Zachary said, “Don’t worry.”Liberty exchanged glances with him. She also saw Clive's gaze and nodded. Audrey chatted with the Fisher family members and introduced her fellow visitors, especially Liberty.They smiled. “We know Liberty very well.”Liberty smiled back.The Fishers were aware of her actions in Jensburg. Some of them even secretly expressed their interest in joining her side. “Since everyone’s here, why don’t we head inside? It’s a little cold out here.”Belinda’s voice rang. She and Hunter had been waiting for Audrey and the rest in the house. However, they did not come. After asking, they learned that Audrey and her group had been strolling in the garden. They even said they were afraid of her burying bombs or dousing the house with gasoline. They also mentioned it was safer and easier to escape if they were in the garden. Belinda was exasperated. She did think of burying bombs. However, Mr. Gordon said they could get caught easily if they used bom
“Let’s continue our walk, Uncle True.”Audrey left Belinda behind and went on ahead with Patrick. It was clear that she wanted to ignore Belinda. Although Audrey was born and had lived at Fisher Manor for seven or eight years, she had been absent for decades and had no recollection of the manor. Belinda followed them with a dark expression. No matter what, she had to accompany her guests as the matriarch of the Fisher family. “Why are you following us?” Audrey asked Belinda, unhappy. Belinda replied, “How can you talk to someone older than you like that, Audrey? I’m your aunt.”“While you may be my aunt, you’re also the culprit who killed my parents. Why should I speak to you politely?”“Audrey Fisher!”Belinda could no longer stand the provocation and mocking. Having been the matriarch for decades, she had a terrible temper. “You all are saying that I’ve caused my sister’s death, but do you have evidence? Show it if you do. Why are you speaking in riddles?“Let me
However, Belinda was chanting in her heart, ‘Quick, Gordon. Pour the gasoline and light the fire. Burn them all.’Unfortunately, nothing happened despite her strong wish. Did Mr. Gordon think the time was not right yet? Or were there other reasons?Belinda thought the best time to start the fire was when everyone was distracted by the evidence. In truth, Mr. Gordon did want to put the plan into action. However, while he was ordering everyone to douse the manor with gasoline, they realized that the tanks of gasoline they had prepared had been switched to water at some point.When they opened the tanks, there was no smell of gasoline. Mr. Gordon asked them to empty one tank and try setting it aflame, but it failed. It was certain that their gasoline was swapped. Mr. Gordon broke into a cold sweat.Since he and Madam Fisher were the ones who thought of the plan, no one other than his most trusted subordinates, who were carrying out the plan with him, knew about it.Even the s
“Are you trying to let Mr. Fletcher kill your daughter? Since you’re suspicious that we assistants will harm our masters, your assigning Mr. Fletcher to Ms. Caroline is equivalent to handing her a death sentence.”Belinda was speechless.Patrick’s words were still as sharp as ever. He used to have a lot of patience with her. Looking back, it had probably been because of Tiara.Patrick looked at the audience gathered around them. He said, “That year, Madam Tiara got into an accident. Her entire family passed away, save for her two daughters, who were unscathed because they were in school.“There was a mechanic who would always check Madam Tiara’s car daily before she headed out. After she returned, the mechanic would inspect the car again to ensure nothing was amiss.“However, on the day of the accident, the mechanic suddenly had an upset stomach. He was severely dehydrated from diarrhea and had no energy to inspect Madam Tiara’s car. She headed out after a simple check conducted
“No matter how strong I am by myself, I couldn’t handle group after group of assassins coming after my life. No, they didn’t just want to kill me. They also wanted to destroy the little evidence I had painstakingly gathered.“There was once I got severely injured after many rounds of attacks. When I thought I was about to die, the heavens blessed me. Someone rescued me. I believe the heavens must’ve thought Madam Tiara and her family’s deaths were unjust and sent someone to save me to seek justice for Madam Tiara.“Not only did my savior rescue me, but he also spent lots of precious medicine to heal me. Although I was brought back from the brink of death, some side effects remained. I could never recover from them. I stayed alive for decades with my broken body solely for the sake of avenging Madam Tiara.“Later, I secretly returned to Jensburg to retrieve Madam Tiara’s daughters, Audrey and Lisa. However, I only discovered they had gone missing after arriving in Jensburg. At that t
Patrick looked around again. He said, “Belinda said I had escaped and she refused to admit she wanted to kill me. She even accused me of killing Madam Tiara. But I have witnesses. They can prove that I was being hunted down. “They can also verify that the assassins sent after me were by Belinda. The people who rescued me that year are here with me tonight. They’ll be my witnesses.”Patrick turned around. Silver and the other legendary masters stood behind him. “They’re my saviors. If it weren’t for them lending a hand, I would’ve been six feet under now.”Belinda suddenly laughed out loud. She then said sarcastically, “You said they’re your saviors, Patrick. Can their words be trusted? What if Audrey had paid them to act as your saviors?“You kept saying that I killed Tiara and Alivia. You can ask them to confront me directly and see if I was the one who killed them. If the victims don’t sue me, then there’s no truth in your words.”Everyone looked toward Belinda with a weird
Belinda sneered. “Can you prove that they are the elders of the Imperial Force, Mr. York? Who here knows these old-timers of the Imperial Force and can verify their identities?”Zachary was rendered speechless.Aside from their group, no one had met the legendary masters before. Not only that, they had just recently met the masters in the flesh. Their families’ elders would be able to confirm the masters’ identities. However, they only had Audrey with them. Even if they could vouch for the masters, it would not be convincing enough. “I’ve met them before. I can verify their identities.”An old voice came from the direction of the manor’s gates.The place was silent. Therefore, the old voice could be heard clearly. Everyone looked toward the source of the voice. It belonged to an elderly man in his nineties. He was in good health. Although he had a cane in one hand, he did not need support from anyone else. It seemed he had spoken right after getting out of a car and was
Roy then shook hands with Silver, Dan, and the other two masters. He said, “I never thought I’d be able to see you lot again. I could never forget the days when you fellas deceived me. Even if you turn to ashes, I’ll still be able to recognize you.”Silver said, “We didn’t deceive you. You wanted us to do something but refused to pay. Were you trying to mooch off us?“You’ve always been a people-pleaser, Roy. How could you do something like that?”Roy laughed. “Leaving money aside, there were still many instances where you all tricked me and put me in a difficult spot.”After a short reunion, Roy said resoundingly, “I can prove that these old men here are the masterminds of the Imperial Force. However, they retired decades ago. The leaders of the Imperial Force are now their disciples.“I never thought I’d be able to see these people again in my life.”Roy looked toward Zachary and said, “You have the aura of your grandfather, Mr. York. However, how you do things resembles your g
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