Wiltspoon’s hot weather in October was a killer. Still, the mornings and evenings were eased by the late autumn breeze. Serenity Hunt got up first thing in the morning to make breakfast for her sister’s family of three. She then grabbed her birth certificate and slipped away in the silence. “We’re going Dutch from now on, and I’m talking about everything—the living expenses, the mortgage, and auto loans! Your sister should be splitting the cost since she’s staying at our place. Sure, she pays two thousand bucks a month, but it doesn’t stretch very far. She’s basically mooching off us.” Serenity overheard her brother-in-law’s comment during the couple’s argument last night. She had to move out of her sister’s place. However, there was only one way to put her sister’s mind to rest, and that was to get married. Since Serenity wanted to tie the knot on short notice without ever having had a boyfriend, she decided to take up on Grandma May’s offer. Serenity had saved the old lad
“I won’t back out on a promise.” It took Serenity a few days to consider before reaching a decision. Now that she had made up her mind, she was not going to go back on her word. There was nothing more Zachary could say at that point. He took out his document and placed it in front of the officer. Serenity did the same. The pair swiftly went through the formalities in less than ten minutes. Once the officer issued the marriage license, Zachary fished out a bunch of keys from his pocket and gave them to Serenity. He said, “The house I bought is in Brynfield. Nana told me that you own a bookshop near Wiltspoon School. My place isn’t too far from your workplace. It’ll take around ten minutes by bus.“Do you have a driver’s license? If you do, you can get a car. I can help with the down payment while you will be responsible for the monthly payment. It’ll be easier for you to commute to work.“I can get very busy at work, so you won’t see me much. There will be business trips too
“I will, Nana,” Serenity casually responded. Although Grandma May was nice to her, Zachary was her blood relative while Serenity was only related to the family by marriage. Serenity found it hard to believe that the Yorks would stand by Serenity during a conflict between her and Zachary.Such was the case with her sister’s parents-in-law. Before marriage, the in-laws were nothing but good to Liberty to the point their birth daughter was jealous. It was a different story after the wedding. Every time Liberty got into a disagreement with her husband, Hank, her mother-in-law would get on Liberty’s case about being a bad wife. In short, the son was always family while the daughter-in-law remained as an outsider. “You must be heading to work, so I should get out of your hair. I’ll get Zack to get you home for dinner tonight.” “Nana, I’m closing the shop pretty late at night. I probably won’t be able to make it. Can we reschedule for the weekend?” The school was off on weekend
“You said it yourself, Liberty. It’s his prenuptial property. It doesn’t make sense to add my name to the title deed since I didn’t pay a penny for the house. I think we should forget about it.” Zachary did Serenity a huge favor by handing her the keys to the house the moment they got married. She could move in right away, solving her housing predicament. Serenity was not going to request that of Zachary. Of course, she would not refuse if Zachary added her name on his own accord. Now that they were husband and wife, Serenity made up her mind to spend the rest of her life with him. It was just a passing mention by Liberty, but knowing her sister who was self-reliant and not driven by greed, Liberty did not dwell on the matter. After a series of interrogations, Serenity successfully moved out of her sister’s place. Liberty wanted to drop her off at Brynfield, but Sonny happened to wake up. The little guy was crying for his mama the moment he opened his eyes. “You should atte
With his game face on, Zachary said, “Back to the meeting.” Sitting nearest to Zachary was his cousin, Callum. Among the cousins within the same age range as Zachary, Callum ranked second.Callum drew close and whispered, “Zack, I overheard your conversation with Nana. Did you really marry that Ser- girl?”Zachary shot him a glare. Scratching his nose, Callum straightened his back and ended the probing. Even so, Callum had nothing but sympathy for Zachary. There was no need for the York boys to secure social and financial standing through marriage, but Zack and his new bride were not a match in every single way. Poor Zack. He merely married the girl because Nana took a liking to her. Once again, Callum offered Zachary his deepest sympathy through his thoughts. Thank goodness Callum was not the oldest in the family. Otherwise, he would have to step up to the plate and marry Nana’s lifesaver. Unaware of all that, Serenity got the location details and was busy dragging her
Serenity said with a smile, “What do I need your cousin for? He has a girlfriend. It’s too late now because the papers are signed! Keep it between us and don’t let my sister know. I don’t want her to be sad.” Jasmine was speechless.Her best friend sure pulled one heck of a move. “There are all those Lifetime movies and romance novels about blindly marrying a multi-billionaire. Maybe that’s the case with you too, Seren.” Smacking her best friend in the head, Serenity remarked with a grin, “I bet you read all the chick lit in the shop. Dream on about marrying a billionaire at first sight. Do you think the place is crawling with billionaires?” Jasmine rubbed on the bump and sighed as Serenity had a point. Jasmine then asked, “Where’s your husband’s place?” “Brynfield.” “Not bad. It’s a good neighborhood and easily accessible. Plus, it’s not far from our shop. Where does your husband work? He must earn a lot of money since he bought a house in Wiltspoon and in an expensive ne
Zachary got into the Rolls-Royce and instructed in a husky voice, “Don’t forget to bring around the national car I bought.” It was a façade to fool his wife. What was his wife called again? “Oh, right. What’s the name of the missus again?” Zachary could not be bothered to dig out the marriage license. Oh, it was likely Nana did not return it to him after he showed her. Anyhow, the marriage license was not with him. The bodyguard replied, “… The young missus is Serenity Hunt. She’s twenty-five this year. You might want to remember that.” Mr. Zachary had an exceptional memory, but when it came to people who he was not fond of, he jammed them out. This was especially true with women. He probably would not know the lady’s name even if they met every day. “Sure. Got it.” Zachary responded offhandedly. Judging by Zachary’s tone, the bodyguard knew he would not be bothered to learn the young missus’ name. Refusing to waste more brain cells on Serenity, Zachary slumped agai
Zachary was mindful of his body image, so he was careful with his diet.Serenity smiled. “You’re quite fit, Mr. York.“So… I guess I’ll go back to bed?” “Sure,” Zachary replied. “Goodnight.” Serenity wished him goodnight before turning on her heel to leave. “Hang on, Se… Serenity.” Zachary called after her. Pausing, Serenity turned her head around and asked, “Yes?” Zachary looked at her and said, “Please don’t walk around in your pajamas next time.” She was not wearing a bra underneath her pajamas. Unfortunately, his eagle eyes picked up on that. They were husband and wife anyway, but what if someone else caught her in her pajamas? The last thing he wanted was for other men to see his wife’s body. Red in the face, Serenity bolted back to her room and slammed the door shut. Zachary was speechless.She was embarrassed before he could feel awkward for her. Zachary took a moment to sit before heading to the master bedroom. He bought the furnished house at the l
Adrian thought to himself that his mother probably regretted her decision in the end—regretted choosing Caroline, who had a completely different worldview and was stubborn, over Celine. Celine’s death was brought about by his mother’s actions. She was worried that Celine would compete with Caroline, which led her to mercilessly cause the death of the adoptive daughter she had raised for over twenty years.With Adrian’s departure, his brothers followed suit. They even turned to glare at Caroline as they walked out behind him. Once outside the office, they caught up and asked, “Adrian, are we really taking leave? With Mom gone, the company is effectively leaderless. If we don’t take action, I’m afraid we’ll soon be kicked out of the company.”Jason whispered, “Didn’t Dad say to take whatever we can get right now? We need to find a way to make some money.”Whether it was Caroline or Liberty taking over the company, they needed to secure more money for an escape. Now that their mother h
However, her three brothers were different. They had grown up in the family and enjoyed all the riches and honors that came with being the young masters of the Fisher family, even though it was a matriarchy. However, with their mother as the head of the family, they still received a great deal.The time span was significant too—over several decades. Suddenly asking them to give up everything they had enjoyed was indeed devastating for them. It was hard to accept, and they were unwilling.Caroline sighed and said, “Adrian, you’re the oldest, quite a few years older than Justin and Jason. You know what the situation is like now. Think it through carefully and talk to them. We can’t compete with Audrey and the others. In the family, we have lost everyone’s support and trust.“In this situation, we should withdraw gracefully and return everything that originally belonged to them. This can help ease tensions and regain some trust among the family. At the very least, the mistakes our moth
“Do you think you’d even have this much if it weren't for Mom killing Aunt Tiara and Aunt Alivia to seize it all? Your personal belongings are your business to handle as you wish, but whatever is within my authority is up to me, and you have no right to say anything about it. It won’t change my decision even if Mom were to come back to life and criticize me for it, much less you.”Caroline looked at her three brothers. “However, I do understand your anger and resentment, so if you want to curse at me, go ahead. I can take it. I won’t hold a grudge against you for that, but stop thinking about going back to Fisher Manor to take the antiques and valuables to sell for money. Those were passed down through the generations by the matriarchs and will continue to be done so. No one is allowed to touch them.“Even when Mom was alive, she never coveted those things. Don’t listen to Dad and rush to take and sell them—that’s theft. If Audrey calls the police, you’ll be in serious trouble. Don’t
Her indifferent demeanor infuriated Adrian and his two brothers. Jason suddenly stood up, strode over to Caroline, and attempted to slap her. He did not succeed. Caroline swiftly grabbed Jason’s wrist with one hand. She had never gone for self-defense training—her adoptive parents had treated her poorly, so they would not have sent her to such lessons. However, she had been bullied frequently in the past and had some fighting experience, which made her quick to react.In a flash, she splashed the remaining coffee from her cup onto Jason's face. He was completely unprepared, having never expected his sister to be able to seize his wrist. He knew Caroline had never learned any self-defense skills and usually had bodyguards when she went out. Darren also often stayed close to her, ready to rush to her aid at the earliest moment if anything happened. They were aware that Darren also arranged for people to protect her secretly, as the head or successor of the Fisher family always had b
Adrian scolded, “Caroline, have you ever given us a single thought? We're your brothers! Even if we didn’t treat you well before, we didn’t actually do anything to you either. Can't you remember that we’re family?“What are we supposed to do if you give away the entire Fisher legacy? We don't even have a leg to stand on in the company anymore. Do you think that we’ll still have a future with Liberty taking over? They’ll kill us without lifting a finger just by driving us out of the company.“If news gets out that anyone who works with us is an enemy of her, do you think anyone will dare to employ us? She has the backing of three of the biggest families from Wiltspoon, and she’s on good terms with the Queens in Jensburg. Who would still want to hire us?“You may be capable enough to support yourself, but we aren't, and we have families to support. Your nephews and nieces need to go to school, which costs a lot of money. When your nephew grows up, he’ll need to buy a house and get mar
When Darren looked at Caroline, his eyes were filled with affection; Adrian could see it clearly. Darren was outstanding, and while the brothers treated him politely, they secretly looked down on him. He was no Mr. Gordon; Mr. Gordon was their mother’s right-hand man and had watched them grow up, so they did not dare to underestimate him and respected him greatly, but Darren was their peer and even younger than them.Adrian held a low opinion of Darren. It was fine for him to be Caroline’s assistant, as arranged by the retainer training center, and they had no right or authority to stop it. However, if his sister were to pursue a romantic relationship with Darren, Adrian would be dissatisfied. He felt that Darren was not good enough for her.No matter how distant they were, they were still full-blooded siblings. Adrian naturally hoped his sister would marry a powerful man so they could rely on their brother-in-law for support in the future.Caroline sat across from her brothers. Aft
“Right, let’s go find Caroline right now. She’s back at work today.”Justin and Jason echoed Adrian's words. Unable to enter Fisher Manor, the three brothers left in frustration and headed for the company in a huff. At the entrance of the Fisher Enterprise, they saw Liberty's car just pulling out and knew Liberty had come to see their sister again.Adrian ground his teeth in anger, wishing he could ram his car into Liberty's. However, two bodyguard cars were following Liberty for her protection, and with Duncan’s arrival, no matter how much they hated Liberty, they did not dare to act against her. Even when their mother was alive, they had hesitated to confront Liberty. It was only later when their mother learned that Patrick was still alive that she had considered taking action.Unfortunately, in the end, their mother failed. Both she and Mr. Gordon were dead, and with her passing, their once large family had fallen apart. Their father was powerless and without influence to use h
Although Lisa had left behind two daughters who were doing well, Patrick still felt guilty about her death. “Let’s go inside. Jensburg’s weather is too cold. I’m already shivering even though we haven’t been out long.”Darrell smiled. “We’re old and not as resistant to the cold anymore.”When he was young, he often skied in the northern region, and the cold did not bother him. After getting older, he preferred spending his winters in Wiltspoon instead of going to the north. Compared to the negative temperatures in the north, the winters in Wiltspoon usually had higher temperatures and felt relatively warm.“Okay. Let’s head inside.”Darrell and Audrey helped Patrick as they walked toward the main house. Maybe it was the cold weather or because his wishes were fulfilled, but Patrick felt his health worsening and his spirits lower. He even needed someone’s support to walk. Lilian came over to check on his health daily. In private, he requested Lilian to ensure he could live
“It’s cold out here, Uncle True. Let’s head back inside,” said Audrey.Patrick looked around the garden before focusing his gaze on the Clark brothers. He said, “Let’s go back in a few days, Audrey. No matter how many memories this place holds, your mom won’t come back.”He wanted to stay for some time to reminisce. They did not plan to stay at Fisher Manor for too long. After all, Fisher Manor was meant for the matriarch and her family to live in. Each matriarch passed it down to their daughters, who would succeed them. Belinda had only become the matriarch after murdering her sisters and had broken the tradition. Since everything had returned to normal, Belinda’s family had to move out of the manor. The only exception was if Caroline took over. However, even if Caroline became the matriarch, the people who could live in the manor would be her children, not her brothers and sisters-in-law.Therefore, Adrian and his brothers would still have to move out of Fisher Manor.