Serenity’s sister was her rock. Now that Serenity was all grown up and had the means, it was her turn to protect her sister. “Seren.” Liberty held onto her sister and said, “Don’t go. The injury is only superficial. Plus, I didn’t let him get away with it. I chased him down a few streets with a knife and scared him out of his wits. I trust he won’t be violent to me anymore.” “If he has done it once, he will do it again, Liberty. He won’t know fear if you don’t fight back when he lays his hands on you. He’ll only assault you again.” There should be zero tolerance toward domestic violence! “I know. That’s why I didn’t give in and beat him up too. I even went after him with a knife. You should’ve seen the scared look on his face. His legs were shaking. I heard that you must win the first fight between couples, and I won! He should think twice before laying his hands on me next time.” Liberty pulled her sister back firmly, keeping Serenity from getting even with Hank. “He’s bac
As the sisters only had each other for many years, Liberty understood Serenity well enough to know that her sister would stick up for her. In a deliberate effort to get her sister to stick around, Liberty took out a bottle of wine and enjoyed a glass with Serenity until midnight before letting the couple leave. Serenity was a lightweight, and Liberty took out a stiff drink. After a glass of wine, Serenity found herself tipsy. She was feeling dizzy and staggering in her footsteps by the time she left her sister’s place. Liberty saw the young couple off at the door. She used to attend social engagements with her boss when she was working back then. Having learned to hold her liquor, Liberty could handle a glass of wine just fine. “Zachary, Seren’s drunk. Please take good care of her,” Liberty urged her brother-in-law. She got her sister drunk, so Serenity would not go after Hank for payback. Liberty was afraid the Browns would gang up on Serenity if she went to the Browns’ r
With Zachary waking her up, Serenity sat up and rubbed her eyes innocently before staring straight at Zachary without blinking. Suddenly, she extended her arms and said with a sparkle in her beautiful eyes, “Carry me out of the car, Handsome.” Wincing his face, Zachary reached his hand out to knock her head. His tone turned chilly. “I warned you. Don’t act drunk and take advantage of me. You might be intoxicated, but you’re not wasted. You’re aware of your actions.” Serenity was indeed aware. However, the alcohol made her rather impulsive. Despite his multiple warnings, Serenity could not keep her hands to herself. No way a big man like him was scared of a young lady’s harassment. He would be made a laughingstock if word were to get out. “Zachary…” Serenity giggled and asked, “Do you have some sort of problem like the heir of the Yorks?” He was more innocent than her in the affairs between men and women. With alcohol getting to her head, Serenity could not help bu
On the contrary, Zachary was not the least bit angry. He just did not want Serenity to catch him smiling. It was only when he walked into the residential building that he realized his wife did not keep up with him. Stopping in his tracks, he turned around and asked solemnly, “Are you planning to spend the night standing there?” Snapping out of her thoughts, Serenity ran over compliantly. “No hard feelings, Mr. York?” Zachary gave her a chilly look. Well, his face tended to give out that vibe, to begin with. Poking her forehead, he remarked, “It better not happen again!” Acting like a disciplined child, Serenity raised her hand and promised, “I promise it won’t happen again.” Without another word, Zachary turned around and walked on. Serenity quickly followed behind him. Staring at his muscular back, Serenity felt the alcohol wearing off. She muttered to herself, ‘Nana told me to pounce on him, but I don’t have the confidence to warm the heart of an ice prince.’ However,
A few minutes later, Serenity mumbled to herself, “Do you think I want to go into your room? If one day you were to beg me, I wouldn’t set foot inside at all.” Having realized that she also had the habit of locking her bedroom door, Serenity stopped rambling. Ultimately, this was the aftereffect of marrying at first sight. After guzzling down the hangover cure Zachary made for her, Serenity returned to her room and turned in for the night. It was a quiet night throughout. The following day, Serenity woke up to the sun shining on her face. She felt around the nightstand for her phone and looked at the time. It was past seven o’clock. Even as an early riser, Serenity barely got up at this hour today. She was usually awake by six in the morning. This was the result of having one glass of wine last night. It was a good thing she did not wake up with a headache. She was hungry though. Serenity felt bad for her sister last night and that resulted in her not much eating at h
“I’m not saying that you can’t stand up for your sister, but there’s no turning back once your sister and your brother-in-law have a falling out. I definitely am on your side with you sorting it out with your brother-in-law.” Serenity grimly ate her mushroom and replied, “You have a point. I will control my temper and refrain from hitting anyone, but I’ll still leave him a warning. I don’t want the Browns to think they can pick on my sister just because she doesn’t have a family.” Seeing that she took his advice, Zachary left the conversation at that. After filling their bellies, they sat for a little while before heading out together. Knowing that Serenity was worried about her sister, Zachary took a detour to Liberty’s place so Serenity could check on her sister before dropping her off at the shop.Serenity was touched by his thoughtfulness. She had cautioned herself against hitting on Zachary last night, but his kindness led her to throw that decision out the window. J
“Mr. York, can you stop flaunting your relationship? I have no plans on getting married now.” Now that Zachary bade his single life goodbye, he should not drag Josh into a married life. For Zachary to persistently show off the perks of having a wife, he was trying to persuade Josh to ditch his wonderful singlehood too. “Huh? Why did you pick this outfit today?” Josh’s keen eyes picked up on Zachary not wearing his usual suit label. He asked out of curiosity, “Why the change of brands?” Zachary was a stubborn man. He would stick to the same brand for years once he had a penchant for a certain brand. He was not one to switch between labels. With Zachary’s taste, the price of the suits he wore were exorbitant. However, the one he had on today did not cost more than a few hundred bucks. This was so unlike Zachary. Following Zachary’s footsteps, Josh asked with concern, “Mr. York, is our company facing a financial crisis? Are you wearing clothes from the outlet store to save
Serenity nearly burst into an outrage when Chelsea said that in her face. Still, Serenity had class and did not slam the table in front of Chelsea. She unhurriedly went behind the cash register and sat down before looking Chelsea in the eye and bombarding her with questions, “Chelsea, you mentioned my sister hit my brother-in-law? Did you witness it? Did my sister start it? Did my brother-in-law fight back? How bad was he beaten? Was he hospitalized?” Chelsea replied shamelessly, “So what if Hank started it? Your sister ought to be taught a lesson, and Hank wanted to discipline her the other day. However, he didn’t want to make your sister look bad since you came over with your husband. We even talked him out of punishing your sister. “Any man would’ve slapped their wives for all the things your sister had done. Your sister deserved a beating for her mistakes. She had the audacity to hit Hank back until he was black and blue. He couldn’t bring himself to go home. “Serenity, you
Mr. Longbottom thought he was not so inferior to men younger than him.More accurately, he was far superior. He had status, money, and power.Which of the younger men could be on par with him unless they came from a wealthy family?Many sons of wealthy families could not compete with him.“I can’t go over because I’m busy these days. But I do miss you too.“It’s more difficult because of the festive season. There are many events, and I have to accompany my family. My wife doesn't care about me, but her request is that I be with her during the holidays because we have to meet our friends and families. Do you understand?”Mr. Longbottom had a wife and children. Carrie knew about it. He had never hid that fact.Carrie did not know if he was close to his wife. Although he said they no longer had feelings for each other, Carrie dared not believe him because he had never let other women take his wife’s place.He also never allowed other women to become pregnant with his children.Mr
Carrie thought she had matured since she could figure out that much. In the past, she would not have understood a thing. Love was about accepting everything about someone. Most people could tolerate their partner’s shortcomings when they were deeply in love. However, without love, even a person’s strength would seem like a fault. Carrie smiled. “Mr. York is a workaholic. Serenity must’ve gotten the habit from him and turned into one herself. I can’t believe she’s working so hard even though she’s pregnant.”“She’s still in the early stages of pregnancy. Going to work is fine.”“Do you need anything else, Mrs. Longbottom?” Jasmine asked.“No. I shall take my leave now, Mrs. Bucham.”Jasmine was on guard and unwilling to reveal much about Serenity. Therefore, it would be better for Carrie to leave. She was not close to Serenity and her friends yet. “Bye, Mrs. Longbottom.”Jasmine saw Carrie out and watched as she got into her car.Once Carrie got far enough from the booksto
Mr. Longbottom had been surprised by her question. He told her coldly that she should refrain from asking unnecessary questions.One who knew too much would not live long. Carrie got intimidated and dared not ask another question. Although she got more curious, she did not try to gather more information for fear Mr. Longbottom would choke her again if he found out. “Nothing. I just asked because I haven’t seen her in a while.”Of course, Carrie could not reveal that she was looking for Serenity. Jasmine would get suspicious if she did. No one around Serenity was a fool. “Seren is busy with work. I rarely see her these days,” Jasmine said.Carrie knew it was a lie. She was aware that Serenity's closest friends did not trust her yet. It made her feel defeated. It had been months since Mr. Longbottom found her and asked her to approach Serenity. Despite her efforts, she still had not obtained Serenity’s trust, let alone become her friend.However, Jasmine and Serenity go
The day ended peacefully. The following day, Zachary ate breakfast and had Kevin drive him and his bodyguards to the airport. They were taking an airplane to Annenburg. Before boarding, Zachary texted Serenity to tell her he would soon arrive in Annenburg. Serenity would be returning from the Murphys’ place. On the other hand, Liberty brought Duncan to Queen Manor to visit Mr. Donald. They would soon become related to each other. Since Duncan was in the city, it was only proper that he visited the Queens. Meanwhile, in Wiltspoon, Jasmine had returned to the bookstore despite it being the winter holidays. She found it rather dull being at home all the time. At the bookstore, even when there were no customers, she could chat with the owners of the nearby stores. While some had closed their stores to celebrate the festive season, many chose to stay open. Jasmine was a month further into her pregnancy than Serenity. Her bump was huge. Luckily, it did not restrict her moveme
After half an hour, Liberty and Duncan finally arrived at the hotel. They bumped into Zachary and Kevin, who had also just returned.“You’re here, Duncan.”Zachary walked toward them. “Hi, Liberty.”Kevin walked over as well. “I told Zachary that you’d be here in no time. Being apart from your girlfriend isn’t easy, right?” Kevin teased.“You’ve experienced it yourself,” replied Duncan as he laughed. Kevin did not respond. He did miss Hayden a lot in the early stages of their relationship. “You two bought so many things.” Kevin saw the items in Duncan’s arms and on his thighs. They were all toys. “Sonny’s getting new toys again, eh?” “Yeah. We bought him some new clothes and toys. I’ve been giving him windmills all the time. It’s time to change it up.”Even Duncan found it slightly ridiculous. He thought Sonny loved windmills just because he saw Sonny playing with them once. That was why he kept getting more windmills for Sonny.Sonny used to be scared of him, but
She would wear light make-up for work to accentuate her beauty. Sometimes, she could not believe the glowing, confident woman looking back at her in the mirror was herself. She had changed a lot after her divorce two years ago. “I’m letting myself enjoy tonight because I’m with you. I won’t have late-night snacks anymore. Going on a diet is too difficult. I don’t want to do it again.”If she gained too much weight, it would be difficult to get fit again because she was happy and did not lack money. In addition, she had Duncan spoiling her. Since she no longer wanted to go on a weight loss journey, she had no choice but to control her appetite and exercise daily to maintain her figure. “I heard the others saying that you have many admirers here. Although they’ve not said anything, even a fool can tell that they’ve fallen for you just from their gazes.”The men who had a crush on Liberty knew she had a fiance who was the young master of the Lewises from Wiltspoon. While they
Liberty smiled. “We don’t have to have that many things. We can simply get our marriage license and choose a suitable date for a wedding.“I’m fine with just getting a marriage license. But, as it’s your first marriage, I don’t want you to miss out on anything, so let’s have a wedding.”Duncan did not want Liberty to feel slighted while at the same time, Liberty did not want Duncan to miss out on a wedding celebration.Liberty was about to get married for the second time while it was Duncan’s first. He was also a young master of the Lewises. Not holding a wedding for his first marriage seemed inappropriate. Duncan raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. His eyes were filled with affection as he said, “Let’s not let each other miss out on anything. We’ll have everything every other couple has and more.“I’ve said that I’d make sure you are the envy of everyone.”Liberty laughed. “I’m already envied by many. They’re saying that my luck is out of this world because I’m able to m
Now, everything was fine.However, this time, he was still unable to be by Liberty’s side. Even though it should have been much safer than when Sonny was kidnapped because he had arranged for people to protect her, he was still worried.He was afraid, feeling paralyzed as all he could do was just wait for news of her.Fortunately, everything went smoothly. No, it was more like there were scares but no real danger. When Belinda wanted to capture someone as a hostage, the first person she thought of was Liberty. First, Liberty did not know any martial arts. Second, she was the successor that Audrey had put forward, making her Caroline’s competitor. Moreover, Liberty was very significant to Audrey. If she were captured, the members of the York, Lewis, and Stone families would not dare act recklessly.Thanks to Dr. Carden’s quick actions, Liberty was pulled back, and she did not fall into Belinda’s hands as a hostage. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.After
“It’s just that when I saw you, I was so happy that I forgot everything else. I even forgot that I’m still disabled,” Duncan said.As he spoke, he pressed her hand against his lips.Liberty looked at him disapprovingly. “Don’t say you’re disabled again. You’re just temporarily impaired, and you will get better.”Duncan smiled. “Okay, okay, from now on, I won’t say I’m disabled. I’ll get better for you. I’ll stand up again.”“You already have—you just can’t walk very far yet,” Liberty said as she supported him. “Should we head back to my office first?”“Are you done with work?” Duncan looked up at the darkening sky. “It’s almost completely dark.”“It’s only five o’clock. It just gets dark quickly in winter, plus today was a cloudy day. It feels gloomy even before six. Anyway, I’m done with work.”“If that’s the case, let’s get something to eat. I’m hungry,” Duncan said.He did not want to go into her office because if he did, he might end up staying for a while. He thought it wo