Mrs. Lewis was silent on the other end of the line for a while before she asked, “Liberty is now awake and out of danger. When are you coming back? You must be tired after keeping watch the whole night in the hospital. Come home and rest.” “Mom, I’m not tired. I can still hold on, so you don’t have to worry about me.” Mrs. Lewis wanted to lash out at her son. Even so, she held back. She did not say anything else and silently hung up the phone. After his mom ended the call, Duncan put his phone back into his pocket and returned to the ward. He still stood outside the crowd and watched Liberty quietly. Although Liberty was no more at risk, she was still very weak. The doctor did not allow too many family members to stay in the ward as it would disturb her rest. As such, everyone had to leave one after another after seeing her. The last ones to stay in the hospital were Zachary, Serenity, and Duncan again. Liberty went back to sleep and could sleep more soundly. She was
Zachary and Serenity had a disagreement. Serenity even stayed overnight at the Soxes’ and followed her close friends back to her hometown the next day to check the progress of her investment project. That was why she was not with Liberty and her son. When something happened to Liberty yesterday, Serenity rushed back after receiving the call. The small interlude between Zachary and Serenity was captured by the paparazzi and exposed. Now, it was even trending. If Serenity saw this, she might even blame herself and think that she did not protect her sister well because of the conflict between her and Zachary. Zachary asked Josh to handle it. They had to try to hide it from Serenity and not let her know—at least not at this time. Duncan said, “Given your status, anything that has to do with you can easily become a trending topic… Especially after you got married, everyone became highly interested in your married life with Serenity. Those paparazzi are everywhere. They’re the most
Clive defended his cousin and pushed all the blame onto Zachary.Zachary wanted to ride on the radio waves to strangle Clive.“I’m telling you again, I’m fine! There’s no problem with me. Thank you for your concern!”He hung up the phone.Unexpectedly, the phone rang again.He thought it was Clive, answered it without looking, and yelled, “I told you there’s no problem with me, Clive!”“Mr. York… It’s me, Remy.”Zachary’s expression softened. “Remy?”“Yeah, it’s me. How is Ms. Hunt?”“Her life is no longer in danger. Thank you for your concern, Remy.”Remy said, “That’s a relief. Mr. York, you mentioned something about a problem? I know a miracle healer. If you need to see one, I can introduce him to you the next time I see him. He can help take a look at you.”Zachary was speechless.He took a deep breath in, breathed out, and forced himself not to get angry at Remy.“I’m fine, Remy. It was a cock-and-bull story made up by the paparazzi. My wife and I are very well. We ha
Duncan frowned when he saw his mother. He felt that his mother’s visit to the hospital was not a good thing.Mrs. Lewis saw the two men standing at the door of the ward and walked straight over.“Mrs. Lewis.”Zachary greeted her politely.Mrs. Lewis smiled gently and responded to his greeting.The way she looked at Zachary made him uncomfortable. He knew what that look meant.Even if he told Josh to take down the trending search immediately, she had most likely seen it. Those who should not see it would have probably seen it.There might be many people who took screenshots too.There was no question about it. Mrs. Lewis was looking at him in concern because she saw the trending search.Those damned paparazzi just had to expose every little thing.In the past, tabloids did not dare reveal information about his private affairs without his permission. Now that he was married and appeared softer, did they think they could appeal to Serenity for mercy and escape disaster if they e
Since Mrs. Lewis came all the way and said such words, Duncan could not stay any longer.Serenity personally escorted Mrs. Lewis out of the ward.She stood at the door of the ward and watched Mrs. Lewis and Duncan walk away.After a long time, she sighed and turned back in with Zachary. She looked at her sleeping sister with worry.Zachary held her shoulder and comforted her in a low voice, “Seren, everything will be fine. We don’t have to worry too much.”As long as Duncan realized his feelings, Zachary believed that he could convince his parents to let him be together with Liberty.“Besides, your sister isn’t interested in Duncan in that way. Duncan liking your sister is his business, and there’s no guarantee that your sister will accept him. Let’s see how it goes for now.”Serenity leaned on his shoulder and said softly, “Putting aside Mr. Lewis’s status, he’s a good man. If my sister wants to remarry, I’m very much in favor of them getting together, not because of Mr. Lewis’
Mrs. Lewis felt like she was going to explode from anger.They were not together yet, but Duncan already wanted to be Sonny’s father.Was Hank dead?“Duncan, I’m telling you, I don’t accept Liberty. I won’t allow you to be with her! She’s divorced and has a child. You’re from completely different worlds. The right person for you is a strong and capable woman from an influential family; someone like Lily.“Putting aside the Lewis family, even if we just look at your own achievements, don’t you think that Liberty is still unworthy of you?“You’re the CEO of Lewis & Co., and she’s just the owner of a small breakfast diner. Even the store she rents belongs to you. You two are worlds apart. That’s not me looking down on her. It’s the truth. Duncan, both families have to be well-matched in social status in a marriage. You and Liberty are not suitable for each other.“You should give up on her and go out with Lily. Didn’t you have a great time chatting with her during the Marshall famil
Duncan did not care how adamant his mother was and said with a smile, “Mom, you should worry about whether your son can win over Liberty first.”Liberty suffered in her first marriage and no longer longed for love. She would not be easy to pursue.Mrs. Lewis said angrily, “Are you really going to pursue her?”“I didn’t know my feelings before, but when I found out that Liberty got injured, I was so afraid and heartbroken. Although I’m rough and not as attentive as Josh, I’m not stupid. I know that this is care—this is love!“I care about Liberty and like her! Since I like her, I have to pursue her. I can’t just secretly harbor feelings for her while waiting for her to take the initiative to marry me. That’s wishful thinking.”Mrs. Lewis slapped him and warned, “Duncan Lewis, I’m officially warning you now. You’re not allowed to pursue Liberty. Otherwise, don’t blame me for taking action.”“Love that has braved through storms will last longer. Mom, you can come at me if you’re dis
After returning to the Lewis residence, Mrs. Lewis did not want to wake her son up. However, she could not carry her son as she did when he was a child, so she had no choice but to wake him up.“Duncan, we’re home. Wake up.”Duncan only woke up after a few nudges from his mother.He was still a bit dazed when he opened his eyes. He looked at his mother for a while before coming to his senses and getting out of the car.Lily just came back from outside. The car she drove was lent to her by Mrs. Lewis.“Mrs. Lewis, Duncan,” Lily greeted as she got out of the car.The two of them got along well at the Marshall family’s banquet. She thought that was the beginning of her good relationship with Duncan, so she was friendlier with him.“Lily, where did you go?”Mrs. Lewis was full of smiles when facing Lily. She really liked Lily and wanted Lily to be her youngest daughter-in-law.Her best friend thought the same, and the two family’s elders were all looking forward to it.Mrs. Lewis
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