Following Hank’s words, Jessica said, “I’m not saying you can’t give your son a hug. I just don’t want you to go alone. I need to be with you.” She intimately wrapped her hands around Hank’s arm. Hank dabbed her forehead amid chuckles. “Silly girl. Don’t be jealous. I divorced her because I wasn’t in love with her. Don’t listen to my mom and sister. I won’t get back together with Liberty.” His mother and sister believed Liberty would be a huge help to his career since Liberty now had a wealthy aunt. Hank had to say that things were not working out for him at Waltham Electronics, but he would not leave so long as his boss did not fire him or take away his perks. He also upped the kickbacks to earn more prior to leaving the company. Hank needed a lot of money since he was about to marry Jessica. Although Liberty welcomed a wealthy aunt in her life, her aunt never offered a helping hand. In fact, Liberty used Hank’s money from the divorce to rent a place to set up a restaura
“You got it wrong, Mr. Brown. I’m the one buying the gifts for my in-laws, not my sister.”Serenity offhandedly added, “Even if my sister’s buying gifts, she’s not spending your money. Nobody wants your two cents.” To think Hank expected her sister to make a note of every expense for Sonny’s upkeep. Hank was a loser for sure! Mrs. Brown had the nerve to persuade Liberty to get back together with Hank. Did Mrs. Brown think her son was the last man left on earth? It was freaking hilarious. “Yours? Why are you getting your in-laws so much?” Hank was surprised. He thought the sisters would be preparing gifts for the Stones. It never crossed his mind that Serenity was getting gifts for her in-laws. Tch. Serenity turned out to be quite generous. Come to think about it, where did Serenity get the money from? Did she ask her sister for money to buy Christmas gifts? “I can get as many as I want. It’s none of your business. You can let the lady next to you know if you’re j
Curling her lips, Liberty said, “I heard things aren’t going well for both of you at work. One of these days, you might just find yourselves without a job. You’ll only have access to an empty bank account. What’s there to brag about?“Although we paid for our half of the expenses, I got a million bucks off him during the divorce. My life with my son won’t be affected even when he’s out of employment.” Jessica was lost for words. Hank pulled a sour face. “What do you mean by out of employment? We’re doing fine at our jobs, thank you very much.” Serenity chimed in, “Your mom said otherwise. She’s been at my sister’s place nearly every day to rant about a mistress having you under a spell. She said Ms. Yates’s a prodigal who doesn’t care that money doesn’t grow on trees. Your mom even commented that Ms. Yates’s parents are selling their daughter instead of marrying off their daughter. Apparently, her family is money hungry.” Jessica scowled. Agreeing that the Yates family was d
“My mom doesn’t mean it. Why are you hung up on this? Jessica, if I can be honest about the bride price, I think your family is demanding a lot. I’m fine with giving your family over seven hundred thousand dollars if they pay for the wedding and offer other gifts of the same value. “Heck, I’ll be happy if they offer half the value, but your parents said they’ll only be gifting a few sets of bedding and an e-bike. The gifts are only less than ten thousand dollars put together.“I overheard your parents the day they came to meet mine that the bride price would be split between your two brothers for their home renovations and new cars. Your parents are keeping sixty thousand dollars while only six thousand dollars is left for you and the wedding.” Hank admitted that he went through the roof when he eavesdropped on how Jessica’s parents planned to spend the money. He owned a fortune of around two million dollars. Since more than a million dollars went to Liberty, Hank had less than
Hank carried on saying, “The house is also yours since your name will be added to the title deed. We can enjoy a nicely renovated house instead of paying for your brothers’ home renovation for your sisters-in-law to enjoy.” Although Jessica was in on Hank’s idea, she said, “Are you expecting my parents to come down from their request of 777,777 dollars and settle with over a hundred thousand dollars? Hank, are you trying to haggle on a gift? You said you would give me the world and only want me to enjoy the best of life. “You said you’ll give me a grand wedding, but all you’re going to offer is over a hundred thousand dollars? Is this the grand wedding you’re talking about?” Hank refuted, “The going rate for bride price in Wiltspoon is tens of thousands. Most people would settle for a few thousand dollars. It’s not about the money here in Wiltspoon. Families here only want their daughters to have a good and lasting marriage.” Liberty also came from a small town. The Hunts deman
Liberty said with a smile, “Zachary is a good man. Don’t lump him together with men like Hank.” Looking into the shopping cart, Liberty remarked, “It’s full. Are you getting more? Why don’t we stop here and take these things home? We can check what else is needed and go from there. It would be hard carrying all the shopping bags up the stairs if they bought too much. Mrs. Lane was not around because Serenity gave her time off to spend time with her family during the holidays. Serenity gave Mrs. Lane a Christmas bonus and some gifts since Mrs. Lane had been a huge help to Serenity and her sister. Liberty also gave Mrs. Lane a Christmas bonus. Plus, Mrs. Lane received another Christmas bonus and gifts from Zachary. She could spend the festive holidays with her family without worrying about finances. She could not go wrong working for Mr. Zachary. The missus and Liberty were the kindest people. Apart from Mrs. Lane, Jim, who had served and remained by Zachary’s side all th
Peering at Liberty who was spilling on the sides despite dropping thirty pounds, Hank snapped out of his thoughts and refused to take a trip down memory lane. Serenity bought too many things for them both to carry. They let the mall concierge know before borrowing the shopping cart to push out of the store. “Liberty, wait here with Sonny. I’ll drive the car up.” Serenity’s car was parked in the mall’s underground parking. She needed to drive the car out of the parking lot before they could load the goods into the car. “Sure.” Liberty was fine with the arrangement. Seeing that his aunt was leaving on her own, Sonny panicked and cried, “Aunt Ser! Aunt Ser!” Liberty responded, “Aunt Ser is driving over to pick us up, Sonny.” It gave Sonny the assurance he needed. He thought his aunt was going to abandon him and his mother here. Hank and Jessica soon emerged. Since they too had made a huge purchase, they asked permission from the concierge to push the cart out of the
Nevertheless, that was Zachary’s business. Duncan would not interfere in Zachary’s affairs as he was only Zachary’s best friend. “I see.” Duncan took a fleeting glance at the items in the shopping cart. Zachary’s wife did not take the visit to Zachary’s home lightly since she bought a lot of good stuff. “Sonny.” As always, Duncan would play with Sonny. Sonny turned his head away before Duncan could touch his hand. He asked Liberty to hold him. Knowing that her son was afraid of Duncan, Liberty picked him up. “Sonny, I gave you a pinwheel. Why are you still afraid of me?” Sonny wrapped his arms around the nape of his mother’s neck and buried his head against his mother’s shoulder, refusing to meet Duncan’s gaze. Did Dunc think a pinwheel could win him over? Sonny would not be taken in easily; as if he would fall for that. “Come, Sonny. Let me carry you to get more beautiful pinwheels.” Duncan tried to take Sonny from Liberty. Sonny put up a struggle and cried,
However, they had heard that this man had previously pursued Imogen, and those who had a good memory and had seen Dylan before, had already recognized him.When Imogen seemed a bit interested, this man then said he did not love her and went to pursue someone else. After failing to win over that person, he backtracked to pursue their vice president once more. This behavior left many people with a bad impression of Dylan.What did he take their vice president for?It was worth noting that Imogen was the chairman’s niece and the president’s sister. The chairman treated his own daughter and niece the same, and in the Doyle family, she was very much favored by her elders. The Doyles were one of the top families in Huntington, and as part of it, Imogen did not have to worry about finding a husband.Dylan ignored the looks people gave him. His gaze fixed on the cars coming out of the Davidson Group building, afraid that if he blinked, Imogen would pass him by.He watched the employees le
Duncan called Serenity to inform her that he was taking Sonny to the Lewises’ for dinner and would send him back later. Naturally, Serenity had no objections. With her nephew being well taken care of by Duncan, Serenity had time to go shopping with Jasmine. Jasmine was buying baby supplies as she was eight months pregnant and it was high time to prepare for the baby’s arrival. Watching Jasmine pick up items for her baby made Serenity feel the itch, and she ended up buying a ton of stuff for both her baby and Sonny.In the evening, Zachary and Josh came to pick up their wives.They both managed to cancel their appointments, leaving the task of handling work engagements to Callum and other senior executives. The two men who were once the busiest had now become the ones who most enjoyed slacking off.“Why did you buy so much? Where’s Sonny?” Zachary asked as he walked toward Serenity when he got out of the car. He saw his wife and her bodyguards carrying a bunch of shopping bags. T
Olivia cursed Duncan one last time. “You won’t have a good ending bullying the weak!” she spat before she was pulled away by her husband.Duncan watched them leave, his expression cold. “Dunc, don't be angry. My grandmom is always like that. When Lucas wanted my toys before, I cried and refused to let him take them. My mom wouldn’t let him either, but she always scolded my mom. I still remember that.”Sonny could vaguely remember some things from when he was two years old. It had only been a little over two years since then, after all.As he comforted Duncan, he gently touched Duncan's face, speaking softly, “Aunt Ser says we shouldn’t get too angry. If we get too angry, we’ll grow old faster. I don’t want you to get old, Dunc. I want you to stay just like this forever.“Dunc, please don’t be mad anymore. I won’t eat the fried chicken my grandmom buys for me anymore.”Duncan could not help but feel both amused and heartbroken for both Sonny and Liberty, who had been mistreated b
“I don’t want to. I want to be with Dunc.”Sonny did not want his grandmother to carry him. He turned to Olivia and said, “Aunt Lili treated me when I was sick and she said my throat got infected because I ate fried chicken, and that’s why I had a fever. She told me not to eat fried chicken anymore.“Aunt Ser also said that when I feel better, she’ll fry it for me herself. It’s safer than the fried chicken bought from outside, but I still can only eat a little bit, not too much.“Grandmom, I don’t want to eat fast food bought from outside anymore. You guys shouldn’t blame Dunc. He’s really good to me and if you scold him, I won’t like you anymore.”Sonny did not really have any affection for his grandparents. They had always taken his cousin Lucas’s side. Whatever toys he had or food he liked, Olivia would take them away to give to Lucas. He did not like Lucas, and he did not like Grandmom either. Even though his grandparents were nicer to him now, Sonny still spent very little t
Olivia immediately retracted her hand when she saw Duncan’s cold glance. Not daring to forcefully take Sonny from him, she awkwardly smiled and said to Duncan, “Mr. Lewis, can we have a word with Sonny?”“You can ask Sonny. If he’s happy to, that’s fine,” Duncan said coldly, giving Luke’s bag a glance before addressing both of them. “Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Sonny had a fever yesterday, which the doctor said was due to a throat infection. You two took him to eat a lot of fried chicken and fries that day, which caused the infection.“Today, you brought him more fast food. If Sonny eats that, he might have a fever again. Please try to avoid giving him such heavy foods in the future.”Olivia immediately became anxious, reaching out to touch Sonny’s forehead. “Has Sonny recovered from the fever? Are you still feeling unwell? Why didn’t you take a day off from preschool?“It’s fine to do that, you know. There’s no need to rush back to school. Plus, Sonny doesn’t eat much. We did take him to
“I don’t understand what Liberty is thinking, leaving Sonny in Wiltspoon. When she got Sonny’s custody, she should have taken him with her,” Olivia muttered.She really wanted her son to file another lawsuit and regain custody of Sonny, but out of consideration for Sonny’s future, she could not do that. Plus, her son would not listen to her anyway.“Liberty went to Jensburg. She’s probably still dealing with a lot of trouble over there and we don’t understand the situation. If she could, she would have taken Sonny with her. She values Sonny’s education a lot, and Sonny has been well-educated under her care,” Luke spoke more objectively.Although he did not like Duncan, he could see that Duncan really cared for Sonny. Sonny was very attached to Serenity because she had raised him. That was natural, and it probably had nothing to do with whether Duncan was a good stepfather or not. Luke did not say this out loud to avoid being scolded by his wife for siding with Duncan.“Here comes
Moreover, Patrick was still alive, and he had been Tiara’s assistant. Plus, the crime of Belinda killing her sisters to rise to power had been exposed to the world and no matter how one thought about it, it was impossible for Belinda's children to take over the position.“Dad, I just can’t accept it! I just don’t agree! Even if I can’t get the position of the head of the family, Liberty can forget about taking away our positions in Fisher Enterprise!“And if Caroline doesn’t divide the huge fortune left by Mom with us, she can forget about taking it all. If worse comes to worst, I’ll go down with her. If I die, my children can inherit Mom’s fortune, but Caroline’s unmarried and childless! She stands to lose the most if she dies.”Adrian stood up and turned to leave once he finished speaking. It was clear he did not want to continue the conversation with his father and did not want to listen to his advice.Justin and Jason looked at each other, then at their father, who was tremblin
The older generation of the Fisher family had indeed accepted the gifts sent by the Clark brothers. They felt that they had been mistreated by Belinda, so they viewed the benefits given by Belinda’s sons as compensation from her. However, they had not agreed to do what the Clark brothers wanted—to solicit their support. Without concrete evidence, what could the Clark brothers do to them? Besides, it was quite normal for juniors to give their elders gifts during the holiday season, was it not?Hunter could not help but slap his son’s arm. He scolded, “How many times have I told you, and you still won’t listen? My words just go in one ear and out the other.“Though you lot and Caroline are siblings, you’re still Clarks, not Fishers. The Fisher family’s rules have been in place for over a hundred years and won’t change just because of you. If they could change, it would have happened long ago. Do you really think it would have taken this long?“Those old fogies are from the Fisher fa
At the sound of a car, Hunter, who was sitting in the yard basking in the sun, instructed the helper who was taking care of him, “Go outside and see if the young master is back.”The helper went out. Soon, Hunter saw his three sons walking toward him one after another.Seeing this, Hunter could not help but furrowed his brow, feeling a headache coming on as he pinched the space between his brows. He suddenly understood why his late wife would become so impatient and frustrated with their sons—they were really troublesome.He had tried to reason with them, advising them to preserve their strength, to stop hoping to stay on at Fisher Enterprise, and to return here where they could still live well, but they simply refused to listen.When they accompanied him back to Ashford during Christmas, he thought they had come to their senses, but when the new year started and Fisher Enterprise resumed operations, they eagerly hurried back.It made Hunter so angry that he scolded them at home f