“If the woman’s side minds her moving so far away and wants us to go to her family, except for Zack, who can’t move because he’s the head of the family, the elders in our family don’t really care. As long as we’re happy, they’re fine with it.”They had the powerful York Corporation backing them, and each of them was highly capable. Even if one of them married into another family, they would not be bullied by the woman’s family. If the woman wanted to push them around, she would have to think twice, with the York family’s influence behind them.However, so far, none of his brothers had done so.Austin thought to himself that he might just set a precedent.Isabella now bore a heavy burden. Her brother was too young, and it would take at least a decade before he could take over. Isabella would have to manage the family business for many more years.Isabella’s eyes sparkled. “Your family’s so open-minded. With your family’s wealth and standing, there’s really no need for you guys to l
The O'Connor family, due to a predominance of daughters rather than sons, was extremely cautious about their sons-in-law.Even though they did not have a son-in-law yet, it was clear from the way Isabella’s uncles were not allowed to interfere in the family business that they were worried about a son-in-law taking control of the O'Connor family’s wealth.Even Isabella’s aunts were forbidden from involving themselves in the family business. This was to protect their love-obsessed selves from being easily manipulated or influenced by their in-laws.At twenty-seven, Isabella had not even considered dating, as she knew once she had a partner, her elders would put their guard up against her and her partner.It was not just the elders who would be cautious, Isabella herself would be wary of her own husband.Too many men had used their wives’ family wealth to rise to power, only to later swap their wives out for younger and more beautiful women. Some even swallowed the entire family fort
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
The O'Connor family, due to a predominance of daughters rather than sons, was extremely cautious about their sons-in-law.Even though they did not have a son-in-law yet, it was clear from the way Isabella’s uncles were not allowed to interfere in the family business that they were worried about a son-in-law taking control of the O'Connor family’s wealth.Even Isabella’s aunts were forbidden from involving themselves in the family business. This was to protect their love-obsessed selves from being easily manipulated or influenced by their in-laws.At twenty-seven, Isabella had not even considered dating, as she knew once she had a partner, her elders would put their guard up against her and her partner.It was not just the elders who would be cautious, Isabella herself would be wary of her own husband.Too many men had used their wives’ family wealth to rise to power, only to later swap their wives out for younger and more beautiful women. Some even swallowed the entire family fort
“If the woman’s side minds her moving so far away and wants us to go to her family, except for Zack, who can’t move because he’s the head of the family, the elders in our family don’t really care. As long as we’re happy, they’re fine with it.”They had the powerful York Corporation backing them, and each of them was highly capable. Even if one of them married into another family, they would not be bullied by the woman’s family. If the woman wanted to push them around, she would have to think twice, with the York family’s influence behind them.However, so far, none of his brothers had done so.Austin thought to himself that he might just set a precedent.Isabella now bore a heavy burden. Her brother was too young, and it would take at least a decade before he could take over. Isabella would have to manage the family business for many more years.Isabella’s eyes sparkled. “Your family’s so open-minded. With your family’s wealth and standing, there’s really no need for you guys to l
“Zack is much more at ease now, but honestly, the person who was the biggest help to him wasn’t any of us—it was Josh. He and Zack are really good friends, and after graduation, Zack brought him into York Corporation.“He’s Zack’s right-hand man, and he’s really impressive.“Zack is incredibly efficient too. Back then, no one in the company could keep up with his work speed. He slowed down a bit after marrying my sister-in-law and starting a family. Now, he likes to stick close to her, and he’s not as crazy about work as he used to be.“He also goes to fewer networking events now. He used to attend these events and work late into the night, but now he’s home before ten at night. No one can stop him.“Those CEOs who work with our family know this too. If they have a business to discuss with him, they try to get it done during the day. They don’t want to drag it into the night.”Isabella laughed softly, her eyes showing a hint of envy. “Before, I didn’t know you were a York. But aft
This was the main reason he insisted on his daily morning runs. Austin did not have much time alone with Isabella because she was always busy. She left for work early and came back late too. He could only see her during mealtimes, but even then, she only had a short time to eat. After finishing her meal, she would try to squeeze in a bit of rest. Austin did not want to disturb her rest, so the only time they could have some quiet moments together and chat was during their morning runs. Fortunately, back in Wiltspoon, he had already gotten into the habit of going for a morning run. “Good morning, Ms. Isabella.”As Isabella approached, Austin smiled and greeted her. Isabella, a bit tired after running for a while, stopped when she saw Austin. She walked over to him and smiled. “Good morning.” Isabella already had a good impression of Austin when she learned that he was a member of the York family, the wealthiest family in Wiltspoon. Now, knowing more about him, her attitud
Zachary had told him that the old pervert from the Longbottom family wanted to take over the O'Connors’ family business and turn it into his own private property because the pervert did not have actual inheritance rights to the Longbottom family headship, nor did he have the family head’s seal, token, or totem.“Dylan, I don’t have much advice for you. As Zachary said, we should trust Nana. As long as you follow what she says, you won’t suffer any losses.”“We’re beyond the age where Nana can make us suffer now anyway.”When they were younger, they often got the short end of the stick, largely because their grandparents would discipline them. They were told that if their abilities and plans were not sufficient, it would make them vulnerable to being taken advantage of.“Dylan, I think I’ll clock in a couple more hours of sleep before my morning run. After that, I have to prepare breakfast for Ms. Isabella.”“Okay, go to bed then. Don’t overwork yourself.”“I’m not. I’m enjoying i
Austin would not admit that he wanted to hear the gossip about Dylan’s love life.Dylan asked, “Are you free to talk right now?”“Sure. I have a whole dormitory unit to myself, and it’s quite spacious. I live quite comfortably. My salary comes on time every month, and I’m well-fed. My cooking skills have improved a lot, too.”Dylan was silent for a moment before he responded with another voice message.“You’ve only been focused on cooking? It’s been several months since you went there, and you didn’t even come back for the Christmas holidays. All you have in your brain is cooking.”“I came here specifically to cook in the first place.”Dylan was speechless.Indeed, Austin had heard that Isabella had an extremely picky palate, which he viewed as a challenge. Their nana had not even urged him once when he had eagerly gone to Satbury of his volition.Occasionally, Dylan heard his family mention Austin, saying that he was always busy researching new recipes and cooking, but seemed
Chameleon Fox turned to look at Dylan.After some time, she said, “Thanks for returning the token to me.”It was the end between him and Fox.Dylan stared at her and said, “Don’t be outside at midnight this often in the future. You should have a good rest.”It would make her fatigued in the morning. She would have to drink a few cups of coffee to stay alert.Fox smiled. “I like going out at midnight. It’s become a habit. Goodbye, Dylan.”She waved at him and opened the door. Soon, she disappeared from his sight.Since Imogen knew her token was in Wildridge Manor, she was no longer in a rush to get it back.It was because Dylan was still in Huntington. If she were to go to Wiltspoon and Dylan could not find her at the company, he would link her to Chameleon Fox. He already had suspicions that they were the same person.Wildridge Manor was a safe place anyway. She was not worried that the token would go missing.Dylan had hidden the token at the manor to keep it safe and preven
“Whether it’s Imogen, Chameleon Fox, or Sugar—aren’t they all you?”“I said I’m not Ms. Doyle.”Chameleon Fox’s expression hardened. “You’re a bastard, Dylan York. You flirted with me and Ms. Doyle before figuring everything out. This is two-timing. I won’t accept you, and neither would Ms. Doyle.”Dylan’s heated gaze focused on her face. He said, “You’re saying that you aren’t Imogen. Do you dare to remove your makeup, tear off your hyper-realistic mask, and show me your true face?”“Do you know what happens to those who have seen my true appearance? Death.“Everyone who has seen my face is already dead. If you wish to die, I can fulfill that wish for you. However, I don’t want to offend the York family and be their enemies. Don’t make me kill you.”She had only put on a layer of hyper-realistic mask that night. If she tore it off, it would reveal her true appearance.Dylan smiled. “That’s because you feel guilty. You dare not show me your true face because you’re Imogen and Su
Both Sugar and Chameleon Fox were not her true identity—her true self was Imogen Doyle. Dylan had to love her as Imogen. Imogen could not handle Dylan’s intense stare. She stood and asked, “When are you going to return my item? Give it back to me now. We should cut ties and never cross paths again.”“I don’t have it with me. I used to bring it along with me wherever I went, but you never came to get it. I left it at home. I didn’t bring it over.“Are you that desperate to cut off all communication with me? We’ve known each other for over half a year. Although we didn’t start on a good note, didn’t we get along afterward?”Dylan thought Imogen was trying to remove Fox from his life so he could get used to her being Imogen.“Do you have some misunderstanding toward the concept of ‘getting along’? We’ve only been quarreling or fighting whenever we met. Is that considered ‘getting along’? If it were not for you taking my thing and not returning it to me, I wouldn’t have had to chas