Sighing inwardly, Zachary lay down next to Serenity. Even if he were to take her, it should not be in such circumstances. Serenity had to be at least willing and conscious. Otherwise, everything would be a blur to her, and she would not know who she got in bed with. Serenity slept like a log despite the change of environment, but Zachary was a different story. He had never shared a bed with anyone before, let alone a gorgeous and hot young woman. This woman happened to be his legal wife too. He was a fish out of water. Amid deep slumber, Serenity even curled up against him like he was a heater. Feeling frustrated, Zachary reached out to unbutton her pajamas, but he gave up after the first button. He looked at the sleeping beauty before leaning over for a kiss on her lips. In the end, he defeatedly let her snuggle up against him while meditating in his mind, ‘I am in control of my body. I can do without!’ Once he got the green light from her, Zachary was not going to h
Rain poured the whole night and only stopped at first blush. Serenity woke up at her usual time. Opening her eyes, she had a full front view of Zachary’s handsome face. Serenity was caught in a daze until last night’s events entered her mind. She sat up and tried to tiptoe her way out of there. After much thought, she looked back and stared at Zachary before nudging him. Zachary was lost in dreamland, but it made sense since he survived yesterday by drinking coffee. He took off work today anyway, so he should sleep in. Although Serenity did not want to disturb Zachary, what she was doing was harassment. With his aesthetically pleasing face right in front of her, Serenity could not help but steal a few kisses. She murmured to herself, “You have a better-looking face than mine. I would’ve gotten it on with you if you didn’t always have a long poker face. I’ve got to toughen myself before I can canoodle with you.” It took a few smooches before Serenity remembered the matter at
By the time Zachary woke up, Serenity was gone. Looking rather upset, he mumbled to himself, “You slipped away and didn’t even wait for me to wake up after sleeping with me.” Serenity would be telling Zachary to watch his mouth if she was here. Sure, she slept with him but only in the same bed minus the hanky-panky. Zachary would be rendered speechless. He walked out of his room to find the three ladies missing. Only the pets were around. Needless to say, the women must be getting groceries at the market. Zachary sat down on the swing on the balcony. He relived the beautiful moment of sharing a bed with his wife. In short, Zachary was not used to it, but he did look forward to doing it again. It did not take long before Serenity and the other ladies returned. Apart from groceries, Serenity also bought bed linens. Since the furniture shops were not open this early, she had not gotten a bed frame picked out. She was going to head back out later to get a new bed to set u
Serenity was startled. There were too many cases of one party moving their wealth elsewhere during a divorce. In light of the Browns’ character, Hank was likely to transfer his assets away. “Nana, I’ll tell my sister about it.” Grandma May replied, “Good. Let Zack know if you need help. He’ll get someone to investigate it.” “I won’t hesitate to look for Zachary when the time comes, Nana.” The old lady was pleased with Serenity’s readiness to seek help from Zachary. Zachary had smiling eyes, but he put on a straight face when Grandma May looked at him. Grandma May criticized him in her mind, ‘Go on. Go on with your act! We’ll see how long you can keep up with it.’After breakfast, the group went to Bright Boulevard. Liberty was already waiting with her son at the neighborhood gate. Sonny had adapted to the new routine after going with his aunt in the past few days. He did not kick up a fuss today. “Nana.” Seeing that Grandma May was around too, Liberty said hello to
Liberty did not say much to her sister. After handing her son to Serenity, she waved to her brother-in-law and the old lady before quickly riding away.She arrived at the office fifteen minutes before working hours started.In the beginning, it took her twenty minutes to run five laps. Now that she had gotten used to running, her speed increased slightly.She could still make it.After parking the bike, she locked it and started running.Liberty ran five laps around the small garden in front of the office building before going to work every day. Everyone in Lewis & Co. knew about it. At first, they watched Liberty like they were watching a show.Not two days later, some people joined the run. Sitting in the office every day with minimal exercise made it easy for them to get out of shape, too.Liberty spent fourteen minutes running five laps, and the last minute was spent sprinting to clock in.She went out late today, so she got a little stuck. Fortunately, she was not late.“
Duncan’s words made Liberty’s face burn red.Her being out of shape was a result of being a glutton and neglecting exercise."I will, Mr. Lewis. I promise I'll get into shape during the probation period."In fact, Liberty planned to run not only in the morning but also at night. She firmly believed that she could shed the excess weight, regain muscle mass and be healthy again."Good. Your probation period is now reduced to one month. Good luck."Duncan offered a few encouraging words before leaving Liberty and heading towards his private elevator. In the blink of an eye, his robust figure vanished inside the elevator.When Liberty could not see him anymore, she finally looked away and turned her head to find that her boss was glaring at her with displeasure.She pursed her lips and silently returned to the finance department office.Liberty used to be a CFO. Although she was now a small clerk in the finance department, everyone tacitly agreed that there was something going on b
On the way to Westyard Resort, Serenity called Jasmine. “Jas, I’m going out with Nana for a walk today and can’t go back to the store. I’ll leave the store to you.”Jasmine laughed. “No problem. You can stay with Grandma May and take a break. I’ll take care of the store. Everything will be fine.”It was the weekend tomorrow anyway.The store was usually closed during weekends. If they did open, it would only be Serenity inside, rushing her orders.After ending the call, Jasmine muttered to herself, “Seren’s life after marriage is getting more and more exciting.”“Jas.”The familiar voice made Jasmine’s pretty face turn cloudy.She looked at Shawn as he walked in, and said to him unpleasantly, “Shawn, are you ignoring what I said to you last time? Don’t come here again. There’s no chance between Seren and you!”It had just been a few days, but Shawn looked haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his stubble grew out. At that moment, he did not look like a young man
The Lowe family was the in-laws to Jasmine’s aunt, and she grew up witnessing how hard it was for her aunt to live in that family. The Lowe family became tycoons by demolishing buildings and relocating their inhabitants. They had many houses and shops for rent and possessed assets worth nearly a hundred million.Her aunt had it hard even after marrying into a wealthy family, let alone Serenity.Jasmine was not trying to belittle Serenity. She was just telling the truth.“Serenity—”“Serenity went on a date with her husband.”Shawn’s face instantly turned pale.He quickly searched for Serenity in the store, and Jasmine let him search every corner of the shop.He only believed his cousin’s words when he could not find Serenity. She really was not in the store.He left, dispirited.Jasmine sighed.She hoped that Shawn would get over it sooner and not do something extreme and stupid because of love.As someone caught in the middle, she was in a dilemma.She was heartbroken for
“I’m used to him being by my side. Now that he’s hidden, it just feels weird.”Caroline added, “Even if I want to kiss him, I can only do it in my dreams.”Liberty was speechless. Seeing Liberty being at a loss for words, Caroline smiled. “Did I renew your impression of me?”“Yes. I didn’t know you were this kind of person.”Caroline giggled. “Darren’s too serious and respectful. If I don’t take the lead, we might sleep on opposite ends of the bed after getting married. He probably won’t even dare to turn in bed.”Liberty thought of Darren’s face, which constantly had a stern expression. He only looked normal around Caroline. He indeed treated her respectfully and never dared to offend her. Liberty said, “You’re still his master. It’s only natural that he’s acting that way.“When you two become husband and wife, he’ll change. However, you won’t have to doubt his love and loyalty for you.”The next thing Liberty knew, Caroline asked her private questions regarding married lif
Caroline moved first, exiting the elevator.Adrian blocked her path, refusing to give way.Caroline did not want to argue with her brothers, so she simply sidestepped and continued toward the CEO’s office. The Clark brothers watched her leave.“Let’s go, Adrian.” Justin entered the elevator first.Adrian withdrew his gaze and led Jason into the elevator.“I heard Darren’s out on a business trip and has been sent to another province to handle some matters, so he won’t be back for at least ten days to half a month,” Jason shared in a low voice. “And for the past few days, Caroline’s only been accompanied by those few bodyguards of hers. There really hasn’t been any sign of Darren with her. I’ve asked someone to look into it and verified Darren left Jensburg by flight a few days ago. What do you think, Adrian?”Adrian replied under his breath, “We’re at work. Don’t talk about that here. We’ll talk about it when we get home tonight.”Justin and Jason immediately shut their mouths.
“I’m in charge now, not your mother. If you can’t do the work, then don’t cling to your positions and collect a salary for doing nothing.”Liberty had no intention of tolerating their laziness any longer.The three brothers had tried investing and running their own businesses, but they mostly ended up losing money. The only stable income they had was from renting out the properties and shops they owned.That was why Hunter had advised his sons to return to Ashford, buy more properties and shops, and live off the rental income. It was much more stable than their business ventures.If the properties were hard to rent out, they could always sell them and recover some money, but with their business investments, not only did they lose money, they often ended up in debt by the time the businesses failed.It was a mystery how much of Belinda’s personal wealth had been spent helping her sons pay off their debts while she was alive.However, there were times when they made money. They wou
They had taken a few days of sick leave, but after receiving the news, they miraculously “recovered” and returned to work.However, their behavior did not improve. They continued strutting around the company, acting as if they owned the place, just as they had before.While others completed the tasks Liberty assigned on time, the three Clark brothers always dragged their feet. They only ever barely managed to finish them after repeated urging, and the results were still always far from satisfactory.“Look at the plans and reports you submitted. They’re a complete mess! What kind of work is this? You all sit in the positions of vice president, earning high salaries, and this is how you perform?“Do you think your work justifies your pay?”In the CEO’s office, Liberty sat behind her crescent-shaped desk. The three Clark brothers stood in front of her, having been summoned.Liberty slammed their work results onto the desk in front of them and her face was filled with anger as she be
Darren stopped walking.Caroline stopped as well.“What’s wrong?” Caroline looked at him. “You don’t want to follow my plan?”“I’ll do whatever you ask of me. It’s just, could we delay it for a couple of days? I’m worried…”“Darren.” Caroline’s expression turned serious. “Trust me! And trust yourself. I have the ability to protect myself, and you have the ability to protect me too. I might get hurt, but I won’t be in any life-threatening danger.”She glanced at Liberty and Duncan walking ahead, both had not noticed that the two behind had stopped. The distance between them had widened.Taking advantage of Liberty and Duncan’s oblivion, Caroline quickly cupped Darren’s face, tiptoed, and kissed his warm lips.Darren immediately tightened his arms around her, turning his passiveness into action, and deepening the kiss. The two were clearly in love, but Darren never took the initiative in intimate gestures. It was always Caroline who made the first move.In Darren’s eyes, Caroline
Among the younger generation of the Fisher family, very few could work at the headquarters of Fisher Enterprise. Most of them worked in subsidiaries, no different from ordinary workers.They worked themselves to the bone for a monthly salary of four to five thousand dollars as being part of the Fisher family did not guarantee them high-paying jobs. Those without ability and who were lazy could not even get into the subsidiaries.When Belinda was alive, she had made it clear that the Fisher family’s companies would not support idle people. Those who wanted to slack off and collect a paycheck for doing nothing were dreaming!The biggest benefit of being part of the family was that during holidays, they could receive gifts and a generous bonus from Fisher Enterprise.These holiday gifts and bonuses were distributed uniformly, regardless of age or seniority. Everyone received the same amount—a newborn baby received the same as an eighty-year-old elder.After some thought, Liberty said
Duncan said, “I’m not picky. Whatever you serve me, I’ll eat. Let’s start with a bowl of soup.”He was very cooperative. Indeed, this was how they usually interacted as a couple. He took care of Liberty, and Liberty took care of him.Liberty served him a bowl of soup and then grabbed some food for him. Duncan immediately grabbed some of her favorite dishes and placed them on her plate.Caroline and Darren sat across from them.“How long do you plan to stay this time, Mr. Lewis?” Caroline asked.Although she had said that Fisher Manor was Duncan’s home too, she knew that Duncan’s roots were in Wiltspoon. His career, friends, and family were all there, so he preferred to stay in Wiltspoon.“I’ll go back once Liberty’s work settles down,” Duncan replied.He planned to stay until Liberty had established a firm foothold in the Fisher family.Caroline smiled and looked at Liberty, saying, “Liberty, you’ve chosen the right person this time. From now on, no matter how stormy the road a
“Your company is also very busy. What about your work now that you’re here?”“I have so many managers. If they can’t handle the company affairs, then what’s the point of having them? If worse comes to worst, my three brothers are there too. They’ll help out when they have time.”“Josh and Zachary will also keep an eye on things. Don’t worry, Lewis & Co. won’t collapse just because I’m away.”For Duncan, at this moment, nothing was more important than his wife.Lewis & Co. had his three brothers overseeing things, along with the management team he had trained and promoted. He did not need to worry.After all, he was currently disabled.Whenever his brothers complained about having to manage the company for him, he would just say he was so useless now, even walking was a struggle.Then, his brothers would feel sorry for him and stop complaining, dutifully taking care of the company for him.The group entered the house.“Let’s eat first,” Caroline said.Once inside, the warmth o
The next day, Liberty only woke up at noon. She had barely managed to fall asleep around four o’clock but slept through the morning. Reaching for her phone on the bedside table, she checked the time and was surprised to see it was almost noon.Liberty quickly sat up. She changed her clothes at lightning speed, freshened up, and then hurried downstairs.The first floor was quiet and only the sound of her footsteps echoed through the house.“Caroline. Caroline?” Liberty called out twice, but there was no response.She guessed Caroline might have gone out or was in the yard. The smell of food lingered in the house, indicating that lunch had already been prepared.Liberty walked toward the front door. Just as she reached the doorway, she saw Caroline returning with Darren and a few others.Liberty’s sharp eyes immediately spotted her husband.Duncan was sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed by his bodyguard, while another bodyguard pulled a suitcase.Caroline and Darren were also c