Zachary was aware that Liberty had been job hunting for a while, but she got nothing so far. It was difficult as Liberty wanted her old job back. This was the reason she had not been able to find a job till this day. Now that she had found out Hank was cheating on her, Liberty would not be fussy with work. Zachary believed she would soon find a job. “This is easy. You could just give her a job.” “Serenity had asked me whether our company is hiring a finance director, but even the finance department is at full workforce at the moment. Besides, it’s not the best idea to hire her sister unless I want to blow my cover. I didn’t help her with that and left Liberty to find a job herself.” Zachary did not feel guilty for not assigning Liberty a post in his company.He was a boss with principles who valued talent. Liberty took a three-year-long career break, so she was rusty in the work operation. It was not easy to get into York Corporation, to begin with. Since Liberty was start
“What’s on your mind?” Josh nosily asked Zachary. Snapping out of his thoughts, Zachary replied faintly, “Not you, for sure.” Josh chuckled. “I’d have to quit if you’re thinking about me. I want to get married and have children.” Zachary glared at him. “I should get back to work. You’ve been overly efficient at work lately. I’m tired trying to keep up with you.” Josh finished his glass of water and got up. “I’m glad that’s finally over.” The employees had had it rough at work because Zachary was jealous, thinking something was going on between Serenity and Shawn. It would only be worse for them if the couple had an even bigger argument one day. With that in mind, Josh prayed that the couple would always remain lovey-dovey. Well, they might not be in love now, but it was only a matter of time. Zachary had developed feelings for Serenity, but he was stubborn and refused to admit to it. As his feelings for her grew deeper, he would lay bare his heart to Serenity without
Several cars drove along and quickly pulled up in front of Serenity’s bookshop. Serenity and Jasmine, who had just entered the shop, looked at the fleet of cars. Serenity’s face fell when her keen eye caught the cars belonging to her cousins. These people were relentless. With Mike leading the younger pack, they walked into the shop. They came bearing two baskets of fruits each. “Serenity.” With a smile on his face, Mike put his baskets of fruits on the cash register and said to Serenity, “I bought you and your sister some fresh fruits.” Spotting Sonny, he asked, “Is this your sister’s son? He looks like your sister.” He then reached out to stroke Sonny’s head, but Sonny shied away, refusing to let the man touch him. Mike responded with a grin, “Don’t be scared, little guy. I’m your uncle.” The rest wanted to place the other fruit baskets on the cash register but since there was no more room on the counter, they placed them on the floor instead. Serenity asked faint
John paused before asking Serenity, “What do you want us to do, Serenity?” As the oldest of the bunch, Mike lectured Serenity, “Regardless of our spats in the past, we’re all one big family. Although your dad isn’t around anymore, he’s still my uncle.“Sure, it was our fault, but we have learned from our mistakes. You’re the bigger person. Please find it in you to forgive us. We promise we won’t ever do that to you and your sister again.” Thanks to the power of the internet, it was easy and speedy to get a handle on certain matters. However, it was also easy for the tables to turn and caused a backfire. Today, Mike could use the internet to intimidate his cousins, but tomorrow, it would be his turn to face a public backlash.People would find it hard to understand the humiliation of being a victim of cyberbullying, hate comments from netizens, and public criticism without experiencing it themselves. Since Serenity tweeted a refute, the Hunts had the whole thing blow up in t
“Do you think you’ll be better off if we all go down together when it comes down to it? You’ll lose your shop and your online business. We’ll team up to give you a poor rating until you’re forced to close your online business.”“Serenity, who’s threatening to close your online business? Who’s threatening to give you bad ratings?” Here to look for Serenity, Elisa got out of her car and caught John’s arrogant threats before she even entered the shop. Elisa was not one with a good temper, so she lost it. Did they not know that Serenity was her love guru? Anyone who had the guts to threaten her love guru was crossing her as well. She would make these cocky and shameless people regret they were alive. Carrying the boxes of desserts from Beans and Cream, Elisa dangled her car keys and lifted her chin high as she walked into the shop. Others may not know Elisa, but John held a senior position at one of Stone Group’s branches. He had seen Elisa a few times from afar during the compa
On the other end of the line, Clive was left overwhelmed by his dear sister. He asked helplessly, “What did John do to you?” “Serenity is my friend and love guru. He’s out to get my love guru, threatening to bring down Serenity’s business and closing her online business by giving her bad ratings. That’s having it in for me. “Don’t you think what his family has done is inhumane? People will criticize us if Stone Group retains such a person at a managerial level. You might think you know some people, but you’ll never know their true nature. Looks can be deceiving.” Clive had no words. He was rendered speechless by his sister’s unruliness. The managing director of Aron PCB had reported to headquarters, verifying John’s talent. John started off with a minor role at Aron PCB and climbed his way up to deputy managing director. The managing director did not want to lose his right-hand man over a family dispute. Hence, he suspended John at the height of the scandal instead of f
John even picked up the scattered basket and fruits that were tossed out by Elisa. A fruit basket cost a couple of hundred bucks. The Hunts would rather eat the fruits than give them to Serenity. As if Serenity cared. It was not like she never ate fruits before. John took a ride in Mike’s car to get to Serenity’s shop. He got into the car and called his boss, Mr. Ziegel, right away. John wanted to explain to Mr. Ziegel about the earlier incident.Unfortunately, Mr. Ziegel had already received notice from the headquarters. Before John could finish talking, Mr. Ziegel expressed his regret. “John, the dispute between you and your cousins is simple and easily resolvable. You could’ve apologized with earnestness and issued a public apology online. Not only will your cousins forgive you, but the online community will also let the thing go since you’re willing to admit fault and change for the better. “But what did you do? You’ve been on suspension for a while, but you couldn’t eve
John was without a word. As mentioned by Serenity, the Hunts would never have yielded unless the matter was so bad that it hurt their financial interest. They had not given in completely either. The Hunt often got on Serenity’s nerves every time they went to her shop. It was like Mr. Ziegel said; they complicated a simple thing and were nowhere near resolving the issue. “How did Serenity come to know Ms. Stone? What love guru was she talking about?” John pursed his lips and replied, “Ms. Stone is crazy for Mr. York. I guess Serenity is teaching her how to woo Mr. York. Serenity will get it once Mr. York finds out she had been giving ideas to Ms. Stone.” “I mean how did they know each other? By right, Serenity wouldn’t cross paths with an heiress like Ms. Stone.” Mike was envious that Serenity rubbed shoulders with Ms. Stone and got Ms. Stone to have her back. Elisa might not be working at Stone Group, but she was still the heiress of the Stones. This title carried weight.
“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
Mr. Longbottom thought he was not so inferior to men younger than him.More accurately, he was far superior. He had status, money, and power.Which of the younger men could be on par with him unless they came from a wealthy family?Many sons of wealthy families could not compete with him.“I can’t go over because I’m busy these days. But I do miss you too.“It’s more difficult because of the festive season. There are many events, and I have to accompany my family. My wife doesn't care about me, but her request is that I be with her during the holidays because we have to meet our friends and families. Do you understand?”Mr. Longbottom had a wife and children. Carrie knew about it. He had never hid that fact.Carrie did not know if he was close to his wife. Although he said they no longer had feelings for each other, Carrie dared not believe him because he had never let other women take his wife’s place.He also never allowed other women to become pregnant with his children.Mr
Carrie thought she had matured since she could figure out that much. In the past, she would not have understood a thing. Love was about accepting everything about someone. Most people could tolerate their partner’s shortcomings when they were deeply in love. However, without love, even a person’s strength would seem like a fault. Carrie smiled. “Mr. York is a workaholic. Serenity must’ve gotten the habit from him and turned into one herself. I can’t believe she’s working so hard even though she’s pregnant.”“She’s still in the early stages of pregnancy. Going to work is fine.”“Do you need anything else, Mrs. Longbottom?” Jasmine asked.“No. I shall take my leave now, Mrs. Bucham.”Jasmine was on guard and unwilling to reveal much about Serenity. Therefore, it would be better for Carrie to leave. She was not close to Serenity and her friends yet. “Bye, Mrs. Longbottom.”Jasmine saw Carrie out and watched as she got into her car.Once Carrie got far enough from the booksto
Mr. Longbottom had been surprised by her question. He told her coldly that she should refrain from asking unnecessary questions.One who knew too much would not live long. Carrie got intimidated and dared not ask another question. Although she got more curious, she did not try to gather more information for fear Mr. Longbottom would choke her again if he found out. “Nothing. I just asked because I haven’t seen her in a while.”Of course, Carrie could not reveal that she was looking for Serenity. Jasmine would get suspicious if she did. No one around Serenity was a fool. “Seren is busy with work. I rarely see her these days,” Jasmine said.Carrie knew it was a lie. She was aware that Serenity's closest friends did not trust her yet. It made her feel defeated. It had been months since Mr. Longbottom found her and asked her to approach Serenity. Despite her efforts, she still had not obtained Serenity’s trust, let alone become her friend.However, Jasmine and Serenity go