Gracy gave Lana a hug followed by a cheek to cheek kiss. Lana wanted to push her away since she was not comfortable seeing Gracy's sly smirk but she must act safe and feign ignorance so she simply gave her a half-smile.

  Gracy looked at the door as if to check if anyone would enter behind her but no one came, so she asked Lana, "Are you alone?"

  Lana simply nodded and said, "Yeah. I'm by myself. I suddenly craved some ice-cream so I sneaked out from the parade for a while."

  She then walked to the counter to place her order and she was not surprised that Gracy followed her.

  "Order whatever you want dear, it's my treat. We two are good right? I hope we can let bygones be bygones. Well, I understand that you are supporting the Chan's since they are family friends. Don't worry because if Bill wins this election, I will not take you on it. But I must say that I feel hurt that the Sy's will not support me in this." Gracy said with pursed lips.

  Then with her obviously fake smile, Gracy continued, "By the way, I heard you left the country and lived in hiding for almost one year… I somehow thought you would be gone for good, but I was actually surprised to see you around the Sy's once again."

  "Something happened so I needed to be alone for some time… But I'm grateful that my family waited for me to heal," Lana plainly answered and casually placed her orders at the counter.

  "Oh, I see. I heard about your mother's incident, my condolences. It is a bit late but I can understand your loss since I too have lost a lot. I can understand how it feels when someone snatches away MY FAMILY… I mean my father, my only blood relative.

  They say blood is thicker than anything… but in your case, I guess you and your mother had a bond stronger than blood ties seeing how she could even sacrifice her own life to save you and Liam. Too bad, family matters are twisted… the irony of a complicated family relationship is really scary. I feel bad with the way you lost your mom."

  Lana kept her cool but she was really fuming inside. She could sense the meaning of Gracy's words though she was not telling it directly.

  "How I lost my mom? All of us will die one day, Gracy. I think it was her time to go and hence she left me and I must accept that," Lana replied with a clenched jaw.

  "I guess you are right. It's more painful if you lose someone in an unnatural accident. But then you also make sense that at some point all of us will eventually get there by whatever means…"

  'It was her!' she anxiously thought. No one knew how her mother died. It was highly confidential and nothing about it was informed to the media, even the other extended family of Ana Huang was not informed about the actual incident. The way Gracy spoke to her, including her mocking expressions were indicating that the woman knew how her mother was murdered!

  As soon as the worker handed her the paper bag containing her order, Lana quickly turned to Gracy and said, "I will go first, Gracy. And it's nice running into you again.

  Good luck and hopefully our next encounter will turn out to be a long one where both of us could sit and talk about a lot of things, family, love everything… By the way, you said it was your treat right?"

  Lana stared and when Gracy met her eyes, she put on a formal smile and added, "then YOU WILL PAY for everything… Bye Gracy"

  Gracy, with an awkward smile, watched Lana turn around and leave.

  "What the heck?!" She grunted before turning at the cashier to pay.

  Lana almost ran outside away from the ice cream parlor. Her hands… No! Her whole body was trembling in anger. She balled one of her hands into a tight fist. She held the paper bag which had the ice-cream in her other hand as she lost her appetite.

  She walked away from there for a while and gave the ice cream bag to a beggar she saw on the street.

  She immediately got in a cab before her emotions turned haywire. She inhaled and exhaled loudly inside the cab, calming herself. She reminded herself over and over again to keep her cool and not jeopardize the plan. Gracy must not know that she knew something or they would all become alert and put their guards up.

  She needed to get away from Gracy or else she did not know what she would do to her. Her words proved to her that she had something to do with the incident a year ago.

  'Mother I will make sure, justice will be served for your death…' she vowed with gritted teeth while her heart was slamming against her chest. One year… She and Liam lost one precious year because of that incident. Gracy must severely be punished because who knows what else she could do with Bill Grey behind her as her support.

  Bill Grey was a very powerful man because if he was not, the military would not have such a hard time in bringing him down. It took the military a lot of preparations, planning, sacrifice, and most importantly patience to get the man.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her mobile phone which she quickly answered.

  "Love, I'm on my way to be with you. I miss you. And I have a lot of things that I can't wait to discuss with you as well," Liam sweetly uttered on the other line.

  Lana exhaled loudly.

  "Are you there? What's wrong?" Liam asked.

  Lana smiled and said, "I ran to her… it destroyed my mood. But thankfully you called and I feel better again. I miss you too…"

  Liam's face blushed because his wife was showering him with so much sweetness that even with simple gestures and words like these, he felt like his heart would explode at any moment.