“I have no appetite.”“You haven’t eaten or drank anything all day. Do you know how worried I am about you? Your children are worried too. Even Anthony came back after hearing that you were feeling down.”They had three children. Their eldest was mature and steady, their second-born was never at home, and their youngest was the apple of their eye, who used to hover around Zachary all day in the past and only revert to her normal self a few days ago.“Think of it as me going on a diet.”Audrey then lay down on the bed. “I’m going to sleep.”Darrell was helpless when it came to Audrey.She did not want to eat, and he could not coax her into it.Her temper had always been very stubborn, and their daughter took after her.She loved Zachary for many years and refused to give up no matter how many people persuaded her to. She only turned around after hitting a dead end.The night passed without a word.The next day, it was drizzling again, turning the already cool morning into a ch
Zachary took the breakfast that Jim packed and placed them on the dining table. He had second thoughts and entered the kitchen again.He was brewing hot cocoa for Serenity.“I thought you made the breakfast yourself, but it turned out to be takeouts.”A teasing voice came through and Zachary did not even need to look back to know that it was his nana, neither did he say anything.“What are you making? It smells sweet and chocolatey.”Grandma May walked into the kitchen, uncovered the saucepan, and took a look.“I thought there was some progress.”The old woman muttered and glanced at her grandson in disdain before turning to leave.Zachary’s handsome face tensed. He could not help but defend himself, “I tried very hard.”There was originally a chance last night, but God played a trick on him.“The heart. You have to go after the heart first. Didn’t you see that all of Serenity’s ten fingers are still empty?”Zachary was speechless.He tried very hard to go after her heart.
The eldest son of the York family had never suffered from such a painful pinch in his life.It hurt!“Is Nana up?” Serenity asked as she turned over to get out of bed.She wanted to slip back into her room before Grandma May woke up.“She’s up.”“So early?”Serenity, who was ready to run, stopped in her tracks. “Nana will see me if I go out like this.”“We’re husband and wife.”Zachary did not like her sneaking around.Serenity grinned. “You’re right, we’re husband and wife. There’s nothing to hide. Nana will only be happy if she sees us like this. She knows that we’ve been sleeping in separate rooms since we got married and has always urged me to do all sorts of things to you.”Zachary looked at her without a word.He was also feeling utterly helpless with his nana.Of course, he was mostly grateful now. If not for her nagging, he would not have married Serenity.“I’m going back to my room to change. What do you want to eat today? I’ll cook for you.”“I went and got take
“I made you hot cocoa. I’ll put it in the insulation cup for you since you don’t have time to enjoy it now. Take it with you to your shop.” Serenity looked at Zachary in surprise. To think Zachary would make her hot cocoa. Zachary cleaned the insulation cup before pouring the hot cocoa into it. He then put the lid on and packed the insulation cup in a bag before handing it to Serenity. “Don’t forget to drink it.” Serenity took the bag and looked deeply into his eyes. She said, “See you.” She then took off. Standing there, Zachary watched her head out the door. Grandma May told him off, “Can’t you walk with her?” “She knows where the exit is.” Grandma May was speechless. She was about to praise his progress when reality gave her another slap in the face. This punk… left her with no words. “Nana, by the way Serenity was looking at me just now, I think she would’ve kissed me if you weren’t around.” She was stumped for words. With Zachary regrettably returning
Shawn uttered in agony. “Seren, I know you’re married, but it’s just a marriage of convenience. You’ll divorce. I like you, Serenity, and I’ve fallen for you a long time ago.“I know you can’t accept me now. I tried to keep my distance from you, but I couldn’t do it. All I can think about is you the first chance I get. Serenity, I want you to know that I love you.” Presenting Serenity with the bouquet once more, he looked her straight in the eye. “Serenity, would you give me a chance to go after you?” Jasmine had a talk with him and warned him against it. However, Shawn could not simply drop his feelings and give up. He really loved Serenity. Shawn regretted not confessing his feelings to Serenity the moment he fell in love with her. Serenity might wait until he was older rather than marry a stranger if he had come clean about his feelings. Serenity reached out and snatched the flowers before walking past Shawn to throw the bouquet into the bin at the door. Turning her
“Shawn, I’m someone else’s wife now. My husband and I have gotten a marriage license. Although we married right away, we’re developing feelings for each other. I won’t betray my husband. “If you’re hell-bent on getting in between my husband and I, starting troubles and rumors, you’re depleting what’s left of our relationship. I’ll be forced to hate you and see you as an enemy.” With paleness overtaking Shawn’s complexion, Serenity sighed, wondering when she ever sent out the wrong message. As she would put it, she would rather die than be nice to Shawn had she known it would give Shawn the wrong idea. Serenity was long-time friends with Jasmine, so she knew Shawn through Jasmine. As she was older than Shawn, Serenity had always played the part of an older sister to him. It never crossed her mind that… “Shawn.” Relaxing her tensed facial muscles, Serenity said, “You’re a nice and cheerful boy, Shawn, but you and I don’t go together. Stay away from me. I can promise to keep
It was because Serenity and Zachary got into the marriage without any feelings for each other in the beginning. It took a lot of care for them to come this far. Serenity drove away. Shawn wanted to take his car and gain up on her, but seeing that no one was watching Serenity’s shop, he gave up the chase and stayed to watch over the shop. Serenity ran into Elisa at the corner turning into the school. Their cars nearly collided right before both parties jammed on the brakes. Elisa rolled down her window to give the other party a piece of her mind when she realized that it was Serenity’s car. She shouted, “Where are you going, Serenity?” Serenity was surprised to see that it was Elisa. Noticing the beautiful middle-aged woman sitting on the passenger’s seat next to Elisa, Serenity guessed it must be Mrs. Stone. She nodded at the mother and daughter and said, “I have an urgent matter to attend to, Elisa.“Jas is in the hospital for a cold and fever. No one’s looking after the
To everybody’s surprise, Zachary grimacingly ignored Josh and stormed past him. The only thing Josh heard was Zachary callously telling Mr. Chaplin, “Notify all senior-level executives for a meeting now.” Josh wondered if the earth was about to shake. “Duly noted.” Mr. Chaplin was ahead of Josh in responding as Josh was taken aback by his best friend’s sour face. Zachary made a beeline to his office, only to stomp back out in less than two minutes to head to the meeting room. Josh went with him this time. There was no one in the meeting room. No meeting was scheduled today, to begin with. Yet, Zachary told Mr. Chaplin to notify higher management to attend a last-minute meeting. The man was on a warpath! Zachary entered the meeting room and took a seat at his place while waiting for the arrival of his executives with a stoic face. Josh paused before making his way to Zachary. He pulled a chair out and sat next to Zachary. “What’s going on with you, Zachary? Who g
Adrian and his brothers finally heard footsteps. They instinctively turned their heads, only to see a group of people, who were already very close, approaching.“Police! Hands up, don’t move!”Upon realizing they had been spotted, the officer leading the charge immediately shouted, drawing his gun and pointing it at Adrian and the others.The police had learned from the Dott brothers that the kidnappers were armed.The officers following Darren were from an armed unit and carried guns.Jason’s mind went blank. He could not form a single coherent thought.How had the police caught up?They had scouted the location beforehand, ensuring it was remote and quiet. It was somewhere no one would come even during the day, let alone at night.Adrian reacted the fastest. He immediately bent down to pick up the kitchen knife, intending to kill Caroline.All he could think then was that even if he died, he wanted to take Caroline with him. As long as Caroline died, he would consider it wor
Justin, seeing his eldest brother approach with the kitchen knife, hesitated and asked, “Adrian, are we really going to do this?”“What, are you having second thoughts at this stage, like Jason? Justin, we didn’t even cover our faces. She knows it’s us. If we let her go now, we’re the ones who will die.“Think about it. How much have we suffered ever since she came back? How much have we lost? Even Mom’s dead now.”When their mother was alive, the three brothers lived carefree and comfortable lives. Now that she was gone, they were nothing.Hearing this, Justin quickly said, “Adrian, I’m not having second thoughts. It’s just… We don’t have to use the knife. We can just throw her into the sea. With her hands and feet tied, she won’t be able to escape.“The deep sea is full of fish. She’ll be eaten by a big fish soon, which will leave no trace. That’s better than us using the knife.”The main reason was that none of them had killed anyone before. Although they had done other bad th
Her indifference, as if she did not care whether they killed her or not, infuriated her three brothers.Adrian stood up, turned around, and walked to the back of the car. He opened the trunk.Inside the trunk were two sharpened kitchen knives.“Adrian.” Jason walked over, his voice trembling slightly. It was his first time committing murder, and killing his own sister at that. Jason was a bit scared.“Adrian, are we really going to… chop her up?”Adrian picked up one of the kitchen knives and glared at Jason. “What? Are you having second thoughts? Or are you scared?”“Well… It’s my first time killing someone. I am a bit scared. Carol is our sister, after all. I... I can’t bring myself to do it.”Adrian snorted coldly. “You think of her as a sister, but she doesn’t see us as brothers. Look at what she’s done—every single thing has been a stab in the back for us.“When it comes to using a knife, once you make the first cut, the second one won’t be so hard.”Adrian handed the kit
There were still traces of blood at the corners of her mouth and under her nose.Justin and Jason worked together to pull Caroline out, and Adrian immediately tied her legs together before binding her hands behind her back.“Are you going to feed me to the fish, Adrian?”Hearing the sound of the waves and feeling the cold sea breeze, Caroline shivered.She did not stand up and remained lying on the ground.Adrian kicked her several times, venting his pent-up anger.Caroline silently endured it.After kicking her a few times, Adrian squatted, gripping Caroline's chin forcefully with one hand, and said coldly, “Caroline, there’s nothing more to say between us.“Don’t blame us for being heartless. You’re the one who pushed us to this point.“You only have yourself to blame.“Where are the passwords and keys to Mom's private assets? Tell us, and we’ll make it quick for you, so you won’t suffer too much.“If you don’t, we have plenty of time to slowly cut you piece by piece and m
“We can’t just keep giving them money, now can we?”Adrian replied, “That’s not a priority for now. We can burn that bridge when we come to it. If they do dare blackmail us, we’ll just send them on to meet their maker.“The only thing is they both have families. If we kill them, we have to kill their families too. That way, there’ll be no one who’ll report it to the police.“And it’s best to make it seem like an accident too, or else it’ll seem suspicious.”Justin and Jason both felt Adrian was right. If they were going to kill the Dott brothers, they might as well kill their families too.Caroline internally cursed how merciless they were. The Dott brothers thought they could earn some money from Adrian to live a better life but little did they know, it would bring destruction upon themselves and their families.What the Clark brothers did not know was that the Dotts were forced to say what they did earlier.It was not that they had not left yet. Rather, they could not, because
Belinda had done everything other mothers would have. She loved them, yet the three of them had gotten a smaller portion of her wealth than their own children did. Indeed, Belinda left her grandchildren with more money.After all, her grandchildren still had a long life ahead of them.Therefore, she distributed more wealth to them. The Clark brothers loved spending lavishly and kept losing money whenever they tried to establish businesses. They also had many mistresses and never hesitated to spend money on them. Belinda was partial toward her sons about their affairs and also persuaded her daughters-in-law not to get a divorce. In truth, she resented her three sons for being promiscuous and inheriting their father’s flirtatious traits. While Hunter may have been interested in other girls, he dared not cheat on Belinda because she was strict. However, he still had an affair the moment he spotted an opportunity.Later, Belinda chased the Clark brothers’ mistresses out of
Celine, whom they had cared for all long, was not their biological sister but the daughter of the previous butler. Celine’s father was ambitious. He tried making his daughter the Fisher family’s successor. Justin was speechless.“Free me, Jason. I’m already in your hands. Are you still scared that I’ll escape? Let me out. It’s too stuffy in the sack. I feel terrible.”Caroline made a request. Jason seemed to be the one with some lingering feelings for his sibling. Well, that was not really the case.If he truly had even a sliver of sibling love for Caroline, he would have stopped Adrian and Justin from kidnapping her instead of joining the plan. If Caroline had been fortunate, she could have had five brothers doting on her. Sadly, she was unlucky. None of the five brothers had cared for her. They all wanted her dead. Was she a failure as a person, or were they too cruel?Jason said, “Just stay put, Caroline. We’ll let you out when we arrive.”They could not release Car
Caroline could not beat them. Then, her mouth was gagged with a cloth, and her head was covered with a sack. Someone forced her into a car. She heard Adrian saying to his brothers, “Let’s go.“Tell Celine’s brothers to follow us. Assign a few people to clean up and leave quickly.”After that, Caroline heard the sound of an engine starting. The car moved. She could not see what was happening. While she was shoved into the backseat, her arms and legs were unbound. She removed the cloth from her mouth but not the sack from her head.Someone held the sack tightly and started hitting and kicking her. “Tie the sack, Justin,” said Jason in a hurry. The person beating her up was Justin. “I know it’s you guys, Justin and Jason. What are you doing? Let me go. Mmph…”Caroline grunted in pain. She suffered a punch from Justin. She held her head tightly to prevent any injury to it. Many blows landed on her body. “It’s fine even if you know it’s us, Caroline. You better stay
“Ms. Caroline.”The bodyguards looked toward Caroline. Caroline opened her eyes and said calmly, “Stop the car, but don’t get out. Only get out when the situation gets out of hand. Remember to protect yourselves.”“Ms. Caroline…”“I’ll keep myself safe. Don’t worry. I treasure my life. There’s still a long life ahead of me. I haven’t even started enjoying good days. I won’t want to die.”Caroline chuckled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. There was sorrow in those eyes. In the end, she and her brothers could not coexist. It made her realize how bad her luck was with families. She was switched at birth and mistreated by her adoptive family. She thought her biological parents would treat her well after returning to them, but it turned out to be the opposite. Caroline had many family members, yet somehow, she was still alone. The people who truly cared about her were Darren, Liberty, and some others. Caroline’s bodyguards knew she had been waiting for that moment.