“That's because she needs to get in shape. I told her to run five laps in the small park in front of the office every day before starting work. If she doesn't complete five laps, she can't begin her work. I want her to lose weight in a healthy way, but it won't show results after just one month. That's why I put her on a three-month probation.”Zachary was speechless, again.Duncan was being overly nosy. He hired Liberty for a job, and now he was getting involved in her health matters too."Duncan, cut her probation down to one month. If she successfully completes her probation, give her a salary raise. And if you don't think she deserves it, I'll personally cover the increment every month and give it to you discreetly."Duncan replied, “She’s only a clerk in the finance department, so no matter how much of an increment you give her, it won’t be much. At most, it’ll be a thousand dollars, so what’s the use of that?”Zachary said, “A thousand dollars might be nothing to you, but it
“Is Sonny alright?”Olivia was indeed a little concerned for her grandson after doing something like that and coming home.Her other grandson, having fallen sick this time, had made it so that the whole family could not have peace. Just having a recurring fever alone was enough to worry everyone.Sonny was younger than Lucas by a year. If he had fallen sick too, who knew how much suffering the family would have been put through?“He should be fine, I didn’t go home and didn’t see Sonny. I saw Liberty near the neighborhood going to work like normal.”After a whole night of suffering and having beaten up both him and Jessica, Liberty could actually still go to work like nothing had happened.He was alright. Jessica was still cooped up in the hotel, too scared to leave and meet anybody because the handprint on her face had not faded away. Last night, after Liberty and her sister left, Jessica hugged him and cried for a very long time, saying it was all his fault she had to suffer
Hank’s parents saw that their son was adamant about divorcing his wife. He had already done all sorts of things with Jessica before getting caught by Liberty. With Liberty’s character, there was no way she would just take that lying down.Olivia said, “Hank, after you married Liberty, it was all you going to work and earning money. She had no income at all. If you divorce her, you should ask her to pack her clothes and leave immediately after settling the divorce proceedings at City Hall.“Don’t allow her to take anything else.”Since the divorce was set in stone, they would attempt to reduce the losses brought about by it.“Mom, you don’t want me to let her take anything else? That’s not possible. She’ll only leave with nothing if she herself doesn’t want anything. After we married, she didn’t work, but my income will be considered both our shared assets. The moment she initiates the divorce proceedings, I’ll have to give her half.“Although I’ve been paying for the house and the
“Tell her that you won’t go halves on everything anymore and give her a little more allowance in the future, so don’t get divorced. You and Jessica should do your best not to let her see you two together.”“Mom, I want to divorce her!”Hank was insistent. “Jessica has never been married before and she’s dating me. I have to take responsibility for her. I don’t want Jessica to suffer any more grievances.”Olivia said unkindly, “Wasn’t Liberty a beautiful maiden too before she married you? I don’t see you taking responsibility for her to the end. And now you’re making her suffer for another woman?”“Mom, whose side are you on?”Olivia pursed her lips.Jessica was very good at buttering them up and making them like her, but Olivia felt that when it came down to it, Liberty was better at facing life than Jessica was. Liberty had gone through hardships and had tenacity. Jessica, on the other hand, was the youngest in her family, was coddled by her parents and her older brother, and ha
Mr. Brown continued to say, “It’s fine even if you give a little more money to Liberty. We shouldn’t be too unrelenting and should leave a way out for ourselves. Then we’ll be able to meet amiably in the future, but Sonny must return to us!”Sonny was a Brown, after all!“Dad, I guarantee you that I’ll definitely get custody of Sonny.”“Before the two of you are divorced, I don’t believe your guarantee. It’s better if you get Sonny to come and stay with us and let your mother and I take care of him. I’ll only stop worrying then.”Hank said helplessly, “Dad, you and Mom have never taken care of Sonny. If I bring him over, and he can’t get used to it and makes a fuss, what then?Olivia rallied. “That’s exactly why we have to take him in now to nurture the bond. In the future, when you get married again, will that Yates woman be willing to take care of him? Sonny will definitely end up with your dad and I. We’re his biological grandparents, after all.”“How many kind stepmothers are
Zachary instantaneously picked up her call.“Mr. York, were you alright this morning? Can you hold up? If not, you should get the remaining day off to come back and rest after your meeting.”Hearing her concern, Zachary felt happy. He leaned back on the black swiveling chair. He said as he spun, “I only managed to hold up because I had a cup of coffee after I got back to the office. Work is almost over. I can sleep for a bit soon.”“Aren’t you going to eat?”“I’m too sleepy and I don’t have an appetite. I don’t feel like it.”“That won’t do. You’ve worked the whole morning. If you don’t eat lunch, you’ll get gastric problems. It’ll be very hard to recover fully afterward.”Zachary said softly, “I just don’t feel like eating.”“After you finish work, you should get some sleep first. I’ll send some food over to you in a bit. I’ll call you once I’ve reached your office.”He only lost his sleep because of her sister’s issue. Whether it was for their public image, or in private, Ser
Nana dragged her luggage and walked straight to the sofa. She sat down and said, “Zachary, I want to move in with you and Seren.”Zachary’s face stiffened. “Nana, you promised me—”“I’m not stirring trouble, so what are you so nervous for? What are you worried about?” Nana rebutted. Following that, she said stubbornly, “I’ve already been chased out of home by your dad and uncles. I have nowhere else to go, so I wanted to seek refuge with my grandson. Is that not okay? Are you going to learn from your dad and uncles and chase me out too?”Nana sighed. “When you get old, you get hated. Wherever I go, I get chased away. What’s the point of raising sons? What’s the point of raising grandsons too? It’s better to raise a sweet granddaughter.”Zachary’s expression was dark. “Nana, my dad and uncles would never chase you away.”Even if she wanted to move in with him, she should not tag his dad and uncles with a giant label of being unfilial.Nana smiled cheerily. “I can’t say it was my
“Who was the one who said ‘I don’t get jealous, it’s unbecoming!’ and ‘I don’t chase after women!’? Zack, do you know who said that?”Zachary’s face did not twitch from its glum expression. His lips were pursed tightly as he kept quiet.Nana laughed until she was content, and only then changed the subject. “Isn’t Elisa Stone waiting for you there?”“She won’t come and disturb me anymore.”Elisa had not come to the office to lie in wait for him for the past two days.She had once told Serenity that as long as Zachary already had a girlfriend or was married, she would definitely stop bothering him.That made Zachary’s impression of her increase in favorability by two points.The unruly young lady was indeed much better than many others just by not trying to break apart a marriage in the pursuit of true love.“Has she found out about you and Serenity?”“Nope. I just showed my left hand off, and she backed off.”Nana harrumphed. “What do you think your left hand is? If she backed
Callum was silent for a moment before he said, “I wanted you to get familiar with the route to my office, which is why I asked you to deliver the flowers yourself.”“Did you ever think about how difficult it was for me as a blind person? It was so hard for me to walk all the way to deliver those flowers,” Camryn retorted.Callum pulled her into an embrace and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Camryn. It was my fault for not thinking it through, which put you through a lot.”Camryn pushed him away, “We have customers constantly coming in. Don’t just hug me out of nowhere. You’re as thick-skinned as a rhinoceros, but I’m not. At that time, I was angry and silently cursed you a hundred thousand times, but your insistence actually did help me learn the way to your office and now, I can find my way there even with my eyes closed.”At that moment, Trenton returned. After Carrie left, he felt a bit down and stayed outside for a while to compose himself before coming back in. He did not wan
Just then, a customer came in wanting to buy a bouquet. Camryn first brought over some sample pictures for the customer to choose from. “No need to choose, just help me arrange a bouquet of roses. I’m going to confess my feelings,” said the young boy, a hint of shyness on his face as he spoke.Camryn smiled gently. “Alright, please wait a moment while I prepare it for you.”Callum assisted by inviting the young boy to sit down and poured him a glass of water.The boy glanced between Camryn and Callum and quietly asked, “Are you and the boss married or dating?”“We’re married. She’s my wife.”The boy expressed his envy. “You both seem very happy.”“Yeah, we are very happy. I love my wife very much, and she loves me too.”Thinking about the girl he was pursuing, the boy’s face lit up with anticipation. “I also have someone I like, and I’m going to confess to her, though I just don’t know if she feels the same. I’m a bit nervous.”Callum, drawing from his own experience, advised
“She hasn’t paid. Stop her.” Camryn was not going to let her get away with it. With a command, her two bodyguards stopped Carrie.Carrie said furiously, “Camryn, I only took a few flowers from you! You have so many flowers here. What's the big deal if I take a few? You still want me to pay? I’m your sister! Don’t you know that blood is thicker than water?!”“Blood might be thicker than water, but business is business. Anyone who buys flowers from me has to pay, including you. Besides, you’ve never treated me like an older sister. You always bring up how we’re sisters when you want to take advantage of me, but that won’t work here. My roses are freshly transported, and since you’re my sister, I’ll let you have them for twenty bucks each. You took about five stems, so just give me a hundred. I won’t rip you off.”Carrie’s expression changed in an instant. “Camryn, why don’t you just rob a bank? You’re charging twenty bucks each? You’re just a thief! Here! I don’t want them! I’d rather
“If Mom said she would create an opportunity for you to get with the king, would you really believe her? It’s just talk—nothing actually happened.” Trenton could not resist poking Carrie’s forehead a few times. “Carrie, can you please come back to earth? In your current state, forget about finding a great guy like Callum—even a regular, decent guy would be turned off by you.”Carrie swatted away her brother’s fingers, irritated and embarrassed. “Am I really that bad? I’m young, beautiful, have a great figure, and a dignified heiress. If the monarchy still existed, I could marry the king and be his queen without a problem.”“Carrie, you have sky-high ambitions, but be careful, don’t fly too close to the sun and end up like Icarus.”As soon as he said that, Trenton was met with a smack from his sister.“Is there a brother who curses his own sister like that? What do you mean by that? I’m destined to have the princess life. I’ll be fine.”However, deep down, she was still worried bec
Camryn was right—he was just too soft-hearted. If he were as ruthless as her, Carrie would have found a job long ago after running out of money.To encourage Carrie to become independent, Trenton decided that after Christmas, he would stop giving her living expenses. He would also tell their parents during his visit to prison that Carrie was truly hopeless.“Trenton, you keep siding with her, and one day you'll regret it. She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing who has deceived who knows how many people. Do you really think she cares about you? She just wants to win your complete trust to take everything that belongs to you for herself. By driving us out of our home, she’s not only seeking revenge on Mom and Dad but also on us—especially you. She’s just pretending to be nice to you to sow discord between us siblings.”“Carrie!” Trenton said seriously, “Don’t talk about Camryn like that. She’s not that kind of person. I believe in her, one hundred percent.”Carrie was so furious she wanted
“Alright, alright, I can't win with the two of you against one,” Carrie sulked. “Give me money to spend. I'm out of money.”She reached out her hand toward Camryn, wanting her to give her money. Camryn slapped her hand away. “Even Trenton knows to take advantage of the winter break to find a part-time job and earn some pocket money. You’re perfectly capable, yet you don’t look for a job.“To put it bluntly, if you’ve gone to sweep the streets, you'd still have a source of income. I have money, but I won’t give it to you. Don’t think that just because we’re sisters—estranged, too, at that—I have an obligation to support my adult sister. I’ve said it before: if you want money to spend, earn it yourself.” With that, Camryn walked away to tend to her plants.As Christmas approached, the flower market was bustling. Every day, many people came to buy flowers, and all her employees were out delivering flowers to clients. Sometimes, when it got too busy, she even had to ask her two bodyguar
Trenton was relieved that Dalton was indebted to Camryn. That was why Dalton had been loyal to Newman Enterprise.If Newman Enterprise did not fall into Camryn’s hands, there was no doubt that Dalton would leave the company. If that happened, the company was doomed.When his parents went to prison, he was merely 18, and Carrie only knew how to spend money. Not only that, their relatives were hungry to get a share of the Newman family’s assets. He and Carrie could not have protected their family’s wealth alone.After Camryn regained her sight, she still could not strain her eyes for long hours. Therefore, Dalton remained in charge of the company.Luckily, they had Callum as well. Even if anything were to happen, Callum would not leave Newman Enterprise to fall because many of the Newman family’s assets belonged to Camryn.He would not let Camryn lose anything.“You’ve been brainwashed by Dalton after working with him. Our dad treated him well and trusted him, yet Dalton betrayed
Camryn said, “She’s just using her lack of money as an excuse to start a fight with me.“Do you really think she has no money?”Carrie had somehow become Mrs. Longbottom yet she was still hiding her identity. Camryn had not understood the entire situation yet.Nevertheless, she was certain that Carrie did not need money.After she spoke, a familiar car arrived.It was the car Carrie had always used in the past.When she returned to the Newman family’s villa after getting out of prison, she only drove that car. She could not take other cars. The cars were still parked in the garage. “Come out, Camryn.”Carrie had gotten out of the car and started shouting for Camryn.When the York family’s bodyguards saw her, they simply glanced at her and did not stop her from entering the store. They knew Camryn had always been lenient with her younger sister.Since Camryn did not give any orders to stop Carrie from entering, the bodyguards simply kept an eye on Carrie to ensure that sh
“I want to go to Spring Blossoms as Carrie,” she told the bodyguard who was driving. “Your sister’s people are keeping an eye on your apartment. She’ll get suspicious again if you head over in your outfit. Everything Mr. Longbottom arranged will go to waste,” the bodyguard reminded her.Carrie thought it over. “Okay. Let’s head home first. I’ll change my clothes and remove my makeup before heading over.”She would also check if her stand-in had damaged any of her stuff.If she did, Carrie would tell the stand-in to compensate her.The bodyguard remained silent.Once they arrived at Longbottom Villa, Carrie took off her hyper-realistic mask and removed her makeup. After changing her clothes, she returned to being Carrie and went out with her bag.Her two bodyguards did not stop her from leaving.She could do anything as long as it would not rouse Camryn and other people’s suspicions.Besides, Carrie had just gotten scolded by their boss on the phone. Although Mr. Longbottom