Serenity replied breezily, “Okay, it’s settled then.”Shawn was pleased too.He was looking forward to Saturday arriving.Several cars suddenly stopped in front of the bookstore. Sawnn said, “I’ll go take a look.”He turned around and left.Soon, he returned and said to Serenity, “It’s your relatives.”Serenity had just finished eating. She wiped her mouth with a tissue and said, “Since they’re here, I guess I can’t continue to be scared of them.”She was not surprised that those outrageous people found this place.Thanks to the blessings of a majority of the netizens, her uncles and cousins’ jobs were exposed. They also had good connections, and the incident made the trending news twice, so it was easy for them to find Serenity and her sister.“Serenity.” The Hunt family brothers entered, led by Mike. A total of eight of them came, all dressed in branded goods and holding a set of keys in their hands. They shook their keys from time to time as if the keys were made of gold.
“However, after being morally blackmailed by you guys who deliberately distorted the truth and being labeled as someone who’s unfilial, I decided not to visit her anymore. I won’t give her any money either. All of you have scolded me online, but now you want me to walk up to her just to get another scolding?”“Serenity, they’re our grandparents. You won’t die from a little scolding by them. Although you’re not obligated to support them, anyone with a conscience would give them some living expenses. It’s been so many years, but your sister and you have never gone back to visit them or give them money for maintenance. Well, if you’re still able to sleep at night, then we won’t say anything about it.“We have already deleted our blog post, so you should delete yours too. Do you know what impact your post had on all of us? We can sue you for cyberbullying. However, since we’re cousins, we had decided to negotiate with you privately. There’s no need to bring this matter into court.”The
Serenity’s youngest cousin was only seventeen or eighteen years old. It was the age whereby impulse and hot-bloodedness reigned supreme.He had a horrible temper too. When Serenity refused to go to the hospital or delete the post, he got angry and threatened to smash her bookstore.Serenity looked at him coldly. “Don’t you dare!”Her eyes were stern and cold, and her icy words carried a domineering aura that made the Hunt brothers shrink for no reason.“Noah.” Mike turned his head to glare at the youngest cousin. When the latter did not dare to speak up anymore, he looked at Serenity and smiled. “Serenity, don’t be mad at Noah. That’s just the way he talks.“Like what John said earlier, we’re still cousins with close blood relations. No matter what, we’re family. Will you benefit by humiliating us? We were wrong in this matter, so we apologize to you. Let bygones be bygones, okay?“You don’t need to pay any money. We only ask that you go visit Grandmom. She really wants to see yo
Serenity chuckled and said, “I heard Granddad and Grandmom are doing well in the hospital; eating well, sleeping well, and coming down on me pretty hard too. They don’t seem to think they’re in the wrong. Are you sure they want to apologize to me?” Mike wanted to jump to his grandparents’ defense, but no words came out of his mouth. Grandmom and Granddad did not genuinely accept their faults. Instead, the Hunt family persuaded them to do so. The family wanted to put everything behind them before things got more out of hand for them. With both parties’ reconciliation, the public interest would soon wane and they would be distracted by the latest trending news. It would not be long before the netizens forgot about the Hunts, and the family would have their peace back. If there was one thing the Hunts learned, it was that the internet was a powerful force that worked like a double-edged sword. While the internet could be a tool to attack someone, those who abused it would suffer d
Shawn believed the Hunts were unbelievable. Their shamelessness was on a whole new level. “Serenity, I got your conversation with them on tape,” Jasmine said. “I’ll send the voice recording to you in case they make things up about you again online.” Serenity gave her best friend the thumbs up. The Hunts got her so riled up that it slipped her mind to record on her phone. “Shawn, aren’t you going to work?” After sending the voice recording to her best friend, Jasmine realized her cousin was still at the shop. She urged him to hurry to work. Reluctant to leave, Shawn uttered, “I’m working in my family’s company. It doesn’t make a difference if I’m a little late.” “All the more you should put in the effort and abide by the company’s rules and regulations since you’re working in your family’s company. Set a good example so no one can find fault with you. Hurry along now. You’ll get it if Aunt Rachel finds out you’re not in the office.” As Shawn was the firstborn, Jasmine’s aunt
Zachary was a little worried that Serenity could not deal with the Hunt cousins, but he said nothing about it. He did not even give Serenity a call. Now that they had been married for nearly a month, Zachary had a bit more of an idea of Serenity’s personality now than before. Serenity would call him for help if things were more than she could handle. Since there were no calls from her, it meant she could manage. Besides, she would not lose since she had a leg to stand on. With this in mind, Zachary switched to another car after work and drove to Wiltspoon School. When Zachary was leaving the office, Josh complained that Zachary had recently pushed all the business dinners onto him. Zachary replied, “I have a wife. I should go home to spend some time and bond with my wife after work.” Josh was speechless. ‘As if! ‘It’s clearly an excuse!‘It’s just his excuse to slack off!’Josh protested in his mind. Zachary had been neglecting his work since he got married. It was so u
After a pause, Zachary added. “I’ll drive you to work tomorrow morning.” Since Zachary was being thoughtful, Serenity left her e-bike at the shop and took a ride in Zachary’s car. Jasmine watched the couple as they left while mumbling to herself, “They’re acting more like a couple now.” Although Zachary was aloof and antisocial, his care for Serenity was in the details. “I’d be happy to marry immediately if a man like Mr. York comes into my life.” It was a pity that her blind dates had nothing on Zachary. The supposed fine men were only placed above the rest because of their high income. However, they were far from being labeled fine men. The man Jasmine went on a blind date with at Beans and Cream had taken a fancy to Serenity. The man even made a private call to the matchmaker to ask about Serenity, only to find out that Serenity was taken. The man must be living in Lalaland. Jasmine called the man to give him a piece of her mind, threatening to ruin him if he were to
Everybody in the neighborhood knew how close the sisters were. Liberty kept the matter from her sister to save her the worry. “Thank you, Mrs. Zaks.” Serenity thanked Mrs. Zaks before continuing her quick walk toward her sister’s residential building while dragging Zachary along. “My brother-in-law was angry that my sister hadn’t cooked lunch for him when I dropped her off the other day. Hank looked like he wanted to hit my sister, but he wiped that look off his face when he saw me,” Serenity babbled to Zachary. “Why didn’t my sister let me know?” Serenity felt bad for her sister. Women gained a second chance in life when they got married. Her sister’s second chance in life did not seem smooth sailing. Hank’s attitude toward Liberty changed for the worse less than three years into the marriage. Zachary replied firmly, “Your sister doesn’t want you to worry. Mrs. Zaks said that your sister chased your brother-in-law down a few streets with a knife. It means your sister had
“I’m sorry. I have a business appointment tonight.”Tati rejected Manny’s invitation without hesitation. Manny had been pursuing her relentlessly. If she were to have a meal with him, the paparazzi stalking them would take pictures and she would be on the local entertainment headlines the next day. She would not give Manny any chances to advertise false information about their relationship. Manny looked disappointed. “Another day then.“By the way, you’ll be attending a banquet two days later, right? Can I be your escort?”Tati and Isabella would not attend just any banquet. Families who could invite them were wealthy and close to the O’Connors. Ordinary banquets could never have Tati and Isabella as guests. Manny had gathered information for two days. He heard that one of the wealthy families in Satbury would be holding a banquet to celebrate their old missus’s eightieth birthday, and many guests were invited to liven up the celebration. A missus of that family was clos
“My family isn’t inferior to yours, sweet Tati. The Longbottoms even surpass the O’Connors. As a young master of the Longbottoms, why will I go after your family’s money?“Money has never been a problem for the Longbottom family. In fact, you and I are the best match for each other. Our families are equally rich. If we get together, it’ll be a joining of two strong forces.”Tati wanted to say that while the Longbottom family surpassed the O’Connors, Manny was not the true person in power within his family. Even his father was not the legitimate head. The power and wealth of the Longbottom family belonged to the true head of the family. Tony and Manny Longbottom were simply managing the family in the interim. Did they think the family had become theirs?If the son of the previous Longbottom family head grew up and returned to take charge of the family, Tony and Manny would no longer have any influence. They would only receive some compensation for their hard work. Without the L
Tati looked toward Manny and said in a serious tone, “If you love someone, you’d be considerate of her and do what’s best for her.“Meanwhile, you’re disregarding any inconvenience this might cause me just to appear romantic. You know I’m busy, yet you put flowers here and blocked my way, wasting my time.“Do your actions truly reflect your love for me? Are you being considerate of me?”Tati would not have said a word if Manny had asked his people to place the flowers in an empty spot. However, he just had to do it at the entrance of the company, attracting many people. Her company security team could not even chase them away. They knew Manny’s identity and that he was pursuing her. If the security chased him away, the Longbottom and O’Connor families could end up enemies. Secondly, they were worried about getting fired if Tati were to accept Manny’s feelings one day and decide to punish them. Tati would not blame the security for failing to execute their duty. After Manny s
“It’s okay if you don’t want my bouquets. Can you feel my sincere love for you through these letters?“I fell in love with you at first sight, and I fell even harder the second time I saw you.”Manny’s gaze was affectionate as if he truly loved Tati. To be honest, Tati was outstanding in various aspects. She was good enough for him, a young master of the Longbottoms. They were also close in age and definitely had common topics to talk about. However, Tati refused to give him a chance and rejected his confession. That did not matter. After all, it had not been long since he started pursuing Tati. As the O’Connors had more daughters than sons, he could understand that their daughters would be especially cautious regarding romantic relationships. They did not want men dating them solely for the O’Connor family’s money. Although that had been Manny’s initial intention, he was satisfied with Tati after meeting her in person. He was willing to marry her. Besides, Tati was com
Meanwhile, in Satbury, Tati returned to the company but was forced to stop her car at the entrance. Some people were decorating the entrance with flowers. Security tried to chase them away, but they did not even budge. The security guards seemed wary of something and did not force those people to leave. A few cars were parked nearby, including a truck that still carried fresh flowers.Tati did not honk. There were people and flowers on the road before her and honking was useless anyway, or she could simply drive past without a care. She got out of the car to have a look. “Sweet Tati.”An unfamiliar voice rang. Tati looked toward the person who called her and frowned. She recognized that person. He was Manny Longbottom, the eldest son of the interim head of the family.Mr. Longbottom had come over several times for business negotiations. However, it was not yet his scheduled timing. Even if he were the Longbottom family’s interim head, there would be no special treatmen
First, Adrian poured himself a glass of water. He then sat down at his desk, pulled out his phone, and made a call to Jacob while sipping his water.When the call connected, he spoke in a low voice, “We’re going ahead with the plan. Caroline will be heading to Fortress Hotel later to meet with a client. After the meeting, she’ll have dinner there.“The discussion and dinner will take a long time. By the time she leaves the hotel, it’ll already be nighttime. She probably won’t go anywhere else after that.“Wait for her on the route she usually takes home. Her license plate is CA 201. Got it?”Adrian made sure Jacob remembered Caroline’s license plate number. He had also sent the information via text, so unless the person had an exceptionally bad memory, they should be able to recall it.Jacob replied, “Got it. We’ll have to start preparing, then. Try to get Caroline to drink some alcohol. If she’s drunk, it’ll be easier to handle her.”After all, they could not guarantee that the
Adrian snapped, “Are you saying that I don’t do real work? Caroline, I was working at Fisher Enterprise long before we even knew you existed.”Caroline said neutrally, “Yes, yes, Adrian, you’ve been at Fisher Enterprise for a long time, but what achievements have you made? I mean, achievements that you accomplished on your own.“The results credited to you in the past weren’t actually your doing. You know better than anyone how they came about, so I won’t spell it out. I may have joined Fisher Enterprise only recently, but look at the position I’m in now.“Adrian, I’ve made it very clear. If you want to keep your job, do it well and take it seriously. Stop trying to take credit for other people’s work.”Adrian’s expression darkened. “I only said a couple of things, and you fired back with dozens. Can’t you give me some grace? I have pride, too.”“Adrian, go back to work. I need to get ready to head out soon.” Caroline was done talking to her brother.Adrian fell silent for a mo
Adrian was sullenly quiet. Was he really that incompetent? He thought he had done a pretty good job.Back when their mother was still around, he had not even needed to lift a finger. He just had to vaguely outline the requirements, and the elite team under him would come up with a proposal that satisfied everyone upstairs.All he had to do was wait for the praise and the compliments about how capable he was.After doing this for so long, Adrian had started to believe that he truly was talented.Then, he found out that Celine was not his biological sister and that Caroline was, but the latter had grown up in the countryside, appearing weak and timid, and seemed useless to the company—a good-for-nothing. Thus, Adrian began to harbor ambitions. He wanted to replace his sister and become the successor of the Fisher family.He had repeatedly expressed to his mother his desire to take over, to become the first male successor in the Fisher family’s history. He even said he was willing
Adrian tried several times to interrupt his sister, but Caroline’s barrage came at him like a machine gun, rapid and relentless. All he could do was glare at her, his face flush with anger. If looks could kill, Caroline would have been torn to pieces long ago.After finishing her lecture, Caroline picked up her cup and took a few sips of her coffee. She then said, “Adrian, look at me, I’m parched from all this talking. I’ve really gone out of my way to persuade you for your own good, just like how you tried to persuade me not to hand over control of the Fisher family. “To be honest, even if I didn’t give it back to Audrey and the rest, do you think I could hold onto the position of the matriarch?“The rest of the family doesn’t support us. They might not necessarily side with the Wiltspoonians either, but they definitely won’t side with us. They’ve long been dissatisfied with Mom and us.“Without their support and unable to win against Audrey, the Fisher legacy would eventually be