with you guys…"

  Craig smiled and signaled her to follow him, so Gale followed. She went at the backside of the car and saw the man sitting at the side. He looked at her, half smiling, and said, "Get inside Mrs. Ming."

  Gale sat inside and they soon headed towards one of the finest restaurants in the city. Gale felt her clothes were too out of place. But then the man who introduced himself as Noah seemed to not mind that at all.

  "What do you want to eat?" she heard Noah ask and Gale looked at the waiter as she gave order for the dishes she wanted. She loved eating out with Gilbert and was a total foodie.

  Today, finally dining in again with nice food could not stop her to eat all the food she wanted.

  Noah gulped as he heard all the various dishes Gale ordered. He wondered how all this food would come in her small stomach.

  "What is it you want to talk about?" Gale directly asked while they waited for the food to be served. Noah had a soft look but a masculine features at the same time.

  She had heard a lot about this man and what remained stored about him in her memory was that he was a manipulative person when it comes to business, so Gilbert was still considering Noah's offer and her late husband told him he would decide on that collaboration after their marriage and honeymoon.

  "The food is here… Let's talk after eating." Noah plainly answered and Gale agreed because she was starving already.

  She looked at all the dishes that were served and not minding Noah sitting in front of her said, "I'll dig in… you start too"

  Noah nodded and whispered, "By all means."

  His jaw dropped when he saw her finishing everything she ordered, one by one, and he could not help but comment, "You'll get indigestion. Eat slowly and chew properly."

  "It's been a while since I have eaten good food. This is good…" Gale whispered as she continued to eat like there was no tomorrow.

  Noah also started eating and could not help but remind Gale again to chew properly, but it seemed that it only went in from one ear and came out of Gale's other ear.

  'What kind of freaking luck I have now-days? Why do I? meet weird and savage women with so gentle and sweet looks?' Noah mused as his face twitched seeing how Gale took all the food on the table like it was the last one left on earth.

  Gale felt so full after she took the last bite of the meat… She drank the wine poured by Noah and asked, "So tell me what is it that you want to talk about Mr. Yu?"

  Noah's eyes darted at her and he spoke, "I am here particularly to give you a bargain offer…"

  Gale's forehead creased and Noah continued to elaborate, "Technically you have nothing right now… But legally you deserve to inherit everything your husband had left behind… But you will need good connections and a huge amount of money to get all that back…"

  "I'm sorry to disappoint you Mr. Yu, but I'm not interested in Gilbert's money or properties…" Gale muttered.

  A scornful smirk appeared on Noah's face as he said, "So you basically want to leach on Liam for help? Don't you think Liam had done enough already for you? Do you plan to take his help again to get justice for your husband's murder?

  You see… There's still a long proceeding to do while you fight Frank Ming. I heard he had already transferred a lot of money and some properties from Gilbert's belongings on his name…


  So you will definitely have a tough time if you deny me today. Money, as you know Mrs. Ming, is everything in today's world and it can easily turn the tables for anyone…"

  "But Liam said he will ta……"

  "Liam… Liam… Liam… Do you plan to drain that man completely? Don't you want to make your own moves at all?" Noah reprimanded and Gale gulped.

  "What are you suggesting?"

  Noah gave her a smile before saying, "I will help you… You will get everything that's legally yours. I will make sure Frank will also meet his doom and get all the properties and money that he had transferred in his name back for you."

  Gale's eyebrows raised and asked, "And what do you want in return?"

  "Ming Land Corporation."

  "What?!" Gale burst.

  "I want your husband's real estate company…"