Serenity struggled and finally managed to push him away, but he wanted to continue. She was so angry that she swung her hand at him.The slap resounded across the room and shocked Brandt and the maids.Zachary was also stunned.He looked at Serenity’s face, which was red from the anger within. When she glared at him, her eyes gradually reddened, and he saw tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.He had again brought her more pain and further angered her.Zachary blamed himself.He thought his warmth could make her calm down...Brandt snapped back to his senses and hurriedly sent a message to Sam since the latter was the actual butler here. Brandt was only filling in for Sam since Sam was on leave, but he felt he could no longer handle the situation here. He had to call Sam back.It was frightening. The missus actually raised her hand against Mr. Zachary.This was a scene they had never witnessed in all the years they had worked for the Yorks.The men of the York family had
Brandt and the maids did not even dare to breathe.After a long time, Zachary raised his voice and ordered Brandt, “Go and bring my phone charger for the missus.”“Yes, sir.”Brandt quickly went to get the charger for Serenity.Was Zachary allowing her to charge her phone a sign that he would let her leave?In fact, Brandt also felt that Mr. Zachary should not keep Serenity under house arrest and that he should let her leave so that they could both calm down.However, he did not dare say such a thing.Serenity was too important to Zachary and he was afraid she would never come back if she left.That was why he forced her to stay with him. However, that would only aggravate the couple’s conflict.Brandt soon returned with the charger.He handed it to Zachary.When Zachary passed it to Serenity, he could not help but grab her hand when she took the charger, begging, “Seren, don’t bring up divorce again, okay?”Serenity drew her hand back and took the charger.She turned away
Zachary was also relieved.After a moment of silence, he walked over and sat across from Serenity.He used his fork to put food on her plate, but she picked up her plate to avoid the gesture, refusing his food.Zachary bitterly retracted his hand and placed the food his fork held on his own plate instead.“Seren, these are all your favorites. Have more,” he said tenderly.Serenity paid him no response, not even a glance. She simply ate by herself.“I’ll help you peel your favorite shrimps.”Zachary put on the disposable gloves to help her peel the shrimp, but Serenity simply took a shrimp and ate it whole, shell and all.Zachary was speechless.His wife did not even give him the chance to perform.Ding dong... Ding dong...The doorbell rang.It was already dark and chilly outside. Who would visit at this time of day?“I’ll get the door.”Brandt went to open the door.There was a car parked in front of the villa. However, Brandt did not recognize the vehicle, which meant
Serenity was surprised to see that the person who came in was her sister. She immediately put down her plate and walked toward Liberty.Zachary’s knee-jerk reaction was to grab her wrist.Serenity stared at him coldly.“Seren...”Zachary’s heart ached with such a glare from her. He felt like their relationship as husband and wife had returned to the way it was on their first night. No, it was even colder than the beginning of their marriage.He finally let go of her hand and let her walk toward her sister.“Seren.”Liberty jogged over.When the two sisters were face to face, Serenity plunged into her sister’s arms and wailed her heart out.“Seren...”Liberty hugged her sister tightly.“Cry if you want to. I’m here.”“Liberty...”The floodgates to Serenity’s suppressed emotions finally broke free when she fell into her sister’s embrace. She cried pitifully for a long time.Zachary stood not far away, watching his petite wife cry. His heart ached, but he could offer her com
“I don’t want to lose Seren, Liberty. I don’t want to divorce.”Zachary spoke first.“I know I deceived Seren by hiding my identity. Seren is different from the rest. She won’t be particularly happy just because I’m rich. I let her down, so she can get angry. She can scold me and hit me, but she can’t leave me. She can’t divorce me!”When Zachary finished, Liberty said to him, “Do you think you’ll never see Seren again if you let her walk out of this villa?”He stayed silent.He was afraid.He was truly terrified that he would never see Serenity again if she left the villa.“Zachary, Serenity is my sister. We’ve depended on each other for many years, and no one knows her better than I do. She’s not the kind of person who retreats and runs away when things go wrong. No matter how angry and upset she gets, even if she asks you for a divorce, she won’t run away.“Running away isn’t going to solve the problem.“No matter how bad the situation is, you have to face reality.“Let he
Sonny refused Duncan and slid out of bed himself, looking for his mother while crying. When he searched the house but still did not find Liberty, he cried even harder.“Sonny, do you want some candy? Don’t cry. Dunc will give you candy.”Duncan tried to coax him.“I don’t want candy. I want Mommy...”“I’ll bring you outside and buy you a windmill, okay?”“I don’t want windmill. I want Mommy...”Sonny’s cries grew louder.Duncan was unable to soothe Sonny no matter how he tried. He did not know how to coax children.In the end, he took out his cell phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Sonny. “Don’t cry, okay? Come here, I’ll let you play with my phone. We can watch cartoons.”Sonny slapped his phone away with one hand.“I don’t want phone.”Duncan scratched his head, feeling a headache. “I thought children these days could be dealt with easily if they have a phone to play with.”Sonny did not want to play with his phone.However, there were many harmful effects of children
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m mainly concerned about Zachary and his wife,” Duncan said frankly, seemingly worried that Liberty would misunderstand him.“You went to visit them, so how are they now?” Duncan asked concernedly.Liberty sighed before she said, “You and Zachary go a long way back, don’t you? In fact, both of you are good friends and aren’t simply related in business. Mr. Lewis, even you side with Zachary to deceive us.“You know Zachary’s temper more than I do. He obstinately insists that things will be fine as long as he keeps Seren there. He won’t even allow Seren to walk out of his villa. I noticed that he’s quite weary, whereas Seren is slightly disheartened.”Duncan opened his mouth as he wanted to speak up for his good friend. However, he had no idea what to say. He had said good things about him countless times. He said so much that he felt thirsty and drank quite a lot of water at Liberty’s place.“Zachary has to come around to it now, otherwise we won’t be
Nevertheless, before the couple could celebrate, Hank’s boss had urged him to return to the office and continue working.After that, Hank caught sight of the interview regarding how Mr. Zachary pampered his wife.Serenity’s husband, Zachary, turned out to be that Mr. Zachary York. Hank did suspect that before, but Zachary denied it.In the end, Zachary was really that Mr. Zachary York.When Jessica learned the news, she was madly jealous. She was jealous of how fortunate Serenity was to be able to rise from rags to riches. Previously, Jessica was also jealous when she found out that Mrs. Stone was Liberty and her sister’s aunt.Jessica had been consumed by jealousy the entire afternoon, which caused Hank to feel unhappy.It was Serenity’s business to marry Zachary. Was Jessica jealous because she looked down on Hank?“Liberty!”Hank finally spoke and started bombarding questions at Liberty, “Is that man Mr. Lewis? Mr. Lewis walked out of your house. What did both of you do? I
Isabella’s bodyguard had only called out to her, not daring to touch her, so she had not woken up. However, when Austin gently patted her face and called her, she woke up almost immediately. When she opened her eyes and saw Austin’s handsome face, Isabella was momentarily dazed, thinking she was dreaming about him.She had actually dreamed about Austin. Had she developed feelings for him? If she had not, why would she dream about him? In all her life, this was the first time she had dreamed about a man. Isabella wanted to touch Austin’s face, but as she raised her hand, she realized she was not dreaming.Austin was real. She could smell the fresh scent on him because they were so close.He had showered.Isabella quietly lowered her hand, hoping Austin had not noticed her earlier intention, lest he misunderstood.“Ms. Isabella,” Austin’s warm and pleasant voice reached her ears, making her want to close her eyes and go back to sleep. With him around, she felt safe and secure.
Hunter had neither money nor power. What could he possibly use to save his sons?“Dad, go home. When the trial starts, we’ll send someone to pick you up so you can attend and observe.”Hunter stood up angrily and stormed off.After he left, Ellie asked Ava, “Are we really not going to do anything? My child is still young. Having a father in prison will always be a stain on their life.”“What can we do? Even if we wanted to save them, we don’t have the means. We know what Caroline is like. She’s not going to let this go lightly this time,” Ava replied. “Anyway, think about last year, when they were caught cheating. How did they treat us then?”Remembering the events from last year, Ellie said, “Let them serve a few years in prison, then. Ava, Caroline is in the hospital. Should we go visit her?”“We should. Let’s go tomorrow. We’ll call Emma and visit Caroline together. The Fisher family is full of terrible people, but Caroline still has some conscience. She’s always been kind t
Hunter was momentarily speechless. He did not have much money. When Belinda was alive, he never had more than five hundred dollars on him. After his children grew up, he secretly asked them for money. During that time, he had money to spend freely, living a lavish life outside.However, all that money had been spent. He had no savings, mainly because he was used to spending extravagantly.He had been unable to save money. He did not own any shops or properties either; Belinda had kept him on a tight leash.The house in their hometown had been built with Belinda’s money, but it was not under his name. It was under his three sons’ names.After Belinda’s death, his sons supported him. Each son gave him over a hundred thousand dollars a month for living expenses.Combined, that was several hundred thousand dollars a month, allowing him to live comfortably in Ashford. He had managed to save a little, but not much, just over a million dollars in total. Hiring the best lawyers for h
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