Alice took Serenity around the residence before excusing herself to take a nap. “Go and have your break, Alice. I’ll sit here and enjoy the view.” Serenity did not want to go back into the house. Compared to the lavishly furnished home, she preferred the natural scenery in the yard. She saw a few garden patches along the fence and guessed that her aunt must have done the gardening herself. Mrs. Stone was the lady of a wealthy and powerful family, but it did not change the fact that she grew up in an orphanage. It made sense that she would be hands-on with gardening after going through poverty and retiring from a desk job.“Are you cold? I’ll send someone to fetch you a jacket if you are.” Serenity and Liberty did not bring extra clothes as they were here for a meal. They thought they would go home after a meal and a good chat. It turned out Mrs. Stone wanted them to stay for a few days. Serenity had to return later in the evening to bring a change of clothes. “Thank you,
Communication was key. “Sure.” Zachary’s hanging mind was at ease. “You’re sick. Don’t take your drinks cold, and get a doctor's appointment after work. Why don’t you go now instead? Don’t drag on. Do you have a fever?” Zachary lifted his arm to feel his head. It was burning. No wonder he felt light-headed. Nevertheless, he did not tell Serenity the truth. “I don’t have a temperature. Don’t worry. I’m feeling fine. I’ll get some medicine from the pharmacy later. How are you at your aunt’s place?“Are your uncle and cousins good to you?” “You look a little red. Are you sure you don’t have a temperature, Zachary?” Serenity had a keen observation. “My uncle and cousins are nice. I don’t need to say much about Elisa. We hit it off fine. Zachary, blood relation is an amazing thing. Elisa and I have never met before. We didn’t even know we were cousins, but we got on well from the get-go.” Zachary grinned. “Send my regards to your aunt since I can’t visit her yet. I have t
“Alright. I’m on a break like the students now. I’m going there to sort you out and whip you into a henpecked husband if you don’t be good. You can forget your dignity in front of your colleagues.” The smile across Zachary’s face deepened. “So you’re saying that you’ll come here and keep tabs on me if I deliberately stay away from the doctor?” “Don’t you dare, Zachary!” Zachary cowered on purpose. “I’m scared. I wouldn’t dare.” “Alright now. I’m going to stop here. Hurry up and get yourself to the hospital. You’re an adult, yet you don’t take good care of yourself.” Serenity grumbled before hanging up. She left Zachary to his work. “Seren.” “Liberty.” Serenity watched as her sister drew close. “Is Sonny asleep?” “Yeah. I want to take a walk while he’s sleeping. It’s good exercise. I run three times a day now. I put myself on a diet and cut down on my sugar intake.” Liberty stopped and added, “My takeaway from the three-year marriage is that we women should take ca
Clive cussed Zachary in his mind. He was still second-guessing whether it was Zachary when Serenity mentioned her husband’s name. Now that Zachary said that he was away on business, Clive could confirm that Zachary was Serenity’s husband. “When are you coming back?” “Are you that eager to buy me coffee?” “Quit the act, Zachary. I know it all. The wedding ring on Serenity’s finger belongs to the same pair as yours, right? Your wife whose face is not shown in the picture is Serenity, right?” Zachary went radio silent. He neither admitted nor denied it. Clive took Zachary’s silence as his admission to the fact. “When did you two get married? Was it before Serenity went viral on Twitter? You’ve been married for a while, yet you kept quiet about it. Elisa went mad for you and even went all the way to your office to profess her love for you in public!“Elisa became the talk of the town while you went on your aloof and sophisticated self, making a joke out of Elisa. The publi
Zachary terminated the call right away. Despite being hung up on, Clive was not angry at all.He smirked coldly. “You can refuse to acknowledge me as your cousin, Zachary, but I’ll get my way one way or another.” Alice was pouring him a glass of water when she heard his comment. She said, “You’re now family. What do you mean get your way? Whatever reason he keeps his identity a secret, Zachary is Serenity’s husband.” “I’ve been his rival for many years, and none of us ever get the upper hand. Now that I have the chance to climb over his head, I got to make use of the opportunity.” Clive grabbed the glass and took a couple of gulps. “Zachary wound me up badly. I must get my payback when he returns from his business trip. I’ll contact Serenity to come along when he buys me dinner. I bet he’ll have to call me his cousin then.“Honey, I’m walking on air just thinking about my nemesis bowing to me because I’m the older cousin.”“I think you’ve gone mad.” Alice replied amusedly,
Josh sat upright immediately.“Come in.”The door was pushed open, and a bodyguard came in with an invitation.Josh thought that it was an invitation for Julian to a banquet. Unexpectedly, the bodyguard walked straight to him and handed him the invitation. “Mr. Bucham, this is an invitation sent by Mr. Stone. The Stones will be holding a banquet tomorrow night and have invited you to join.”“Me?”Josh took the invitation skeptically and questioned, “The Stones are holding a banquet, and Clive had someone specially send it over? Also, the banquet is tomorrow night? Why so sudden?”Other families might make their banquet known a few days in advance. Some even gave guests ten days of notice so they could get ready.Was this a last-minute decision by the Stone family?Josh remembered how Audrey recognized her two nieces and he guessed the real purpose of the banquet.‘She must wish to introduce her two nieces to Wiltspoon’s elites.‘Hehe, what does Zachary think about it?’“Mr.
What would the scene of a woman meeting her ex-husband and his mistress when out shopping be like?Liberty did not have much of a reaction. As for Jessica, when she walked into the store and saw the Hunt sisters, her instinctive reaction was to cling tightly to Hank’s arm.It was as if she was afraid others would not know they were a couple.“Daddy.”Sonny, who was being held by Serenity, called out to Hank when he saw the latter.The people in the store turned to look at Hank.They saw Hank standing next to the young and beautiful Jessica, then at Liberty, whom Sonny had called “Mommy” earlier. The store clerks looked at Liberty with sympathy.She came out shopping for clothes but ended up catching her husband cheating on her...“Sonny.”Hank walked over to Serenity under the watchful eyes of the store clerks. Jessica followed closely.“Sonny, let Daddy hold you.”Hank reached out to hug Sonny.Serenity did not give him Sonny directly and placed him on the ground instead.
When Liberty was Hank’s wife, Hank led an easy life with everything provided.Now, it was Jessica who was living that life.Hank felt that Jessica was his true love.After defeating Liberty by easily getting promoted to the top and gaining Hank’s deep affection, Jessica could not wait to show off in front of Liberty, trying to provoke her.Liberty did not pay attention to Jessica and picked out a few more sets of clothes for herself.Seeing this, Jessica tried to grab the clothes again.Serenity caught her wrist and said coldly, “Hey, don’t think my sister is easy to bully. She doesn’t care to fight with you, but I won’t allow you to bully her!”She flung the hand away. With a push, Jessica was forced several steps back and retreated to Hank’s side.“Hank Brown, keep an eye on your lover. Don’t let her piss me off or I’ll beat her to a pulp.”Jessica was so angry that she was at a loss for words. “Serenity Hunt, does your man know how brutish you are? Be careful so he doesn’t
Despite this, lying in bed and enduring the pain, Caroline could not help but start to cry, feeling deeply wronged.When Darren came in and saw her crying, he walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently wiped her tears with a tissue.“They’re not worth your tears,” he said, his heart aching for her.Caroline sat up and buried herself in his arms. “Darren, you’re all I have now.”Darren held her tightly, his voice filled with tenderness. “I’ll always be by your side, no matter what happens, Ms. Caroline. Even if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you.“If you’re really hurting and need to cry, then cry. Let it all out.”It would also help her sever ties with the past and the family bonds that had caused her so much pain.Caroline did cry—a long, cathartic cry. It would be the last time. From now on, she and the Clarks would go their separate ways.Meanwhile, Hunter went to Justin’s house and called Jason’s wife, Ellie, over. He said to his two daughters-in-law, “By no
After a moment of silence, Hunter repeated the same line. “But you didn’t die, did you? You only got a little hurt, and it’s not even serious.”Caroline almost laughed in anger at this.Sure, she had not died. She had only been injured. Did that erase the fact that her brothers had tried to kill her, though?She retorted, “Dad, if I had tried to kill your three sons, but they didn’t die and only got a little hurt, would you say the same thing to them? Would you tell them it’s just a family dispute, ask them to forgive me, not to sue me, and not to send me to jail?”Hunter instinctively replied, "If you had the intent to kill, how could I let you continue down that path? Of course, I’d have to let you serve a few years in prison…“Carol, I’m old, really old. I only have the boys to rely on in my old age. Are you trying to leave me with no one to depend on in my later years?”Caroline said coldly, “I’ll provide for your living expenses. I’ll make sure you don’t starve. You can even
Darren did not let go even after being struck.Seeing Darren get hit, Caroline’s expression darkened. She coldly said to her father, “Dad, if you really want to kneel, go kneel at the hospital entrance and shout at the top of your lungs that your daughter is unfilial.“Tell everyone that your sons tried to kill your daughter, and your daughter refuses to forgive them, so you’re kneeling there to force her to forgive your sons.“Let’s see if I give in.”Hunter stopped struggling. After slapping Darren, he felt a pang of fear. He was afraid Caroline might retaliate by slapping him to avenge Darren. Fortunately, while Caroline was furious, she did not lay a hand on him.He began to cry. “Carol…” He wept bitterly.Darren released him, and Hunter sat on the sofa, sobbing, “Carol, I’m old. I have no income, my parents are long gone, and your mother is no longer here. I only have your three brothers to rely on.“If you send all three of them to prison, what will happen to me? Who w
Caroline hummed. “I do plan to visit Wiltspoon to see her sometime soon. I just don’t know if I’ll be kicked out when I get there.”“And I should visit Mr. Foster too. How is he, by the way?" Patrick was the longest-living person she had ever met. Back when she lived with her adoptive family in the countryside, the oldest people in town usually lived into their eighties, and few made it to ninety. Patrick was nearly a hundred years old. What was more, he could walk without support and even travel long distances with his old friends.Liberty replied, “He’s doing quite well. Aunt Audrey accompanies him on walks every day. When they don’t go out, he sits by the cradle and watches baby Elias for hours on end.”The bond between generations was strong. When Patrick looked at Clive’s son, Elias, he felt like he was looking at his great-grandson. As Tiara’s great-grandson, Elias was naturally like his own great-grandson, too.“Dr. Carden comes by periodically to check on him and adjus
Liberty had already called Audrey to inform her about what had happened and also mentioned it to Serenity.Knowing the Clark brothers had all been captured, Serenity felt thoroughly relieved and stopped worrying that her sister would run into trouble in Jensburg.She told Zachary that Caroline never let people down.Zachary did not comment.Caroline’s fever had completely subsided, but her coughing had worsened. The doctor had changed her prescription, but the effects were not immediate.When Liberty entered, Caroline was out of bed and walking around, supported by Darren.“Caroline, why are you out of bed?”Liberty scolded her, “Get back in bed and lie down. You’re injured. If you don’t rest properly and keep moving around, you’ll aggravate your wounds, and you’ll regret it.”She did not blame Darren, though. She knew Caroline always came first to him. He always followed her lead and was unable to influence her decisions.“I’ve been lying down all day. My back is sore, and I’m
The housekeeper replied, “Yes, sir.”They did not have much work in the first place, so they did not need to slack off. Once they were done with their work, they had tons of time to entertain themselves.Hunter rushed out the door with his car keys. Despite being over seventy years old, his driving skills were still quite good. Not needing to hire a driver, he drove himself straight to Jensburg.Upon arriving at the city, Hunter did not immediately go looking for Caroline. He was unaware that she had been injured.Instead, he went to meet his old friends to ask them to help him find out if anything had happened in relation to the Fisher family last night.After he finished speaking, one of his friends said, “We were about to ask you the same thing. Your three sons attacked your daughter with knives and even kidnapped her, intending to chop her up and feed her to the fish.“Luckily, that Mr. Fletcher, who works for your daughter, arrived with the police and rescued her, but she wa
The Queen family was well-educated and had few members. Sophia had heard of other families fighting over power, but Caroline’s experience shocked her the most. Maybe it was because the Queens was close to her. Sophia quite liked Caroline as well. “How could they… You’re their biological sister!”Caroline smiled bitterly. “Are you having a fever, Carol? Your face is red.”Sophia touched Caroline’s forehead. She said, “You’re burning up. Have you informed the doctor, Mr. Fletcher?”Darren replied, “The fever started at dawn. Ms. Caroline caught a cold. Her fever subsided after taking medication once, but it returned.“It’s time for her to take her medicine.”Sophia spotted the lunch boxes. She told Darren, “Go have your lunch, Mr. Fletcher. I can look after Carol.”“It’s okay, Mrs. Queen. I can eat on my own,” said Caroline embarrassedly. It was her first time feeling cared for by someone her mother’s age. Although Sophia was not part of her family, the lady treated her
Caroline looked toward Darren. She said, “In my younger days, I often caught colds and coughs when the weather was too cold. The coughing will last throughout the changing of seasons. Therefore, I’ve been looking after my health since I grew up.“My immune system strengthened a lot. I haven’t been coughing for years.“I’m not worried.”Caroline stared at Darren lovingly. “I have nothing to be worried about with you here.”Darren pinched her face lightly with affection. “I’m still sulking. I didn’t want you to risk yourself, yet I couldn’t stop you. I’ll only feel better once you recover.”He was Caroline’s assistant and had to heed her orders. Even if they were dating, he still had to follow her arrangements.“Okay. Don’t be angry. I won’t take risks like this again in the future. You’ll age quickly if you get angry frequently. If that happens, your hair might turn gray before I even grow old.“We promised to grow old together.”Under Caroline’s gentle coaxing, Darren’s expre
Darren became an orphan when he was only a few years old. After losing everything, he was collected and trained by the training center to be an all-rounder assistant. He could not remember how he lost his parents as he was too young back then. Since he had no memories, there was no pain.Nevertheless, he had seen others interacting with their parents. He knew parents should love their children. There were not many parents who would not shower their children with love. Ms. Caroline was too unlucky to have met one. “I don’t care. I don’t care about my dad at all.”Caroline asked, “Has my dad asked you to give him money? He doesn’t need money. He just wants to know about his sons’ conditions.“Having lived for so many years, he was probably aware of the consequences of his sons’ plan and had advised them not to do it. They didn’t listen to him, so he’s just hoping to get lucky and waiting for some news.”Hunter must have known that her brothers were going to murder her. Sinc