When Austin returned to his room, one of the bodyguards was showering while the other was watching the television. He gave them a simple greeting and entered his room right away. Since he did not have to follow Isabella around after arriving in Clearfield, he had already settled in. He simply had to wait for his turn to use the bathroom. It was already midnight. Austin sent a message to his family group chat: [Are you guys still awake? Come chat with me.]Soon, Zachary replied: [Let’s chat in private instead of this group. Don’t disturb our parents.]He also did not want to disturb Serenity. She was usually asleep by ten at night. Therefore, Austin messaged Zachary directly. He sent a voice message because he knew Zachary disliked typing as it was time-consuming. “You haven’t slept?” Austin asked, concerned. “Did your business dinner end late again?”“Aren’t you awake too? Are you on standby to prepare supper for your lady?”Zachary continued speaking softly, “W
Austin said, “Nana has chosen someone for me. Unlike Dylan, I don’t have someone else I love. Since Isabella will be my wife, it’s only natural that I protect her.“Didn’t Nana choose a picky eater as my wife because I like cooking? We’re a good match because she enjoys eating too. Besides, how can I improve my cooking skills if no one critiques my food?”Zachary chuckled. “You’re right. That was exactly what Nana thought when she selected a picky woman for you. Since Isabella brought you along on her business trip, it means she trusts you. If you take good care of her and let her notice your strengths, it should be easier for you to court her.”“I’m not in charge of anything aside from her meals. There’s no need to rush. We’ve only known each other for a few days. I haven’t even developed feelings for her.”There was no love at first sight for Austin with Isabella. After learning that she was the candidate Nana had selected for him, he unconsciously viewed her as his wife and ac
It rained the next day as well. It was not heavy and more of a drizzle.The temperature in Wiltspoon hit an unprecedented low for the year at 40° Fahrenheit.On that cold winter morning, a few strangers arrived at the Stone family’s doorstep.When the doorbell rang, Gabe the butler could not help but mutter, “Who’s here this early in the morning?”Even the employees at the manor had not started working.Due to the cold and rain, the employees assigned to work in the garden would only start at eight o’clock.Gabe gave them a day off yesterday because the rain was too heavy. He thought it was Remy who lived next door that was pressing on the doorbell. Remy was the future son-in-law of the Stone family. He often came over before sunrise to have breakfast with Ms. Elisa. When Gabe walked to the gates with an umbrella in hand, he saw five elderly men standing in a row. One of them looked sickly, but the rest looked like transcendent beings. Gabe was shocked and thought he was
“I’m fine.”The man who coughed said softly, “I think I’m exhausted from all the traveling.”“Hey, boy. Open the gates and let us in now. Can’t you see our eldest friend is about to collapse? Why do you care who we are? Do the Stones not know how to treat their guests properly?”The man who said he could demolish the door was loud. He was impatient too.He glared at Gabe and urged him to open the gates. He would have taken the gates down without his companions keeping him in check.“Dan,” one of them scolded him. Dan immediately went silent.“Boy, this man here is the person your missus has been looking for. Don’t worry. We aren’t bad people.“Please open the door and let us have a glass of water. He has a weak body.”The youngest among the five elderly men was the one who checked the sick man’s pulse. He was Dr. Carden’s teacher, the legendary doctor.The legendary doctor had already brought Laurence back to FC Manor and took care of baby Oliver there. Later, he found out
Patrick’s attempts to return and avenge Tiara had been stopped by the legendary doctor and the rest.They said there was no one to be the next matriarch even if his revenge was successful, unless he could find Tiara’s daughters. Thanks to Silver, Patrick finally received information about Tiara’s daughter.After discovering Audrey’s location, Patrick had wanted to rush over to find her. However, he was unable to do so due to his weak constitution.The legendary doctor had spent a lot of time improving his health. Patrick wanted to meet Audrey, the Fisher family's youngest miss back then, as soon as possible due to his old age. He wished to tell her everything he knew and pass on some evidence he had to her.He felt regretful for not being able to avenge Tiara.Therefore, he had to hand over this responsibility to Audrey.From what his friends told him, one of Tiara’s daughters had died in a car accident over ten years ago and she left behind two daughters. Her in-laws were crue
Clive’s son, Elias, was crying. Clive walked around the room with Elias in his arms to calm him.Alice did not even open her eyes. She asked, “Is he hungry? Or did he poop?”“I think he’s hungry. You can continue sleeping, love. I’ll coax him and give him some formula. He’ll be asleep until about nine after drinking the formula.”Alice hummed in agreement. She turned around and went back to sleep.Although they had a nanny, the nanny could only carry Elias when he was asleep. If she tried carrying him when he was awake, he would start crying within minutes.It was because he needed to smell his mother’s scent.Therefore, Alice would look after Elias during most of the day. Luckily, he was a good boy too whenever Audrey and Elisa helped out. Otherwise, Alice would have died from exhaustion.Elisa often praised Elias for knowing how to differentiate family from other people. He never cried when his family members carried him.However, he would break into tears immediately in his
“Dear, who was it?” Alice rolled over when she heard the phone ring and sat up too, leaning toward her crying son to pick him up.“Don’t pick him up, love. If you do, he won’t want to drink the formula I made for him.” Clive hurriedly stopped his wife. “The kiddo’s really fussy. Once he smells you, he’ll refuse to drink his formula.”Alice saw that Clive had already started preparing the formula, so she did not pick their son up. It was fine for him to cry a little.“Gabe called and said a few elderly men came by looking for Mom. Apparently, they’re the ones Mom’s been looking for all this while,” Clive said as he made up a bottle of formula. “I don’t know if it’s true, but I asked Gabe to receive them first. Once I’ve fed Elias, I’ll head downstairs to take a look.” “Is the person Mom’s been looking for that really capable guy who assisted your grandmother back in the day?” Alice knew all about Audrey’s family background and the grudge against the Fisher family. She also knew tha
Elias quickly became full. Clive carefully handed him over to Alice to carry before calling Julian to see if he had any news of that old assistant’s whereabouts.Julian replied a little sheepishly, “We still have nothing even after searching for so long. Mr. Stone, I suspect the person you guys are looking for isn’t among the living anymore.”There were plenty of old people in their seventies or eighties, but old people in their nineties were much rarer. The person Audrey was looking for was almost a hundred years old, which was why Julian thought he might be dead.Very little information could be found on him also because all of this had happened decades ago. This made it very difficult for them to find him. Audrey did not even remember what that person was called anymore. All she remembered was whenever she saw him as a kid, she would call him “uncle”.She did not even know his surname. How was Julian supposed to find him? The Buchams had a powerful information network, but they
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