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
“But as time passed, we treated you decently, no? Yet, you’ve never had any regard for us, your brothers, and not even for Dad.“You’ve been back with us for several years now. Even if we weren’t particularly close to you, we weren’t exactly terrible either, but you’ve always shut us out, never treating us as family. It’s you who couldn’t integrate into this family, not us who rejected you.”Every time Adrian saw Caroline, he had a lot to say. He always complained that Caroline was not close to them and that she was not on their side.Caroline wore a neutral expression. “Adrian, you might be much older than me, but you’re only middle-aged. Has your memory already started failing? Do I need to remind you of all the things you’ve done behind my back?“It’s not that I didn’t want to integrate into this family, it’s you who’ve always excluded me. You never treated me as your sister. “In your hearts, Celine was your sister, while I was just an intruder who shouldn’t have come back, wh
Adrian’s housekeeper was long bribed by Darren. Whenever he needed them, they would do his bidding. The video and audio recordings were sent by the housekeeper to Darren, who then forwarded them to Caroline.After reviewing the evidence, Caroline no longer felt like resting. She got out of bed, went into the bathroom, and quickly freshened up. When she came out, she grabbed her phone and left the lounge.She first brewed herself a cup of coffee, then carried the steaming cup to her desk and sat down, leisurely sipping it.Then, a knock sounded at the door.“Come in,” Caroline said.The door opened, and in walked Adrian.Seeing him enter, Caroline’s beautiful eyes flickered slightly, but her expression remained calm. She continued sipping her coffee as she watched her eldest brother approach.“Carol,” Adrian said with a forced smile, his tone somewhat affectionate.Caroline stopped drinking her coffee. She casually placed the cup on the table, straightened up, and said, “Adrian,
“You’re new here, so you wouldn’t know. I’ve been working here longer, and since the eldest son lives here, I’ve been able to hear the latest news about the Fisher family.”After all, family matters like these were not usually spread all over the city. Only major events that caught the media’s attention would get leaked. Adrian had no idea about the two security guards’ conversation. He believed he had executed his plan perfectly and was now just waiting for the final step to be carried out tonight in eliminating Caroline to avenge Celine and his mother, as well as reclaiming all of his mother’s private assets.He could not let Caroline take everything for herself.Adrian blamed Caroline for the deaths of Celine and Belinda, convinced that Caroline was responsible for their demise. However, in reality, even without Caroline, Audrey would have returned to seek justice for her mother, and the Fisher family would still have ended up in the same situation. Belinda’s descendants woul
“If you ever encounter any difficulties in the future, come to us. If we can help, we will. If we can’t, then there’s nothing we can do,” Adrian said.The Dott brothers pretended to decline the money, but after some back-and-forth, they eventually accepted, repeatedly expressing their gratitude.“I’ll call a car to take you back,” Adrian said, pulling out his phone to arrange transportation for them.Of course, they were not actually leaving Jensburg. They planned to start their operation tonight, aiming to deal with Caroline quickly to avoid any complications.“Thank you, Mr. Clark. You've already done so much for us,” the Dott brothers said, continuing to play their roles. They had come this far in their act and did not mind keeping up the charade a little longer.Soon, a black car really did arrive and stopped nearby. The driver stepped out and approached, respectfully greeting the three Clark brothers.“Take these two gentlemen home. They are Ms. Celine’s biological brothers,
Justin returned to the dining room and packed up all the leftover dishes they had not finished, along with the opened but unfinished bottle of wine. He stuffed everything into several bags and carried them out. Handing the leftovers to Jacob, he said, “If we’re going to keep up appearances, we need to make it look like we’re really giving you our charity, so take these leftovers back with you. You can heat them up for dinner tonight, otherwise, just toss them in the trash after you leave, but don’t throw away the wine—only you two had it. We haven’t touched it.“This wine is really good stuff, too. Where you’re from, even if you had the money, you wouldn’t be able to buy such fine wine. And if you did find any, it’d probably be fake.”Jacob took the leftovers and the unfinished bottle of wine from Justin. The wine was indeed excellent. In fact, he would have asked for it himself even if Justin had not offered it. In all his life, he had never tasted such good wine.“Once you’re re
Adrian beckoned Celine’s brothers closer in a low voice. The two had had some alcohol, and it was going to their heads. Their faces reddened in excitement and they hurried over.Adrian handed the suitcase to Jacob by the handle. He watched as Jacob laid it on the ground and opened it, exposing the thick wads of cash within.The Dott brothers' hands were trembling from excitement, for they had never seen so much cash before. At the thought that the bagful of cash was theirs now, wide smiles broke out across their faces. They each took a bundle and kissed it a couple of times.“I love this the most,” Jacob exclaimed excitedly. “The more, the better, and the more, the merrier.”“Me, too. Jacob, we’ll take ten bundles each. Let’s just keep the cash in this bag for now and when we get home, we’ll secretly divide it. For now, let’s not tell Mom, your wife, or any others.”The more people knew, the more talk there would be, so it was better for as few people as possible to know.Actuall
Ever since Belinda passed away, they were worried their cruel sister would cancel their bank cards. Therefore, they withdrew all the remaining money from the accounts from which they received their monthly allowance. Adrian rarely used the money on that particular card of his because it was a meager sum to him. Tens to hundreds of thousands a month was not even enough to buy a high-quality watch. In the past, he would only transfer the money from that card to another account every one or two years. Otherwise, he would withdraw the money and use it to flirt with women; cash could always draw many gorgeous women to him. Not many people could resist someone who could take out bundles of cash. Adrian recalled that he had withdrawn a few million dollars. He kept it all in a safe. When their mother was still alive, they spent money extravagantly. When they switched cars, they would get cars that cost millions and pay for them in full. They also made full payment when buying houses.
Jacob said, “Add one more million to it and make it six. My brother and I will get three million each. We won't do the job if you offer anything less than this.“After all, we’re the ones solving a problem for you guys. The benefits you’ll obtain from this are more than ten times the amount you’re offering us.“Besides, you three are adamant about killing Caroline, not us. We might even go to prison for this.“If we get three million each, we can consider helping you out.”Michael added, “That’s right. We may be poor, but our lives aren’t worth any less. There’s no such thing as wanting us to sacrifice our lives for you without giving us money.”Adrian went to take a fine bottle of wine and poured a glass each for Jacob and Michael. Meanwhile, he took a sip of his juice and told them, “We won’t be drinking alcohol since we have to drive and go to work. This is a precious wine I’ve been keeping. It’s sold for a high price outside.“Help yourselves to it. If you think it’s good,
It could not satisfy their appetites. After all, the Clark brothers were asking them to commit a crime. If they were caught, they had to pay the price and go to jail for several years. Losing their freedom for a few years in exchange for a million dollars was not worth it at all. “Mr. Adrian, we do hate Caroline, but she won’t do anything to us if we remain in the countryside away from Jensburg and avoid offending her.“We can still live a peaceful life. Although we’ll face financial difficulties, we can still afford basic necessities and be free.“You guys are the ones in a rush to eliminate Caroline. Her existence affects your benefits the most. Of course, you can choose to accept reality by resigning from Fisher Enterprise, selling your assets, and leaving Jensburg.“If you flee to the countryside like us, you can enjoy a comfortable life away from Caroline’s control. You won’t have to reward us for doing your bidding and can save that money.”Jacob could accept not gett