Serenity waited at the entrance of the manor since she knew her sister was arriving.Zachary naturally accompanied her.However, she yawned incessantly.Zachary said, “It was a long distance from downtown to here. I told you to take a nap since your sister would arrive just as you woke up from the nap, but you refused to listen. Now, you can’t stop yawning.”Serenity yawned again and said, “I’m afraid I won’t want to get up if I lie down. When the AC is on during weather like this, I’ll feel lazier and want to sleep more. The more I sleep, the more I want to stay in bed.”She could sleep the entire afternoon away if no one came to wake her up.“It’s probably because the season is changing. People often feel lazy during such times.”Zachary held her hand, pulled it up, and kissed the back of her palm. He looked up at her with eyes full of tenderness and asked, “Seren, it’ll be our wedding anniversary soon. What gift did you prepare for me?”Serenity withdrew her hand and pinched
Liberty stopped her car at the entrance of the manor.“Sonny, wake up. We’re at Aunt Seren’s house.”Liberty turned her head to call her son.The little boy went with the sandman after getting in the car and slept the entire journey.He slept so soundly that not even his mother’s calls could wake him up.Liberty got out of the car first.“Liberty.”Serenity’s smile was as bright as the sun. Zachary also came over to greet Liberty.“It’s so hot out. Why are you two standing here waiting for me? Hurry inside. I’ll drive the car in.”Zachary smiled and said, “Your sister started counting down the time when she heard that you were coming. She thought you were almost here, so she insisted on coming out to wait.”Liberty admonished her sister, “If you wanted to wait outside, why didn’t you at least bring an umbrella for shade?”“It’s fine. We sat at the security booth for a while. There’s air conditioning inside. When we saw that it was almost time, we came out just in time to see
Liberty hummed.She drove straight to the main building.Soon after she arrived, she saw Tania coming out from inside the house just as she parked the car.Tania walked down the steps to the front of the car and asked Liberty, “Is Sonny here?”Liberty said with a laugh, “How would I dare not bring Sonny after how much you urged me on the phone? He’s in the back, but he fell asleep.”“It’s fine if he’s asleep. It’s just in time for an afternoon nap. I also just woke up from my nap.”When Tania heard that Sonny was in the backseat, she was just about to open the door when she saw her son coming out of the car. She quickly reached out when she saw Zachary carrying Sonny. “Let me carry him. Be careful not to bump him into anything.”Zachary said in a low voice, “Aren’t you worried about me bumping into anything?”“You have thick skin, so it doesn’t matter if you bump into something. You’ll get a scrape at most.”Tania gently took Sonny from her son.Then, she walked into the hous
The house turned lively after Sonny woke up.Serenity, his biological aunt, did not have the chance to get close to Sonny. She took her sister out of the manor to enjoy the scenery.The scenery at Wildridge Manor differed over the four seasons.Spring blossomed with beautiful flowers while summer let one admire the magnificent lotuses.Fall saw red leaves at the foot of the mountain and while there was no snow in Wiltspoon for one to enjoy the white blanket of scenery, that did not affect the lovely surroundings of the manor.“How is Hank?” Serenity asked her sister.“He’s recovering well. His mental state today was much better than when he just woke up, but he still can’t get out of bed and walk around. Jessica was really trying to kill him with every stab. The doctor said it was a miracle he survived.”Serenity said after a moment of silence, “If he’s alive, Sonny will still have a father. He can’t influence you anymore anyway, so you can just take Sonny to visit him occasiona
“After a few peaceful days, I learned about my true identity, and then it was a long road of investigation. Seren, don’t you think that we are ill-fated? Why do pain and suffering always find us?”Serenity comforted her. “Aunt Audrey, don’t say that. No one’s life can be smooth sailing all the time. We will encounter setbacks along the way. I’ve talked to Zachary, asking him to help investigate. With more people, we might be able to find some evidence.”“Okay.”Audrey had spoken those pessimistic words to her niece out of momentary frustration.“Has your sister arrived at your place?”“She just arrived not long ago. Do you have something to say to my sister, Aunt Audrey?”Audrey said, “Pass the phone to your sister. I want to talk to her for a moment.”Serenity handed the phone to her sister.“Aunt Audrey.”Audrey responded and asked Liberty, “Liberty, can you free up some time recently?”“Of course. What would you like me to do? Just let me know.”“In that case, free up a w
Serenity pondered for a moment and felt that her sister made sense.She was currently very busy with her own business, assisting Zachary with his personal matters, and also taking on some small tasks from her mother-in-law. She was learning how to juggle them.Serenity needed to work hard to become a competent lady of the house.The main issue was that she grew up in an ordinary family. Serenity would not need to work so hard, and she would have even less pressure if the Hunts and the Yorks were a perfect match.Serenity could not have anticipated that her aunt had the plan to push her sister into the head position of the Fisher family.The Wildridge Manor was a boisterous place. The Queen family far away in Jensburg, although not as lively, was relatively more bustling today compared to its usual quietness.Under their parents’ request, Hayden and Hugh had returned for the weekend.Hugh came back earlier and had gone to Jensburg Hotel with Kevin to pick up Hayden.The four o’c
As long as she returned home and Kevin was also there in her house, she felt as if her parents were conspiring to sell her to him.“Let’s go.”Kevin reached out and grabbed one of Hayden’s hands, trying to pull her along.Hayden instinctively shook off his hand, not letting him touch her. She coldly warned him, “Kevin, have some self-restraint. Don’t get handsy. Just because my parents side with you doesn’t mean I won’t dare to retaliate against you.”Kevin smiled and explained, “I’m not taking advantage of you. I just wanted to escort you downstairs.”“I have legs and I can walk on my own. No need for you to guide me.”Hayden pushed the bouquet back into Kevin’s arms and said indifferently, “I’ve told you, I don’t like flowers or things that girls like.”After speaking, she walked by Kevin and went downstairs.Kevin followed her with the bouquet in his arms, saying as they walked, “Then what should I do? I have a challenging task, Hayden. Mr. Hayden, since our relationship is
When Hayden approached, Caroline stood up and greeted her with a smile, saying, “Mr. Queen.”Hayden smiled unusually and asked, “When did you arrive, Ms. Fisher? You should have given me a call beforehand so I could meet you at the main gate.”Blushing slightly and looking a little embarrassed, Caroline replied, “I don’t work on weekends, and I was bored at home. I don’t have many friends either. It’s just that you treat me a bit better, so I took the liberty to come and chat with you, Mr. Queen.”She no longer had any illusions about Hayden, but he did indeed treat her with a certain gentleness. Hayden was cold and distant toward other young women, but he showed her a warm side.Hayden was still smiling at her, even now.Caroline found his smile particularly attractive.Even though he rarely smiled.She figured it was because he had so many admirers.Everyone wanted to melt his icy cold demeanor and become the one and only in his heart among all his admirers.If he smiled lik
Adrian and his brothers finally heard footsteps. They instinctively turned their heads, only to see a group of people, who were already very close, approaching.“Police! Hands up, don’t move!”Upon realizing they had been spotted, the officer leading the charge immediately shouted, drawing his gun and pointing it at Adrian and the others.The police had learned from the Dott brothers that the kidnappers were armed.The officers following Darren were from an armed unit and carried guns.Jason’s mind went blank. He could not form a single coherent thought.How had the police caught up?They had scouted the location beforehand, ensuring it was remote and quiet. It was somewhere no one would come even during the day, let alone at night.Adrian reacted the fastest. He immediately bent down to pick up the kitchen knife, intending to kill Caroline.All he could think then was that even if he died, he wanted to take Caroline with him. As long as Caroline died, he would consider it wor
Justin, seeing his eldest brother approach with the kitchen knife, hesitated and asked, “Adrian, are we really going to do this?”“What, are you having second thoughts at this stage, like Jason? Justin, we didn’t even cover our faces. She knows it’s us. If we let her go now, we’re the ones who will die.“Think about it. How much have we suffered ever since she came back? How much have we lost? Even Mom’s dead now.”When their mother was alive, the three brothers lived carefree and comfortable lives. Now that she was gone, they were nothing.Hearing this, Justin quickly said, “Adrian, I’m not having second thoughts. It’s just… We don’t have to use the knife. We can just throw her into the sea. With her hands and feet tied, she won’t be able to escape.“The deep sea is full of fish. She’ll be eaten by a big fish soon, which will leave no trace. That’s better than us using the knife.”The main reason was that none of them had killed anyone before. Although they had done other bad th
Her indifference, as if she did not care whether they killed her or not, infuriated her three brothers.Adrian stood up, turned around, and walked to the back of the car. He opened the trunk.Inside the trunk were two sharpened kitchen knives.“Adrian.” Jason walked over, his voice trembling slightly. It was his first time committing murder, and killing his own sister at that. Jason was a bit scared.“Adrian, are we really going to… chop her up?”Adrian picked up one of the kitchen knives and glared at Jason. “What? Are you having second thoughts? Or are you scared?”“Well… It’s my first time killing someone. I am a bit scared. Carol is our sister, after all. I... I can’t bring myself to do it.”Adrian snorted coldly. “You think of her as a sister, but she doesn’t see us as brothers. Look at what she’s done—every single thing has been a stab in the back for us.“When it comes to using a knife, once you make the first cut, the second one won’t be so hard.”Adrian handed the kit
There were still traces of blood at the corners of her mouth and under her nose.Justin and Jason worked together to pull Caroline out, and Adrian immediately tied her legs together before binding her hands behind her back.“Are you going to feed me to the fish, Adrian?”Hearing the sound of the waves and feeling the cold sea breeze, Caroline shivered.She did not stand up and remained lying on the ground.Adrian kicked her several times, venting his pent-up anger.Caroline silently endured it.After kicking her a few times, Adrian squatted, gripping Caroline's chin forcefully with one hand, and said coldly, “Caroline, there’s nothing more to say between us.“Don’t blame us for being heartless. You’re the one who pushed us to this point.“You only have yourself to blame.“Where are the passwords and keys to Mom's private assets? Tell us, and we’ll make it quick for you, so you won’t suffer too much.“If you don’t, we have plenty of time to slowly cut you piece by piece and m
“We can’t just keep giving them money, now can we?”Adrian replied, “That’s not a priority for now. We can burn that bridge when we come to it. If they do dare blackmail us, we’ll just send them on to meet their maker.“The only thing is they both have families. If we kill them, we have to kill their families too. That way, there’ll be no one who’ll report it to the police.“And it’s best to make it seem like an accident too, or else it’ll seem suspicious.”Justin and Jason both felt Adrian was right. If they were going to kill the Dott brothers, they might as well kill their families too.Caroline internally cursed how merciless they were. The Dott brothers thought they could earn some money from Adrian to live a better life but little did they know, it would bring destruction upon themselves and their families.What the Clark brothers did not know was that the Dotts were forced to say what they did earlier.It was not that they had not left yet. Rather, they could not, because
Belinda had done everything other mothers would have. She loved them, yet the three of them had gotten a smaller portion of her wealth than their own children did. Indeed, Belinda left her grandchildren with more money.After all, her grandchildren still had a long life ahead of them.Therefore, she distributed more wealth to them. The Clark brothers loved spending lavishly and kept losing money whenever they tried to establish businesses. They also had many mistresses and never hesitated to spend money on them. Belinda was partial toward her sons about their affairs and also persuaded her daughters-in-law not to get a divorce. In truth, she resented her three sons for being promiscuous and inheriting their father’s flirtatious traits. While Hunter may have been interested in other girls, he dared not cheat on Belinda because she was strict. However, he still had an affair the moment he spotted an opportunity.Later, Belinda chased the Clark brothers’ mistresses out of
Celine, whom they had cared for all long, was not their biological sister but the daughter of the previous butler. Celine’s father was ambitious. He tried making his daughter the Fisher family’s successor. Justin was speechless.“Free me, Jason. I’m already in your hands. Are you still scared that I’ll escape? Let me out. It’s too stuffy in the sack. I feel terrible.”Caroline made a request. Jason seemed to be the one with some lingering feelings for his sibling. Well, that was not really the case.If he truly had even a sliver of sibling love for Caroline, he would have stopped Adrian and Justin from kidnapping her instead of joining the plan. If Caroline had been fortunate, she could have had five brothers doting on her. Sadly, she was unlucky. None of the five brothers had cared for her. They all wanted her dead. Was she a failure as a person, or were they too cruel?Jason said, “Just stay put, Caroline. We’ll let you out when we arrive.”They could not release Car
Caroline could not beat them. Then, her mouth was gagged with a cloth, and her head was covered with a sack. Someone forced her into a car. She heard Adrian saying to his brothers, “Let’s go.“Tell Celine’s brothers to follow us. Assign a few people to clean up and leave quickly.”After that, Caroline heard the sound of an engine starting. The car moved. She could not see what was happening. While she was shoved into the backseat, her arms and legs were unbound. She removed the cloth from her mouth but not the sack from her head.Someone held the sack tightly and started hitting and kicking her. “Tie the sack, Justin,” said Jason in a hurry. The person beating her up was Justin. “I know it’s you guys, Justin and Jason. What are you doing? Let me go. Mmph…”Caroline grunted in pain. She suffered a punch from Justin. She held her head tightly to prevent any injury to it. Many blows landed on her body. “It’s fine even if you know it’s us, Caroline. You better stay
“Ms. Caroline.”The bodyguards looked toward Caroline. Caroline opened her eyes and said calmly, “Stop the car, but don’t get out. Only get out when the situation gets out of hand. Remember to protect yourselves.”“Ms. Caroline…”“I’ll keep myself safe. Don’t worry. I treasure my life. There’s still a long life ahead of me. I haven’t even started enjoying good days. I won’t want to die.”Caroline chuckled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. There was sorrow in those eyes. In the end, she and her brothers could not coexist. It made her realize how bad her luck was with families. She was switched at birth and mistreated by her adoptive family. She thought her biological parents would treat her well after returning to them, but it turned out to be the opposite. Caroline had many family members, yet somehow, she was still alone. The people who truly cared about her were Darren, Liberty, and some others. Caroline’s bodyguards knew she had been waiting for that moment.