“I’ll call your mother!” Audrey offered.Alice did not get to call her mother. Audrey felt that Alice’s family should be present when Alice was giving birth, so she took the initiative to call Alice’s family, telling them to meet up at the hospital.Soon after, the Stones and Lafayettes gathered outside the delivery room, waiting anxiously for Alice to give birth.Just as Audrey had guessed, Alice did an examination and was sent to the delivery room immediately upon arrival.Elisa posted a message on Facebook, notifying the Hunt sisters of Alice’s labor.Zachary immediately accompanied Serenity and Grandma May to the hospital while Liberty arrived before Serenity.Seeing the large group of people waiting outside, Liberty walked to Audrey and called out softly.“Liberty, why are you here?”“I saw Elisa’s post that Alice was about to give birth, so I came to see how everything was going. How long has she been in there?”Audrey said, “It felt like she went in a long time ago. But
The door to the delivery room opened and everyone waiting gathered around.A nurse held the baby and asked Clive with a smile, “Are you Alice Lafayette’s family member?”“I am her husband. Has she given birth? How is my wife? Can I go in and see her? When can she come out?”Clive asked multiple questions regarding his wife.Liberty was standing behind the crowd. Seeing how much Clive cared about Alice, she sighed in relief, knowing that Alice had married the right person.The nurse answered Clive. “Your wife is in good condition. She gave birth to a boy. Both mother and child are safe. The baby is 7.3 pounds. Your wife will be out shortly. Here’s the baby.”Clive was relieved to hear that Alice and the baby were safe.Everyone had smiles on their faces when they heard what the nurse said. They were also excited to see the little one.Clive took his son from the nurse’s arms. He looked at his newborn son and handed the baby to his mother-in-law, Felicity. He said, “Mom, you can
Fortunately, Alice did not keep her husband waiting for too long as the nurse soon pushed her out of the delivery room.“Babe!”Clive ran to Alice.Alice’s hair was messy, and her lips were cracked.Even so, Alice was in good spirits when she saw that everyone was waiting for her. She said to her husband, “Clive, we have a son! They said the baby looks like me.”Felicity said, “Yeah, your son resembles you. The baby is very healthy.”Clive leaned down and kissed his beloved wife on the forehead. He said in distress, “Thanks for your hard work, babe. Let’s not have any more children. One is enough.”Alice’s family hoped that she would give birth to a boy.The Stones had a big business empire, and Clive said that they would only have one child. Alice’s family felt that their daughter’s position in the Stone family was secure because she had given birth to an heir.After giving birth, Alice was also glad that she had a son. That way, her son would not have to endure the pain of c
Alice held her son and kissed him several times, smiling. “Of course, he looks like me. I gave birth to him! His mouth looks like Clive’s.”Alice glanced at her husband and said, “He has both our features, but he looks more like me.”Clive said dotingly, “It’s better that way since I’m not as good-looking as you.”Everyone laughed.Alice and Clive were a good-looking couple. The baby was still so small, so it was hard to tell whose looks he would take after. Yet, everyone was sure he would be a handsome little boy in the future.Alice needed more rest after giving birth, so everyone left after a while.Clive and Audrey stayed in the hospital to take care of Alice and the baby.After coming out of the hospital, Serenity and Zachary went to the Stones’ residence.The Stones were beaming with joy because they just welcomed a new baby.The Hunt sisters bought a lot of nutritional supplements for Alice.Audrey said to her nieces, “We don’t lack anything at home. Why did you buy so
Zachary had been reading up on pregnancy and knew that pregnant women should get enough exercise. It was not healthy to stay in bed or sit still all day.“Don’t worry, Aunt Audrey.”Audrey was happy with her niece’s husband and sighed when she looked at Liberty. Serenity was lucky to have met Zachary, who pampered her after they were married.On the other hand, Audrey felt sorry for Liberty.Liberty had a failed marriage with a vile man. After the divorce, Liberty led a better life and even had a sincere admirer—Duncan. However, Duncan got into a car accident and was undergoing rehab for his broken legs. No one knew when Duncan would fully recover.If Duncan could not recover fully, Audrey would not approve of Liberty and Duncan being together because Liberty had suffered enough in her previous marriage. She was hoping Liberty could be as happy as Serenity for the remainder of her life with her soulmate, rather than get dragged down by a disabled person.Audrey was just a pragmat
Liberty read between the lines of Audrey’s suggestion and nodded with a smile. “I hope my food will be served all over the country one day.”“Liberty, that day will come,” Serenity cheered.She had complete faith in Liberty’s ability to pull it off.Audrey laughed and said, “All women of Fishers are capable.”Especially the eldest daughter.If it had not been for their family’s demise decades ago, Liberty would have been the matriarch of the Fisher family.The women in the Fisher family were all capable.Caroline Fisher was a good example. She pretended to be weak and deceived the entire family.Perhaps the only person who could see through Caroline’s act was her biological mother, Belinda.Serenity hesitated to speak and she kept mum till the end.She was fully aware that her sister was capable but becoming the matriarch of the Fisher family might be very intense. After all, it involved grudges across two generations.The current matriarch was so cruel as to kill her elder
Audrey did not notice Serenity’s hesitance, but Liberty did and guessed that her sister wanted to talk to her about the Fisher family from Jensburg.After the Hunt sisters went out, the only ones left in the living room were Darrell, Zachary, and Remy.Grandma May did not follow Zachary and Serenity to the Stones’ residence after the hospital visit, so Zachary arranged for someone to take his nana back to the villa. Zachary did not know and could not care less whether Grandma May made a detour before going home. She was an active elderly woman who just would not stay at home.The three grown men drank tea and chatted about business matters.The Hunt sisters walked out of the house. Liberty wanted to help her sister down the steps, but Serenity smiled and said, “Liberty, I’m less than three months in, and my body hasn’t changed much yet. Aside from the morning sickness a while back that reminded me of the pregnancy, I’m not any different than before. You don’t need to help me down t
Liberty paused for a moment and said, “Caroline is in a very difficult situation now. If we go back, it’ll be even more difficult for her.”Caroline was Belinda’s daughter. If she had been trained as a successor since she was a child, she would have been able to take over smoothly. However, she was swapped out and had spent over twenty years in the housekeeper’s household.Her level of education was incomparable to the others in the Fisher family.After Caroline returned to the Fisher family, the fake heiress, Celine, continued to stay with the Fishers and became the second young lady of the Fisher family. In the eyes of outsiders, the Fisher family was partial to Celine. After all, they had been living with Celine for more than twenty years.In the past, Belinda did her best to raise Celine because she did not know that Celine was not her blood. Although Celine was not particularly outstanding, she was still much better than Caroline, who had just returned to the Fisher family. At
The security guard brought out a basket and handed it to Dylan.Dylan took the basket and poured the bag of chili peppers into it. Next, following the live broadcast team’s instructions, he walked in front of the camera and said, “Last year, I unintentionally hurt Imogen’s pride. It was my fault, and I apologize to her.“Imogen doesn’t have time to deal with me, but Ms. Layla Doyle said that as long as I eat chili peppers on this livestream, she’ll allow me to come here every day to wait for Imogen. I’m afraid of spicy food and usually don’t eat anything spicy at all.“But for the sake of seeing Imogen and having a chance to get her forgiveness, I’m willing to accept Ms. Layla’s challenge and eat these chili peppers.”The live broadcast team was at a loss for words.Layla had not prepared a script for Dylan, but he went ahead and explained the backstory. Was that okay?Someone secretly messaged Layla to ask for her opinion. Her reply was to allow Dylan to say whatever he wanted a
Isabella had invited him to sit at the dining table and eat with them, but Austin refused. He said he was the chef, so he could just have his breakfast in the kitchen.He always remembered his position as Isabella's personal chef and did not let the fact that the others saw him in a more favorable light now go to his head and cross the line. His adherence to his principles and awareness of his position only made Isabella respect him more.Though he was one of the extremely affluent Yorks, after accepting the job as her private chef, he completely discarded his identity as a rich heir and earnestly took on the role of her personal chef.By the time Austin finished his breakfast, Isabella and the two young boys had also finished eating. He came out to clear the table.Phillip slid off his chair and said to Louis, “Isa’s passing by my preschool today. She said she’ll take me there.”He was showing off. Sure enough, Louis looked enviously at his sister. Isabella did not even glance
Austin placed the two breakfast portions on the dining table and then walked over to Isabella, who was still reading the newspaper. “Ms. Isabella, breakfast is ready.”“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Louis’s voice came from the stairs. Then, they saw him quickly running down the stairs with his schoolbag in one hand.“Louis!” Isabella called out.Louis immediately stopped, then picked up his schoolbag to carry it on his back before slowly descending the stairs step-by-step, no longer daring to run.The two boys really did have very similar personalities.“Good morning, Isa. Good morning, Austin.”Louis walked over to Isabella’s side and respectfully greeted them.“If I ever see you running down the stairs again, I’ll punish you by making you miss a week of eating Austin’s meals.”“Isa, a week is too long!” Louis instinctively tried to negotiate.“You still dare to bargain with me, huh? That shows you don’t want to change. In that case, I’ll make it a whole month.”Louis was speec
“Isa, Austin promised me that he would make cartoon-shaped snacks for us this Saturday. You won’t mind, right? I’ve already told my classmates, and they’re all coming to our house!”The little boy was also concerned about his image. He was afraid his serious eldest cousin would refuse, and if that happened, he would be so embarrassed. After all, after Austin promised him, the other kids at preschool treated him so well. They all wanted to try the cartoon-shaped snacks Austin made. However, since Austin was Isabella’s private chef, if Isabella did not agree, there would be nothing even Austin could do about it.Isabella lightly pinched Phillip’s cheek. “Since Austin’s promised, he’ll keep his word. I’ll be resting at home this weekend and won’t stop you, but don’t make a racket here. Go do it at your own house. I need to rest.”“Thanks, Isa! I’ll tell my friends not to disturb your rest. Isa, has Louis not woken up yet?”With Isa’s promise, Phillip’s little face lit up with a smil
Upon hearing that Phillip might be coming, Louis moved much faster.Isabella did not wait for her brother. She said, “Head downstairs by yourself later, and make sure to check your schoolbag to see if you’ve packed your books and water bottle.”She would not help her brother check those things. Every day, she made sure her brother checked everything himself because it was his responsibility. If their parents or employees tried to help, she would scold them.Now, their parents no longer dared to help Louis with things he could do himself. They let her take charge of him. Her parents had Louis when they were in their forties, and he was their only son. If they were the ones raising him, Isabella was sure her brother would have been spoiled beyond reason.“I know, Isa,” Louis replied, already starting to brush his teeth.After leaving her brother’s room, Isabella headed downstairs. As soon as she reached the first floor, she saw Phillip running in with his little schoolbag on his
Isabella patiently said, “No, you can’t. If you sleep for ten more minutes, time will be too tight, and we’ll hit the worst of rush hour when everyone’s heading to school or work. There’ll be too much traffic and you’ll be late. You mustn’t be late.” If her brother was constantly late, he would get used to it and start liking to sleep in. Isabella would not let him develop such a bad habit.“Isa, I won’t be late. Every day when I arrive at school, there are still plenty of classmates who haven’t arrived. I can just tell the driver to speed up.”“Absolutely not! It’s not safe to drive too fast. It doesn’t matter if the other students are late, but you can’t be late. Get up now, or I’m going to get angry.”Louis pouted.Amused, Isabella pinched his lips, saying, “Come on, get up. In two more days, it will be the weekend, and you’ll get another two days off.”“This holiday was too short.”Under his sister’s urging, Louis reluctantly sat up. “It feels like we just got let out for w
The O'Connor family, due to a predominance of daughters rather than sons, was extremely cautious about their sons-in-law.Even though they did not have a son-in-law yet, it was clear from the way Isabella’s uncles were not allowed to interfere in the family business that they were worried about a son-in-law taking control of the O'Connor family’s wealth.Even Isabella’s aunts were forbidden from involving themselves in the family business. This was to protect their love-obsessed selves from being easily manipulated or influenced by their in-laws.At twenty-seven, Isabella had not even considered dating, as she knew once she had a partner, her elders would put their guard up against her and her partner.It was not just the elders who would be cautious, Isabella herself would be wary of her own husband.Too many men had used their wives’ family wealth to rise to power, only to later swap their wives out for younger and more beautiful women. Some even swallowed the entire family fort
“If the woman’s side minds her moving so far away and wants us to go to her family, except for Zack, who can’t move because he’s the head of the family, the elders in our family don’t really care. As long as we’re happy, they’re fine with it.”They had the powerful York Corporation backing them, and each of them was highly capable. Even if one of them married into another family, they would not be bullied by the woman’s family. If the woman wanted to push them around, she would have to think twice, with the York family’s influence behind them.However, so far, none of his brothers had done so.Austin thought to himself that he might just set a precedent.Isabella now bore a heavy burden. Her brother was too young, and it would take at least a decade before he could take over. Isabella would have to manage the family business for many more years.Isabella’s eyes sparkled. “Your family’s so open-minded. With your family’s wealth and standing, there’s really no need for you guys to l
“Zack is much more at ease now, but honestly, the person who was the biggest help to him wasn’t any of us—it was Josh. He and Zack are really good friends, and after graduation, Zack brought him into York Corporation.“He’s Zack’s right-hand man, and he’s really impressive.“Zack is incredibly efficient too. Back then, no one in the company could keep up with his work speed. He slowed down a bit after marrying my sister-in-law and starting a family. Now, he likes to stick close to her, and he’s not as crazy about work as he used to be.“He also goes to fewer networking events now. He used to attend these events and work late into the night, but now he’s home before ten at night. No one can stop him.“Those CEOs who work with our family know this too. If they have a business to discuss with him, they try to get it done during the day. They don’t want to drag it into the night.”Isabella laughed softly, her eyes showing a hint of envy. “Before, I didn’t know you were a York. But aft