Elisa smiled and raised her hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes. She looked away and stared into the distance for a while before turning back. She then faced Zachary with a solemn expression, “Zachary, after hearing those words from you, I think it’s all worth it. My infatuation with you over the years was not in vain.”She graciously extended her hand toward Zachary, who mirrored her action in the same manner, and they shook hands.“Zachary, I wish you and your wife a long life of happiness.”“Thank you, Ms. Stone.”“I hope I will have the honor of attending your wedding in the future.”Zachary retracted his hand and said warmly, “When my wife and I have chosen a date to hold a wedding, I’ll definitely send an invitation to Mr. Stone and you.”“I’ll be waiting for your invitation, then.”Elisa smiled. “You must be a busy man. I won’t take up more of your precious time than I already have. Goodbye, Zachary.”She waved at him before turning back toward her sp
“Yes, my Elisa has her pride. It’s not like no one else wants to marry my daughter.”Audrey still knew her daughter best.If Elisa said she would give up, then she would stay true to her words.The sound of a car was heard coming from outside.Alice stood up and while walking out of the house, she said, “That must be Elisa.”There was her sister-in-law in sight.Elisa got out of the car and walked toward her sister-in-law, showing a bright smile. “Alice, Mom is still at home, right?”Alice’s heart ached when she saw her sister-in-law smiling so radiantly. She would rather Elisa cry her heart out than smile like that. Heavens knew it only meant that the brighter Elisa smiled, the deeper the pain in her heart.She sighed.It was painful enough to fall in love with a man she should not fall in love with, and it was even more painful to know that the man had just gotten married.“Mom is still at home. Elisa, are you okay?”“Do I look like I’m not okay? Don’t worry, Alice. I’m gr
Serenity said with a smile, “Elisa mentioned that Mr. Bucham is from a family that deals with intelligence. If you get together with him, you’ll have first-hand accounts of all sorts of drama. You like it when it’s lively, so I feel like he’s born for you. You two are a great match.”Jasmine was speechless.Was she getting a boyfriend to get married with or to gossip?“You mentioned that your sister’s ex-mother-in-law called you again?”Jasmine hurriedly changed the topic.She did not want her best friend to gossip about her.“My sister divorced that scumbag and moved out, so they naturally couldn’t wait to move in. However, they can only rent a house, stay in a hotel, or go back home now. With my knowledge of their family, they would definitely stay in the city for the New Year’s instead of going home.”The Brown family must have spread the word in their hometown that the family would be going to the city for New Year’s.Thus, even if there was no house to live in, the family
”Old Mr. Hunt, you clearly received sixty thousand from me. I gave it to you in cash. That was my private funds which I saved for a long time. You took the money and said you would convince Serenity, but you failed. My son still ended up divorcing Liberty.“Please hurry up and return the money to me, or I’ll call the police.”When the old man refused to admit he took the money, Olivia was so angry that her face turned scarlet.Old Mr. Hunt said with a cold face, “If you want to call the police, then be my guest. I’m not afraid. I already said that I didn’t take your money, but so what if I did? Take it as making up for the betrothal gift that you failed to give us when your son married my granddaughter.“You’re having it easy by paying just tens of thousands for the betrothal gift. You have a daughter yourself too. When your daughter got married, were you willing to give your daughter away to your son-in-law’s family without receiving a single penny in return?”Olivia said furious
Several luxury cars came from far, passed by the main entrance of Wiltspoon School, and stopped in front of Serenity’s bookstore.Grandma May, who was chatting with Mr. Charles from next door, hurriedly turned away when she saw the luxury cars. She deliberately hung her head low, afraid that the people who got down from the cars would see her.“Serenity, Serenity.”When Elisa got out of the car, she shouted Serenity’s name while jogging into the store.She did not notice the old lady sitting in front of the store next door.Darrell got out of the car, holding a crying Audrey, and followed their daughter into the store. Alice ordered the bodyguards to guard the entrance before she turned around and entered the store as well.Serenity was halfway through weaving an eagle with its wings spread when she heard Elisa’s cry. She stopped her movements and looked up at Elisa.“Elisa, you’re here. Have you eaten? If you haven’t...”Then, she saw Audrey, who was accompanied by Darrell nex
As Mr. Stone and his daughter were busy tending to Mrs. Stone, only then Alice remembered to bring back the DNA report. Alice handed the DNA test results to Serenity so that the latter could have a look herself.After reading the outcome, Serenity fell silent for a while before putting the paper on the table. “You’re my niece, Serenity. Call me Aunt Audrey.” Although fate had separated her from her sister, it was sort of a consolation for Mrs. Stone to have found two nieces in return. Holding Serenity’s hand, Mrs. Stone asked the girl for a more intimate form of address. “Where’s Liberty and Sonny?” Her other niece was not forgotten. “My sister won’t be here for lunch. She’ll be here once she gets off work at half-past five in the evening.” Serenity explained while looking at Jasmine. With Jasmine carrying Sonny over, Serenity took her nephew from her best friend. “Ma’am…” Mrs. Stone interrupted Serenity mid-sentence. “It’s Aunt Audrey to you, Seren. I’ve been drea
Elisa only discovered later that she missed out on great fun. She took a dig at Jasmine and Serenity. Jasmine had mentioned and warned Serenity about including Elisa, but Serenity did not want to expose the young heiress to such crudeness. Sure, Elisa was born into privilege, but she was Elisa Stone, a well-known unreasonable and rude brat in Wiltspoon’s higher society. No crudeness could scare her. In fact, Elisa would be the sh*t-stirrer if people caught her at the wrong time. “My sister got what she was owed. It was just the renovation costs that the Browns refused to return. So, my sister called me to bring some men and trashed the furnishings.” Mrs. Stone commended the act. “That’s the way to do it. Why should the Browns have it easy?” She added regrettably, “I’d have brought a bunch of people and demanded the money back from the Browns as your family member had I known.” It dawned on Serenity that Elisa got her personality from her mother. “Seren, come home with
This was the mindset of the older generation. They believed the inheritance should stay in the family by leaving them to the sons and grandsons as daughters would only grow up to marry into another family. For families without a direct descendant to bequeath the inheritance to, fellow townspeople would be eyeing the property. They would keep the wealth in the town. Many were unwilling to leave their hard-earned assets to someone who did not carry the family name. Hence, they would try to bring a son into the family. “Are you talking about John Hunt by chance?” John’s name rang a bell as he was once a senior executive at one of the Stones’ subsidiaries. John made a million dollars annually. For John to earn a huge chunk of change from the Stones, to push around her nieces, and to take over her sister’s property, Mrs. Stone could not say he left a good impression. She needed to get Clive to go hard on John so the latter would not be able to even make a living out of begging
The day ended peacefully. The following day, Zachary ate breakfast and had Kevin drive him and his bodyguards to the airport. They were taking an airplane to Annenburg. Before boarding, Zachary texted Serenity to tell her he would soon arrive in Annenburg. Serenity would be returning from the Murphys’ place. On the other hand, Liberty brought Duncan to Queen Manor to visit Mr. Donald. They would soon become related to each other. Since Duncan was in the city, it was only proper that he visited the Queens. Meanwhile, in Wiltspoon, Jasmine had returned to the bookstore despite it being the winter holidays. She found it rather dull being at home all the time. At the bookstore, even when there were no customers, she could chat with the owners of the nearby stores. While some had closed their stores to celebrate the festive season, many chose to stay open. Jasmine was a month further into her pregnancy than Serenity. Her bump was huge. Luckily, it did not restrict her moveme
After half an hour, Liberty and Duncan finally arrived at the hotel. They bumped into Zachary and Kevin, who had also just returned.“You’re here, Duncan.”Zachary walked toward them. “Hi, Liberty.”Kevin walked over as well. “I told Zachary that you’d be here in no time. Being apart from your girlfriend isn’t easy, right?” Kevin teased.“You’ve experienced it yourself,” replied Duncan as he laughed. Kevin did not respond. He did miss Hayden a lot in the early stages of their relationship. “You two bought so many things.” Kevin saw the items in Duncan’s arms and on his thighs. They were all toys. “Sonny’s getting new toys again, eh?” “Yeah. We bought him some new clothes and toys. I’ve been giving him windmills all the time. It’s time to change it up.”Even Duncan found it slightly ridiculous. He thought Sonny loved windmills just because he saw Sonny playing with them once. That was why he kept getting more windmills for Sonny.Sonny used to be scared of him, but
She would wear light make-up for work to accentuate her beauty. Sometimes, she could not believe the glowing, confident woman looking back at her in the mirror was herself. She had changed a lot after her divorce two years ago. “I’m letting myself enjoy tonight because I’m with you. I won’t have late-night snacks anymore. Going on a diet is too difficult. I don’t want to do it again.”If she gained too much weight, it would be difficult to get fit again because she was happy and did not lack money. In addition, she had Duncan spoiling her. Since she no longer wanted to go on a weight loss journey, she had no choice but to control her appetite and exercise daily to maintain her figure. “I heard the others saying that you have many admirers here. Although they’ve not said anything, even a fool can tell that they’ve fallen for you just from their gazes.”The men who had a crush on Liberty knew she had a fiance who was the young master of the Lewises from Wiltspoon. While they
Liberty smiled. “We don’t have to have that many things. We can simply get our marriage license and choose a suitable date for a wedding.“I’m fine with just getting a marriage license. But, as it’s your first marriage, I don’t want you to miss out on anything, so let’s have a wedding.”Duncan did not want Liberty to feel slighted while at the same time, Liberty did not want Duncan to miss out on a wedding celebration.Liberty was about to get married for the second time while it was Duncan’s first. He was also a young master of the Lewises. Not holding a wedding for his first marriage seemed inappropriate. Duncan raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. His eyes were filled with affection as he said, “Let’s not let each other miss out on anything. We’ll have everything every other couple has and more.“I’ve said that I’d make sure you are the envy of everyone.”Liberty laughed. “I’m already envied by many. They’re saying that my luck is out of this world because I’m able to m
Now, everything was fine.However, this time, he was still unable to be by Liberty’s side. Even though it should have been much safer than when Sonny was kidnapped because he had arranged for people to protect her, he was still worried.He was afraid, feeling paralyzed as all he could do was just wait for news of her.Fortunately, everything went smoothly. No, it was more like there were scares but no real danger. When Belinda wanted to capture someone as a hostage, the first person she thought of was Liberty. First, Liberty did not know any martial arts. Second, she was the successor that Audrey had put forward, making her Caroline’s competitor. Moreover, Liberty was very significant to Audrey. If she were captured, the members of the York, Lewis, and Stone families would not dare act recklessly.Thanks to Dr. Carden’s quick actions, Liberty was pulled back, and she did not fall into Belinda’s hands as a hostage. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.After
“It’s just that when I saw you, I was so happy that I forgot everything else. I even forgot that I’m still disabled,” Duncan said.As he spoke, he pressed her hand against his lips.Liberty looked at him disapprovingly. “Don’t say you’re disabled again. You’re just temporarily impaired, and you will get better.”Duncan smiled. “Okay, okay, from now on, I won’t say I’m disabled. I’ll get better for you. I’ll stand up again.”“You already have—you just can’t walk very far yet,” Liberty said as she supported him. “Should we head back to my office first?”“Are you done with work?” Duncan looked up at the darkening sky. “It’s almost completely dark.”“It’s only five o’clock. It just gets dark quickly in winter, plus today was a cloudy day. It feels gloomy even before six. Anyway, I’m done with work.”“If that’s the case, let’s get something to eat. I’m hungry,” Duncan said.He did not want to go into her office because if he did, he might end up staying for a while. He thought it wo
However, if there really was a good woman out there, meeting up and getting to know her would not be a bad idea.Liberty returned to the office and finally felt in the mood to work. After a while, as evening approached, she received a message from Duncan telling her he would arrive at her office in two minutes.Liberty tidied up and went downstairs to meet him. At the same time, she called her aunt to let her know not to wait for her to return for dinner, as she would be eating out. She also informed her aunt that Duncan was in town.When Audrey received the update, she laughed. “Duncan is so eager! Okay, I understand. You two enjoy your time together.”Duncan must have been missing her niece like crazy.As Liberty walked out of the office building, she spotted a car parked at the entrance. Duncan got out of the car and stood aside, waiting for the bodyguard to unload the suitcase and wheelchair from the vehicle. He was able to stand for a while now and should probably be ab
Liberty nodded. “How could they compare to Elisa? She has such a strong moral compass. Zachary was still unattached when she liked him but when he announced his marriage, even though Elisa was upset, she gave up on pursuing him. The other women are more like Ms. Daniels.”In truth, Liberty knew about Ms. Daniels. She believed that Serenity and Zachary could handle things on their own, so she kept silent, but even though they eventually resolved it, it also proved that despite Zachary being married, there would still be people who harbored inappropriate thoughts about him. They were hopeful about replacing Serenity all because they felt that her pedigree did not match Zachary’s.Liberty wanted to be her sister’s support, to provide her with a confidence boost. That was why when Audrey suggested she come to Jensburg to compete for the position of family head with Caroline, she did not refuse. If she took control of the Fisher family, she would be the head, and even if most of the
Liberty asked.“Yeah, I’m on my way out now. You know what—you don’t need to come pick us up. It’ll take over an hour by car for you. I’ll just take a taxi over.” That way, he would not have to wait too long at the airport.Liberty laughed. “I wasn’t planning to come pick you up anyway. If you had told me in advance, I would have come for sure. But since you didn’t say anything… “I could still come to pick you up, but you’d have to wait at the airport for a while so it makes more sense for you to take a taxi.”It would be easier for everyone that way.“I’m on my way back to the office now. Just come straight here and text me when you’re nearby. I’ll come out to get you.”Duncan chuckled in response. “Okay, we’ll take a taxi. I’ll text you when I get there. Where did you just now?”“I went to Fisher Enterprise to check on Caroline. She’s a good person.”Duncan pursed his lips and asked, “She doesn’t blame you guys, does she?”“Not at all. Based on what she says and does, it’s