Zachary fell silent for a while before gruffly uttering, “I believe you should be on top of keeping Elisa away.” He could not possibly be the one to get rid of Elisa. “We’ll make arrangements. You need to text me before coming, so I can distract her away from seeing you. I’ll keep my parents in the loop too.” Zachary had no problems with the plan. He did not want Elisa to know about him and Serenity for now. They were in the honeymoon period of their relationship. God knew what Elisa would do in a moment of madness when she found out. “I probably can’t make time before New Year, but I’ll find time to visit your family with Serenity after.” Serenity had lost her parents. There was no way she would visit her money-hungry relatives back in her hometown. Family to Serenity was Liberty and the Stones. Clive asked, “What are you doing before New Year? Isn’t your office closed by Christmas Eve?” Stone Group was giving its employees time off around that time. Major corpora
Clive’s and Zachary’s bodyguards trailed behind without a word. People would think they saw ghosts if this group of people did not make a sound while striding ahead. Clive stopped right before getting into the lift. “Zachary,” he said in a low voice. Zachary turned his head to look at him. Clive took a long pause before saying, “Stop stealing my business.” Zachary nonchalantly replied, “People have a choice to change their minds before they seal the deal. Some even back out after signing the contract. That’s how business is. You can’t say that I steal your business. You should recognize that Stone Group is not strong enough to convince clients from choosing York Corporation instead.“Business is business. Favor is another thing. Don’t mix personal with business.” Clive remarked, “Zachary, you have balls.” Zachary remained offhanded. “Of course, I have balls, but you… You’ve been married for years now. When are you going to have a baby? Are you unwell or something? Since
Who was here bright early in the morning? Serenity went downstairs and found the keys to open the main door. She then walked out of the house to find a figure standing at the gate. The person was carrying two bags. By the looks of it, he must be a food deliveryman. “Morning, Ms. Hunt.” Mr. Zen gleefully greeted her. “Oh, it’s you. Good morning.” It never occurred to Serenity that it was the lobby manager of Wiltspoon Hotel. Raising the bags in his hands, Mr. Zen uttered with a smile, “Mr. York called me last night to order two sets of breakfast. I’m here to deliver the food at the requested time. Sorry to bother you this early in the morning, Ms. Hunt.” Serenity wondered when Zachary found the time to order breakfast from Mr. Zen as she was with him the whole night. Zachary often got Wiltspoon Hotel to do the delivery too. Although Zachary enjoyed discounts at the hotel as an employee of York Corporation, he should not pour all his money into the place. Serenity kep
Since no children were in the picture yet, the couple could enjoy the finer things in life. The expenses would become costly when the family grew. It would take a lot of money to raise children. “I have an income, and I’m part of the family. I’ll pay for some of the household expenses. Save some money and clear the mortgage early if you can. At least then you’ll have spare cash once the house loan is out of the way.” Serenity did not propose chipping in on the mortgage. Zachary bought the villa before they were married, and he was still paying the mortgage like Hank. Even though Serenity and Zachary were no longer married in name and could not be in a better place in their marriage, Serenity did not want to end up on the same path as her sister. It was his house, and she would not covet it nor help with the mortgage. What if she and Zachary were not meant to be? The divorce would be ugly with the division of assets and quarrels. It was better to keep their assets apart ri
“It’s my company’s annual dinner in a few days. I’ll get an invitation for you. You need a gown for the event. I can come back and pick you up, or you can drive there.“Why should I go to your company’s annual dinner? I’m not an employee.” Serenity was not keen on attending social events. The only reason she would ever go was for the food. Nevertheless, as Jasmine said, Serenity would have to curb her eating if she was there as Zachary’s plus-one.Serenity would rather check out new eateries with Jasmine. “We can bring a family member to the company’s annual dinner. Others would bring theirs, so why can’t I?” Serenity had no words as she stared at Zachary. “I’ll be helping out a little at the dinner. It might be a little later if you want me to pick you up. I’ll come straight after I’m done.” “Alright. Let me know on that day itself. I’ll head over myself, so you don’t have to rush back. You can come out to bring me in when I reach your office. You can’t expect me to en
Duncan went and gave the pinwheel to Sonny. Sonny refused to take the pinwheel from him. “Mr. Lewis, Sonny has a lot of toys already.” “It’s not much. I was passing by a toy store and thought the pinwheel at the entrance was nice. I bought him one since the wind’s strong today, and he’d probably enjoy it.” He dropped by to give Sonny the pinwheel. Otherwise, Duncan would not have come in. Handing the pinwheel to Liberty, Duncan said, “Hold it for Sonny.” Since the pinwheel did not cost a lot, Liberty accepted the gift and thanked Duncan on behalf of Sonny before handing the pinwheel to her son. Sonny took the pinwheel. Duncan said hesitantly, “Sonny’s scared of me. I gave him the pinwheel, but he didn’t want it. He took it the moment you gave it to him.” Liberty replied amid chuckles, “I’m his mother. I have been with him since he was in my womb till today, so I’m his closest person.” Duncan laughed in delight. “Sorry, that came out wrong.” Looking around the shop
Even so, Mrs. Brown did not like it one bit. Duncan was the boss of a company. Although his face was ruined, the man was loaded. Mrs. Brown and her daughter stood in front of Lewis & Co.’s office building the whole morning while waiting for Liberty back then. She heard from her son that Lewis & Co. was one of the biggest corporations in Wiltspoon and a more influential company than the place her son was working at. Her son mentioned that he himself might not pass the interview and become a senior executive at Lewis & Co. It did not sit well with Hank that Liberty was employed by Lewis & Co. as he realized Liberty could get back on track to a successful career when she returned to the workplace. It was a good thing that the couple was divorced now. Hank did not have to worry about being overshadowed by his wife. Since Jessica was his secretary and she relied heavily on him, it fed his ego as a man. Having recognized Mrs. Brown, Duncan stopped in his tracks and shot a glare
“Sonny.” Mrs. Brown entered the shop smiling and pulled up a toy car from her purse. She said to Sonny, “Look, Sonny. I bought you a toy.” “Grandma.” Sonny had no idea what happened among the adults, so he would still acknowledge his grandparents’ and father’s presence. Liberty held grudges against the Browns, but she was ready to move on after the divorce. So long as the Browns stayed out of her business, Liberty could keep her cool when meeting her ex-husband’s family. She never spoke ill about her ex-husband’s family while Sonny was around. No matter what, Hank was Sonny’s father. Liberty put Sonny down. Mrs. Brown crouched to get to Sonny’s eye level. She handed the toy car to Sonny in exchange for the pinwheel which was a gift from Duncan. Call it her killer instinct but she had the feeling that Duncan was trying to get to Liberty through Sonny. For a divorced single mother to find a second chance in love, the most important thing was to see whether the man was
Caroline smiled gently. “I do quite like Sonny, he's really cute. Liberty, you've done a great job raising your son. It's easy to see that in ten or twenty years, Sonny will be very successful.”The only little one in Wiltspoon who had a familial connection to her was Sonny, as well as Clive’s son. Serenity's baby had not been born yet, after all.“Oh, by the way, I've prepared Christmas gifts for all of you, and I've written your names on them so it's clear whose gift is which. One of them is for Serenity's unborn baby. That generation will call me ‘grandaunt’, right? I'm not sure whether Serenity’s having a boy or a girl, so I've prepared a gift for both a boy and a girl. If it's a boy, then the other gift will be for her second child.”Caroline smiled and said, “Considering how much the Yorks wish for a daughter, I think Serenity and Zachary will probably give it another go and try for a daughter.”In this case, giving double the gifts was not excessive.“My nephew isn't even b
Caroline sighed internally once again. She would not ruminate about the past, and neither could she bring herself to. Mr. Foster was still alive, but he had returned to seek revenge for his master, and in doing so, he made Belinda fully realize that she would never receive his love in this lifetime. Now that Belinda was dead, all the love, hatred, and grudges had dissipated with her. Fortunately, she came to a realization before she passed on and regretted the things she had done to Tiara.Liberty said, “Your mother truly was very shrewd.”Belinda was ruthless, but when it came to making her posthumous arrangements, she had been meticulous, especially in preventing Hunter and his sons from plundering the Fisher family's assets. It had to be said that Belinda had truly done her duty as the head of the Fisher family, though as a mother, she had been too biased. She appeared very good to her three sons on the surface, but when dividing the family estate, she was very objective. “Did
The backing Liberty had was too strong.Although Caroline was familiar with the family business and internal affairs, she had no backing. The number of people supporting her within the family had also decreased. It was not because she was incompetent but because she was Belinda’s daughter. Whatever Belinda did was exposed by the media and circulated among the people of Jensburg. It would be a lie to say that the Fisher family members did not hold a grudge at all. Even if Caroline was kinder than Belinda, they could not support Belinda’s daughter as the next matriarch. People would change. When Belinda first assumed the position decades ago, she was friendly to the family. However, once her position was stabilized, she started eliminating those who were capable and those who disagreed with her. She wanted to monopolize power. Therefore, nobody wanted Caroline to take over as matriarch. On the other hand, Liberty received much more support. Unless Liberty gave up on the
At that moment, the office phone rang. Liberty picked up the call and was informed by the secretary that Caroline had arrived.“Please let her in,” replied Liberty before hanging up. “Caroline is here.”Liberty told Duncan. He said calmly, “So what? We aren’t doing anything shameful. There’s nothing to hide.”He was Liberty’s fiancée. Most people in WIltspoon and Jensburg were aware of this. Seeing him in Liberty’s office would be completely normal to Caroline. Besides, he was one of the shareholders of Liberty’s company. Therefore, the company was also Duncan’s territory. He was uninvolved in the operations and only invested his money. He believed that Liberty could manage the company well. Liberty smiled and did not say anything else. She went to prepare a pot of tea. Soon, Caroline entered. Darren was behind her with multiple shopping bags in his hands. When Liberty saw the bags upon exiting the pantry with a pot of tea, she told Caroline, “What did you br
“What’s wrong?”Duncan replied softly, “I’m fine. I thought you caught a cold because you kept sneezing.”He wanted to fuss over her, yet he received her concern instead. That was the kind of relationship he wanted—mutual concern, understanding, and trust. Liberty understood why he suddenly came to her. She said, “You got so worried over an occasional sneeze. Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’ve gotten used to the winter in Jensburg after staying here for some time.“Maybe I was sneezing because someone said something bad about me behind my back.”Duncan immediately said, “Who dares to badmouth my fiancée?”Liberty feigned anger with a glance, but she was clearly happy. Duncan was very protective of her. Even Hank was not as protective as when she was dating him back then. The difference between true and fake love was so apparent. Duncan guessed, “I can’t think of anyone who’d scold you besides your previous in-laws.”Liberty replied, “You shouldn’t think about them. I no lo
“Anyway, you’re not allowed to take advantage of Sonny. He’ll catch on because he’s growing up. Don’t offend Serenity either. Otherwise, your hardware store that has finally stabilized will have to close down.”Chelsea’s expression changed when she recalled why she and her husband lost their jobs. “One more thing. If Liberty and Duncan get married, don’t be ignorant and stir up trouble at their wedding.”Olivia was worried that her daughter would be unreasonable and make a fuss. Chelsea was unhappy. “Do I look like someone who likes to create trouble? Liberty is different and isn’t as gullible as before. I don’t have the guts to make a ruckus at their wedding.“Do you think I’m that fearless? I’m afraid of losing everything too.”Nevertheless, Chelsea was still jealous that the sister-in-law she used to bully was able to marry into a wealthy family two years after her divorce. Olivia knew well of the daughter she birthed. She said, “Think about who rescued Lucas when someth
Chelsea muttered, “Even if you do that, Sonny isn’t close to you, Mom.”Olivia was speechless for a second. She said, “Even if we aren’t close, he’ll call me grandmom when he sees me. He doesn’t even greet me now.“Sonny may be young, but he’ll be four years old next year. He knows everything he needs to and is clever. He must’ve inherited Hank and Liberty’s best genes because they used to be smart people.”Liberty was not stupid. She even had a better career than Hank before she got married. What were they thinking back then?The Browns wanted to suppress Liberty to ensure she was less dominant than Hank. Therefore, Liberty was persuaded to leave her job after marriage to stay home throughout her pregnancy. She ended up becoming a housewife and lost the sharp edge she had in her workplace. Her world only revolved around her husband and son, causing her to lose her identity gradually. The Browns were changing Liberty bit by bit, yet they were not treating her well. Ultimately
“I’m not using Sonny. Since Hank and I are siblings and he only has one son, Sonny and Lucas can get along as cousins. If Sonny hangs out with his cousins more often, he’ll have brothers who have his back in the future.“If he runs into any problems, we can help him. He won’t be alone.”Chelsea guessed Hank must have told their parents something to have caused the change in their mother’s attitude. Olivia favored Sonny and no longer wished to work toward the future of Chelsea’s children.Olivia glanced at her daughter and chuckled. Then, she looked toward Lucas, the grandson she raised. Lucas was a naughty boy. He would never stay still and had already made a mess of the house in a short period. “Look at how Lucas behaves now and compare it to Sonny’s personality. Although Sonny can get mischievous sometimes, he’s more mature and sensible despite his young age. He’ll only be more composed in the future.“Even if he does run into trouble, he won’t require your help. You guys
“Even if my husband and I work tirelessly for another decade, we can never achieve the wealth of the Lewises.”Chelsea was mentally cursing Hank for being ignorant and not mending his relationship with Sonny. He even brainwashed their parents until they stopped siding with her. She could only imagine Sonny’s bright future, where he would be living in a large villa, driving luxury cars, and inheriting a megacorporation. Meanwhile, her children could only get a decent nine-to-five job. Their monthly salary could even be lower than the price of one of Sonny’s meals.Chelsea was jealous. She was anxious about getting her son to build a close relationship with Sonny.“Why don’t we file a case to regain Sonny’s custody, Mom? Liberty and Serenity won’t ignore us so long Sonny is in our house. They’ll help us so that Sonny lives a good life too.“That way, Sonny will have a deeper connection with us. He won’t forget us when he becomes a capable person.”Chelsea had a pipe dream. O