Luca's heart skipped a beat at the sound.
If not for the ambiguous and warm atmosphere of the living room, she might have thought that Luke realized something and
wanted to question her under the excuse of drinking.
The gentle sound of the piano drifted from the speakers, and Luca felt herself relaxing. She did not ask Luke what he wanted to
talk about and opted to listen to the music instead.
With her emotions calmed, she started drinking more wine without realizing it.
The red wine was tasty and quickly made her lightheaded. Luke stared at Luca's flushed cheeks and decided that she looked
much more enchanting like this than she did with the makeup blush.
He wanted nothing more than to engrave this enchanting look in his mind forever.
Luke's gaze darkened. His desire for Luca was growing, but he forced himself to rein it in.
He did not want this woman to feel afraid of him.
Up until this moment, Luke had yet to find out why Luca was so willing to stay under the control of the Island of Despair.
He knew that she would not allow herself to be controlled unless the Island of Despair had a very important token in their hands.
As such, Luke did not dare to act rashly, not even if the woman in front was someone he was most familiar and intimate with.
Luca saw the burning desire in his eyes and put down the wine glass, straightening her posture in the process. The music and
the wine had her almost forgetting what they were here for in the beginning.
“Mr. Crawford, there was something you wanted to talk about?"
Luke frowned with displeasure when he heard her call him 'Mr. Crawford'. However, upon remembering that she was being
forced, he could only sigh and accept her distancing herself from him.
"Are you going back to Russia for New Year's this year?" Luke asked.
"I'm not," Luca replied without much thought. Everyone else could spend New Year's at home with their family, but it was different
for her. She was with her family, but she had a completely different identity now.
"That's nice. So you'll be spending the holidays in A City, right?" Luke confirmed.
"Yeah." Luca nodded.
"Let's go buy gifts this weekend, then," Luke suggested.
Luca did not expect such an invitation from Luke, since gift purchasing was usually done by Aunt Neile.
Luca had no choice but to brave on. “Mr. Crawford, I don't believe I'm well versed with the practices of New Year's here."
Luke watched her try to lie with exasperation but knew that he could not expose her. "Then we'll have Aunt Neile come with us."
Luca's lips parted. She originally wanted to offer to leave the preparations to Aunt Neile, but the man's decision had destroyed all
chances to raise such an offer.
"Don't you want to experience the Thanksgiving atmosphere?" Luke looked at her. "Lanie and the others look forward to this
holiday a lot. Buying gifts is a crucial part of this festivity."
"Alright, then..." Luca wanted to spend New Year's with her children as well.
Luke put down the glass. As they chatted, they managed to drink more than half a bottle of red wine. Luca herself had finished
the other half.
He raised his gaze to look at the time. It was already past 11.
They had both drank and were slightly tipsy. To retire to bed now guaranteed the best sleeping quality.
Luke took Luca's hand and stood. "Time to sleep."
"Hmm?" Luca let him pull her up. She was confused since Luke said that there was something he wanted to discuss. 'Was gift
purchasing all he wanted to discuss?'
"We've already discussed everything," Luke said as he walked toward the stairs.
Luca followed him to the second floor.
Luke pushed open Luca's bedroom door and walked in. Then, he took off his jacket to reveal sleepwear underneath.
Luca made no comment when she saw his actions. She took her jacket off to reveal her sleepwear as well. Then, the two of
them climbed into bed.
Luke shuffled around until he found a comfortable position and wrapped his arms around her to sleep.
Luca was used to sleeping in his arms as well, so she did not move around and fell asleep too.
The following day at Crawford Manor.
Susan sat on the sofa as she scrolled through the photos sent to her by the photographer.
It was the photographer Louis had employed to take photos of the banquet the night before. The photographer was rather
famous in A City, and Susan scrolled through the photos projected on the TV screen with satisfaction.
The photographer was skilled, and she looked beautiful in his photos.
The photographer continued to show her the photos seeing as Susan made no comments about them.
That was until Susan saw a photo of Luca and Luke entering the venue. She frowned. "Why'd you take photos of them?"
The photographer looked at the photo and explained, "I take photos of essentially every guest, but because they're candid
pictures, I can't guarantee that every photo is of good quality. So I usually save photos that are relatively well taken."
He was an experienced photographer and knew that many hosts liked to have photos of their guests taken for reference.
Not to mention that the photographer recognized Luke. Besides, a good-looking couple was always nice to take photos of, so he
snapped a few more shots of them.
He did not expect the photos to garner Susan's displeasure.
“I was the main character of the night. Why were you taking photos of unrelated people?" They were on the second floor, so
Susan had no fear that Old Master Crawford would hear what she was saying. As such, Susan's choice of words was harsh and
implied that Luke was not part of her family.
"Unrelated..." The photographer was confused. Luke was a Crawford too, so he did not understand why Luke was suddenly
'someone unrelated'.
"Every photo that contains Luke is to be deleted. I don't want to see any photos I'm not in," Susan said as she scrolled through
them, only to realize that the next few photos were all of Luke.
Three of them had Luca too.
The woman was dressed simply that night. When Susan saw the necklace Luca was wearing yesterday, she found it rather plain
and did not understand why the photographer took photos of her.
"Alright. I'll delete them right away." The photographer did not understand what Susan was thinking, but since the customer was
always right, he immediately deleted the pictures on his computer.
Susan was still displeased. She felt insulted to know that Luke's photos were taken along with hers.
After all, Luke was Allison's son, and Allison was a mistress her husband cheated on her with. Susan had never been able to
throw either of them out of the Crawford family. She took it as a personal attack on her status as her husband's legal wife.
She had endured the humiliation for years, and it built resentment deep within her.
The photographer arrived at the next photo after deleting the photos of Luke. It was a family photo, so he decided to ask Susan
first before deleting it. "Do you want this deleted too, Madam Crawford?"
It was a family photo, meaning Luke was in it too.
Susan glared at the photo and was about to tell the photographer to delete it when she suddenly thought about Old Master
Crawford.
Old Master Crawford was the one who asked for a family photo as he said that it had been years since the one at home was last
updated. Hence, he wanted to take the chance to update it.
If she deleted this photo, she did not know how she should explain it to Old Master Crawford.
"Leave it." Susan finally decided after much thought.
Old Master Crawford was still the head of the family, so it was not her place to decide whether to delete the photo or not.
The photographer nodded and continued to scroll through the photos.
Since Louis had selected the most expensive photo-taking service, many photos ended up being saved and left for Susan to
decide whether to refine the photos or leave them be.