The people who Serenity cared about the most were her sister and nephew.Pleasing Sonny would earn Zachary some brownie points.Zachary bought the bag of snacks because Serenity was a foodie.Serenity might not be so happy if Zachary gave her a bunch of flowers, but she would definitely smile when she saw this big bag of snacks.Zachary walked into the bookstore with a bag of snacks in his left hand and an airplane model in his right. At that time, Serenity had just finished feeding her nephew a bowl of porridge.“Uncle Zak!”The little guy was overjoyed to see Zachary.Serenity saw the toys that her husband bought and said, “Mr. York, why did you buy toys for Sonny again? Jasmine already bought him new ones.”Zachary handed the bag of snacks to Serenity and gave the airplane toy to Sonny, then he carried the little guy.“Sonny’s our only nephew. Who else can I spoil if not him? What Ms. Sox bought for Sonny is her business. It doesn’t clash with me.”Serenity put the empty b
Serenity said, “Oh, right!”She suddenly thought of her pets and asked Zachary, “What about Snowball and the rest? Should we bring them along?”“Snowball?”Zachary’s eyes turned dark as he thought, ‘Who is Snowball?’“It’s the puppy you gave me. I named it Snowball.”Zachary’s eyes turned gentle instantly.It turned out to be the puppy.He thought he had another love rival he was not aware of.“Seren, if it’s inconvenient, Snowball and the kittens can stay in the store. I’ll bring them back to my house after work and bring them back here tomorrow. I have pets at home too, so I promise I can take good care of them.”Serenity smiled and said, “Great! I’ll leave Snowball and the kittens to you then.”She hugged Jasmine and cooed, “Jas, you’re the best girlfriend in the world!”Jasmine gently pushed her away and said with a smile, “Don’t sweat the small stuff with me. We grew up together. Hurry up, don’t make Mr. York wait for too long.”Only then did Serenity go with Zachary w
Serenity asked, “Liberty, is everything going well?”The Hunt sisters walked toward Zachary’s car while they talked.Liberty smiled. “Did you forget what I used to do back then? Work is pretty easy. I was a little rusty at first, but I got my groove back pretty quickly.”However, Liberty still did not get along with her colleagues.It might be because of the commotion Liberty caused on the day of the interview. Everyone knew that Liberty was acquainted with Mr. Lewis, so they were being nice to her superficially while behind her back, they gossiped she had a relationship with the CEO. The looks that Liberty got from the female staff were indescribable.Liberty accidentally overheard her colleagues talking about her when she was in the bathroom.However, this was only her first day of work. It would eventually get better.“Zachary.”Liberty greeted her brother-in-law as she got in the car.Zachary nodded. His eyes then fell on Serenity. Liberty had been there and done that, so
Liberty winked at her sister, and Serenity understood the underlying meaning.She just wanted to say that Zachary was a good man, and that Serenity should treat him well.Serenity had to admit that although Zachary was sometimes domineering and petty, he was a righteous man when it came to facing difficulties. He was better than a lot of men out there.More importantly, even though their relationship was not based on love, Zachary had been great to Serenity and was doing his best.In order to prove to Liberty that she was treating Zachary well, Serenity kept serving Zachary food by putting them on his plate during the dinner.Zachary relished the food and felt loved.It turned out that the food Serenity put on his plate was extra delicious.Zachary suddenly recalled the time he saw Serenity putting food on Shawn’s plate at Grace’s Diner. Zachary thought, ‘Shawn must’ve been ecstatic at that time, right?‘Hmph, so what? Serenity serving him once doesn’t mean anything!‘Serenity
It was most likely because of Zachary’s guilty conscience and the signed agreement.Zachary decided to find a way to steal the copy of the agreement that Serenity was keeping. Oh, not steal, but just take it back. Stealing sounded horrible. How could the heir to York Corporation steal something? After taking back the agreement, he would destroy it.Zachary, who had no guts to hold his wife’s hand, accompanied his wife as they strolled along the streets all night. By the end of it, Zachary acted as a free porter and got into the car with various shopping bags.At first, Serenity mentioned there was nothing she fancied buying. However, after walking for a bit, she found a galore of things to buy and spent her own money.Zachary wanted to pay for her, but she firmly refused, which frustrated Zachary.At ten o’clock at night, the young couple returned to their small apartment.“Fortunately, I don’t like wearing heels. My feet are so sore after walking for so long.”Serenity slumped
A few moments later, Serenity said, “After listening to what you’ve said about your colleague, I think he’s better than all the blind dates Jasmine had gone to. I’ll ask her what she thinks tomorrow.“It’s late now, Mr. York. I’m going back to my room to wash up and sleep.”Serenity was exhausted from shopping.Zachary got up as well and said faintly, “Oh, good night.”Serenity replied with a good night and went into her room. She could not be bothered to even put away the things she bought from shopping and planned to leave them for tomorrow morning.Seeing how she went straight into the room without any intention to stay, Zachary stood where he was and remained silent for a long time.After a while, he walked out to the balcony, sat down on the swing, quietly looking at the night sky and wondering how both of them would go on in the future.Zachary was used to sleeping late, so he sat at the balcony until past eleven o’clock before returning to his territory.The husband and
Mrs. Lane greeted Zachary with a smile.Zachary instructed her to call him Mr. York in front of Serenity.“Mrs. Lane, you’re here. Serenity, this is Mrs. Lane, the one I told you about.”Zachary quickly made the introductions.Serenity smiled. “I saw her as I was coming back. Mrs. Lane already introduced herself. Have a seat, Mrs. Lane. I’ll bring the groceries inside.”“Let me do it, Mrs. York.”“Mrs. Lane.”The woman smiled apologetically. After stealing a glance at Zachary, she stopped calling Serenity “Mrs. York” and changed her form of address to Ms. Hunt instead.“Mr. York and Ms. Hunt, I reckon you haven’t had breakfast? I’ll cook for you.”Serenity wanted to stop her, but she said with a smile, “Ms. Hunt, I’m here as a nanny. Mr. York already briefed me on my job description. From today onward, I have to earn my pay. You can’t let me receive a salary without doing anything and leaving everything to you, right, Ms. Hunt?”Serenity had no choice but to let Mrs. Lane tak
Zachary stayed in his room for a while until Serenity came knocking on his door.“Mr. York, Mrs. Lane says that breakfast is ready.”Serenity stood in front of his room door, knocking on the door while shouting for him.However, she silently thought, ‘He’s been in there for a while. Is he not done changing?‘He’s usually swift and decisive, rarely dilly-dallying.‘Oh, except when he wants to send flowers. He’s not swift and decisive when it comes to that.’Zachary opened the door.His shirt was on, but it was still unbuttoned.As soon as he opened the door, Serenity saw his slightly exposed pecs.She was stunned, then said, “It’s time for breakfast, Mr. York.”Zachary paid attention to Serenity’s expression. When he saw that she only froze slightly, he walked away after she finished speaking.He closed the room door again and looked down at his unbuttoned shirt. Did he not expose enough?His wife was not drooling yet.Wait.He seemed to be playing tricks and seducing his
Adrian and his brothers finally heard footsteps. They instinctively turned their heads, only to see a group of people, who were already very close, approaching.“Police! Hands up, don’t move!”Upon realizing they had been spotted, the officer leading the charge immediately shouted, drawing his gun and pointing it at Adrian and the others.The police had learned from the Dott brothers that the kidnappers were armed.The officers following Darren were from an armed unit and carried guns.Jason’s mind went blank. He could not form a single coherent thought.How had the police caught up?They had scouted the location beforehand, ensuring it was remote and quiet. It was somewhere no one would come even during the day, let alone at night.Adrian reacted the fastest. He immediately bent down to pick up the kitchen knife, intending to kill Caroline.All he could think then was that even if he died, he wanted to take Caroline with him. As long as Caroline died, he would consider it wor
Justin, seeing his eldest brother approach with the kitchen knife, hesitated and asked, “Adrian, are we really going to do this?”“What, are you having second thoughts at this stage, like Jason? Justin, we didn’t even cover our faces. She knows it’s us. If we let her go now, we’re the ones who will die.“Think about it. How much have we suffered ever since she came back? How much have we lost? Even Mom’s dead now.”When their mother was alive, the three brothers lived carefree and comfortable lives. Now that she was gone, they were nothing.Hearing this, Justin quickly said, “Adrian, I’m not having second thoughts. It’s just… We don’t have to use the knife. We can just throw her into the sea. With her hands and feet tied, she won’t be able to escape.“The deep sea is full of fish. She’ll be eaten by a big fish soon, which will leave no trace. That’s better than us using the knife.”The main reason was that none of them had killed anyone before. Although they had done other bad th
Her indifference, as if she did not care whether they killed her or not, infuriated her three brothers.Adrian stood up, turned around, and walked to the back of the car. He opened the trunk.Inside the trunk were two sharpened kitchen knives.“Adrian.” Jason walked over, his voice trembling slightly. It was his first time committing murder, and killing his own sister at that. Jason was a bit scared.“Adrian, are we really going to… chop her up?”Adrian picked up one of the kitchen knives and glared at Jason. “What? Are you having second thoughts? Or are you scared?”“Well… It’s my first time killing someone. I am a bit scared. Carol is our sister, after all. I... I can’t bring myself to do it.”Adrian snorted coldly. “You think of her as a sister, but she doesn’t see us as brothers. Look at what she’s done—every single thing has been a stab in the back for us.“When it comes to using a knife, once you make the first cut, the second one won’t be so hard.”Adrian handed the kit
There were still traces of blood at the corners of her mouth and under her nose.Justin and Jason worked together to pull Caroline out, and Adrian immediately tied her legs together before binding her hands behind her back.“Are you going to feed me to the fish, Adrian?”Hearing the sound of the waves and feeling the cold sea breeze, Caroline shivered.She did not stand up and remained lying on the ground.Adrian kicked her several times, venting his pent-up anger.Caroline silently endured it.After kicking her a few times, Adrian squatted, gripping Caroline's chin forcefully with one hand, and said coldly, “Caroline, there’s nothing more to say between us.“Don’t blame us for being heartless. You’re the one who pushed us to this point.“You only have yourself to blame.“Where are the passwords and keys to Mom's private assets? Tell us, and we’ll make it quick for you, so you won’t suffer too much.“If you don’t, we have plenty of time to slowly cut you piece by piece and m
“We can’t just keep giving them money, now can we?”Adrian replied, “That’s not a priority for now. We can burn that bridge when we come to it. If they do dare blackmail us, we’ll just send them on to meet their maker.“The only thing is they both have families. If we kill them, we have to kill their families too. That way, there’ll be no one who’ll report it to the police.“And it’s best to make it seem like an accident too, or else it’ll seem suspicious.”Justin and Jason both felt Adrian was right. If they were going to kill the Dott brothers, they might as well kill their families too.Caroline internally cursed how merciless they were. The Dott brothers thought they could earn some money from Adrian to live a better life but little did they know, it would bring destruction upon themselves and their families.What the Clark brothers did not know was that the Dotts were forced to say what they did earlier.It was not that they had not left yet. Rather, they could not, because
Belinda had done everything other mothers would have. She loved them, yet the three of them had gotten a smaller portion of her wealth than their own children did. Indeed, Belinda left her grandchildren with more money.After all, her grandchildren still had a long life ahead of them.Therefore, she distributed more wealth to them. The Clark brothers loved spending lavishly and kept losing money whenever they tried to establish businesses. They also had many mistresses and never hesitated to spend money on them. Belinda was partial toward her sons about their affairs and also persuaded her daughters-in-law not to get a divorce. In truth, she resented her three sons for being promiscuous and inheriting their father’s flirtatious traits. While Hunter may have been interested in other girls, he dared not cheat on Belinda because she was strict. However, he still had an affair the moment he spotted an opportunity.Later, Belinda chased the Clark brothers’ mistresses out of
Celine, whom they had cared for all long, was not their biological sister but the daughter of the previous butler. Celine’s father was ambitious. He tried making his daughter the Fisher family’s successor. Justin was speechless.“Free me, Jason. I’m already in your hands. Are you still scared that I’ll escape? Let me out. It’s too stuffy in the sack. I feel terrible.”Caroline made a request. Jason seemed to be the one with some lingering feelings for his sibling. Well, that was not really the case.If he truly had even a sliver of sibling love for Caroline, he would have stopped Adrian and Justin from kidnapping her instead of joining the plan. If Caroline had been fortunate, she could have had five brothers doting on her. Sadly, she was unlucky. None of the five brothers had cared for her. They all wanted her dead. Was she a failure as a person, or were they too cruel?Jason said, “Just stay put, Caroline. We’ll let you out when we arrive.”They could not release Car
Caroline could not beat them. Then, her mouth was gagged with a cloth, and her head was covered with a sack. Someone forced her into a car. She heard Adrian saying to his brothers, “Let’s go.“Tell Celine’s brothers to follow us. Assign a few people to clean up and leave quickly.”After that, Caroline heard the sound of an engine starting. The car moved. She could not see what was happening. While she was shoved into the backseat, her arms and legs were unbound. She removed the cloth from her mouth but not the sack from her head.Someone held the sack tightly and started hitting and kicking her. “Tie the sack, Justin,” said Jason in a hurry. The person beating her up was Justin. “I know it’s you guys, Justin and Jason. What are you doing? Let me go. Mmph…”Caroline grunted in pain. She suffered a punch from Justin. She held her head tightly to prevent any injury to it. Many blows landed on her body. “It’s fine even if you know it’s us, Caroline. You better stay
“Ms. Caroline.”The bodyguards looked toward Caroline. Caroline opened her eyes and said calmly, “Stop the car, but don’t get out. Only get out when the situation gets out of hand. Remember to protect yourselves.”“Ms. Caroline…”“I’ll keep myself safe. Don’t worry. I treasure my life. There’s still a long life ahead of me. I haven’t even started enjoying good days. I won’t want to die.”Caroline chuckled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. There was sorrow in those eyes. In the end, she and her brothers could not coexist. It made her realize how bad her luck was with families. She was switched at birth and mistreated by her adoptive family. She thought her biological parents would treat her well after returning to them, but it turned out to be the opposite. Caroline had many family members, yet somehow, she was still alone. The people who truly cared about her were Darren, Liberty, and some others. Caroline’s bodyguards knew she had been waiting for that moment.