The night passed and morning came.At East Hill Apartments, Liberty held Sonny’s bag as she walked to the door. She urged him, “Quick, Sonny. You’re going to be late.”Sonny was dawdling. He took his shoes from his room, sat on the sofa, and put them on slowly. “Can I not go to preschool today, Mom?”Before preschool started, Sonny had always thought going to preschool was fun. He had so much fun on registration day that he did not want to go home. He even cried when Liberty wanted to take him home. However, after some time, Sonny felt being at home was much more satisfying. If his Mom could not look after him, he could go to Aunt Ser’s place, Uncle Zak’s office, or Grandaunt Audrey’s home.All of those options were better than going to preschool. Most importantly, Sonny needed to wake up early every day to attend school. He could no longer sleep in as he did in the past. As Mom had to head to work, she would take him to preschool early in the morning. He was always the
Liberty hugged him back. She spoke gently, “I’ve neglected you and haven’t been accompanying you much because I’ve been too busy lately. Why don’t I take you to the seaside this weekend?”“Is Aunt Ser coming?”“We can invite her and Aunt Elisa too.”Sonny said happily, “Okay. I’m sorry, Mom. I won’t say anything about not wanting to go preschool anymore.”Liberty pulled away from him and smiled. “I’m happy you can understand me and correct your mistakes. You’re my good boy.”She then pecked his cheek and Sonny kissed her back. “Let’s go to preschool now, Mom.”Sonny pulled Liberty’s hand and walked toward the door. “I can carry my own bag, Mom.”Liberty passed the bag to him. He carried it and exited the house with her. Sonny waited as Liberty locked the door. Then, Liberty turned around and was about to hold Sonny’s hand when she saw a man looking at them from a distance. That man was the drunkard she bumped into in the elevator last night. The drunkard looked more
That lady immediately stood in front of Liberty to block the drunkard’s sight. Then, she pretended to chat with Liberty and asked, “The child’s dad is coming back soon, right?”Liberty replied, “Yes.”Hank would be discharged soon and he would be going home, but not to her place. They had been divorced for a year after all.The lady teased Sonny, “Do you miss your dad?”He replied honestly, “I do. My mom brought me to visit Dad last weekend.”The lady smiled, “Oh, you went to visit your dad.”Sonny nodded vigorously. Liberty knew the lady was doing it on purpose to let the drunkard know she had a man in her house who was about to return from a business trip and not to think about doing anything to her. The drunkard did not say anything upon hearing that. The elevator doors opened when it reached the first floor. The lady quickly pulled Liberty and Sonny out. The drunkard remained where he stood. When Liberty walked past, he whispered, “I looked for you all night. I know y
After a moment of silence, Liberty said, “Zachary gave a villa to us as a present. It’s a huge and pretty house, like the one Aunt Ser is living in now. I haven’t accepted it until now.“I’m working hard to earn more money to pay for your education and improve your living conditions. I want to become someone Serenity can rely on too. I feel like I’ll burden her if I keep accepting Zachary’s kindness.“People will think that we’re taking advantage of the Yorks just because Serenity has married into a wealthy family. If I work hard to earn money, I believe we can move into a villa with our abilities.“Dunc and Uncle Jul have a house in that neighborhood too. If we accept Serenity’s offer and move there, it’ll definitely be much safer than our current place. I’m also in a dilemma about whether to accept that house.“Your aunt will be worried about our safety if we tell her about the man we met earlier. Let’s not let her know, okay? She’ll get shocked if anything were to happen. She ha
It did not take long for Zachary to pour a glass of water for Liberty. He handed the glass to her. “Liberty, Seren and I will be having the wedding ahead of schedule. Please accept the villa at The Oasis. It’s a little something from me and Seren.” The Oasis would be a second home to Serenity because that would be where Liberty lived. Liberty took the glass and replied with a smile, “That's what I wanted to talk to you about today, Zachary.” Zachary was ecstatic. He returned to his desk and took out a bunch of keys from one of the drawers. He then approached Liberty and put the keys in front of her. “Liberty, I have kept the keys to the house here for you, available whenever you feel comfortable accepting the villa.”Liberty took a sip and glanced at the keys, feeling touched by his thoughtful gesture. Her sister and brother-in-law always had her best interest in mind. Despite being an heir to a wealthy family, Zachary never treated Liberty with disdain. In fact, he treate
Liberty understood that Zachary needed time to think the matter through. Hence, she smiled and said, “Alright. Talk to Seren when you get home. Go ahead with your work. I’m going to check on the restaurant.” “You’re leaving so soon?” “I got to get going. You have a lot of work, and time is tight. I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Since Serenity was pregnant, Zachary canceled their honeymoon trip. However, he did not withdraw his marriage leave. Instead, he planned to spend some quality time with his beloved wife for the whole month. They could take a drive around Wiltspoon or have walks. Wiltspoon was a huge city. They had not explored every nook and cranny of the city yet. Zachary had been busy, taking extra shifts and sorting out the important stuff so he could take his marriage leave in peace. “I’ll walk you out.” Zachary did not insist that Liberty stay. He escorted her out of his office and walked her to the elevator. Once Liberty was in the elevator, h
“Don’t worry, Boss. We’ll hold the fort.” The diner was relatively empty at this hour. Barely any customers came in after ten for breakfast but the early morning rush could be quite busy.Of course, the servers hoped the business did well as their livelihoods depended on it. All You Can Eat was located near Lewis & Co, a commercial space Liberty rented from Duncan.Mrs. Lewis was strongly against Duncan and Liberty being together when Duncan first confessed his feelings to Liberty. Liberty once thought about moving the diner elsewhere to avoid Duncan. In the end, Liberty decided to take the bull by the horns. Liberty drove to Lewis & Co., reaching the office building in mere minutes. The security personnel of Lewis & Co. immediately opened the gate for Liberty and watched with a smile as she drove past the gate into the compound. The security guard then shut the gate and returned to his post to say to his colleague, "Liberty just joined the company when I started working
Liberty turned up right outside Duncan’s office. She knocked on the door and only entered the room once given permission. Duncan sat behind his desk while his wheelchair was parked to the side. If he needed to leave the office, Duncan could leverage the table to transfer himself to his wheelchair.His two personal bodyguards were nowhere to be found. They were probably on standby in the lobby. Duncan was back in the office to take care of business, so his bodyguards could not possibly stay by his side all the time. He had his secretary when he needed help in the office. Hearing the familiar footsteps, Duncan lifted his head and saw Liberty. He stood up with the support of the table and tried to make his way around. Liberty immediately stopped him. “Sit there. Don’t move. I don’t want you to fall.” Duncan said with a grin, “Alright. I'll stay put. My legs aren't quite cooperating yet.”Nevertheless, Duncan's recovery was progressing, and he was doing much better than whe
Callum was silent for a moment before he said, “I wanted you to get familiar with the route to my office, which is why I asked you to deliver the flowers yourself.”“Did you ever think about how difficult it was for me as a blind person? It was so hard for me to walk all the way to deliver those flowers,” Camryn retorted.Callum pulled her into an embrace and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Camryn. It was my fault for not thinking it through, which put you through a lot.”Camryn pushed him away, “We have customers constantly coming in. Don’t just hug me out of nowhere. You’re as thick-skinned as a rhinoceros, but I’m not. At that time, I was angry and silently cursed you a hundred thousand times, but your insistence actually did help me learn the way to your office and now, I can find my way there even with my eyes closed.”At that moment, Trenton returned. After Carrie left, he felt a bit down and stayed outside for a while to compose himself before coming back in. He did not wan
Just then, a customer came in wanting to buy a bouquet. Camryn first brought over some sample pictures for the customer to choose from. “No need to choose, just help me arrange a bouquet of roses. I’m going to confess my feelings,” said the young boy, a hint of shyness on his face as he spoke.Camryn smiled gently. “Alright, please wait a moment while I prepare it for you.”Callum assisted by inviting the young boy to sit down and poured him a glass of water.The boy glanced between Camryn and Callum and quietly asked, “Are you and the boss married or dating?”“We’re married. She’s my wife.”The boy expressed his envy. “You both seem very happy.”“Yeah, we are very happy. I love my wife very much, and she loves me too.”Thinking about the girl he was pursuing, the boy’s face lit up with anticipation. “I also have someone I like, and I’m going to confess to her, though I just don’t know if she feels the same. I’m a bit nervous.”Callum, drawing from his own experience, advised
“She hasn’t paid. Stop her.” Camryn was not going to let her get away with it. With a command, her two bodyguards stopped Carrie.Carrie said furiously, “Camryn, I only took a few flowers from you! You have so many flowers here. What's the big deal if I take a few? You still want me to pay? I’m your sister! Don’t you know that blood is thicker than water?!”“Blood might be thicker than water, but business is business. Anyone who buys flowers from me has to pay, including you. Besides, you’ve never treated me like an older sister. You always bring up how we’re sisters when you want to take advantage of me, but that won’t work here. My roses are freshly transported, and since you’re my sister, I’ll let you have them for twenty bucks each. You took about five stems, so just give me a hundred. I won’t rip you off.”Carrie’s expression changed in an instant. “Camryn, why don’t you just rob a bank? You’re charging twenty bucks each? You’re just a thief! Here! I don’t want them! I’d rather
“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