Phillip felt aggrieved after being kicked by Louis but remained silent. It was not that he wanted to study, but Isabella was just that much stricter than their teachers, so much so the elders in the family did not dare to protest, much less them.Louis, feeling frustrated, channeled his emotions into his appetite, eating an unusually large lunch. It was a good thing that Isabella stopped him from overeating as she worried he would get indigestion. Otherwise, he really might have eaten in excess. If he had indigestion, he could avoid doing his homework.After lunch, Isabella said, “Austin, after your afternoon break, could you make some snacks for Louis and the others? Leave some for Tati, she loves your snacks. I won’t be home for dinner tonight, so you can manage your time freely. By the way, about Christmas—do you mind working during the holidays? I can offer you five times your usual salary, plus a Christmas gift and bonus.”Considering that her few days off during Christmas time
Austin said, “Thank you for your consideration, Ms. Isabella. My nana is over eighty but still in good health and she can still fly. I do have a large family though, and it would be difficult for everyone to come over. It’s better to forget it. I’ll tell my family that I won’t be going back for Christmas this year. They’ll understand.”He had thought about this before coming here. His family was already mentally prepared for his absence during the holiday. Plus, next year, he planned to take Isabella home for Christmas and finalize their engagement. His nana had only given them a year to cement their relationship with their bride candidates and as long as they treated them with care, a year was enough to win their hearts.“As for the Christmas holiday wages, Ms. Isabella, just give me whatever you think is appropriate. My job is to be your chef and provide your daily meals, so it’s normal not to have time off during the holidays in this line of work.” The service industry was usual
Elaine replied, “Weren't you the one who invited the reporters, Madam?”Without an invitation from the head of the family, why would these reporters come to Fisher Manor? There was no major news about the Fishers either. Belinda quickly realized who had done it. She had not invited the reporters, Caroline had been knocked out and escorted out of Jensburg, and neither her husband nor three sons would dare to do so. The only one capable of this was Audrey, her charming niece.“Go tell the reporters that tonight’s gathering is a family dinner and that we did not invite them. Ask them to leave and give each of them a small gift as well.”It was best to sweeten them up a bit to prevent them from fabricating stories. Nowadays, some reporters exaggerated for the sake of clicks or wrote whatever came to mind without proper understanding. The Fishers’ reputation had already suffered recently. If they offended the media, they could face severe backlash.Elaine left to carry out the orders, b
As long as Mr. Gordon helped her bring her daughter back and secured her daughter's position, he could have his freedom. It was a way to ensure a good outcome for those around her.“As for Hunter, if I’m going to die, I'll take him down with me. Otherwise, he'll abuse his status. After all, Caroline is his daughter, and I fear he’ll use his status to pressure her. As for my three sons… I’ll leave it to fate.”Belinda closed her eyes. She could only protect the most important one. Hunter had already reminded all three of her useless sons, who still clung to their luck and ignored his advice. Who could they blame then? While Hunter cared most about his sons and grandchildren because they all carried the Clark surname, she cared most about her daughter who bore her surname.“Someone's coming. I have to go.” Belinda hung up before casually placing her phone back on the coffee table.The person who entered was Caroline’s stand-in. She resembled Caroline closely enough that with a little
“Ignore it. She can bring whoever she wants. I’m not afraid.”Belinda added coldly, “She just wants to tarnish my name. However, other people have been discussing me behind my back for decades. Do I even have a reputation left?”Two years ago, the revelation of Caroline and Celine’s switch at birth had made her and the Fisher family the laughingstock of Jensburg. Thinking closely, Belinda felt her reputation was already down the drain. Since that was the case, she did not care if someone sullied her name further. They did not have evidence anyway. She could simply deny everything. Belinda would kill them all that very night. Adrian nodded. The Clark brothers exchanged glances. Just like Hunter, they thought their mother was confident in succeeding. “Belinda, Belinda.”Hunter suddenly ran in while yelling. Belinda frowned. She glared at him and scolded, “Why do you still get so panicked when you’re already in your seventies?”Hunter pointed at Caroline, then outsid
There would be hope as long as Caroline lived. If Caroline was safe, Belinda’s bloodline could continue being in charge of the Fisher family. Belinda’s body swayed. Hunter pointed at Caroline, who was walking over, and told his wife, “Look! Isn’t that our daughter? The person behind her is Mr. Fletcher, the assistant you assigned to her.“The one inside the house is a fake. She doesn’t have Mr. Fletcher with her. I thought it was weird that I hadn’t seen him today.”It turned out the Caroline he had been seeing all day was an imposter. Even he was deceived. That imposter looked precisely like the real thing. As Caroline’s father, he did not even realize his daughter was fake. “Mom.”Caroline walked up the stairs and stood before Belinda. She said, “I’ve told you I’m your daughter. I’ll brave every hardship with you. No matter the outcome, I’ll stay by your side.“Stop thinking about how to send me away. I won’t go. The word ‘escape’ doesn’t exist in my dictionary.”B
Upon hearing the butler’s words, Caroline turned and walked toward the manor’s gates. Darren naturally followed her. Hunter suddenly found his daughter’s walk confident and dominating. Although the substitute looked like her, she was not as commanding as Caroline was in her strides. He was frustrated that he did not realize the Caroline in the house was a fake. If he had known that his wife was going for a plan that involved her death, he would have asked his sons to leave. If they were to leave at that moment…Caroline had told them to leave if they were scared. After waiting for Caroline and the butler to walk away, Hunter told the Clark brothers, “You must know by now that your mom is only protecting Caroline. She doesn’t care about your lives at all.“I’m the only one who truly cares for you three. I’ve told you to take cover in my hometown for the time being or not attend tonight’s banquet, but none of you heeded my advice.“You guys can’t even leave now. What will
Audrey and the rest exited their cars when Caroline appeared. As Patrick was old, he was slow to get off. Zachary and Clive stood by Patrick’s car door. When he opened the door, the two CEOs bent over to help him.“Be careful, Mr. Patrick. There’s no need to rush. Take it slow.”They did not have much sentiment toward Fisher Manor. To them, it was merely the house Belinda lived in. However, to Patrick, Fisher Manor was filled with memories. It was the place Tiara had lived all her life. Tiara was born and raised in Fisher Manor before she eventually became the head of the family and managed the manor. Although Patrick had never lived here throughout his decades of service, he was a frequent visitor. It felt as if he was returning home that day. “You don’t have to support me. I can help myself. I won’t rush.”Despite saying so, Patrick was excited. His limbs were trembling. However, it was due to his old age and not out of excitement, which was a common occurrence among
“I don’t want to. I want to be with Dunc.”Sonny did not want his grandmother to carry him. He turned to Olivia and said, “Aunt Lili treated me when I was sick and she said my throat got infected because I ate fried chicken, and that’s why I had a fever. She told me not to eat fried chicken anymore.“Aunt Ser also said that when I feel better, she’ll fry it for me herself. It’s safer than the fried chicken bought from outside, but I still can only eat a little bit, not too much.“Grandmom, I don’t want to eat fast food bought from outside anymore. You guys shouldn’t blame Dunc. He’s really good to me and if you scold him, I won’t like you anymore.”Sonny did not really have any affection for his grandparents. They had always taken his cousin Lucas’s side. Whatever toys he had or food he liked, Olivia would take them away to give to Lucas. He did not like Lucas, and he did not like Grandmom either. Even though his grandparents were nicer to him now, Sonny still spent very little t
Olivia immediately retracted her hand when she saw Duncan’s cold glance. Not daring to forcefully take Sonny from him, she awkwardly smiled and said to Duncan, “Mr. Lewis, can we have a word with Sonny?”“You can ask Sonny. If he’s happy to, that’s fine,” Duncan said coldly, giving Luke’s bag a glance before addressing both of them. “Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Sonny had a fever yesterday, which the doctor said was due to a throat infection. You two took him to eat a lot of fried chicken and fries that day, which caused the infection.“Today, you brought him more fast food. If Sonny eats that, he might have a fever again. Please try to avoid giving him such heavy foods in the future.”Olivia immediately became anxious, reaching out to touch Sonny’s forehead. “Has Sonny recovered from the fever? Are you still feeling unwell? Why didn’t you take a day off from preschool?“It’s fine to do that, you know. There’s no need to rush back to school. Plus, Sonny doesn’t eat much. We did take him to
“I don’t understand what Liberty is thinking, leaving Sonny in Wiltspoon. When she got Sonny’s custody, she should have taken him with her,” Olivia muttered.She really wanted her son to file another lawsuit and regain custody of Sonny, but out of consideration for Sonny’s future, she could not do that. Plus, her son would not listen to her anyway.“Liberty went to Jensburg. She’s probably still dealing with a lot of trouble over there and we don’t understand the situation. If she could, she would have taken Sonny with her. She values Sonny’s education a lot, and Sonny has been well-educated under her care,” Luke spoke more objectively.Although he did not like Duncan, he could see that Duncan really cared for Sonny. Sonny was very attached to Serenity because she had raised him. That was natural, and it probably had nothing to do with whether Duncan was a good stepfather or not. Luke did not say this out loud to avoid being scolded by his wife for siding with Duncan.“Here comes
Moreover, Patrick was still alive, and he had been Tiara’s assistant. Plus, the crime of Belinda killing her sisters to rise to power had been exposed to the world and no matter how one thought about it, it was impossible for Belinda's children to take over the position.“Dad, I just can’t accept it! I just don’t agree! Even if I can’t get the position of the head of the family, Liberty can forget about taking away our positions in Fisher Enterprise!“And if Caroline doesn’t divide the huge fortune left by Mom with us, she can forget about taking it all. If worse comes to worst, I’ll go down with her. If I die, my children can inherit Mom’s fortune, but Caroline’s unmarried and childless! She stands to lose the most if she dies.”Adrian stood up and turned to leave once he finished speaking. It was clear he did not want to continue the conversation with his father and did not want to listen to his advice.Justin and Jason looked at each other, then at their father, who was tremblin
The older generation of the Fisher family had indeed accepted the gifts sent by the Clark brothers. They felt that they had been mistreated by Belinda, so they viewed the benefits given by Belinda’s sons as compensation from her. However, they had not agreed to do what the Clark brothers wanted—to solicit their support. Without concrete evidence, what could the Clark brothers do to them? Besides, it was quite normal for juniors to give their elders gifts during the holiday season, was it not?Hunter could not help but slap his son’s arm. He scolded, “How many times have I told you, and you still won’t listen? My words just go in one ear and out the other.“Though you lot and Caroline are siblings, you’re still Clarks, not Fishers. The Fisher family’s rules have been in place for over a hundred years and won’t change just because of you. If they could change, it would have happened long ago. Do you really think it would have taken this long?“Those old fogies are from the Fisher fa
At the sound of a car, Hunter, who was sitting in the yard basking in the sun, instructed the helper who was taking care of him, “Go outside and see if the young master is back.”The helper went out. Soon, Hunter saw his three sons walking toward him one after another.Seeing this, Hunter could not help but furrowed his brow, feeling a headache coming on as he pinched the space between his brows. He suddenly understood why his late wife would become so impatient and frustrated with their sons—they were really troublesome.He had tried to reason with them, advising them to preserve their strength, to stop hoping to stay on at Fisher Enterprise, and to return here where they could still live well, but they simply refused to listen.When they accompanied him back to Ashford during Christmas, he thought they had come to their senses, but when the new year started and Fisher Enterprise resumed operations, they eagerly hurried back.It made Hunter so angry that he scolded them at home f
“I’ll still try my best to convince them to leave. One of these days, I’ll go meet my father and my two sisters-in-law, and get them to try to persuade my brothers. If they still refuse to listen, then there’s nothing else I can do.”“You should do whatever you think is right. I’ll leave them alone as long as they don’t appear before me.”It was not that Caroline did not care about her brothers; it was them who did not value the relationship. What else could she do? Liberty said, “I’m not the kind of person who would harm the innocent. As long as they stay honest and don’t get involved in any schemes or underhanded tactics, and leave Jensburg for the Clark hometown, I’ll only take half of what they currently have.” She would leave half of the assets for Adrian and the others. They would not starve, and this way, she was still showing Caroline some respect.“They won’t give up easily. They’ll still try to make trouble. You taking only half of their assets is already showing mer
Duncan had been so insistent on marrying no one but Liberty that his current temporary cripple was the result of his conflict with his parents. He had sacrificed his legs in exchange for their consent, but who knew whether his parents truly accepted Liberty or were just pretending to?“They’re very good to me, and they’ve accepted Sonny. It’s not that they don’t want to take care of him—, it’s Sonny who wants to stay with Seren.” Liberty explained, "My in-laws tried to persuade Sonny to stay with them for several days, but they didn’t manage to.“Ever since Sonny was born, it’s mostly been Seren looking after him. During the most difficult times, Seren helped me a lot too, so when I’m not home, Sonny prefers to be with her. No matter how good others are to him, he still chooses to stay with her.”Duncan loved Sonny like his own child, but if Liberty was not in Wiltspoon, Sonny would not want to stay with Duncan. He preferred to stay with his aunt.“That’s good, then.”As long as
Then there was her mother, who had committed countless evil deeds. It was likely that Liberty and the others would not pay respects to Belinda, as she was an enemy of Liberty’s branch of the family. No matter how magnanimous Liberty was, she would not go as far as to visit the grave of her enemy. Therefore, Caroline needed to come back herself to pay respects to her mother, to ensure that her mother’s grave would not be neglected. This was her duty as a daughter. Her mother had committed many sins, but she was still her mother.“Anyway, I’ll also be back to attend your wedding to Mr. Lewis. Technically, I’m still your elder.”Caroline smiled as she extended her belated blessings. “Liberty, I wish you and Mr. Lewis a lifetime of happiness. Mr. Lewis loves you dearly. You two will definitely be very happy together.”Duncan was such an outstanding person in his own right but was willing to marry into the Fisher family for Liberty. This truly broke the previous streak of the matri