Hank was livid and tempted to use force. To his surprise, Liberty suddenly turned around and looked at his raised fist. Liberty stared right into Hank’s eyes with a deadpan look and said, “You better kill me if you want to hit me. Otherwise, you can sleep with one eye open.” In the past, Liberty would endure Hank’s verbal and physical abuse. It was all for the sake of the family, her son, and the love she had for her husband but Hank’s insistence on going halves was the last straw. Since Liberty used to work in the same company as Hank, she had a clear idea of Hank’s salary as manager. It was tens of thousands a month. Yet, Hank only gave her three thousand bucks and not a penny more for the household expenses. To top it off, he was making her pay for her own share, so of course she was disappointed. Now that she had been let down, Liberty did not want to be a pushover who revolved around Hank anymore. Hank better not sleep if he ever laid his hands on her again because
Tilting her head, Serenity stared at Zachary as he met her gaze. The couple looked into each other’s eyes. A long while later, Zachary flicked her forehead. “Don’t look at me like that. Are you doubting the authenticity of my words? Serenity, we’ll go to bat for your sister so long as she’s in the right.” The Yorks held their family values in high regard. The husbands and wives had nothing but love for each other. Growing up, Zachary had never witnessed a case of domestic violence. Dad said that men who abused their wives were losers! “Mr. York.” “Yes?” Serenity cautiously asked, “I want to lean on your shoulder.” Zachary hesitated. “Just for a while. I won’t cross the line,” Serenity said while tilting her head to rest against his shoulder. Serenity could feel his body stiffening. Although it was also a strange feeling to her, Serenity needed companionship right now. It felt great to have a shoulder to lean on! It took a while for Zachary’s tensed muscles to
Zachary was speechless.He refused to budge from a stare-down before saying faintly, “It’s late. Get some early rest. Don’t fall asleep here again. It’s chilly at night. You’ll feel the pain when you catch a cold.” Zachary then turned on his heel and left. Soon, Serenity picked up on his door closing and locking. Serenity muttered amusedly, “He even locked the door. That’s hilarious. Who is he trying to keep out?”If Zachary could hear Serenity’s mutter, he would snap back that Serenity was the one he was trying to keep out.Back in his room, Zachary went straight to the bathroom, but not for a bath. He stood in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection. Judging by the faint blush, he did turn red on the face. Lifting his hand, he traced his facial lines and rubbed the spot Serenity touched while searching for the tickling sensation he got when her fingers ran along his face.He turned on the tap and washed his face. Thinking back on his reaction, Zachary smiled an
Feasting his eyes on the balcony garden, Zachary uttered faintly, “You can grow the whole yard with roses when we move into a bungalow. When they grow and climb the walls, the full bloom is a sight to behold.” Serenity replied with a smile, “The price of properties has skyrocketed to an all-time high. I can’t even scrape together the deposit for a studio apartment, let alone a bungalow.”Of course, Serenity had considered getting a bungalow… in her dreams. Anyone would’ve wanted to live in a bungalow if they had the means to do so. Privacy was guaranteed in the standalone building. An apartment was not exactly the perfect sanctuary as the walls were not thick enough to soundproof from upstairs and downstairs. Zachary held his tongue. The place they were staying now was a last-minute purchase before their marriage. He had been staying in a huge mansion prior to this. “Mr. York, get some breakfast. I’ll join you after I’m done watering the flowers.” “Sure.” Zachary turne
Josh was holding a small stack of paper which could easily be mistaken for office documents. “Here you go.” After slipping the papers to Zachary across his desk, Josh took a seat and put his breakfast on the table. He asked his boss, “Do you want some? I got my food delivered from the Wiltspoon Hotel. It’s delicious.” Since Wiltspoon Hotel operated under York Corporation, Zachary usually grabbed his breakfast, lunch, and dinner there. Now that Zachary had a wife, it had been a while since Josh dined with his boss. Hmm… Josh kinda missed those moments. “I’m good.” Picking up the file, Zachary flipped through and asked, “Is everything here?” “Yeah. It’s all there. No stone is left unturned.” “It’s not a lot.” “The younger members of the family have it pretty good while the seniors spent their lives on the farm. What more can there be?” Zachary was without a word. As mentioned by Josh, there was nothing much to write about the seniors, albeit the info on the younge
Ring, ring, ring… The office phone was ringing. Zachary accepted the call and put it on loudspeaker. “Mr. York, Ms. Stone is here again.” With his face falling, Zachary uttered in a flat tone, “Ignore her.” The secretary replied, “Ms. Stone ordered a truck of flowers to be arranged into a heart shape and delivered to the entrance of our building. Apparently, the heart represents her love for you.” Josh’s eyes on his boss were sparkling with gossip. Zachary looked askance at Josh before retorting, “What’s the security here for? Why are they allowing trash at our doorstep?” He then terminated the call. The secretary got the message loud and clear. Josh chuckled. “Elisa is a great girl. She’s forthcoming with her feelings. I mean, the number of women who have a thing for you has got to be as many as the hair on my head, but only Elisa has the guts to profess her love and prove it with her actions.” “Go for her then if you think she’s great. Get her to give you all th
Elisa was the heiress of the Stones after all. Stone Group and York Corporation were not on good terms, so the security guards’ inhospitality toward Elisa could aggravate the hostility between both giants. It was not a responsibility the security guards could shoulder. Soon, a few speeding cars pulled up in front of York Corporation. Getting out of the car, Clive took quick strides toward his sister who was yelling out all the love she had for Zachary through a megaphone. The scowl on his handsome face did not go amiss. There was no question that Zachary called Clive again to make a fuss about his sister’s antics. Clive happened to be in a meeting when he received the complaint. Frustration could barely describe Clive’s emotions right now. Ditching his team of executives, Clive took his bodyguard and came all the way to drag Elisa back. “Zachary…” Before Elisa could finish, the megaphone was snatched right out of her hands. She looked over and met the stern eyes of h
Back in the bookshop near Wiltspoon School, Serenity sat behind the cash register, scrolling on her phone reading news while Jasmine was lost in a romance book. As the owner of a bookshop, Jasmine had free rein to explore all the books she wanted. That was the perk for doing what she loved for a living. Jasmine had read almost all the romance novels in the shop. At times, Serenity would tease by asking Jasmine to become a writer since she had always enjoyed romance novels.“Seren, the main characters of this story got married at first sight too.” As she put down the book, Jasmine added with a smile, “Just like you.” Serenity was fixated on Jasmine. “Lots of people got married after dating shortly. Well, you did say that the female character of that book blindly married a billionaire. My husband is only a wage earner.” Even though Zachary was a senior white-collar worker in a major group, he was working for someone. “You might want to cut down on reading. I think the stor
Twenty million dollars!It was the Clark brothers’ turn to exchange glances. They did not expect Jacob and Michael to name such a high price. While they could pay that amount, they did not want to hand the money to Jacob and Michael. After all, it was no longer a small sum to them, given their situation. Adrian was nervous that he would have to fork out the money himself. While he had significantly more assets than an ordinary person, most were fixed assets, and he only had a few tens of millions of savings. Therefore, he was unwilling to pay twenty million dollars out of the blue. After exchanging glances, Adrian said, “Twenty million is too much. We don’t have that much. We may be wealthy people to you, but it’s all fake. We aren’t as rich as you think.“You’re aware of the Fishers family rules—only daughters can be the successors. Sons can’t even take on the Fisher surname, let alone inherit the family assets.“When my mom was alive, she would support us financially in
“If the plan fails, we have a backup plan—hit her bodyguards’ car and force her car to stop. That way, you two can take Caroline away and leave the rest up to us.”Adrian was prepared for various scenarios.If the car accident did not succeed, then they would first eliminate Caroline’s bodyguards. Without them, and with Darren on a business trip, they could easily take down Caroline, who did not know how to fight. After kidnapping her, they would kill and cut her to pieces before throwing her into the sea. No one would be able to find her. If Caroline were dead, the inheritance from Belinda would belong to the Clark brothers. They still could not take over Fisher Enterprise and the Fisher family or do anything to Liberty. However, with Caroline dead, there would be no one to teach the new and inexperienced Liberty. Whether Liberty could hold her ground was an unknown variable. After a discussion between Adrian and his brothers, they set two goals. Firstly, they would kill Car
“Caroline will definitely receive retribution for this.”Adrian said with spite, “I shall see how she meets her death. The people in Wiltspoon will kill her sooner or later.“Does she think they’ll treat her well just because she betrayed her family? They despise us. She’s still my parents’ biological daughter. There’s no way she can be spared.”“You’re absolutely right.”The three men kept cursing Caroline throughout their journey. Upon arriving at Adrian’s villa, he parked the car. Jacob and Michael looked around after getting out of the vehicle. They thought Adrian’s place was luxurious. Adrian mentioned it was a small place, but it was already a lavish place to them. It was many times bigger than their house in the countryside. Adrian invited Jacob and Michael into the villa and they followed suit.Jacob whispered to Michael, “The Clark brothers are fighting with Caroline for the inheritance, Michael. They must be up to no good, calling us here.“No matter what request
“Although Caroline is our biological sister, she doesn’t treat us as her brothers. We only recognize Celine as our sister. I really wish we could turn back time.“We shouldn’t have allowed Caroline to return to the Fisher family. Ever since she came back, the family had been declining. Many things had happened. My mom’s dead, and my dad’s crippled. All of these are related to her.“Caroline’s an ungrateful bitch. I can’t believe she sided with the people from Wiltspoon. Even now, she’s constantly in contact with them and giving away Fisher Enterprise.“It should’ve belonged to Celine.”Jacob and Michael stayed quiet. They had known for a long time that their biological sister was not Caroline but Celine, the then-successor of the Fisher family. Therefore, they treated Caroline badly and often abused her.Although Caroline had learned to put up resistance after growing up, she was still bullied by Jacob and Michael.She hated them. She did not know the truth in the past and
The two men were Celine’s biological brothers, Jacob and Michael Dott. Adrian nodded. “That’s good to hear. Grieving is useless. Avenging Celine and seeking justice is more important.”Jacob and Michael remained silent. They could not do much. When their father was still the Fishers’ butler, he received a high salary with excellent benefits; the Dotts were the wealthiest family in their town. Since their family was rich, the brothers never put effort into studying. They spent time with questionable friends and led a life of debauchery. Jacob and Michael only matured after marrying and having kids. However, their father was already in prison. Meanwhile, Caroline, whom they used to abuse, had returned to the Fisher family. Celine had refused to return to the Dott family and simply gave them some money. Jacob and Michael had built houses in their town and furnished them well. The money they used was from Caroline and their parents’ savings. Since then, their financial crisi
In the afternoon, Duncan fetched Liberty from Fisher Enterprise for dinner. Caroline stood at the building entrance, watching Liberty and Duncan leave. She was envious. She missed Darren. Although he was still following her, he could not expose himself before others. She was not used to it. Nevertheless, she had to endure it to lure the Clark brothers into her trap. She thought, ‘Please make your move soon, brothers. Don’t keep me waiting.’At that moment, Adrian and his brothers exited the elevator. They were discussing something as they walked. When they saw Caroline standing at the entrance, they paused for a moment. However, they quickly pretended they did not see her and walked past her.Soon, three cars left the company.Caroline stood there for a few more minutes before heading to the parking lot. Her personal bodyguards were waiting at her car. They quickly went to her when they spotted her, while one of them opened the door for her. After Adrian left the com
“I’m used to him being by my side. Now that he’s hidden, it just feels weird.”Caroline added, “Even if I want to kiss him, I can only do it in my dreams.”Liberty was speechless. Seeing Liberty being at a loss for words, Caroline smiled. “Did I renew your impression of me?”“Yes. I didn’t know you were this kind of person.”Caroline giggled. “Darren’s too serious and respectful. If I don’t take the lead, we might sleep on opposite ends of the bed after getting married. He probably won’t even dare to turn in bed.”Liberty thought of Darren’s face, which constantly had a stern expression. He only looked normal around Caroline. He indeed treated her respectfully and never dared to offend her. Liberty said, “You’re still his master. It’s only natural that he’s acting that way.“When you two become husband and wife, he’ll change. However, you won’t have to doubt his love and loyalty for you.”The next thing Liberty knew, Caroline asked her private questions regarding married lif
Caroline moved first, exiting the elevator.Adrian blocked her path, refusing to give way.Caroline did not want to argue with her brothers, so she simply sidestepped and continued toward the CEO’s office. The Clark brothers watched her leave.“Let’s go, Adrian.” Justin entered the elevator first.Adrian withdrew his gaze and led Jason into the elevator.“I heard Darren’s out on a business trip and has been sent to another province to handle some matters, so he won’t be back for at least ten days to half a month,” Jason shared in a low voice. “And for the past few days, Caroline’s only been accompanied by those few bodyguards of hers. There really hasn’t been any sign of Darren with her. I’ve asked someone to look into it and verified Darren left Jensburg by flight a few days ago. What do you think, Adrian?”Adrian replied under his breath, “We’re at work. Don’t talk about that here. We’ll talk about it when we get home tonight.”Justin and Jason immediately shut their mouths.
“I’m in charge now, not your mother. If you can’t do the work, then don’t cling to your positions and collect a salary for doing nothing.”Liberty had no intention of tolerating their laziness any longer.The three brothers had tried investing and running their own businesses, but they mostly ended up losing money. The only stable income they had was from renting out the properties and shops they owned.That was why Hunter had advised his sons to return to Ashford, buy more properties and shops, and live off the rental income. It was much more stable than their business ventures.If the properties were hard to rent out, they could always sell them and recover some money, but with their business investments, not only did they lose money, they often ended up in debt by the time the businesses failed.It was a mystery how much of Belinda’s personal wealth had been spent helping her sons pay off their debts while she was alive.However, there were times when they made money. They wou