Zachary answered in a mild manner, “I’m a nocturnal person. I’m not usually home at this hour.” He adjusted his schedule and was in the same time zone as the majority of people in the city after he got married. “Sit,” Julian said to Zachary. “This calls for some liquor. I brought out my good alcohol.” There was a bottle of liquor and two glasses on the coffee table. Judging by the alcohol in the glasses, the cousins had been drinking. Zachary rejected. “Thank you, but my wife doesn’t like me drinking. She’s not keen on the alcohol stench. I rarely drink when I go socializing now.” Julian was dumbstruck at first, but he soon burst into laughter. “Josh said the power of love has changed you. Now I believe him. You have changed a lot, Mr. York.” Zachary was not one to say no to alcohol during business engagements. He took a glance at Josh, smiled, and replied, “Josh doesn’t drink much now either. He stopped smoking too.” Josh jumped in. “Jasmine hates the smell of tobac
Zachary read the documents three times before quietly putting the papers in order and slipping them back into the file. He then handed the file to Julian and thanked him. “It never occurred to me that they would use the Yates girl,” Zachary callously remarked. “Liberty brought it up to me because she thought it was strange. That got me thinking. It was strange indeed. She never wanted Hank to see Sonny before, but now she visits with Hank and tries to be friendly with Sonny.” They had a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Newman and his wife were in on it. They also suspected that it must be someone Zachary had offended. To everybody’s surprise, Jessica was the pawn in this game. Since the Browns were related by blood to Sonny, the family’s attempt to be nice to Sonny did not raise any suspicion. “They’re not trying to get even with you, Mr. York. It’s your wife they are after, but you had her surrounded by security. Your wife can fight too. They wouldn’t try anything in broad dayli
“How about six months?” “Oh, I’ll take it!” Julian said with a smile, “Why don’t you take maternity leave too? Mr. York, just leave him. Give him the two-month marital leave and not a day more. Let me know if he doesn’t come back to work when the two months are up. I’ll tie him up and deliver him to you.” “Hey, I’m your family, you know.” “I don’t even care if it’s my brother. Besides, you’re only my cousin.” Josh remarked, “I can’t depend on you for anything…” He was joking, of course. The two-month marital leave was more than enough. Since Jasmine, Serenity, and Elisa were working together on a project right now, Jasmine was focused on making it work and turning a profit. Julian finished the liquor and said, “It’s late, Mr. York. You should go back and rest.” Zachary stood up and expressed his gratitude to Julian once more before Josh saw him out. Several minutes later, Zachary’s fleet of vehicles left the Buchams’ residence. It was getting deeper into the nig
“Sure.” One to satisfy her sister’s palates, Liberty made pasta with bacon bits. Liberty added basil to her sister’s plate, but she had none of that. “The food is ready.” Liberty called her sister over to grab her plate. Serenity put a pause on work and went to wash her hands before taking her portion. The sister sat down at the table. As usual, Serenity pulled out her phone and scrolled the news while eating. “No phone during mealtimes. Put away your phone.” Liberty had rules during mealtimes. “I was just looking.” Although Serenity said so, she slipped the phone back into her pocket. “I don’t want to see you on your phone while at the dining table anymore.” “Got it.” Serenity could never defy her sister. Besides, screens during mealtimes were a bad habit. “Are you really not coming with me to the event tonight, Liberty?” “Nope.” “I think you should broaden your horizons, Liberty.” Liberty took her time with the pasta. Since the food was fresh out of th
Duncan and Serenity did not have a lot in common to talk about. With Serenity here, Duncan could not have a private moment with Liberty. After Liberty made him his order, customers started coming into the diner. Nevertheless, the menu items ordered were already made in advance, so the workers could serve the customers without needing the boss to be in the kitchen. Liberty went back to her spot and continued her breakfast. “Duncan.” The voice made Duncan lose his appetite. Liberty and Serenity turned their heads and watched a beautiful woman walk through the opened glass door. Serenity did not recognize Lily, but Liberty had seen a picture of Lily before. Liberty thought Lily looked better in person than in the picture. Lily made a good match with Duncan. “Ms. Harmon, would you like something to eat?” Liberty put down her utensils and got up to serve the customer. Lily moved her gaze from Duncan to Liberty. She had observed Liberty a few times in the dark, and this w
Lily was not at all offended. She and Duncan had long known each other, but there was barely any interaction between them. More accurately, they never really hung out together. It was not strange that Duncan had little knowledge of her past. “Here you go, Ms. Harmon.” Liberty made the food and brought over Lily’s order. She put it in front of Lily and said with a smile, “Enjoy, Ms. Harmon.” Lily gave Liberty a smile. Liberty returned to her seat. “How did you get to know her, Liberty?” Serenity whispered. “Mrs. Lewis came by the other day and had a chat with me. She told me she was trying to pair Ms. Harmon and Mr. Lewis up. She showed me Ms. Harmon’s picture, and that was how I recognized her.” Liberty kept her voice down when replying to her sister. She added. “Don’t you think they make a cute couple? It feels relaxing to be around her. She doesn’t have the arrogance of the upper crust.” Serenity looked into her sister’s eyes before burying her head in her food. S
While it was a cooking spree at Liberty’s diner, Zachary woke up back at home and as always before opening his eyes, he turned to his side and reached out to hold his wife. Alas, all he grabbed was air. Zachary opened his eyes. Serenity was no longer in the room. He looked at the sky outside. The sun was high. Turning over, Zachary grabbed his phone on the bedside table to look at the time. “Nine o’clock?!”He jolted up. Even during the weekend, Zachary had never gotten up this late. Maybe he came home a little too late last night. Zachary washed up and got dressed in record time. He even picked an outfit Serenity had bought for him. He opened the bedroom door to find Mrs. Lane watching TV on the sofa with a cat on her lap. With the door swinging open, Mrs. Lane cocked her head to look at him. She then rose to her feet and said with a smile, “You’re awake, Mr. Zachary. Should I get a start on breakfast?” “It’s after nine now.” Zachary mumbled as he walked out of
Serenity bent over to hold the cat up. “Missus, you might want to sweet-talk Mr. Zachary. He hasn’t eaten anything since he got up.” Mrs. Lane had no words for her boss’s sudden tantrum. She would not know Zachary had a childish side to him if she did not work here. While stroking the cat, Serenity remarked, “Mrs. Lane, you must let me know why he’s angry before I can calm him down. I didn’t do anything.” Mrs. Lane whispered, “I think Mr. Zachary is angry that you went out early in the morning. He must be hoping you would spend time with him since he’s home for the weekend.” Serenity replied, “I went to help my sister at her diner… Although it’s the weekend, many factories are not closed. The workers still went to work. My sister’s breakfast place was going to be packed, so I left early to help her. But I came home early. I’m back before ten o’clock.” It did not cross her mind that Zachary would sulk over a trivial matter.Mrs. Lane was at a loss for words. “I’ll go in