Take My Breath Away

Evelyn let go of Debbie and hugged Ivan. "Daddy Ivan, I missed you," she said sweetly.

At first, Ivan was surprised to hear her call him "Daddy Ivan." But after a moment's consideration, he got it. She called Carlos "Daddy" now. "You have your real daddy now. Daddy Ivan is sad."

Shaking her head, Evelyn consoled him, "No, I like Daddy Ivan. Won't forget Daddy Ivan."

Ivan was amused. He kissed her and said, "I'm happy. Go play."

Jus, Evelyn and Sean left their parents and they scampered off to play their own games. After mingling with the other guests, Debbie, hand in hand with Ivan, walked over to Carlos and handed him the birthday present. "Happy birthday, Mr. Huo," she said, standing over the couch where he sat.

Carlos glanced at the gift but didn't take it. "Who is it from?" he asked.

"Both of us," Debbie said purposefully.

"Oh." Carlos motioned Frankie to accept the gift and put it over on a table. Far from him.

Stephanie was sitting next to Carlos, and watched the whole exchange, smug and amused.

Ivan smiled, paying no heed to Carlos' cold attitude. He put his arm around Debbie's waist and pulled her into his arms. "Happy 32nd, Mr. Huo!" he said provocatively.

At the sight of the two in each other's arms, Carlos' face grew gloomy. "You doing this on purpose?"

"Doing what, Mr. Huo?" Ivan played dumb.

Carlos got up from the couch and walked over to Debbie and Ivan. "Mr. Wen, It looks like Kasie is here." A simple sentence, but you could tell by his tone it had tons of meaning.

Ivan looked where Carlos was gesturing, and finally saw Kasie, sitting in a corner playing games on her phone. Debbie was also surprised to see her here. She was thinking of calling her to ask where she was.

She wrenched her hand out of Ivan's grasp, walked over to Kasie and asked, "Hey girl! When did you get here? I called you a couple of times on the way, but the line was busy the whole time."

Kasie swayed her phone before Debbie's eyes. "Fifty minutes on the phone

Drugged one night by her ex-boyfriend, a mysterious man took advantage of her in an ecstatic night filled with sex.

To take her revenge, she married the man, and used him.

"As long as I'm alive, I'm still his legal wife, while all of you are just his mistresses."

She remained adamant even when he was involved in scandals with other women.

Eventually she stormed off after she learned that he had betrayed her again.But life brought her back to him a few years later, to his astonishment.

he looked up at Debbie without talking.

And nobody else dared make a sound. The atmosphere of dread was palpable.

Kinsley and Niles exchanged glances. They wanted to laugh, crack a joke, do something, but the killer look in Carlos' eyes made them lose their nerve.

The silence lasted ten minutes. Carlos changed expressions at the drop of a hat. No one knew what was going on, but the atmosphere of danger he radiated kept them from trying to see if he was okay.

For the first time, Debbie saw so many expressions on his face.

When everybody was trying to figure out what was going through his mind, he suddenly lunged at Debbie, wrapping her in his arms. "How could you marry Ivan!" he said through gritted teeth. "Damn you! Did you just pretend I was dead? Was it easier that way?"

His abrupt rage astonished her. It was like a storm surge ravaging a coastline. "You...you... you were going to marry Stephanie. Why do you get to be angry at me?" She was confused. She and Ivan had been married for a while. Why was Carlos angry at her now?

Her backtalk made Carlos furious. "Then why didn't you stop me? Or yell at me? Why didn't you beat me up and knock some sense into me? Why didn't you chase her off? Why did you give up easily on me? That's not like you."

Everyone was so shocked they were paralyzed into inaction.