“I’ll answer it.” Sonny chose to answer his father's call in the end. Serenity handed him the phone, letting him take the call. If she could avoid talking to Hank, she would.“Dad,” Sonny greeted.Hank responded with a smile that could be heard through his voice, “Sonny, still awake?”“If I were asleep, I wouldn’t be able to answer Dad’s call. Dad, have you finished work? It still sounds quite noisy over there.”Hank replied, “I’m not done yet, but I could get off work if I want to. Is your Aunt Ser there?”“Yes. Are you looking for her?”“Sonny, do you want to come over and stay for a few days? You’re on winter break now, so why not stay over for a couple of days? Your grandparents miss you.”Hank made this call to discuss with Serenity the possibility of having Sonny stay with the Browns for a few days. It was now the winter holidays and his parents missed their grandson. Chelsea had sent Lucas over, but it was too boring for Lucas as he was alone, so his parents thought it would be
Hank only had one son—Sonny—and it would remain that way in this life. The fact that the child still acknowledged him as his father and though they were not very close, it was some form of comfort.After ending the call, Sonny handed the phone to Serenity and said, “Dad wanted to have me stay with him for a few days, but I refused. We’re going to play with Laurence tomorrow. I really don’t want to go back and play with Lucas. He always bullies me. But I’m not afraid of Lucas anymore because I’ve learned self-defense.”Even though he was not particularly talented at self-defense, with time and practice, he had become stronger. His coach said that if he persisted for several years or even a decade, he would have the ability to protect himself. Sonny was not ambitious; he just wanted to be as capable as his Aunt Ser.Serenity hummed in acknowledgment. “If you don’t want to go back, then don’t.” She patted Sonny’s head and said gently, “It’s late now. Go to sleep. We’re leaving early to
“We’re not biased toward Lucas. Sonny is our only grandson through you, and we love him too. In the past, we were the ones who raised Lucas, so naturally, we were closer to him and ended up favoring him. That won’t happen again,” Olivia quickly assured. She knew Hank harbored grievances against them. He resented them for always favoring Chelsea. One particular incident was when Chelsea tried to make Serenity pay for an expensive dinner for her family, but naturally failed, and she called Olivia and asked for money. Not realizing Chelsea was trying to take advantage of her, she sent the money. It was only later that Sonny revealed what had happened.When Hank found out, he was furious and told them that if they continued to favor Chelsea, they would have to move in with her, and he would stop giving them financial support. He was now making a modest income from driving. It was much less than his previously high salary, and they could no longer afford to keep sending Chelsea money.“
“I’ll be back for Christmas with Aunt Ser. Uncle Zak said he’ll pick us up when he gets back from his business trip,” Sonny said.Tania smiled and said, “So we won’t see each other for more than ten days.”She drew Sonny close again, hugged him, and then kissed him on the cheek. “Have fun and when you come back, tell Grandma all about the games you played with Laurence, where you went, and what delicious food you had. And bring some souvenirs back from Annenburg for us.”If not for her worry that Serenity might discover they were hiding the situation in Jensburg, Tania would be reluctant to let Sonny leave for FC Manor so soon. Usually, Sonny would only come over for a day or two on weekends, and weekdays, he had to attend preschool, so they missed him a lot. Now it was the winter holidays, but he wanted to see his friend instead.“Seren, since you’re going out to have fun, just enjoy yourself and don’t worry about us at home,” Tania advised her daughter-in-law.Grandma May agreed
After Serenity and Sonny left, Tania called Audrey, who quickly answered.“Has Seren left?” Audrey asked.“She just did. I watched her and Sonny board the private helicopter, and I saw the helicopter take off and fly away before I called you. She won’t be able to hear our conversation unless she has super-hearing,” Tania replied.“Alright, thank you for letting me know.”“No need to be so formal—we’re family now. We all have the same goal,” Tania said politely.Audrey laughed, “You’re very polite too. Once this matter is settled, let’s have a meal together. My treat.”Although both were among the most esteemed ladies in Wiltspoon, they had not shared a meal yet. Even after Serenity married into the York family and they became in-laws, the two leading ladies had never grabbed a meal together. They were not as close as Tania’s ties with Mrs. Bucham and Mrs. Lewis. However, the Buchams and the Lewises had always been friendly with the Yorks, so it was natural that Tania was close to
Grandma May was not offended by the complaints and said, “Travel is so convenient now with planes and high-speed trains everywhere. You could start the morning in Wiltspoon but be in another country by noon. Why worry about distance? As long as the person is good and suitable for them, that’s what matters.“You guys must be so gleeful, but still have the cheek to complain about how far away the partners I chose for them are. If you had to worry about their marriages, you’d have gray hair all over your head too. There’s no way you would still be as carefree and easygoing as you are now.”Grandma May touched her white hair and added, “It’s precisely because I worry about their marriages that I’ve gotten all this gray hair.”Tania looked at her mother-in-law’s white hair and teased, “Mom, you could totally dye it black. You take such good care of yourself, you look like someone just over sixty. If you dyed it black, you’d look even younger.”“I’m not going to dye it. I need to face re
Tania smiled, “Exactly, Mom, at your age, you shouldn’t be gallivanting everywhere. It makes the rest of us worry.”Grandma May pretended to glare at her daughter-in-law. “What are you butting in for? I’m not gallivanting. Aren’t I staying put at home right now? I didn’t even go with Seren to the Johnsons’ to see Clo-clo.”Tania mercilessly exposed her mother-in-law’s lie. “Isn’t that because every time you go over, you always get tempted to kidnap the kids, so the Johnsons’ have refused to let you visit them?”Grandma May’s face turned red with embarrassment. Camryn could not help but let out a tinkling laugh.“Camryn, come out for a walk with Nana so we can relax. Your Aunt Tania’s upset me. You didn’t give me a granddaughter yourself. How could you complain about me liking others’ granddaughters?”Tania covered her mouth and laughed, “Mom, you didn’t have a daughter yourself. How can you blame me? It’s not that we didn’t want to give you a granddaughter—it's York's luck that’s
It was just a topic to chat about with her granddaughter-in-law.“I think they’re the same person. They even hired a fake to pretend to be Carrie, and had Mrs. Longbottom appear before me right afterward to dispel my doubts. Their target seems to be Serenity, but since I know Carrie the best, they had no choice but to involve me.”Serenity would only dispel her skepticism if Camryn’s suspicions were dispelled seeing that they were biological sisters.“I just wanted to talk to Serenity and analyze things. It feels like they have a huge plot going on behind the scenes, but since they’re not in a hurry, we don’t need to rush either. So, I came over again this morning, but I didn’t expect Serenity had already left.” Camryn was envious. “I want to go on holiday with a kid too, but unfortunately, I don’t have a nephew.”She had a sister, but Carrie was unmarried and childless, so she did not have a nephew yet. However, even if Carrie married and had children in the future, she probably
“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