A ringtone was heard. It was Serenity’s phone. Her instincts told her that it was her husband’s call. When she took her phone out, it was really Zachary who was calling. “My husband’s calling me,” Serenity told her two best friends. Jasmine was tactful and walked away to take a novel she had not finished from a bookshelf. Elisa laughed and said, “I should be going back too. If there are no problems with the contract, I’ll have someone sign the contract with the mayor. Our project can commence afterward.”She took her bag as she spoke and left after speaking. Serenity smiled and proceeded to answer Zachary’s call. “Honey.”Zachary’s voice was warm and alluring. He was captivating his wife with his voice on purpose. Serenity could not stand him doing it. She could not help shuddering. She laughed and said, “Just say what you want to, Zachary. You don’t have to seduce me.”Zachary was speechless. “Why are you laughing? I heard your laughter when you answered my call
“Mm. They came to thank me. My granddad brought my uncles and cousins over too. The two families quarreled. Chelsea and Mrs. Brown chased my granddad and the others out with the broom. The tires of John’s car were punctured too. Chelsea did it.”Zachary laughed upon hearing that. “The Brown family has finally done a satisfying thing.”Serenity giggled. “My granddad and the others probably came to tell me that my dad wasn’t their biological son. They want us to give up on inheriting the property. If we don’t, they’ll likely negotiate with us. Getting my parents’ property back without fighting a lawsuit is the best-case scenario.”If Old Mr. Hunt really wanted to negotiate, Serenity would be willing to do it too. However, there was no way she would give up on her inheritance. “Me and Granddad’s DNA test results will be out within these two days. I’ll see how they can continue making this up after I get the results.”“It’ll be ready by tomorrow. I’ll go and get the results with
“Mm, he said there’s a lunch appointment in the afternoon.”Tania said nonchalantly, “Tell him you won’t be going then. We haven’t eaten outside or gone shopping together before. Zack won’t fight me on this.”People have been spreading rumors that she had had a bad relationship with Serenity. They said Serenity had always attended banquets with Mrs. Stone but was rarely seen returning to the manor to accompany her mother-in-law; neither had they eaten together in public or gone shopping. Tania wanted to ignore the rumors. She was aware of the status of her relationship with Serenity. However, she was asked about it by her friends whenever she went to play cards with them. She felt annoyed. Tania gave up on playing cards and looked for her daughter-in-law immediately. She wanted to take her daughter-in-law and splurge at luxury brand boutiques. She would dispel the rumors with concrete actions. That was the reason for Tania’s sudden visit. “Okay.”Serenity was about to call
Serenity hung up the phone after saying a few words to Zachary.Not two minutes later, she received a notification that money was transferred to her bank account.Zachary changed the phone number bound to the household bank card to hers. He was worried she would feel uncomfortable if he received a notification every time she spent money.He told her to let her use the money at will, but...Zachary was very considerate with regard to that.After the phone number linked to the account was changed to Serenity’s, she became much more comfortable when spending money.Zachary transferred a sum of money to the account and told Serenity to spend as much as she wanted while shopping with her mother-in-law.Liberty arrived a few minutes later.Only when her nephew was handed over to her sister did Serenity accompany her mother-in-law to lunch.Then, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law spent time together until the evening.Tania was the wife of the current head of the York family. Th
Meanwhile, when Serenity saw the entertainment news article, she was silent for a long time before saying to her friend, “Now that my status is different, every little thing can make it to the entertainment section of the news.”It was her first time making the news after becoming the missus of the York family.Jasmine was used to seeing gossip like that and laughed. “Your husband is the biggest name in Wiltspoon’s business world. You barely interact with your mother-in-law, and you’ve recently attended various parties with your aunt, so it’s natural they started to misunderstand.“A lady called your mother-in-law before to say that you were meddlesome, and she told your mother-in-law to discipline you. You heard about that, right? Those people just wanted to see your mother-in-law treating you badly because they were jealous you were able to marry into a top-class family like the Yorks.“I heard from Josh that Grandma May and your mother-in-law have the most say in the York family
Serenity’s phone rang. It was a call from Zachary.She looked at the screen and laughed. “Speak of the devil.”Jasmine said, “Be happy about it. Mr. York is so busy, but he still calls you every once in a while. It’s clear that he really dotes on you. Of course, my Josh isn’t bad to me either. Oh, he’s not mine yet. He hasn’t proposed to me yet.”Serenity answered the call.“Honey, I’m on my way. I’ll reach in ten minutes.”“You’re coming here?”Serenity was a little surprised because she did not know why Zachary was suddenly coming over. However, she soon figured it out. He said that he would accompany her to get the results of the DNA test.She looked at the clock. It was half past two. He should be at work at this time.He pushed away a lot of his work to accompany her. In his heart, anything that was related to her was his number one priority.The taste of being pampered so much was sweeter than sugar.“I’ll just get the results by myself. You’re busy at work.”Zachary s
Ten minutes later, Serenity heard the sound of a car honking and spoke to her friend before taking her phone that was left on the table. She went around the counter and left.After a few steps, she turned back and picked up her bag. “I forgot to take the bag that Zachary gave me. He’ll pull a long face if I don’t go out with it.”Jasmine laughed. “What a blissful worry.”Serenity held the branded bag Zachary gave her and walked out of the bookstore. The two bodyguards saw that it was Zachary who came to pick her up and very sensibly did not follow her again.Zachary got out of the car, holding a bouquet in one hand and opening the car door for her with the other. He passed the bouquet to Serenity when she approached.“This is for you, honey.”“Thanks, babe.”Serenity took the bouquet, smiled and kissed Zachary’s face, and got into the car.Zachary touched the place she kissed with a smile in his eyes, then followed her into the car.“Honey, I brought you some pastries for afte
“What does it say?”Zachary had not seen the results yet. He watched her actions but could not see a smile on her face, so he assumed his father-in-law really was not the biological son of Old Mr. and Mrs. Hunt.“The results say that my granddad and I are related by blood. My dad is their biological child.”“They’re actually related by blood? With how badly they treat you, I always thought you weren’t biologically related.”Serenity looked at her husband and seemed amused. “You sound like you were hoping my dad wasn’t their biological child.”Zachary said sheepishly, “They’re so ruthless that I thought your dad wasn’t their own. How can they do this when he’s their actual son? It’s heartbreaking.”“My sister and I had our hearts broken by them long ago. We’ll never reconcile in our lifetime.”Serenity put the results away. She had not received a reply from her sister yet, so she guessed that Liberty should be sleeping.The business at All You Can Eat was booming, and Liberty wa
There were still traces of blood at the corners of her mouth and under her nose.Justin and Jason worked together to pull Caroline out, and Adrian immediately tied her legs together before binding her hands behind her back.“Are you going to feed me to the fish, Adrian?”Hearing the sound of the waves and feeling the cold sea breeze, Caroline shivered.She did not stand up and remained lying on the ground.Adrian kicked her several times, venting his pent-up anger.Caroline silently endured it.After kicking her a few times, Adrian squatted, gripping Caroline's chin forcefully with one hand, and said coldly, “Caroline, there’s nothing more to say between us.“Don’t blame us for being heartless. You’re the one who pushed us to this point.“You only have yourself to blame.“Where are the passwords and keys to Mom's private assets? Tell us, and we’ll make it quick for you, so you won’t suffer too much.“If you don’t, we have plenty of time to slowly cut you piece by piece and m
“We can’t just keep giving them money, now can we?”Adrian replied, “That’s not a priority for now. We can burn that bridge when we come to it. If they do dare blackmail us, we’ll just send them on to meet their maker.“The only thing is they both have families. If we kill them, we have to kill their families too. That way, there’ll be no one who’ll report it to the police.“And it’s best to make it seem like an accident too, or else it’ll seem suspicious.”Justin and Jason both felt Adrian was right. If they were going to kill the Dott brothers, they might as well kill their families too.Caroline internally cursed how merciless they were. The Dott brothers thought they could earn some money from Adrian to live a better life but little did they know, it would bring destruction upon themselves and their families.What the Clark brothers did not know was that the Dotts were forced to say what they did earlier.It was not that they had not left yet. Rather, they could not, because
Belinda had done everything other mothers would have. She loved them, yet the three of them had gotten a smaller portion of her wealth than their own children did. Indeed, Belinda left her grandchildren with more money.After all, her grandchildren still had a long life ahead of them.Therefore, she distributed more wealth to them. The Clark brothers loved spending lavishly and kept losing money whenever they tried to establish businesses. They also had many mistresses and never hesitated to spend money on them. Belinda was partial toward her sons about their affairs and also persuaded her daughters-in-law not to get a divorce. In truth, she resented her three sons for being promiscuous and inheriting their father’s flirtatious traits. While Hunter may have been interested in other girls, he dared not cheat on Belinda because she was strict. However, he still had an affair the moment he spotted an opportunity.Later, Belinda chased the Clark brothers’ mistresses out of
Celine, whom they had cared for all long, was not their biological sister but the daughter of the previous butler. Celine’s father was ambitious. He tried making his daughter the Fisher family’s successor. Justin was speechless.“Free me, Jason. I’m already in your hands. Are you still scared that I’ll escape? Let me out. It’s too stuffy in the sack. I feel terrible.”Caroline made a request. Jason seemed to be the one with some lingering feelings for his sibling. Well, that was not really the case.If he truly had even a sliver of sibling love for Caroline, he would have stopped Adrian and Justin from kidnapping her instead of joining the plan. If Caroline had been fortunate, she could have had five brothers doting on her. Sadly, she was unlucky. None of the five brothers had cared for her. They all wanted her dead. Was she a failure as a person, or were they too cruel?Jason said, “Just stay put, Caroline. We’ll let you out when we arrive.”They could not release Car
Caroline could not beat them. Then, her mouth was gagged with a cloth, and her head was covered with a sack. Someone forced her into a car. She heard Adrian saying to his brothers, “Let’s go.“Tell Celine’s brothers to follow us. Assign a few people to clean up and leave quickly.”After that, Caroline heard the sound of an engine starting. The car moved. She could not see what was happening. While she was shoved into the backseat, her arms and legs were unbound. She removed the cloth from her mouth but not the sack from her head.Someone held the sack tightly and started hitting and kicking her. “Tie the sack, Justin,” said Jason in a hurry. The person beating her up was Justin. “I know it’s you guys, Justin and Jason. What are you doing? Let me go. Mmph…”Caroline grunted in pain. She suffered a punch from Justin. She held her head tightly to prevent any injury to it. Many blows landed on her body. “It’s fine even if you know it’s us, Caroline. You better stay
“Ms. Caroline.”The bodyguards looked toward Caroline. Caroline opened her eyes and said calmly, “Stop the car, but don’t get out. Only get out when the situation gets out of hand. Remember to protect yourselves.”“Ms. Caroline…”“I’ll keep myself safe. Don’t worry. I treasure my life. There’s still a long life ahead of me. I haven’t even started enjoying good days. I won’t want to die.”Caroline chuckled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. There was sorrow in those eyes. In the end, she and her brothers could not coexist. It made her realize how bad her luck was with families. She was switched at birth and mistreated by her adoptive family. She thought her biological parents would treat her well after returning to them, but it turned out to be the opposite. Caroline had many family members, yet somehow, she was still alone. The people who truly cared about her were Darren, Liberty, and some others. Caroline’s bodyguards knew she had been waiting for that moment.
The bodyguard in the passenger seat turned and informed Caroline. Caroline remained calm. She said, “Speed up and let them chase us. The road ahead has many curves. A truck will turn over if it goes too fast.”The people in the truck were probably her brothers from the Dott family. She wondered how much money Adrian had given them. Were they planning to drive the truck to chase her and create an accident?Caroline’s driver immediately acted on her orders. The truck behind them accelerated as well. Soon, they arrived at the section of the road with many curves and downhills.Accidents could happen easily if a car drove too quickly at a curve. The truck driver was not ready to give up his life. He decelerated when he saw the curved road ahead. By the time the truck turned, Caroline’s car was gone. The truck driver immediately stepped on the brake. He stopped by the roadside and made a call. He was not one of the Dott brothers but someone else they hired. The driver c
“They’re my biological brothers and father, Em. Although they had attacked me with their words before, they never hurt me physically.“It’s okay. I have bodyguards with me.”Caroline was letting Emma know that she would still be heading home. After sighing, Emma said, “Be careful. Call the police if something feels off. We didn’t treat you well in the past, Carol, but I saw through your family and came to a realization.“You helped me a lot, and you’re the aunt of my children. I wish you well.”Caroline knew Emma was genuinely concerned about her. Ever since she exposed her brothers’ affairs and took her sisters-in-law’s side, her sisters-in-law, especially Emma, have changed their attitudes toward her. When Adrian and Emma were fighting on the verge of divorcing, Caroline stood by Emma unwaveringly. She had also assisted Emma in many instances. Although Emma had left the Fisher family, she would always be Caroline's sister-in-law. “I will be careful and live well, Em.
Since it would be a sleepless night, drinking some coffee could help them stay awake. At eleven o’clock, Caroline and her bodyguards left the cafe. She sensed some people had been following her the entire night. The bodyguards had also noticed it, but Caroline prevented them from alarming those people and let them continue following her. It would be none other than Adrian’s people anyway. Adrian, Justin, and Jason had finished their tasks early and got off work on time. They had the entire night to themselves as they did not have to work or attend events. After Caroline got in her car, she suddenly received a call from Emma. She picked up the call. “Hi, Emma.”“You can call me comfortably, Carol. I’m not your sister-in-law anymore.”Caroline immediately switched to Emma’s nickname. “Why aren’t you asleep but calling me at this hour, Em? I hope my nieces and nephews are obedient. Now that the school term has started, you should be able to relax when they’re at school