“It’s only a minor issue, so I can’t be bothered to submit a claim. Why the sudden question, Zachary?” Zachary fell silent before uttering, “The woman who scratched your car this morning is the sister of my nana’s lifesaver. The sisters only have each other, and the woman is a housewife without an income. They’re worried they can’t pay for your car’s repairs.” Duncan replied, “… Talk about a coincidence. I can’t believe she was the sister of your grandma’s lifesaver. How did you find out?” Zachary lied. “My nana is fond of her lifesaver and often seeks companionship in her. Nana had to ask why she was looking blue today, so Hunt told her what happened.” “Hunt? Is that her last name? The woman who damaged my car is Liberty Hunt. What’s the name of your grandma’s lifesaver?” “Serenity Hunt.” “They must be sisters, judging by the name. I’ll drop the matter since she’s the sister of your grandma’s lifesaver. The money means nothing to me, but I’m the victim after all. I can’t b
Serenity tossed and turned all night as stressful dreams were triggered. The disturbed sleep drained her energy by the time she woke up the following morning. As usual, Serenity hung her laundry on the balcony after turning the washing machine on before bed. It was then she realized that stainless steel rods had been installed on the balcony. They were for her to air the laundry. There were also a variety of potted plants stacked on the huge balcony. Many of them had bloomed and budded. No matter the size, the petals were all the intricate kind. Serenity’s attention was immediately drawn to the flowers. She hung her clothes out and got straight to assembling the flower stands she bought yesterday morning. Serenity then displayed the potted plants on the stands. While busting her gut over the task, Serenity got a crawling sensation of a pair of prying eyes. She looked up and met Zachary’s unfazed gaze. His eyes were nothing short of piercing and emotionless. Serenity had lea
“What’s the matter, Mr. York?” Serenity’s voice was heard from the balcony. Chewing on the wrap, Zachary made his way to the balcony. “Your sister’s thing is nothing to worry about. The car in question happens to belong to one of our important clients. It dawned on me last night, so I gave Mr. Lewis a call. He said the repairs cost about ten thousand dollars.” Although she appeared rather lively dabbling the plants, Zachary could tell that she was not at her best, likely due to a lack of sleep last night. The matter with her sister was the cause of trouble in slumberland. Serenity lifted her chin and observed him munching on the wrap. While thinking to herself that Zachary was easy to appease in the food department, Serenity asked, “How can you be sure it’s the car of your company’s client?” Her sister was clueless about the car owner’s name. All she knew was that he was big, strong, and had an intimidating scar on his face. Sonny was scared stiff of the man. “I attended to
On the other hand, Zachary spoke to Mr. Lewis on behalf of Liberty and probably put in the good word for her too, so Mr. Lewis knocked a thousand dollars off. Of course, nine thousand bucks were a great deal of money to Liberty now. It would serve as a painful lesson to keep her eyes peeled on the street and stay away from luxury sedans! “Is your husband coming back soon?” asked Liberty.“Yeah. He’ll be back tomorrow.” “Great. My husband and I will be there ahead of time. Are you cooking? I’ll help out.” Having lived independently with her sister for many years, Liberty had so much on the ball from her career, and social life, to domestic life. Now that she was held down by a child and without an income, her husband put her in a position where she could be nothing more than a housewife. The sisters exchanged small talk on the phone before ending the call. “Mr. York, do you work late every day?” “Why?” “It’s almost the weekend that Nana and your parents will come over f
Last night, Serenity stayed up late for Zachary to come home so she could make plans with him to shop for groceries on Saturday morning. Serenity called Nana the night before to get a headcount. As it turned out, Zachary’s brothers and cousins were also coming along. The way Nana saw it, Serenity was part of the York family now that she was married to Zachary. By meeting the family, Nana wanted to bring together everybody to introduce the family tree. Since there was going to be a lot of food, Serenity would not be able to carry all the groceries on her own. Hence, she requested Zachary to take her to the market by car. Like the other day, Zachary was startled awake by Serenity’s morning call at six o’clock sharp. Feeling grumpy from the early rise, Zachary had to bottle up his grievance to stop himself from yelling at Serenity. “Mr. York.” Serenity’s clear voice washed away some of the unpleasantness in the morning. With eyebrows pinched together, Zachary answered gruffl
The shopping trip took two hours. Accustomed to the convenience of five-star transportation, Zachary was exhausted from the two-hour shopping as Serenity’s personal porter despite taking self-defense classes and keeping a fitness routine. He would rather be buried under a pile of work and meetings than go shopping with a woman. As the car came to a stop, Serenity got a call from Grandma May before she stepped out of the car. “Are you home, Serenity? We’re downstairs.” Serenity replied with a smile, “We just returned from the market, Nana. Wait for us. We’ll be right there.” “Did you go to the market with Zack?” That put a smile on Nana’s face. Nana thought to herself, ‘To think my callous and stuck-up grandson put aside his pride and go shopping with Serenity at the market.’ Since he wanted to play the pauper, Zack might as well step into the shoes of an ordinary person. “Yeah. We went to get groceries.” “Zack has always been busy with work, so he’s never been to th
It was an inconceivable mental image. “Be alert and don’t expose our identities to Serenity. Son, say that you don’t have pensions. You grow vegetables and flowers for a living.“Get your stories straight. Zack will go after you if you blow your cover. Don’t come crying to me then.” Seeing the fun in her grandson’s plans, Nana was committed to helping Zack stay in character. Nana had no doubt that Serenity was a good kid and not driven by greed. At her age, Nana was a good judge of character. “Got it,” answered everyone. The Yorks were no stranger to Serenity as the latter saved the old lady's life. In fact, Grandma May's sons and daughters-in-law were the ones who expressed their gratitude toward Serenity back then.Zachary’s mom mostly kept to herself as she was not in favor of Grandma May nagging her son into marriage. Nevertheless, her resistance was futile as the old lady managed to sell her proud son the idea. Sure, Zachary’s mom was grateful that Serenity saved Grand
The ever-friendly Rowan had a blast chatting with Serenity. After witnessing Serenity using Zachary as a porter, the boy was on Team Serenity now. Rowan believed he could hide behind Serenity for anything! Liberty and Hank, together with their son, Sonny, arrived a little later than the Yorks. Since Serenity’s husband knew the car owner whose luxury sedan was scratched by Liberty, the damages only came to nine thousand bucks. Hank did not dare to make light of his new brother-in-law. Hank did not take the meeting seriously at first but adopted a different attitude when he actually met with the family. After meeting with Zachary, Hank was in awe of his brother-in-law as Zachary commanded the room with his revered presence, more so than his boss could. “Mr. York.” All smiles, Hank extended his right hand to Zachary, “Hello, I’m Serenity’s brother-in-law.” Zachary shook hands with Hank and faintly uttered, “Hello, Hank.” He then extended his greetings to Liberty. Liberty
Although they had the two hundred thousand dollars, it did not change the fact that Liberty was fifteen and Serenity was ten—they were still just children. Having been pampered by their parents and never having experienced hardship, after their sudden death and being tossed out into the street, Serenity often cried, saying that she missed their mom and dad. Whenever Liberty tried to comfort her sister, they would end up crying together in each other's arms instead.Liberty could understand Caroline's feelings, though she also accepted that Caroline was much luckier as she was of age, had a father and three older brothers, and no one could kick her out of her home. “Yeah, I’ll go out once in a while. Please thank Audrey for me and ask her to let me know when she’d like to come over so that I can hand over all my responsibilities related to the company and the family. I’ll work with her schedule. And…I don’t blame any of you for my mother’s death.”That was her mother’s own doing
They were aware of everything Caroline had done for the family. To be honest, Caroline had indirectly saved Liberty. If she had not warned Liberty, Liberty’s bodyguards alone would not have been able to protect her when Belinda sprung that surprise attack on her. Liberty had already had a good impression of Caroline, but after that incident, that impression only grew stronger.Caroline’s smile faded a bit as she said, “There’s no rush for Darren and me. At the earliest, it’ll be at the end of the year. It’s too chaotic right now.”Liberty nodded in understanding. “As long as you and Darren are on the same page, that’s enough.”“He’s a good man. We haven’t really gone out on dates, but we know how we feel about each other. He suggested we date first, get engaged, and finally register our marriage. “He wants to take it step by step and promises I’ll have everything I want.”“Aunt Audrey and I are very reassured about your relationship with Darren. He’s a man worth spending a
At the mention of Liberty’s wedding, Caroline congratulated her. “Have you decided to register your marriage with Mr. Lewis? Congratulations in advance! I wish you both a long life together and hope you have a precious daughter soon.”Liberty already had a son, so it seemed normal to wish for a child the second time around.However, when Liberty became the head of the Fishers in the future, Caroline understood that Liberty would need a daughter to take over from her.Liberty smiled. “It hasn’t been easy for Duncan and me to get to this point. Considering we’re not young anymore, we decided to just get it done. Thank you for your well-wishes, Caroline, but we’re not in a hurry when it comes to kids.” She did not have the energy to raise a child at the moment. Whether she took over the Fisher family or not, she was too busy right now. Even though her new company seemed to be doing well, it had not truly stabilized yet and was only temporarily so through the influence of her brot
There were very few people left of Patrick’s generation. After a moment of silence, Caroline said, “Yes, he’s just returned to his hometown, so he should stay for a while longer. “Liberty, please tell my cousin to just give me a few days. I’ll clear the mansion out for you to move in. What I said before still stands!” Liberty elegantly sipped her coffee and did not respond immediately. Half a cup later, she set it down and looked at Caroline, who was also looking back at her.The two of them held each other's gaze for a full two minutes before Liberty averted her eyes and said calmly, “There’s no need to rush. Let’s discuss it after Christmas. My aunt hasn’t laid out a concrete schedule yet.”Caroline also set her coffee cup down. “It still needs to be cleared out and cleaned. It’s fine if you don’t move in immediately; letting it be for a bit will help disperse my mother’s lingering presence, so you won’t feel uncomfortable.” Fisher Manor did not belong to the head of th
Caroline did not care what her father and brothers thought of her. She could hazard a guess— they were most certainly not happy with her. With that in mind, she had Darren drive her back to the office. Just as she returned to her office and poured herself a cup of water, her secretary called her on the intercom to say that Liberty had arrived.“Let her in,” Caroline said. She had not expected Liberty to come looking for her so quickly but did not think the visit was to ask her to vacate her position. Perhaps it was to check on her. A few minutes later, the secretary led Liberty in.“You can go ahead with your work,” Caroline said as she dismissed her secretary. Once the secretary left, Caroline and Liberty exchanged glances before Caroline awkwardly said, “Liberty, I don’t know how to face all of you.” “Well, I’m not here to kill you, so there’s no need to be nervous,” Liberty replied as she walked over to sit on the sofa.“Killing me would only dirty your hands,” Caro
Not to mention the antiques. If they sold it all off, even at a conservative estimate, it could fetch them several billion dollars. That did not even include the jewelry Belinda had accumulated. Women, even the iron ladies, loved jewelry. Belinda was no exception. Many of her jewels were passed down through generations of the Fisher family, making them more valuable than the ones on the market today.Adrian’s eyes sparkled greedily but darkened just as quickly. “Dad, no one but Caroline is allowed inside the manor now.”“What? Who decided on that?” Hunter asked, alarmed.“Audrey Fisher left people to guard it. She’s even arranged for her people to take over and all the employees have been replaced, including the housekeeper.” Hunter was momentarily stunned before he spluttered, “What right does she have to do that?” Adrian was silent. Audrey was a Fisher and the eldest daughter of the previous family head, who should have inherited the title but was prevented from doing so
Hunter signaled for the caregiver to leave and even got Adrian to make sure the caregiver exited. Once the caregiver was gone, Adrian closed the door and sat down by the hospital bed. He reached for some grapes from the fruit plate and ate them.“Dad, has Caroline mentioned anything about taking over the company?” With their mother gone, Adrian felt that Caroline should step up.“The whole company is waiting. We don’t know what her plans are. Although the company isn't in danger, it’s just like a dynasty. Just as a country cannot be without a ruler for a day, a company cannot function without someone in charge.”Hunter's face darkened in displeasure. “Don’t even mention her taking over. That girl is not on our side. Your mother was infuriated by her countless times when she was alive. If she weren’t your mom’s biological daughter, her grave would be overgrown with weeds by now.“She even said she wants to return everything to the Fisher family, including your mother’s assets. S
It was no wonder that he was upset after hearing her say such things. “Darren, let’s go with the flow. There’s no need to force anything. We’ll let everything happen naturally.”She was not that young anymore so if she was going to get married, it would be just about time.Darren was a few years older than she was and was in his early thirties. Caroline thought that if she married him, they could get their marriage certificate after Christmas and maybe have a child the following year. Once they had completed life’s milestones, she could focus on her business.“Darren? Do you know how to take care of kids?” she asked suddenly.“I’ve never done it before, but it shouldn’t be too difficult, right?” he replied.He wondered if she was already thinking about having kids so soon.“Once we have a child, you might need to be a stay-at-home dad for a while. I’ll be busy with work and you can’t help with the actual pregnancy, but you can help with the baby afterward.”Darren chuckled,
“Miss... Caroline, no matter what decision you make, I will support you regardless. Even if you don’t take over the Fisher family, you have enough assets of your own and your companies are doing well,” Darren assured Caroline.Darren had read up on Caroline's private businesses before and knew that the companies under her name were thriving. Even after returning to the Fisher family, she only occasionally visited, and still, the businesses ran smoothly. Caroline was an amazing woman to Darren. She did not need to inherit a family fortune to forge her own path. Still, what he loved most was Caroline’s confidence.“And you still have me,” he added.With his support, Caroline’s career would reach new heights.Caroline turned to look at him. After a beat, she smiled. “When I first came back, I really regretted it and wished I hadn’t returned to the Fishers because I couldn’t stand them. But ever since you came into my life, I’m grateful that Celine and I returned to our rightful