Mrs. Lewis continued, “Liberty, don’t take Duncan’s words to heart. He’s… Like a porcupine now, covered with sharp quills. He wouldn’t meet anyone who went to visit him. He said everyone came out of pity.”“Mrs. Lewis, I won’t blame Mr. Duncan.”Liberty withdrew her hand softly. She was not used to Mrs. Lewis holding her hand in such an intimate manner. “Liberty, I came to see you because I need your help.”Mrs. Lewis raised the subject. She watched Liberty with pleading eyes and said, “Liberty, we’re all sad because of Duncan’s state, but we’re unable to persuade him.“He loves you a lot. He doesn’t want to meet you lately because he feels inferior. He thinks he’s disabled and doesn’t wish to be a burden to you. That’s why he refuses to see you.”Liberty listened to Mrs. Lewis speak without saying a word. After a moment of silence, Mrs. Lewis said, “Liberty, I would like you to take care of Duncan and help him to regain his confidence so he can persist in physiotherapy even
“Liberty, you shouldn’t think ten thousand dollars daily is too much. Duncan has a terrible temper now. He’ll throw tantrums frequently and toss things around. We can tolerate him because we’re his parents, and I was the one who caused him to be involved in the accident.“If it were other people, who would be willing to be on the receiving end of Duncan’s anger? Even if we offer a sky-high salary to hire a caregiver for him, no one’s willing to earn that money. He’s really difficult to take care of now.”Mrs. Lewis thought spending over three hundred thousand dollars a month to hire Liberty to care for Duncan was not expensive at all. She was willing to spend any amount of money as long as her son could get better. Three hundred thousand dollars was the price of one bag of hers. Some of her handbags were even worth more than that. Mrs. Lewis thought paying ten thousand dollars per day was not a lot, but Liberty thought it was too much. Her business was booming, but even the max
Going to Liberty was useless. The source of the problem was her son. Mrs. Lewis also did a series of extreme actions against her son. After that…What was left was only regret. Liberty said magnanimously, “I don’t remember the words you’ve said to me before, Mrs. Lewis. I understand you.“It’s better to have a marriage between people of equal social standing. I’m also a mother. If my son were to like a girl whose standards differ from his too much, I might find it hard to accept too.”She would consider herself an open-minded mother before it happened. However, if it were to happen, not many people could truly be open-minded in allowing their children to get married to whomever they wanted.The parents in the York family stood out because only a handful of people could do that. Liberty often told Serenity to cherish everything both of them had. Putting Zachary’s attitude aside, how many people could be as open-minded as the York family’s parents?Therefore, she was not a
Liberty passed the phone to her son. She looked at her store. The employees were done packing, so she told them to leave first. Afterward, she thanked Jim. “Jim, thank you for picking Sonny up again.”“Stop saying thank you, Liberty. This is the task assigned to me by Mr. and Mrs. York. It’s my responsibility.”Jim chuckled warmly. “I’m happy to be of help to you. Sonny is so cute too. I’ll start missing him if I don’t see him for a day.”Upon hearing Jim’s words, Sonny raised his chin and said confidently, “Jim, am I the most lovable and adorable child ever?”Jim smiled and said, “You’re right. You’re lovable, adorable, and the cutest child I’ve ever seen.”Liberty walked out with Sonny’s hand in hers. She laughed and said, “Stop praising him, Jim. His imaginary tail will point upward to the sky if you keep doing that.”“I’m telling the truth. Sonny is the cutest child I’ve ever seen.”Jim insisted he was speaking the truth. Of course, after many years, he would say the sam
Serenity asked concernedly, “Liberty, what is it?”“It’s nothing serious. I just found a highly-paid job.”After rinsing the quinoa, Liberty added water and turned on the right heat setting before turning to face her sister. “Liberty, your diner is doing great. Why do you still have to look for a job? Are you stressed because Sonny is going to a learning center? It’s okay. I can help to pay for his school fees. I can’t even finish spending the allowance Zachary gives me every month. Everyone in his family receives an allowance each month too. The last thing I’m lacking is money.”Serenity thought her sister had looked for a job because she was too stressed.“No. Sonny’s school fees aren’t a problem. The money Hank gave me back then is enough for Sonny’s education. I have an income every day as well. It’s not because I lack money.”Liberty looked outside and saw Jasmine playing with Sonny. She said, “Mrs. Lewis came to look for me just now.”Upon hearing that, Serenity frowned.
“I’ll make stew. I can bring Mr. Lewis some when I head to the hospital in a bit.” Liberty turned around and got the ingredients out of the bags for prepping to make the stew. “I should respond to Mrs. Lewis.” Having recalled that she would give Mrs. Lewis a reply, Liberty paused in motion and whipped out her phone to call Mrs. Lewis. She let Mrs. Lewis know of her decision. Mrs. Lewis was grateful and insisted on giving Liberty some sort of payment. It was not like Mrs. Lewis could do anything if Liberty refused to take payment. With that in mind, Liberty went on to make lunch. The food was ready when it was close to lunch break. “Seren, I’m delivering some stew to Mr. Lewis. Sonny will stay here with you.” Liberty carried a food container out of the kitchen. “Lunch is ready and in the pot. Help yourselves when you and Jasmine are done with work.” “Have you eaten, Liberty?” Serenity asked with concern. It had not been busy at the bookshop lately. However, with th
“Don’t yell at Duncan, Charmaine. He doesn’t mean it.” Mrs. Lewis pulled Charmine outside the room. “Don’t criticize him. Duncan has it hard enough.” Charmaine answered, “I know Duncan is in low spirits, but so are we. We are concerned about him and his health. He gave up on himself before the doctor did.“You can’t continue to enable him, Corey. We must get him back on his feet.” Corey had been beating herself up and stayed by Duncan’s side to nurse him since his accident. Charmaine could understand where Corey was coming from. All they could do was visit and deliver food to the hospital every day. Sometimes, Duncan would refuse to see them when they came around. Since Charmaine’s husband assumed the leadership role of the Lewises family business, he was swamped with work every day while fretting over Duncan’s injury. However, Duncan was too caught up in his sorrow to care about his family’s feelings. Mrs. Lewis’s eyes welled up. She choked with sobs. “I want him to
Mrs. Lewis, who was in the living room outside the ward, answered the door. The door was open, and there was a bodyguard. “Ms. Liberty is here again, ma’am.” The bodyguard reported to Mrs. Lewis. Mrs. Lewis did not have a chance to answer as Duncan’s keen ear picked up on the announcement from inside the ward. No longer keeping a straight face, he shouted, “Tell her to leave. I don’t want to see her! Tell her never to come back to the hospital! She can get lost for all I care!” Following Mr. Duncan’s resounding yell, the bodyguard sighed to himself.Mr. Duncan had behaved as such every time Ms. Liberty came by. Only Ms. Liberty was capable of invoking such emotions from Mr. Duncan.Any dummy could tell that Ms. Liberty could influence Mr. Duncan emotionally. “Let Liberty enter.” Mrs. Lewis went against her son’s wishes. It put the bodyguard in a difficult spot. Inside the ward, Duncan anxiously tried to turn over and get out of bed. Nevertheless, his legs were
“If Mom said she would create an opportunity for you to get with the king, would you really believe her? It’s just talk—nothing actually happened.” Trenton could not resist poking Carrie’s forehead a few times. “Carrie, can you please come back to earth? In your current state, forget about finding a great guy like Callum—even a regular, decent guy would be turned off by you.”Carrie swatted away her brother’s fingers, irritated and embarrassed. “Am I really that bad? I’m young, beautiful, have a great figure, and a dignified heiress. If the monarchy still existed, I could marry the king and be his queen without a problem.”“Carrie, you have sky-high ambitions, but be careful, don’t fly too close to the sun and end up like Icarus.”As soon as he said that, Trenton was met with a smack from his sister.“Is there a brother who curses his own sister like that? What do you mean by that? I’m destined to have the princess life. I’ll be fine.”However, deep down, she was still worried bec
Camryn was right—he was just too soft-hearted. If he were as ruthless as her, Carrie would have found a job long ago after running out of money.To encourage Carrie to become independent, Trenton decided that after Christmas, he would stop giving her living expenses. He would also tell their parents during his visit to prison that Carrie was truly hopeless.“Trenton, you keep siding with her, and one day you'll regret it. She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing who has deceived who knows how many people. Do you really think she cares about you? She just wants to win your complete trust to take everything that belongs to you for herself. By driving us out of our home, she’s not only seeking revenge on Mom and Dad but also on us—especially you. She’s just pretending to be nice to you to sow discord between us siblings.”“Carrie!” Trenton said seriously, “Don’t talk about Camryn like that. She’s not that kind of person. I believe in her, one hundred percent.”Carrie was so furious she wanted
“Alright, alright, I can't win with the two of you against one,” Carrie sulked. “Give me money to spend. I'm out of money.”She reached out her hand toward Camryn, wanting her to give her money. Camryn slapped her hand away. “Even Trenton knows to take advantage of the winter break to find a part-time job and earn some pocket money. You’re perfectly capable, yet you don’t look for a job.“To put it bluntly, if you’ve gone to sweep the streets, you'd still have a source of income. I have money, but I won’t give it to you. Don’t think that just because we’re sisters—estranged, too, at that—I have an obligation to support my adult sister. I’ve said it before: if you want money to spend, earn it yourself.” With that, Camryn walked away to tend to her plants.As Christmas approached, the flower market was bustling. Every day, many people came to buy flowers, and all her employees were out delivering flowers to clients. Sometimes, when it got too busy, she even had to ask her two bodyguar
Trenton was relieved that Dalton was indebted to Camryn. That was why Dalton had been loyal to Newman Enterprise.If Newman Enterprise did not fall into Camryn’s hands, there was no doubt that Dalton would leave the company. If that happened, the company was doomed.When his parents went to prison, he was merely 18, and Carrie only knew how to spend money. Not only that, their relatives were hungry to get a share of the Newman family’s assets. He and Carrie could not have protected their family’s wealth alone.After Camryn regained her sight, she still could not strain her eyes for long hours. Therefore, Dalton remained in charge of the company.Luckily, they had Callum as well. Even if anything were to happen, Callum would not leave Newman Enterprise to fall because many of the Newman family’s assets belonged to Camryn.He would not let Camryn lose anything.“You’ve been brainwashed by Dalton after working with him. Our dad treated him well and trusted him, yet Dalton betrayed
Camryn said, “She’s just using her lack of money as an excuse to start a fight with me.“Do you really think she has no money?”Carrie had somehow become Mrs. Longbottom yet she was still hiding her identity. Camryn had not understood the entire situation yet.Nevertheless, she was certain that Carrie did not need money.After she spoke, a familiar car arrived.It was the car Carrie had always used in the past.When she returned to the Newman family’s villa after getting out of prison, she only drove that car. She could not take other cars. The cars were still parked in the garage. “Come out, Camryn.”Carrie had gotten out of the car and started shouting for Camryn.When the York family’s bodyguards saw her, they simply glanced at her and did not stop her from entering the store. They knew Camryn had always been lenient with her younger sister.Since Camryn did not give any orders to stop Carrie from entering, the bodyguards simply kept an eye on Carrie to ensure that sh
“I want to go to Spring Blossoms as Carrie,” she told the bodyguard who was driving. “Your sister’s people are keeping an eye on your apartment. She’ll get suspicious again if you head over in your outfit. Everything Mr. Longbottom arranged will go to waste,” the bodyguard reminded her.Carrie thought it over. “Okay. Let’s head home first. I’ll change my clothes and remove my makeup before heading over.”She would also check if her stand-in had damaged any of her stuff.If she did, Carrie would tell the stand-in to compensate her.The bodyguard remained silent.Once they arrived at Longbottom Villa, Carrie took off her hyper-realistic mask and removed her makeup. After changing her clothes, she returned to being Carrie and went out with her bag.Her two bodyguards did not stop her from leaving.She could do anything as long as it would not rouse Camryn and other people’s suspicions.Besides, Carrie had just gotten scolded by their boss on the phone. Although Mr. Longbottom
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