“I have a suggestion, but I’m on Ms. Stone’s side, so I can’t tell you about it.” Grabbing her plate and utensils, Serenity got up and went to the kitchen. Zachary quietly watched as her figure disappeared into the kitchen. A while later, he rose to his feet and walked over. Leaning against the kitchen door frame, he asked solemnly, “You’ve only just met Ms. Stone. Why are you on her side already?” “Ms. Stone and I might not have known each other for a long time, but I’ve never even met your boss. Whose side would you think I’ll take? Ms. Stone is my type of gal. What’s wrong with supporting her to go for Mr. York?“Your boss must be a lofty person. Wait till Ms. Stone has him wrapped around her little fingers. He’ll be all over her. Hahaha. Let’s see if he’s going to be haughty then. Isn’t it a fun storyline? I can write a book out of it.“I have a lot of free time at the shop. If the sales of my online business aren’t doing too well, I should try to write a book. That’s ano
Josh would be the first to quit and stay as far away as possible if Zachary were interested in men. Problem with his manhood? Zachary had not fallen head over heels for Serenity. Well, he would show her once he took a fancy to her and consummate the marriage! It took a while before Zachary got up and made an abrupt exit to his room. He slammed the door behind him. The loud bang was a reflection of his foul mood. Serenity waited until he closed his bedroom door before getting up. She picked up the paper, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the bin while mumbling under her breath, “It was a good thing I thought it through. Otherwise, I’d have lost to him.” The lesson today was not to make a bet before getting full intel on the opponent. There was a risk of things blowing up in her face. As for her proposal of a wager and her sudden change of heart, Serenity was not concerned at all. It was normal to back out of a deal since they had not signed a contract. While hu
The couple walked down the stairs together. Zachary went for his morning run while Serenity rode her e-bike to the market. She was mounting the bike when Zachary reminded her, “Get extra groceries to bring to your shop. You can cook your lunch. You should stop ordering takeout.” “Got it.” “I’ll have the Wiltspoon Hotel deliver meals to you every day if I catch you with another takeout.” Serenity turned her head to shoot him an angry look. “Squanderer!” Zachary made a wry face. Not too far away, the bodyguard, who pretended to pass by, nearly snickered after overhearing Serenity. Refusing to spend another minute with the squanderer, Serenity rode her bike away. “The girl doesn’t know what’s good for her!” Zachary waited until she was long gone before making that snide comment. Serenity looked around the marketplace and bought a lot of fresh vegetables and long-lasting melons to stuff the fridge. The potatoes, carrots, and onions were placed in a ventilated bag on the flo
Now things were starting to get interesting. Serenity had no idea that her man nipped another one of her headaches in the bud in those mere minutes.After the spaghetti was cooked to al dente, Serenity plated it together with the tomato sauce base. She also sprinkled diced pork belly and basil on top, but only a dash of chili powder on her plate. It was only a quick sprinkle as Serenity was worried it might be too spicy than she could take. Statistics showed that Wiltspoonians were not fond of the extra pow in their meals. “Mr. York, breakfast’s ready.” Serenity carried her plate out of the kitchen while beckoning Zachary, who was on the swing, to the dinner table. Zachary was without a word, but he left the balcony. Seeing that his breakfast was not served on the dining table, he quietly went into the kitchen and brought out his share. “You can add as much chili powder as you like. My sister loves hot spices, so she put together a bunch of hot flavors to make her own.”
Serenity pushed Zachary’s money away. “I didn’t know that you don’t eat food that's greasy, but I won’t put it on your plate next time. Put away your money. Can you stop flashing your cash? Do you think you’re made of money?” Zachary should dish out several million in cash by the way he was flaunting his money. She could then count the money and admit that he was made of money. “Why didn’t you say anything when I was cooking the pork? What’s the point of having a mouth? Well, that’s a waste of one of your five senses if you don’t know how to speak up…” A wad of notes was placed on her empty plate. Serenity’s rambling came to a screeching halt. Without giving her a chance to return the money, Zachary turned on his heel and left. Serenity took a glance at the money on the plate and moved the gaze to the man on the run. The man already had one foot out the door by then. “Zachary, do I look like a beggar to you?” The door slamming shut was his response. Now that the door
Liberty was downstairs waiting for her sister. She carried her son while a diaper bag and a rucksack hung off each arm. Liberty looked around, failing to notice a new car driving by. More accurately, she was not on the lookout for a four-wheeled vehicle as her sister often rode an e-bike. Serenity pulled up in front of her sister and rolled down the window. “Liberty.” Taken aback at first, Liberty ensued with a smile. “I thought you were riding your bike today.” She knew that her brother-in-law bought her sister a car, but Serenity rarely used it. This was the first time Serenity drove here with the new car. Serenity got out of the car and grabbed the diaper bag from Liberty. She opened the door to the back seat and put the diaper bag in. She asked, “Is everything in there, Liberty? The formula is the most important thing.” “It’s all there.” Liberty handed her son over to her sister. With Serenity carrying Sonny, Liberty drew close to kiss her son on the cheek and urged h
Serenity drove to the shop and saw a familiar car parked out the front. It was Shawn. Shawn came by to deliver food to his cousin again. Instead of breakfast, he brought along some pastries made by his family’s personal chef. His excuse was that the pastries were too much for the family to finish, so he came to share them with his cousin. Jasmine did not read too much into his excuse as she and Serenity would not say no to food. Plus, Jasmine knew that all the pastries at the Lowes were baked fresh every day. Since Shawn brought them over, Jasmine helped herself to quite a bit. Shawn was worried his cousin would finish the pastries before Serenity made it to the shop. Looking out the shop, Shawn asked, “Jas, is Serenity coming today?” “She will but a little later.” Jasmine answered, unconcerned. As Jasmine lived rather close to the shop, she usually set up the shop and took care of business in the morning. Serenity was in charge of watching the shop at night. “There’s a
Carrying her nephew, Serenity walked alongside Shawn into the shop. “Oh, Sonny’s here. Come, Sonny. Give me a hug.” Jasmine got up and took Sonny from Serenity’s arm. She sat down and asked Sonny, “Do you want some pastries?” Sonny looked at his aunt. “Give him a piece. Don’t let him have too much or he won’t eat his lunch.” Serenity took the diaper bag from Shawn and put it under the cash register. “My sister decided to look for a job today. She asked me to look after Sonny. She’ll come here in the afternoon.” Jasmine gave Sonny a piece of pastry. Instead of accepting it, Sonny opened his palms and said, “Deety.” Jasmine put down the food and carried him to the kitchenette to wash his dirty hands. She believed Liberty had raised Sonny well. As for the claim about Sonny being naughty, that was just kids being kids. Parents would be worried that something must be wrong with their kid’s head if the child simply sat in a corner all day like a bump on a log. Kids had it
“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