“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
Caroline smiled gently. “I do quite like Sonny, he's really cute. Liberty, you've done a great job raising your son. It's easy to see that in ten or twenty years, Sonny will be very successful.”The only little one in Wiltspoon who had a familial connection to her was Sonny, as well as Clive’s son. Serenity's baby had not been born yet, after all.“Oh, by the way, I've prepared Christmas gifts for all of you, and I've written your names on them so it's clear whose gift is which. One of them is for Serenity's unborn baby. That generation will call me ‘grandaunt’, right? I'm not sure whether Serenity’s having a boy or a girl, so I've prepared a gift for both a boy and a girl. If it's a boy, then the other gift will be for her second child.”Caroline smiled and said, “Considering how much the Yorks wish for a daughter, I think Serenity and Zachary will probably give it another go and try for a daughter.”In this case, giving double the gifts was not excessive.“My nephew isn't even b
Caroline sighed internally once again. She would not ruminate about the past, and neither could she bring herself to. Mr. Foster was still alive, but he had returned to seek revenge for his master, and in doing so, he made Belinda fully realize that she would never receive his love in this lifetime. Now that Belinda was dead, all the love, hatred, and grudges had dissipated with her. Fortunately, she came to a realization before she passed on and regretted the things she had done to Tiara.Liberty said, “Your mother truly was very shrewd.”Belinda was ruthless, but when it came to making her posthumous arrangements, she had been meticulous, especially in preventing Hunter and his sons from plundering the Fisher family's assets. It had to be said that Belinda had truly done her duty as the head of the Fisher family, though as a mother, she had been too biased. She appeared very good to her three sons on the surface, but when dividing the family estate, she was very objective. “Did
The backing Liberty had was too strong.Although Caroline was familiar with the family business and internal affairs, she had no backing. The number of people supporting her within the family had also decreased. It was not because she was incompetent but because she was Belinda’s daughter. Whatever Belinda did was exposed by the media and circulated among the people of Jensburg. It would be a lie to say that the Fisher family members did not hold a grudge at all. Even if Caroline was kinder than Belinda, they could not support Belinda’s daughter as the next matriarch. People would change. When Belinda first assumed the position decades ago, she was friendly to the family. However, once her position was stabilized, she started eliminating those who were capable and those who disagreed with her. She wanted to monopolize power. Therefore, nobody wanted Caroline to take over as matriarch. On the other hand, Liberty received much more support. Unless Liberty gave up on the
At that moment, the office phone rang. Liberty picked up the call and was informed by the secretary that Caroline had arrived.“Please let her in,” replied Liberty before hanging up. “Caroline is here.”Liberty told Duncan. He said calmly, “So what? We aren’t doing anything shameful. There’s nothing to hide.”He was Liberty’s fiancée. Most people in WIltspoon and Jensburg were aware of this. Seeing him in Liberty’s office would be completely normal to Caroline. Besides, he was one of the shareholders of Liberty’s company. Therefore, the company was also Duncan’s territory. He was uninvolved in the operations and only invested his money. He believed that Liberty could manage the company well. Liberty smiled and did not say anything else. She went to prepare a pot of tea. Soon, Caroline entered. Darren was behind her with multiple shopping bags in his hands. When Liberty saw the bags upon exiting the pantry with a pot of tea, she told Caroline, “What did you br
“What’s wrong?”Duncan replied softly, “I’m fine. I thought you caught a cold because you kept sneezing.”He wanted to fuss over her, yet he received her concern instead. That was the kind of relationship he wanted—mutual concern, understanding, and trust. Liberty understood why he suddenly came to her. She said, “You got so worried over an occasional sneeze. Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’ve gotten used to the winter in Jensburg after staying here for some time.“Maybe I was sneezing because someone said something bad about me behind my back.”Duncan immediately said, “Who dares to badmouth my fiancée?”Liberty feigned anger with a glance, but she was clearly happy. Duncan was very protective of her. Even Hank was not as protective as when she was dating him back then. The difference between true and fake love was so apparent. Duncan guessed, “I can’t think of anyone who’d scold you besides your previous in-laws.”Liberty replied, “You shouldn’t think about them. I no lo
“Anyway, you’re not allowed to take advantage of Sonny. He’ll catch on because he’s growing up. Don’t offend Serenity either. Otherwise, your hardware store that has finally stabilized will have to close down.”Chelsea’s expression changed when she recalled why she and her husband lost their jobs. “One more thing. If Liberty and Duncan get married, don’t be ignorant and stir up trouble at their wedding.”Olivia was worried that her daughter would be unreasonable and make a fuss. Chelsea was unhappy. “Do I look like someone who likes to create trouble? Liberty is different and isn’t as gullible as before. I don’t have the guts to make a ruckus at their wedding.“Do you think I’m that fearless? I’m afraid of losing everything too.”Nevertheless, Chelsea was still jealous that the sister-in-law she used to bully was able to marry into a wealthy family two years after her divorce. Olivia knew well of the daughter she birthed. She said, “Think about who rescued Lucas when someth
Chelsea muttered, “Even if you do that, Sonny isn’t close to you, Mom.”Olivia was speechless for a second. She said, “Even if we aren’t close, he’ll call me grandmom when he sees me. He doesn’t even greet me now.“Sonny may be young, but he’ll be four years old next year. He knows everything he needs to and is clever. He must’ve inherited Hank and Liberty’s best genes because they used to be smart people.”Liberty was not stupid. She even had a better career than Hank before she got married. What were they thinking back then?The Browns wanted to suppress Liberty to ensure she was less dominant than Hank. Therefore, Liberty was persuaded to leave her job after marriage to stay home throughout her pregnancy. She ended up becoming a housewife and lost the sharp edge she had in her workplace. Her world only revolved around her husband and son, causing her to lose her identity gradually. The Browns were changing Liberty bit by bit, yet they were not treating her well. Ultimately
“I’m not using Sonny. Since Hank and I are siblings and he only has one son, Sonny and Lucas can get along as cousins. If Sonny hangs out with his cousins more often, he’ll have brothers who have his back in the future.“If he runs into any problems, we can help him. He won’t be alone.”Chelsea guessed Hank must have told their parents something to have caused the change in their mother’s attitude. Olivia favored Sonny and no longer wished to work toward the future of Chelsea’s children.Olivia glanced at her daughter and chuckled. Then, she looked toward Lucas, the grandson she raised. Lucas was a naughty boy. He would never stay still and had already made a mess of the house in a short period. “Look at how Lucas behaves now and compare it to Sonny’s personality. Although Sonny can get mischievous sometimes, he’s more mature and sensible despite his young age. He’ll only be more composed in the future.“Even if he does run into trouble, he won’t require your help. You guys
“Even if my husband and I work tirelessly for another decade, we can never achieve the wealth of the Lewises.”Chelsea was mentally cursing Hank for being ignorant and not mending his relationship with Sonny. He even brainwashed their parents until they stopped siding with her. She could only imagine Sonny’s bright future, where he would be living in a large villa, driving luxury cars, and inheriting a megacorporation. Meanwhile, her children could only get a decent nine-to-five job. Their monthly salary could even be lower than the price of one of Sonny’s meals.Chelsea was jealous. She was anxious about getting her son to build a close relationship with Sonny.“Why don’t we file a case to regain Sonny’s custody, Mom? Liberty and Serenity won’t ignore us so long Sonny is in our house. They’ll help us so that Sonny lives a good life too.“That way, Sonny will have a deeper connection with us. He won’t forget us when he becomes a capable person.”Chelsea had a pipe dream. O