Jessica started looking around the place the moment she set foot in the diner. She was disappointed that Sonny was not around, but she did not show it on her face. It was the two servers’ first day, so they had no idea about Liberty’s relationship with Hank. One of them came forth with a smile on her face, asking the couple what they would like to eat. Hank brought Jessica to an empty table to sit down. “Jessica, wifey, what would you like to eat?” Before they went out, Jessica had demanded Hank to specifically call her “wifey” in Liberty’s presence. Even though Liberty had no feelings for Hank, Jessica could not stop herself from seeing Liberty as her love rival. It was probably because Jessica stole Hank from Liberty. Hence, she felt insecure that Hank would be taken by another. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.” Hank told the waitress, “Two breakfast sets.” She took down their order and asked the couple to wait while she brought the food to them. Most of the foo
“Sonny went with his uncle.” “Mr. York? Isn’t Sonny asleep?”Liberty faintly remarked, “He’s asleep. Zachary carried him away in that state. You can pick him up at York Corporation if you want to.” Hank was speechless. “If Sonny doesn’t want to stay at your place for a few days, you can visit him at Seren’s bookshop. It would be hard for me to find the time to look after him since I’m busy, but he’ll be spending a lot of time at Seren’s bookshop. Furrowing his brows, Hank said nothing more. Given a choice, Sonny would rather pick his aunt over his father. Hank had once told his son that he would take him to the zoo. The little guy was happy, but he left with his aunt the next day anyway. Sonny was willing to give up on the trip to the zoo. He knew where he stood. Hank had not been a good father. Although his son called him dad, they were not very close. He returned to his seat at the table. Jessica asked, “You look upset. What happened? Did you get into another row w
Seeing the light, the receptionist uttered with a smile, “That sounds about right. The child must be his wife’s nephew. I can’t believe the CEO would bring his nephew to the office. People would think he was carrying his own son by the gentle way he held the child.” “He might be dying to be a father… Maybe the missus is pregnant, and he is doing a practice run on caring for a child. He probably wants to be a very involved father.” The other receptionist was shocked. Was it possible? Deep in his sleep, Sonny did not wake up during the car ride and the walk to the office. His uncle finally laid him down on the bed in the private resting room. Zachary bent over to take off Sonny’s shoes and socks before removing his jacket. He also tucked the boy under the blanket. The sight of the adorable child only made Zachary’s heart melt. He leaned forward to kiss Sonny on the cheek. “Sonny, I want to have a little boy or little girl with your aunt every time I look at you.” The boy a
Duncan was without a word. Since Duncan’s purpose of being here was to talk about partnership with his best friend, the pair soon got right into it. Once the duo ironed out all the kinks, Duncan was ready to leave and said, “I’m going to check on Sonny again. I’ll take him out for some fun if he’s awake.” “You take him out? I bet he will cry his eyes out while you panic and rush to send him back.” Duncan choked. That was right. Sonny did not take kindly to his hugs. Nevertheless, Duncan went into the private resting room once again. It did not take him long to yell from inside, “Zachary! Zachary! Hurry!” “What’s the matter?” His outcry gave Zachary a scare. Zachary jumped to his feet and raced into the private resting room. “Sonny wet the bed. Look at the pool of pee on the bed sheet,” Duncan told his best friend as he pointed at the child on the bed.Zachary was lost for words. He drew close and removed his jacket before picking Sonny up. Zachary then took off So
With his dark eyes sparkling, Sonny asked, “Why can’t boys wear dresses?” Duncan replied, “That’s because dresses are for girls.” Sonny turned his attention to Duncan. Zachary grabbed a pair of pants and picked Sonny up to help him into the pants. He said, “That’s because boys have to do a lot of heavy lifting, and doing the work in a dress makes it quite difficult.” “Why are boys doing the heavy lifting?” “Boys have to do the hard work, so the girls don’t have to. We leave the lighter load to your mom and your aunt.” Somewhat getting the idea, Sonny answered, “I’ll do the heavy lifting when I grow up, so Mom and Aunt Ser get less work.” Zachary remarked with a smile, “Good boy, Sonny.” Duncan had no words. Ring, ring, ring…The intercom phone was ringing. Putting Sonny down, Zachary got up to take the call. He quickly put down the phone and told Sonny, “Your mom’s here, Sonny.” “Mom’s here.” Hearing that his mother had arrived, the little guy immediately st
Getting on bended knee, Liberty asked her son, “Were you a good boy? Did you bother your uncle?” “I’ve been a good boy… But I wet my pants, Mom.” Sonny looked embarrassed when he mentioned this. Liberty inquired, “Were you sitting anywhere?” “Uncle’s bed.” Liberty was speechless. “Dunc bought me a lot of new clothes and a dress. We can keep the dress for Aunt Ser’s baby girl.” Liberty had no words. Duncan shopped for clothes for her son, and it included a dress too. How dense was the guy to buy a dress for a boy? Not the least bit awkward, Duncan drew close and handed the bag of clothes to Liberty. He then scooped Sonny up and told Liberty, “Come on. I’ll walk you two out.” Liberty kept up the pace. “I took my e-bike.“Mr. Lewis, how much were the clothes? Let me pay you back.” “It’s fine. They aren’t worth much.” “I should, though.” Liberty insisted on returning the money to him. Duncan hesitated for a moment before uttering, “I spent almost two thousan
Serenity woke up hungry. As she regained her senses, she habitually touched her side but did not feel the wolf. She tilted her head to look and saw that the pillow next to hers was empty. There was no warmth even under the blanket. That wolf had gotten up long ago. Serenity thought the sky had just turned bright, but when she took her phone to check the time, she froze for a while and then sat up abruptly. It was almost noon! No wonder she felt hungry. Given that she had slept so long and just woken up, it would only be strange if she was not hungry. Zachary did not wake her up. Serenity quickly took a set of clothes into the bathroom to change into them. Following that, she washed up and hurried downstairs without putting on any makeup. While she was still on the stairs, her phone rang. It was the wolf who had called. “Zachary.” Serenity stopped to answer his call. As soon as she did, she complained about him in a low voice, “You didn’t wake me when you got u
Jim walked to Serenity’s front and stopped, then he handed a small transparent bag containing a dozen strands of Old Mr. Hunt’s hair to Serenity and said, “Missus, this is what Mr. Zachary ordered me to do when he left home this morning. It’s done.” “These are? My granddad’s hair?” Serenity asked as she took the bag. The result of her discussion with Zachary last night was that she decided to use Noah to help them obtain Old Mr. Hunt’s hair. Afterward, she would take them for a DNA test. “Yes.” Serenity thanked Jim and asked, “Noah was willing to help?” “He’s quite afraid of you, Missus. I brought you up to scare him, then he conscientiously went to pluck a dozen strands of his grandpa’s hair.” As for how Noah coaxed Old Mr. Hunt into letting him pluck his hair, Jim was not bothered. Jim only wanted the result. Serenity laughed. “That kid is just young and impetuous. He doesn’t have a bad nature.” Noah was still two or three months short of turning eighteen. He was in
Caroline smiled gently. “I do quite like Sonny, he's really cute. Liberty, you've done a great job raising your son. It's easy to see that in ten or twenty years, Sonny will be very successful.”The only little one in Wiltspoon who had a familial connection to her was Sonny, as well as Clive’s son. Serenity's baby had not been born yet, after all.“Oh, by the way, I've prepared Christmas gifts for all of you, and I've written your names on them so it's clear whose gift is which. One of them is for Serenity's unborn baby. That generation will call me ‘grandaunt’, right? I'm not sure whether Serenity’s having a boy or a girl, so I've prepared a gift for both a boy and a girl. If it's a boy, then the other gift will be for her second child.”Caroline smiled and said, “Considering how much the Yorks wish for a daughter, I think Serenity and Zachary will probably give it another go and try for a daughter.”In this case, giving double the gifts was not excessive.“My nephew isn't even b
Caroline sighed internally once again. She would not ruminate about the past, and neither could she bring herself to. Mr. Foster was still alive, but he had returned to seek revenge for his master, and in doing so, he made Belinda fully realize that she would never receive his love in this lifetime. Now that Belinda was dead, all the love, hatred, and grudges had dissipated with her. Fortunately, she came to a realization before she passed on and regretted the things she had done to Tiara.Liberty said, “Your mother truly was very shrewd.”Belinda was ruthless, but when it came to making her posthumous arrangements, she had been meticulous, especially in preventing Hunter and his sons from plundering the Fisher family's assets. It had to be said that Belinda had truly done her duty as the head of the Fisher family, though as a mother, she had been too biased. She appeared very good to her three sons on the surface, but when dividing the family estate, she was very objective. “Did
The backing Liberty had was too strong.Although Caroline was familiar with the family business and internal affairs, she had no backing. The number of people supporting her within the family had also decreased. It was not because she was incompetent but because she was Belinda’s daughter. Whatever Belinda did was exposed by the media and circulated among the people of Jensburg. It would be a lie to say that the Fisher family members did not hold a grudge at all. Even if Caroline was kinder than Belinda, they could not support Belinda’s daughter as the next matriarch. People would change. When Belinda first assumed the position decades ago, she was friendly to the family. However, once her position was stabilized, she started eliminating those who were capable and those who disagreed with her. She wanted to monopolize power. Therefore, nobody wanted Caroline to take over as matriarch. On the other hand, Liberty received much more support. Unless Liberty gave up on the
At that moment, the office phone rang. Liberty picked up the call and was informed by the secretary that Caroline had arrived.“Please let her in,” replied Liberty before hanging up. “Caroline is here.”Liberty told Duncan. He said calmly, “So what? We aren’t doing anything shameful. There’s nothing to hide.”He was Liberty’s fiancée. Most people in WIltspoon and Jensburg were aware of this. Seeing him in Liberty’s office would be completely normal to Caroline. Besides, he was one of the shareholders of Liberty’s company. Therefore, the company was also Duncan’s territory. He was uninvolved in the operations and only invested his money. He believed that Liberty could manage the company well. Liberty smiled and did not say anything else. She went to prepare a pot of tea. Soon, Caroline entered. Darren was behind her with multiple shopping bags in his hands. When Liberty saw the bags upon exiting the pantry with a pot of tea, she told Caroline, “What did you br
“What’s wrong?”Duncan replied softly, “I’m fine. I thought you caught a cold because you kept sneezing.”He wanted to fuss over her, yet he received her concern instead. That was the kind of relationship he wanted—mutual concern, understanding, and trust. Liberty understood why he suddenly came to her. She said, “You got so worried over an occasional sneeze. Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’ve gotten used to the winter in Jensburg after staying here for some time.“Maybe I was sneezing because someone said something bad about me behind my back.”Duncan immediately said, “Who dares to badmouth my fiancée?”Liberty feigned anger with a glance, but she was clearly happy. Duncan was very protective of her. Even Hank was not as protective as when she was dating him back then. The difference between true and fake love was so apparent. Duncan guessed, “I can’t think of anyone who’d scold you besides your previous in-laws.”Liberty replied, “You shouldn’t think about them. I no lo
“Anyway, you’re not allowed to take advantage of Sonny. He’ll catch on because he’s growing up. Don’t offend Serenity either. Otherwise, your hardware store that has finally stabilized will have to close down.”Chelsea’s expression changed when she recalled why she and her husband lost their jobs. “One more thing. If Liberty and Duncan get married, don’t be ignorant and stir up trouble at their wedding.”Olivia was worried that her daughter would be unreasonable and make a fuss. Chelsea was unhappy. “Do I look like someone who likes to create trouble? Liberty is different and isn’t as gullible as before. I don’t have the guts to make a ruckus at their wedding.“Do you think I’m that fearless? I’m afraid of losing everything too.”Nevertheless, Chelsea was still jealous that the sister-in-law she used to bully was able to marry into a wealthy family two years after her divorce. Olivia knew well of the daughter she birthed. She said, “Think about who rescued Lucas when someth
Chelsea muttered, “Even if you do that, Sonny isn’t close to you, Mom.”Olivia was speechless for a second. She said, “Even if we aren’t close, he’ll call me grandmom when he sees me. He doesn’t even greet me now.“Sonny may be young, but he’ll be four years old next year. He knows everything he needs to and is clever. He must’ve inherited Hank and Liberty’s best genes because they used to be smart people.”Liberty was not stupid. She even had a better career than Hank before she got married. What were they thinking back then?The Browns wanted to suppress Liberty to ensure she was less dominant than Hank. Therefore, Liberty was persuaded to leave her job after marriage to stay home throughout her pregnancy. She ended up becoming a housewife and lost the sharp edge she had in her workplace. Her world only revolved around her husband and son, causing her to lose her identity gradually. The Browns were changing Liberty bit by bit, yet they were not treating her well. Ultimately
“I’m not using Sonny. Since Hank and I are siblings and he only has one son, Sonny and Lucas can get along as cousins. If Sonny hangs out with his cousins more often, he’ll have brothers who have his back in the future.“If he runs into any problems, we can help him. He won’t be alone.”Chelsea guessed Hank must have told their parents something to have caused the change in their mother’s attitude. Olivia favored Sonny and no longer wished to work toward the future of Chelsea’s children.Olivia glanced at her daughter and chuckled. Then, she looked toward Lucas, the grandson she raised. Lucas was a naughty boy. He would never stay still and had already made a mess of the house in a short period. “Look at how Lucas behaves now and compare it to Sonny’s personality. Although Sonny can get mischievous sometimes, he’s more mature and sensible despite his young age. He’ll only be more composed in the future.“Even if he does run into trouble, he won’t require your help. You guys
“Even if my husband and I work tirelessly for another decade, we can never achieve the wealth of the Lewises.”Chelsea was mentally cursing Hank for being ignorant and not mending his relationship with Sonny. He even brainwashed their parents until they stopped siding with her. She could only imagine Sonny’s bright future, where he would be living in a large villa, driving luxury cars, and inheriting a megacorporation. Meanwhile, her children could only get a decent nine-to-five job. Their monthly salary could even be lower than the price of one of Sonny’s meals.Chelsea was jealous. She was anxious about getting her son to build a close relationship with Sonny.“Why don’t we file a case to regain Sonny’s custody, Mom? Liberty and Serenity won’t ignore us so long Sonny is in our house. They’ll help us so that Sonny lives a good life too.“That way, Sonny will have a deeper connection with us. He won’t forget us when he becomes a capable person.”Chelsea had a pipe dream. O