FC & Co.’s subsidiary in Wiltspoon could be a group on its own. The business was growing rapidly. As the person in charge, Remy would only be busier and be stationed here. Remy used to spend a week at FC Manor every month and could not be bothered to return to Wiltspoon. Now, it was the other way round—he did not want to leave Wiltspoon. Jane’s due date was approaching. Remy was dying to find out if he would get a niece. That would be the reason for him to make a trip to Annenburg right away. However, the trip could wait if he received another nephew in the family. “You must convince the Stones that she will remain in Wiltspoon even after she marries you. Just let them know that Elisa will only be a walk away from them. It only takes two minutes to go and have dinner with them.” Remy grinned. “I’ll let them know that they won’t be losing a daughter when Elisa marries me. Instead, they will be gaining a son-in-law.” Zachary smiled. “You’re as conniving as ever. Here’s to
“You have been to many upper-class gatherings with Ms. Sox. You’re not shy to socialize. In fact, you carry yourself with grace. The former you simply did not want to attract attention.” Mrs. Stone had a clear idea of her nieces’ history. Serenity answered with a smile, “Mrs. Lowe would take me and Jasmine to parties, but we were there for the food.” Jasmine would persuade Serenity to go along every time. The pair would arrive at the scene and find a seat in a corner to enjoy the feast in delight. For foodies, it was all about the food. Once their bellies were filled, the pair would admire and appreciate the beautiful people at the party while discussing between themselves. Hence why no one knew Serenity and Jasmine’s names even though they had attended multiple social gatherings. Jasmine made a name for herself when she lay down on the ground during Mrs. Dawson’s birthday celebration. “Liberty.” Mrs. Stone could relax when it came to her younger niece. Serenity was l
“Any news, Seren?” Mrs. Stone threw a question at Serenity. Serenity huddled together with Elisa watching reels when her aunt asked her a question. Lifting her chin, she asked in confusion, “What news, Aunt Audrey?” Elisa stopped the videos and looked at her mother. “Are you referring to our investment? The contracts are signed and out of the way, so the work can commence now. I’m hiring a few agriculturists to start farming. Seren, we should get a start on the sales front too.” Elisa was running the sales bit now. However, agriculture was still underway, and nothing had grown yet. Hence, they had not received any orders. Serenity responded, “Sure. Tomorrow night is a good opportunity.” Old Mr. Marshall’s birthday celebration was a business engagement too. Mrs. Stone was speechless. Judging by the scowl on her mother’s face, Elisa realized they got the wrong answer. She gave Serenity a nudge. It dawned on Serenity what Mrs. Stone was trying to get to. “Aunt Audrey,
Serenity gave it a thought before replying, “I don’t take on a lot of stress. My in-laws are not pressuring me either. Nana only talked about having a great-granddaughter every once in a while. Zachary said he’s taking me on a trip to Annenburg once he’s done with his work. We’re going to visit Mr. Young-Johnson.” Zachary believed Serenity did not have many friends, so he was trying to get her and Ben’s wife, Jane, together. Since Remy was part of the Johnson family, and he was in love with Elisa, Serenity could befriend Jane and get an understanding of the Johnson family for Elisa. At least, she could check out if the Johnsons were as nice as the public put it out to be. The way Serenity saw it, Elisa and Remy got along well. They looked good together. Serenity would stand on Elisa’s corner and convince Aunt Audrey if the Johnsons proved to be a good family and if Elisa developed feelings for Remy too. Sure, Remy was hailed from Annenburg, but he had bought a house next to the
After walking Serenity to the door and seeing her drive away, Mrs. Stone turned on her heel and returned to the house. No sooner had Serenity returned to the shop than Jessica barged in. Serenity was surprised by Jessica showing up. “Where’s your sister, Serenity?” Jessica shot the question the moment she walked into the shop. “What business do you have with my sister, Mrs. Brown?” Serenity put away her car keys and faintly asked Jessica. Jasmine kept her eyes peeled, ready with a broom for when Jessica got out of line. Jessica was black and blue in the face. With that black eye, she appeared rather gaunt. She was only twenty-five years old, a year younger than Serenity. Yet, Jessica looked a lot older than Serenity right now. It was probably because Hank did want to foot the bills for her expensive skincare products now that he got the girl. Liberty had a better skincare routine than Jessica currently. Serenity had no sympathy for Jessica despite how she looked now.
Jessica made a long face.A while later, she turned on her heel and walked out. “Mrs. Brown.” With Serenity calling after Jessica, Jessica turned around and looked at her, waiting to get an answer about Liberty’s whereabouts. Serenity played nice and reminded her, “The bruises on your face are obvious. You might want to get something to clear them away. I heard that your wedding with Mr. Brown is coming up. The black and blue would not go well with the theme of your wedding.” Jessica’s wrinkles deepened with a grimace. Without a word, she cocked her head back and strutted out of the shop with her chest out. It was as if by doing so, she could prove her life could not be any better. A delivery person arrived. Jasmine ordered milkshakes to the shop. She took the milkshakes and gave a cup to her best friend. Jasmine gloated, “The Browns must have abused her. I thought she was all that, and her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had nothing on her.” Sipping on the milksha
Although Callum brought Camryn two business deals and revenue, she could not possibly spend all the profits on buying him dinner. “Alright. You can pick the place since it’s your treat. I’m happy if you want to cook for me too.” It did not matter to Callum where he was having the meal so long as his fiancée was treating him. If Camryn could read his mind, she would challenge Callum about her being his fiancée. Likewise, Callum would refute that since his nana made her his spouse candidate, so she was his fiancée. “I can’t see, Mr. Callum. I can’t cook.” Camryn calmly reminded Callum that she was blind.She could move freely in a familiar environment, but cooking was on another level. Camryn would make her own food if she had her eyesight. Despite being a child of the Newman family, Camryn used to do everything herself.The smile on Callum’s face faded. Oh, right. She could not see. How was she supposed to cook? He would probably not taste his wife’s cooking if she sti
Camryn and her aunt had an idea of who fed her the poison, but they had no hard evidence. Ten years ago, Camryn was only a sixteen-year-old teenager. Since her aunt had married and moved out of the city, she could rarely come back to her family home. They could not find proof against the poisoner. All Camryn knew was that her aunt got into a fight with her stepfather. Her aunt left in tears after her stepfather slapped her. Since then, her aunt always stayed at Wiltspoon Hotel whenever she was back in the city. She had not stepped foot into the Newmans’ residence. Callum commented, “You have a positive outlook on life.” Camryn faintly replied, “What can I do? Will crying help me see again?“No matter what happens, I need to face and accept reality.” Impressed, Callum uttered, “Not bad. I like the way you think.” With a straight face, Camryn asked, “What time is it, Mr. Callum? We should go and have dinner if it’s time.” One employee had gone out to make a floral delivery
Austin said, “He’s definitely here to discuss a potential partnership with your company.“He's just the acting head of the Longbottoms. He doesn’t truly control the family. If the real head returns, everything he’s worked for will go to someone else.“The downfall of Belinda Fisher probably gave him a wake-up call and he doesn’t want to end up like that.“He’s definitely seeking to cooperate with you regarding his personal business. He’s just using the Longbottoms’ name, since their influence in Windermere is enormous.”In terms of wealth, the O'Connors and the Longbottoms were on equal footing, but the O'Connors had fewer members and did not have the same level of influence in Windermere as the Longbottoms.Isabella said, “He’s very ambitious. A partnership would only just be the beginning. Once it’s established, he’ll start thinking about how to cheat us and steal our business.“Plus, he’s very lecherous. Nobody can put a number to how many women he’s toyed with. Some even lost
Tony was aware that whenever his wife had to play the villain, it was always to protect him. He said, “You're right, I misspoke. Your mother isn’t that kind of person.”“Manny, I’ll be leaving soon. You stay here, and I’ll leave half of my men with you. If anything comes up that you can't handle, contact me. I’ll be waiting to hear good news from you.” Tony decided to fly to Wiltspoon in the afternoon. He would only stay for two or three days before returning to Havenmill to handle business.However, as he thought about how he was working like a horse for Longbottom Corporation when many of the benefits did not even belong to him personally, Tony felt a bit disgruntled.“Got it.” Manny did not reject his father’s arrangement.As the Longbottom father and son were discussing how to deal with the O’Connors, Austin entered Isabella’s office.Isabella was busy, so Austin did not disturb her. He quietly sat at the tea table and made some tea.“It seems you’ve learned the art of tea-
Manny had never been to Wiltspoon, but he knew from his father that several prominent families in Wiltspoon had close ties with the Johnsons from Annenburg. It was possible that the child adopted by the Johnsons’ young missus was Laurence. Unfortunately, he could not meet that child, so he could not be a hundred percent certain. The child was currently out of sight and well-protected, hidden so effectively that even the Longbottoms’ information network could not find anything. The other prominent families in Wiltspoon were also helping to keep the child hidden, so Manny deeply disliked the people from these families. Even though they were thousands of miles away, they were still an obstacle to him and his father in their pursuit of becoming the true head of the family.“That's right. If we can conquer the O’Connors, we’ll have a backup plan,” his father said. “You must put your all into it, son. If you need help, just let me know, though this is also an opportunity for you to ge
Tony Longbottom was the only person who would put on such a parade. The big shots in Satbury usually had entourages of their own, but none would put on a spectacle as big as Tony would.As they departed in their car, Tony’s gracious demeanor utterly shattered.His face twisted into an ugly, cruel expression as he said, “I’ve never been treated like this before, even when the legitimate branch of the family still lived, and those two ignorant little girls actually refused to see me multiple times.”Manny was very angry too and he said, “Pops, since they refuse to go about this the easy way, we’ll have to show them the hard way. We can approach it from other angles, and once they’re completely out of business and they have nowhere else to turn to, they’ll be at our mercy.“Won’t they have to do as we please then? I want to marry them, they’ll have to marry me, and if I don’t, I’ll just make them my mistresses. Don’t the O’Connors have plenty of daughters? I’ll fuck every one of them
“Isabella O’Connor is so outstanding, so why are you asking me to go for Tati O’Connor instead?” Manny said under his breath in puzzlement.He had seen photos of the two ladies and Isabella’s appearance was more striking. She had a cold and aloof aura that easily triggered his desire to conquer her, and after just a few glances, he was captivated.If it were up to him, Manny would choose Isabella.Tony looked at his son, smiled, and said, “You can’t control her. Of course, if you manage to make her fall for you, we can talk about switching. But for now, focus on Tati O’Connor.”Tati was also beautiful. However, she did not have Isabella’s cold demeanor. She seemed much gentler, like she smiled often.“Marrying Tati O’Connor would be a big advantage for both you and our family.”Manny thought for a moment and then nodded in understanding. “Got it, Dad.”Manny’s good looks, wealth, honeyed tongue, and generosity toward girls made him good at winning them over. Pursuing a rich youn
After testing the O’Connor sisters and realizing they were not like other women, Mr. Longbottom thought of having his son marry Tati.He knew that his son would not be able to handle or control Isabella, so he set his sights on Tati. Tati probably did not realize she was considered an easy target. Most people underestimated her because she had always kept a low profile.At that moment, a young man got out from the other side of the Rolls-Royce. He resembled Mr. Longbottom. Indeed, he was Mr. Longbotton’s eldest son, Manny.“Dad.”Manny went to his father’s side and glanced at the building before him. He asked, “Aren’t we driving inside?”In Havenmill, Manny could do whatever he wished because his father was the interim head of the Longbottom family. While he had no respect for ordinary people at all, he was clever enough not to offend people he should not.He never parked his car outside the places he wanted to go and simply drove his car through the gates. However, Manny
Meanwhile in Satbury, a few luxury cars stopped at the entrance of Costa Corporation. The door of the first car, a Rolls-Royce, opened. A bodyguard came out of the car.He waited for his boss, who was sitting in the backseat to exit.Mr. Longbottom got out of the car. Although he was over fifty years old, he looked like he was in his forties as he maintained his appearance well.He wore a white tailored suit with a tie, which made him look more youthful.The bodyguards in the other cars alighted as well.They quickly stood behind Mr. Longbottom to protect him. It was also his display of power.A few bodyguards grabbed many gift boxes from the trunks. Mr. Longbottom stood in front of the company and raised his head to look at the sixty-eight-storey office building. It was a symbol of the O’Connor family’s abilities.Costa Corporation was not the family’s only business. They were involved in many industries and were successful in all of them.The O’Connors were wealthy and powe
Jasmine added, “In some cases, the divorced women can get married to a better man, while the divorced men can’t even find a new wife. There are many single men now.“Isn’t there a saying nowadays that men who have wives are extremely lucky?”When Jasmine was at the bookstore, she would also visit the neighboring stores to listen to juicy gossip. Many of the store owners were not locals and they had many stories to tell. Someone said there was an evil mother-in-law in a rural area who looked down on her daughter-in-law. She would egg her son on to abuse his wife and get a divorce. She would also tell her son that she could find a better and younger wife for him. However, once the divorce went through, news of the mother-in-law’s evil deeds and the son’s domestic abuse spread far and wide. Who would dare marry off their daughters to a man like that?Besides, holding another wedding would require a lot of money. The cost of a wedding had increased a lot compared to the past.Whe
“Sonny’s fine. He has recovered. You want to get Sonny from school?”After thinking about it, Serenity agreed and said, “Okay. I’ll message Sonny’s teacher later to tell her you’ll be taking him.”“Okay, Serenity. Thank you.”Hank was thankful that Serenity did not make things difficult for him. Serenity and Liberty had great character. Liberty had a new relationship and already let go of her resentment for Hank. She could coexist with him peacefully. On the other hand, Serenity still held grudges against Hank. However, since he and Liberty had divorced, he could no longer hurt her. He was also Sonny’s father. Serenity was willing to tolerate him for Sonny’s sake. Therefore, she always said yes whenever Hank requested to meet his son. “You’ll be taking Sonny out to eat after picking him up, right? Remember not to let him eat too much fried food, especially fried chicken and fries. He’ll get a sore throat.“He got a fever that day due to a throat inflammation.”“Got it. I’ll