Liberty took some food for her son and served Duncan while she was at it.Duncan looked at her passionately.Darren, who was next to him, calmly grabbed some food for Caroline in an unaffected manner.Liberty noticed how attentive Darren was to Caroline. He was careful to make sure there were no bones before placing the meat onto Caroline’s plate.He would make sure there was nothing wrong with the food before serving Caroline too. Caroline was occupied with talking to Liberty and Sonny and had not noticed this. All she knew was her plate was always filled with food she liked and she ate with ease. She did not have to pick anything out and could just dig in.Whenever she finished her tea, it would soon be refilled.As someone with experience, just like Belinda, Liberty quickly caught on to Darren’s feelings for Caroline.Caroline might not have noticed and just attributed it to the fact that Darren was her all-rounder personal assistant because she thought it was natural for him t
In Wiltspoon, Liberty’s businesses ran smoothly due to Serenity and Zachary’s influence. Even if she believed in her abilities, Zachary’s contribution could not be eliminated. “It does feel underwhelming when everything goes smoothly, thanks to Serenity and Zachary.“Unlike you, I face multiple challenges despite the company belonging to my family. Even if I achieved something, people would say that I’ve taken someone else’s achievements as my own.”“Ignore what people say. It’s fine as long as you know it was your effort.”Caroline laughed and added, “I don’t care about them. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to hold onto this position firmly.”Liberty patted her shoulder. “Good luck.”“You too.”While they were competitors, they held great admiration for each other. Liberty and Audrey thought that the Fisher family would be much better if Caroline were the matriarch. However, being Tiara’s descendants, they had to determine whether the previous matriarch had passed away due
He still felt the cold even if he wore multiple layers of clothes. “Mom, Dunc, and I already went shopping this morning.”That was Sonny’s main reason for declining Caroline’s invitation. Caroline smiled. “Okay. I’ll take you to a theme park next time if the opportunity comes.”“Okay,” Sonny agreed happily. Caroline left Fortress Hotel after a couple of hours.When she was in the car, she told Darren, “Take me to the largest children’s theme park in Jensburg.”Darren looked at her and asked, “Are you going to play?”Caroline pressed her lips together and said, “No, but I want to watch. Only children’s innocent smiles can heal my wounded heart.”“You’re exaggerating. You’re young. Don’t sound so tragic.”“I’ve experienced too much. Even if I’m young, I feel old at heart.”Darren smiled. “You can have as much fun as you want at the theme park. I’ll be with you.”“Okay.”“Please fasten your seatbelt. I’m going to start driving.”Caroline fastened her seatbelt. Then, she l
“We’ll talk about this in the future. If you need me, I’ll be glad to be of service.”Caroline smiled. “Don’t speak of yourself like a male escort.”Darren’s ears turned red. “Mr. Fletcher, do the assistants not talk about relationships at all? Your ears are red just from a question.“You must be inexperienced in romantic relationships.”Darren started driving and said, “We learn everything but love.”Love was instinctive, and not something to be learned. He could be cold-hearted with any other woman. However, his ruthlessness seemed to disappear when it came to Caroline. Perhaps it was because he knew that he could only fall in love with his master. Therefore, he had never held his guard up against her. After spending time with Caroline, he gradually fell for her. Darren did not expect her to reciprocate his feelings. He was satisfied with loving and protecting her secretly. Of course, it would be great if she felt the same about him. “That’s good. Love is beautif
Otherwise, Belinda would not be looking for him fervently. “I’ll talk to Zachary to get him to contact the Bucham family for them to arrange someone to tail Madam Fisher. Their people are skilled at remaining undetected. They are more suitable than our men for the job.”If Belinda were going to meet Tiara’s assistant, she would be alert about someone following her. The usual detectives or bodyguards would be easily discovered and exposed if they were to tail her. If Belinda noticed, she would suspect that Caroline had leaked her schedule. She had only told Caroline about it. “Mm, you should inform Zachary about it as soon as possible. I’ll pretend I don’t know a thing. I won’t send anyone to tail Madam Fisher on my end.“You’re right, Liberty. We should act as if we’re clueless.“This might be a test for Caroline. Even if Caroline is her daughter, she might not trust her completely.”Audrey suspected that Belinda was testing Caroline. While Caroline was Belinda’s biolog
Liberty found an excuse to end the call. She then watched Duncan, who was playing with Sonny. Everyone liked to tease her and Duncan. Liberty walked over and sat beside the boys. She smiled at Sonny and asked, “Shall we spend the holidays with Dunc?”Sonny replied, “Of course. Who else will he spend it with?”Liberty was rendered speechless. Her son had long considered Duncan as family and was accustomed to his presence. She patted his head and looked toward Duncan. She asked, “I’ll try to be back before the city hall closes for the holidays. We can sign the papers and get our marriage license first. After your legs fully recover, we can hold a wedding. What do you think?”Duncan refused. “I don’t want us to get married in secret. I want to officially propose to you and hear you say yes before we get our marriage license.“While I can walk short distances now, it’s still difficult for me to go down on one knee to propose. Give me some time. I can’t make it in time befor
Belinda’s expression warmed somewhat. She said, “That child must be making up for her past. Maybe she never had the chance to visit a theme park before.”Whenever she thought of the abuse Caroline had suffered at the hands of the girls’ adoptive family, Belinda hated Celine. The audacity of Celine blaming the Fishers. She had never thought of how her parents mistreated Caroline. Celine had lived in luxury since she was young. She had been to foreign countries multiple times, let alone children's theme parks. On the other hand, Caroline just only experienced the thrill a theme park offered. “Ms. Caroline had a tough past.”The assistant, Mr. Gordon, felt sorry for Caroline as well. He had disliked Celine all along. In the past, when he had not known Celine was a fake, he suppressed his distaste for her as he had to respect her with Celine being the future matriarch. He dared not reveal his true feelings. However, after the truth was exposed, Mr. Gordon finally realized
They were all intimate pictures of Adrian and Celine. Adrian and his brothers would appear at Summitview occasionally. Every time they did, they had multiple bags with them. It was obvious they were bringing supplies over for Celine. Belinda’s heart ached from rage. She despised Celine. Celine and Hunter may have been set up, but Belinda simply could not come to terms with it. Therefore, she could no longer tolerate Celine’s presence in Fisher Manor. She also took back everything that had been given to Celine. Celine could blame or resent her, but ultimately, she was not her daughter. If Celine had decided to leave Jensburg after the incident, Belinda would have asked Mr. Gordon to give her enough money to provide her with a comfortable life. However, Celine chose revenge instead. Belinda sneered. “I wanted to let you live. You didn’t cherish it but chose to take the deadlier path instead, Celine. Don’t blame me for being cruel.”She could kill her sisters, let alone
The night passed peacefully.The next morning, Dylan woke up. He had been woken by the heat.The room was heated, and he had bundled himself up tightly before going to sleep. By midnight, he had started sweating, but he continued to sleep, so by morning, he was feeling too hot and woke up.“Imogen…” He instinctively called out her name.His voice was still hoarse, but it was much better than yesterday. When he received no answer, he remembered that Imogen had gone home last night. He was alone in the hospital.Late last night, his mother had called him, but only to laugh at him.Now, all alone, in a strange place, and sick, Dylan felt just a tiny bit homesick. It was much more comfortable at Wildridge Manor, after all. When all the York boys were home, it was lively and warm. There was his nana to fuss over him, and even though his parents liked to make jabs at him, they still cared deeply for him.It felt boring at home, but once he left, he realized how warm home really was.
Sasha chimed in, “Exactly. It’s fine to laugh in front of us, but you laughed so loudly on the call too. Dylan is hurt both physically and emotionally, and no one is comforting him.”Rosella responded, “But Imogen is there to take care of him. She’ll comfort him.”Sasha sighed. “It’s so late now. Imogen needs to go back and rest, doesn’t she? Dylan hasn’t even won her over yet, so how could Imogen stay the entire night in the hospital with him?”Grandma May laughed, “You ladies know it’s late too, so why aren’t you three going back to your rooms to rest? Fortunately, the rooms are big enough that we can all chat here without disturbing anyone.“Remember, we’re guests. We mustn’t disturb the rest of the Johnsons just because we’ve come.”The three sisters-in-law glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight.As the eldest sister-in-law, Tania led the way. She stood up and said to Grandma May, “Mom, we’ll head back to rest now. Tomorrow, let’s go out and walk around.”The scenery a
“Mom, I’m your real son!”“If you weren’t, I wouldn’t even bother with you and don’t even want to make this call.”Rosella added, “Alright, now that I know you’re fine, I can relax. Be good to Imogen, she’s a really good girl. I like her a lot. I hope you can get together this year.“Once you’re finally not single anymore, it should be about time for your younger brother to start dating too. Once all three of you are out of the bachelor’s club, all I have to do is wait for my first grandchild to be born.“I’ve saved up a lot of money for both your weddings, though honestly, I don’t think you’ll need it. You all are capable enough to make your own money to get married, so the money I saved for you can go toward my granddaughter instead.“I don’t even know if I’ll be fortunate enough to have a granddaughter.” Rosella sighed. “After seeing little Clo-clo, I finally understand why your nana is so fixated on her and wants to kidnap her. “That kid is so cute. She’s pretty, adorable,
Imogen had been really worried that Dylan’s reaction to the chili peppers would leave him suffering for several days.“Okay,” Dylan hoarsely replied.Imogen let him eat the porridge by himself. There was nothing else to go with it, but the porridge had a little bit of salt sprinkled in, giving it some flavor.Dylan was hungry, so he quickly finished the bowl of oatmeal porridge. “Do you want more? There’s another bowl’s worth in the thermos.”Dylan shook his head. It was late, and he did not want to eat too much, afraid of gaining weight and ruining his good physique. He still had not won over his future wife, so he had to take care of his figure and maintain his handsome and charming look.Once Dylan finished the IV fluids and took his medicine, Imogen finally left the hospital around ten o’clock. Having slept twice in the day, Dylan was not able to fall asleep again, and Imogen did not let him accompany her downstairs, so he stood by the window and watched her walk out of th
A few minutes later, Imogen took the thermometer from under Dylan’s arm and looked at it. She said to him, “It’s 100.4. Your fever hasn’t completely gone down yet, but compared to when you were admitted at 103.64, it’s come down quite a bit.“What time did you take your medicine? It should be time for your next dose.”Dylan shook his head, indicating that he did not remember when he had taken the medicine.Imogen thought for a moment and said, “I think it’s about time. Take your medicine first, then sleep for a while. I’ll have dinner brought over for you. In your condition, you can only have something light, maybe some oatmeal porridge.”Considering Dylan’s sore throat, Imogen knew he would not be able to eat much, so she called home and asked the housekeeper to bring over dinner, specifically requesting a bowl of oatmeal porridge for Dylan.Dylan could only nod in response.After giving instructions to her housekeeper, Imogen looked at Dylan, who could only nod, and said, “The
Kade had once been so gentle and kind. Was he really that kind of person?Imogen did not believe so.It was possible that the Butcher elders were simply being too pragmatic. Seeing that Maria’s family was on the verge of decline, they thought that Maria was not worthy of Kade and tried to stop them from being together.But wait—Maria said that Kade had never told her he loved her or anything of the sort. Maria had basically been secretly in love with Kade, waiting for him to confess, but she had waited in vain all this time.Imogen internally sighed. What a mess. She could not understand what was the problem between them. She would just have to wait until Kade came back, and then she would find a chance to get some answers from him. “Imogen…” A hoarse voice called out from within the room. It was not very loud; he could not speak loudly. Though it was better than this morning when all he could get out were moans.He had received several bags of IV fluids, which had had some eff
Imogen did not know that Dylan had woken up. She was still on the phone with Maria outside.Maria felt reassured when Imogen mentioned that the person she liked was a member of the richest family in Wiltspoon. All was good as long as he was not a social climber. Imogen asked, “Maria, when are you coming back? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. Kade will be back soon. Are you really not coming back?“Maria, Kade and I are like siblings. Please don’t misunderstand or overthink it. Actually, you should know this—the person Kade likes is you. You two are the real childhood sweethearts, you grew up together.”Imogen and her mother’s godchildren had known each other since they were young, but the three of them had not actually spent much time together as she had always stayed with her master while she learned the trade, only returning home during the summer and winter holidays.Once the holidays ended, she would leave again. Even her formal education was completed in th
There were so many other possible choices. Why were they so fixated on him?Leticia sighed. “Alright, just pretend I never said that. You youngsters will decide for yourselves anyway, we don’t have a say in it. Remember to fetch Kade from the airport on Saturday.“I’ve already told him and he knows you’re supposed to be picking him up. And remember to get some flowers too. You two haven’t met in ages and you should give flowers at a reunion.” She reminded Imogen.“Mom, I can pick him up, fine, but I’m not giving him flowers. Who said you’re supposed to give flowers at a reunion?” Imogen refused to give Kade flowers when fetching him from the airport. “Oh, Mom, I gotta go. Bye!”Imogen quickly hung up, not allowing her mother the chance to speak further. Then, after a moment of thought, she texted Kade to ask when he was expected to arrive at Huntington Airport.It took a while before Kade replied that he would arrive around eleven in the morning on Saturday.Imogen replied wi
“I know you only view Kade as a brother, but who knows, if you nurture the relationship, those feelings might turn romantic? Jen, before you agree to be with Dylan, give yourself another option.“Make Dylan nervous. He’ll get jealous. He was jealous when he overheard our conversation that day.“You need to make him realize that even without him, you can still marry well. The Butchers like you a lot, and our families have a close relationship. You and Kade have known each other since you were young, so you guys could be considered childhood sweethearts.”Imogen said weakly, “Mom, I’m worried that if I get too close to Kade, not only will Dylan misunderstand, but even Maria might misunderstand. Kade and she are a thing, after all.“I really don’t understand what’s going on with Kade. He and Maria clearly have feelings for each other, they just haven’t made it official yet. Don’t their families see this?”She did not have any romantic feelings for Kade, but both families were trying