Ever since the start of the school’s winter holidays, Jasmine had been holing up at home. Her daily routine consisted of eating, sleeping, and reading romance novels on her phone. Her brother would get the occasional phone call from Josh to dine out, and Jasmine would invite herself to the get-together in case her brother might sell her out behind her back. Now that Jasmine received a message from Serenity that the latter was back, Jasmine quickly replied with a voice message. “How about Italian tonight? Mr. Bucham took my brother to an Italian place, and the food was great. I’ve been waiting for you to come back so we can try out the place. You have no idea. I couldn’t binge when dining with my brother and Mr. Bucham because I’d eat more than them.” Serenity responded to her with a smile, “I can’t tonight. I just got back with Mr. York. We’re going to have a slow night. How about tomorrow night? Get my sister and Elisa to join us.” “We don’t have to include Elisa since she e
Zachary would usually take his Rolls Royce, but the chauffeur drove the sedan back to the old residence and was on standby during his business trip. “Your company’s parking lot is like a car show. You can see an array of cars here.” Serenity commented as she got into the car. She saw many luxury sedans. “We have a lot of senior executives in the office. People tend to get better cars when their incomes are high. No man can resist cars. Well, you know I prefer properties to cars. The value will only increase with time.” Serenity would not take Zachary’s word for it if she knew the cars in his garage could rival a car exhibition. “Men love cars, and women love properties. You can make a home out of a house.” Serenity had been saving up to buy a house. The car she had was a gift from Zachary. Her usual mode of transportation to work was her e-bike. “Have you texted your sister?” “I sent her a text, but I haven’t received a reply. She must be occupied with something. Ja
After unlocking the gate, Zachary got back into the car and started the engine. He drove into the villa compound and parked on the empty driveway. He replied without Serenity pressing for answers. “My parents and Nana prefer living in the old residence and away from the bustle. They’re used to the place because they have been there for decades. They prefer their peace away from us kids. Nana would stay with us for a few days and disappear somewhere else.” Serenity concurred, “Yeah. Sounds like it.” She got out of the car and strolled around the front lawn. The landscape was great. The estate had a front lawn and backyard. There was a swimming pool, some pruned trees, and a pergola in the front. The tree near the pergola had a swing installed onto the branch. It was perfect to enjoy a good book or the view while sitting there. The backyard was lush with scenic and fruit trees. There were homegrown Wiltspoonian trees like apple and mango trees. Serenity observed the open spac
“This is our home. We can spend the rest of our lives here, so there’s no rush to look around.” With his arms around Serenity, Zachary ushered her into the house, even picking her up in between to rush up the stairs. “I’ll prepare a sumptuous dinner for you downstairs once I get my fill.” Serenity was at a loss for words. They entered the master bedroom on the second floor, but before Serenity could check out the room, the desperate man put her down on the bed. With his muscular body pinning her down, Serenity lifted her arms and nudged him. She said, “You’re heavy.” Holding himself up with his elbows, Zachary lowered his gaze to meet hers. He did not hide the burning passion in his eyes as he inquired in a gruff voice, “Can I, Seren? “It’s not too late for you to change your mind. I can just take another cold shower.” Serenity caressed his face. “You got your good looks from your parents combined. To have a piece of meat hanging around me every day, I could’ve turned int
Having been caught searching the web, Serenity could not stop the burn in her cheeks. She sat up and snatched her phone back. Locking the screen, Serenity pretended like nothing ever happened and said, “I was just looking around because I was bored. Where’s the alcohol?” Zachary brought two glasses of alcohol over and gave one to Serenity. He uttered, “We didn’t have dinner, so we can’t drink much. Just a little will do.” “That’s so little. I’ll finish this in two gulps before I can taste the alcohol.” Serenity whined before taking the glass from Zachary. She took a sip to savor the taste. As expected, the liquor was not strong enough. He must be afraid she would get wasted. She downed the drink like it was water. Zachary took a sip and stared at her. Since he was not self-conscious, he did not need alcohol to psyche up. “Aren’t you going to drink that? I’ll have it if you’re not going to.” Serenity reached out to grab his wine glass. His glass was bigger and had mor
Zachary appeared rather delighted as he strolled down the stairs. Anyone near him right now could hear that he was humming to a tune. It had been a while since they got married, but Zachary was no longer just Serenity’s husband by name. He took strides into the kitchen and grabbed the apron hanging off the door. Zachary put on the apron and opened the fridge to check for ingredients. He took out a few ingredients for the dishes he planned to make. First things first, Zachary wanted to make a broth suitable for women after their first time. He got the ingredients ready and dumped them in a slow cooker set on high. He then went on to prepare the next dish. After much thought, he gave Sam a call. With the line connected, Zachary instructed, “Sam, deliver some live shrimp over. I don’t see any fresh seafood in the fridge.” The other dishes did not matter as Serenity’s favorite was shrimp. It was a must-have. “Have you and the missus had dinner yet?” Sam felt bad. “You shoul
After a phone conversation with her sister, Serenity felt a lot better. She stood up and got out of the bath. Her darling husband had thoughtfully left a change of clothes for her before she went into the tub. Ten minutes later, Serenity went down the stairs. All was quiet downstairs. Serenity thought their house in Brynfield was eerily silent. Since he was always home late, she did not have anyone to talk to when she got home. That was why she wanted to have pets. Mrs. Lane later joined the family, adding some noise to the quiet home. To her dismay, he bought a villa that was bigger than the property in Brynfield. It was a quieter environment for the couple to live in. Once on the ground floor, Serenity could hear the commotion in the kitchen. Serenity drew close and saw Zachary busy in the kitchen. Without startling him, she leaned against the door frame and observed him. He looked most charming when he was earnest at work!Nevertheless, he was attractive doing a
A silver sedan stopped right outside the villa, and a person stood at the gate. Through the gate, Serenity looked at the figure and thought it looked familiar. At closer inspection, she recognized that it was not the delivery person but her mother-in-law who she had met a few times. “Mom.”Serenity took a moment to take in the surprise before rushing to open the gate. It was then she realized she did not have a key to unlock the gate. Serenity apologetically said to her mother-in-law who was on the other side of the gate, “I didn’t know I needed a key to open the gate, Mom. Hang on for a second. I’ll get the key from Zachary.” “Okay,” Tania faintly replied and stopped pressing on the doorbell. Serenity rushed back into the house, running into the kitchen. She told Zachary, “Your mom is here, Zachary. I tried to open the gate, but I couldn’t without a key. Give me a key. I’ll unlock the gate now.“Didn’t you say your mother was going to drop by two days later? Why doesn’t she
Austin said, “He’s definitely here to discuss a potential partnership with your company.“He's just the acting head of the Longbottoms. He doesn’t truly control the family. If the real head returns, everything he’s worked for will go to someone else.“The downfall of Belinda Fisher probably gave him a wake-up call and he doesn’t want to end up like that.“He’s definitely seeking to cooperate with you regarding his personal business. He’s just using the Longbottoms’ name, since their influence in Windermere is enormous.”In terms of wealth, the O'Connors and the Longbottoms were on equal footing, but the O'Connors had fewer members and did not have the same level of influence in Windermere as the Longbottoms.Isabella said, “He’s very ambitious. A partnership would only just be the beginning. Once it’s established, he’ll start thinking about how to cheat us and steal our business.“Plus, he’s very lecherous. Nobody can put a number to how many women he’s toyed with. Some even lost
Tony was aware that whenever his wife had to play the villain, it was always to protect him. He said, “You're right, I misspoke. Your mother isn’t that kind of person.”“Manny, I’ll be leaving soon. You stay here, and I’ll leave half of my men with you. If anything comes up that you can't handle, contact me. I’ll be waiting to hear good news from you.” Tony decided to fly to Wiltspoon in the afternoon. He would only stay for two or three days before returning to Havenmill to handle business.However, as he thought about how he was working like a horse for Longbottom Corporation when many of the benefits did not even belong to him personally, Tony felt a bit disgruntled.“Got it.” Manny did not reject his father’s arrangement.As the Longbottom father and son were discussing how to deal with the O’Connors, Austin entered Isabella’s office.Isabella was busy, so Austin did not disturb her. He quietly sat at the tea table and made some tea.“It seems you’ve learned the art of tea-
Manny had never been to Wiltspoon, but he knew from his father that several prominent families in Wiltspoon had close ties with the Johnsons from Annenburg. It was possible that the child adopted by the Johnsons’ young missus was Laurence. Unfortunately, he could not meet that child, so he could not be a hundred percent certain. The child was currently out of sight and well-protected, hidden so effectively that even the Longbottoms’ information network could not find anything. The other prominent families in Wiltspoon were also helping to keep the child hidden, so Manny deeply disliked the people from these families. Even though they were thousands of miles away, they were still an obstacle to him and his father in their pursuit of becoming the true head of the family.“That's right. If we can conquer the O’Connors, we’ll have a backup plan,” his father said. “You must put your all into it, son. If you need help, just let me know, though this is also an opportunity for you to ge
Tony Longbottom was the only person who would put on such a parade. The big shots in Satbury usually had entourages of their own, but none would put on a spectacle as big as Tony would.As they departed in their car, Tony’s gracious demeanor utterly shattered.His face twisted into an ugly, cruel expression as he said, “I’ve never been treated like this before, even when the legitimate branch of the family still lived, and those two ignorant little girls actually refused to see me multiple times.”Manny was very angry too and he said, “Pops, since they refuse to go about this the easy way, we’ll have to show them the hard way. We can approach it from other angles, and once they’re completely out of business and they have nowhere else to turn to, they’ll be at our mercy.“Won’t they have to do as we please then? I want to marry them, they’ll have to marry me, and if I don’t, I’ll just make them my mistresses. Don’t the O’Connors have plenty of daughters? I’ll fuck every one of them
“Isabella O’Connor is so outstanding, so why are you asking me to go for Tati O’Connor instead?” Manny said under his breath in puzzlement.He had seen photos of the two ladies and Isabella’s appearance was more striking. She had a cold and aloof aura that easily triggered his desire to conquer her, and after just a few glances, he was captivated.If it were up to him, Manny would choose Isabella.Tony looked at his son, smiled, and said, “You can’t control her. Of course, if you manage to make her fall for you, we can talk about switching. But for now, focus on Tati O’Connor.”Tati was also beautiful. However, she did not have Isabella’s cold demeanor. She seemed much gentler, like she smiled often.“Marrying Tati O’Connor would be a big advantage for both you and our family.”Manny thought for a moment and then nodded in understanding. “Got it, Dad.”Manny’s good looks, wealth, honeyed tongue, and generosity toward girls made him good at winning them over. Pursuing a rich youn
After testing the O’Connor sisters and realizing they were not like other women, Mr. Longbottom thought of having his son marry Tati.He knew that his son would not be able to handle or control Isabella, so he set his sights on Tati. Tati probably did not realize she was considered an easy target. Most people underestimated her because she had always kept a low profile.At that moment, a young man got out from the other side of the Rolls-Royce. He resembled Mr. Longbottom. Indeed, he was Mr. Longbotton’s eldest son, Manny.“Dad.”Manny went to his father’s side and glanced at the building before him. He asked, “Aren’t we driving inside?”In Havenmill, Manny could do whatever he wished because his father was the interim head of the Longbottom family. While he had no respect for ordinary people at all, he was clever enough not to offend people he should not.He never parked his car outside the places he wanted to go and simply drove his car through the gates. However, Manny
Meanwhile in Satbury, a few luxury cars stopped at the entrance of Costa Corporation. The door of the first car, a Rolls-Royce, opened. A bodyguard came out of the car.He waited for his boss, who was sitting in the backseat to exit.Mr. Longbottom got out of the car. Although he was over fifty years old, he looked like he was in his forties as he maintained his appearance well.He wore a white tailored suit with a tie, which made him look more youthful.The bodyguards in the other cars alighted as well.They quickly stood behind Mr. Longbottom to protect him. It was also his display of power.A few bodyguards grabbed many gift boxes from the trunks. Mr. Longbottom stood in front of the company and raised his head to look at the sixty-eight-storey office building. It was a symbol of the O’Connor family’s abilities.Costa Corporation was not the family’s only business. They were involved in many industries and were successful in all of them.The O’Connors were wealthy and powe
Jasmine added, “In some cases, the divorced women can get married to a better man, while the divorced men can’t even find a new wife. There are many single men now.“Isn’t there a saying nowadays that men who have wives are extremely lucky?”When Jasmine was at the bookstore, she would also visit the neighboring stores to listen to juicy gossip. Many of the store owners were not locals and they had many stories to tell. Someone said there was an evil mother-in-law in a rural area who looked down on her daughter-in-law. She would egg her son on to abuse his wife and get a divorce. She would also tell her son that she could find a better and younger wife for him. However, once the divorce went through, news of the mother-in-law’s evil deeds and the son’s domestic abuse spread far and wide. Who would dare marry off their daughters to a man like that?Besides, holding another wedding would require a lot of money. The cost of a wedding had increased a lot compared to the past.Whe
“Sonny’s fine. He has recovered. You want to get Sonny from school?”After thinking about it, Serenity agreed and said, “Okay. I’ll message Sonny’s teacher later to tell her you’ll be taking him.”“Okay, Serenity. Thank you.”Hank was thankful that Serenity did not make things difficult for him. Serenity and Liberty had great character. Liberty had a new relationship and already let go of her resentment for Hank. She could coexist with him peacefully. On the other hand, Serenity still held grudges against Hank. However, since he and Liberty had divorced, he could no longer hurt her. He was also Sonny’s father. Serenity was willing to tolerate him for Sonny’s sake. Therefore, she always said yes whenever Hank requested to meet his son. “You’ll be taking Sonny out to eat after picking him up, right? Remember not to let him eat too much fried food, especially fried chicken and fries. He’ll get a sore throat.“He got a fever that day due to a throat inflammation.”“Got it. I’ll