Zachary’s eyes flashed with hurt, but he did not react as fiercely as he did yesterday.He said gently, “Seren, do you really want to keep those little animals? If you do, I’ll tell Brandt to lead the way. Ms. Sox and you can go see our family orchard. If you think it’s suitable to rear chickens there, you can keep them there. You can take care of them yourself if you want or let the workers do it.”Serenity frowned. “I didn’t see an orchard at your house when you brought me over during the holidays.”“The hills planted with fruit trees next to Wildridge Manor is the orchard. It’s the York family’s ancestral manor.”Serenity was not surprised that her in-laws had a manor.They were rich.They were involved in all sorts of industries as long as there was money to be earned.“Are you willing to let me out of this villa?”Serenity captured the key points of Zachary’s remarks.Zachary looked at her, and she met his gaze. When the couple looked at each other, Serenity finally saw t
Serenity felt like she could go crazy if she was kept under house arrest.Fortunately, Zachary came around and was willing to return her freedom.“Uncle Zack.”Sonny saw Zachary as Serenity picked him up, and he happily stretched his arms out to Zachary, wanting the latter to carry him.Zachary satisfied the little one and carried him.“Higher, Uncle Zack. Go higher!”Zachary laughed and lifted Sonny up in the sky, generating streams of laughter from the little boy.“That truck...”Not waiting for Liberty to finish her question, Zachary said, “Seren said she wanted to eat chickens that she raised herself, so Ms. Sox helped to buy these chickens. I’m planning to ask Brandt to take Seren to my orchard to see if we can move and breed these chickens there.”Liberty looked at her sister and asked suspiciously, “Why do you want to raise chickens all of a sudden?”Seren paused and said, “Since we already bought them, we need a place to keep them.”Liberty looked at Serenity and the
Everyone sighed in relief at Zachary’s words.They thought he was going back on his word.Fortunately, he was not.Liberty quickly said, “Don’t worry, Zachary. I’ll look after Seren these days. I won’t let her drive fast or drink alcohol!”Then, she added, “If she really wants to drink, I’ll let her drink a few cans with me at home. I won’t let her go to the bar again.”“I’ll leave her in your care.”Zachary said to Serenity, “Seren, stay at your sister’s place for a few days and tell me when you want to come home. I’ll come pick you up. If you don’t want to live with me, you can stay at the house in Brynfield while I move back here.”Serenity looked at him for a long time and said, “Take care.”She got into the car.“Look after yourself, Zachary. I’ll take care of Seren. I’ll make sure she’s hale and hearty when you pick her up.”Serenity was speechless.Was her sister raising her like a pig?After Liberty spoke to her brother-in-law, she got in the car. She fastened her s
Brandt responded respectfully, then said in concern, “It’s cold and windy outside, sir. Let’s go back inside. You haven’t eaten anything since you got up today.”Zachary did not move and asked Brandt, “Will she come back if I faint from hunger?”Brandt was speechless.Zachary smiled wryly. “I was just asking. I won’t neglect my own health. I still want to have a lot of children and grandchildren with Seren and live with her until our hair turns gray. I won’t live to have gray hair if I starve myself.”Brandt quickly said, “The missus eats and drinks well. I think this mentality of hers is commendable.”He was terrified that Zachary would deliberately starve to the point of fainting. If the missus did not come back, then he would starve to death.“She... She doesn’t love me as much as I love her.”That was why she could be a little more ruthless.“Jim,” Zachary shouted in a low voice.Jim hurriedly trotted over.“Get the car. I want to go back to the manor for a few days.”“Y
Grandma May choked and said sheepishly, “I thought that would come naturally and didn’t have to be taught.”She added to herself, “A couple only learns to cherish each other by experiencing ups and downs together.”Tania was speechless.A maid entered.“Old Mrs. York and Mrs. York, Mr. Zachary is back.”Upon hearing that, Grandma May scurried away like a startled bird. Her movements were so agile that they were not befitting of her age.“Tania, I’ll go back to my room and lie down. If Zack asks, tell him that I’ve fallen ill because I was too worried about him and Serenity.”Tania was speechless. “Don’t blame me if Zack sends you to the hospital.”“I’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t send me to the crematorium.”Grandma May hid in her room as fast as possible. She lay on the bed and pretended to be sick.After lying down for a while, she did not hear a knock on the door.She thought to herself, ‘Is that brat so angry that he doesn’t even care about my so-called illness? So th
“Mom.”If Zachary did not explain clearly, his mother would actually arrange a blind date for him and cause misunderstandings.He said in a low voice, “When I said Serenity left with her sister, I meant she went back for a small period of time to calm down. She’s not leaving forever. I won’t allow her to not come back either.”God knew how difficult it was for him to let go and allow her to follow her sister home.“I also need time to calm down, but it’s hard for me, so I want to jump into the pool and take a dip. Maybe that will help cool me down. I’m not trying to harm myself to gain her sympathy.”Tania blinked and asked, “You’re not divorced yet?”“Do you want me to get a divorce?”“Yes and no. I’ve always felt that you two weren’t compatible. Your social circles are completely different. It’ll be very hard for Serenity to squeeze in. Perhaps you two can’t understand that now and don’t know what it feels like, so you’re able to get along well in the beginning. However, you’l
“Tania, get someone to cook ginger soup for that boy. Add more ginger so that it’s spicier.”Grandma May came out of the room and instructed her daughter-in-law as she walked outside.Tania agreed and instructed the maid accordingly.When the two women arrived at the pool, Zachary was still swimming around in the water like a fish.“Zachary York,” Grandma May shouted angrily.Zachary glanced at his nana before swimming to the edge of the pool. Then, he climbed up and sat there.Grandma May walked around the pool and went to him, saying in distress, “What are you still doing sitting here? Hurry back into the house.”“I want to relax and calm down, Nana.”Grandma May scolded him. “If you want to calm down, you can lock yourself in your room. I can assure you that no one will bother you. Why do you need to jump into the pool to do so?”“It’s quite effective.”Zachary added indifferently, “The cold water cleared my mind and calmed my irritability.”He was telling the truth.Gra
After changing his clothes, Zachary drank the bowl of ginger soup under his mother’s gaze. He frowned because the soup was way too spicy.“Mom, why is there so much ginger? It’s so spicy.”“Your Nana asked them to add more ginger. If you don’t like ginger soup, then don’t do such stupid things again in the future.”Zachary put down the bowl. “I really was just trying to calm down. I wasn’t trying to do anything stupid.”“Yes, yes, if you say so. Are you calm now? Go talk to Nana. She’s the one who started it. You wouldn’t have ended up like this if not for her.”Tania was somewhat resentful of her mother-in-law.Her son was such an excellent man. It was not like he could not find a wife, but the old woman insisted on him marrying her savior.At first, they were all grateful to Serenity and wanted to thank her, but Serenity refused.Later, Serenity and Grandma May got along well, and Serenity won the old lady’s favor. Tania secretly wondered if Serenity refused their large sum o
There were still traces of blood at the corners of her mouth and under her nose.Justin and Jason worked together to pull Caroline out, and Adrian immediately tied her legs together before binding her hands behind her back.“Are you going to feed me to the fish, Adrian?”Hearing the sound of the waves and feeling the cold sea breeze, Caroline shivered.She did not stand up and remained lying on the ground.Adrian kicked her several times, venting his pent-up anger.Caroline silently endured it.After kicking her a few times, Adrian squatted, gripping Caroline's chin forcefully with one hand, and said coldly, “Caroline, there’s nothing more to say between us.“Don’t blame us for being heartless. You’re the one who pushed us to this point.“You only have yourself to blame.“Where are the passwords and keys to Mom's private assets? Tell us, and we’ll make it quick for you, so you won’t suffer too much.“If you don’t, we have plenty of time to slowly cut you piece by piece and m
“We can’t just keep giving them money, now can we?”Adrian replied, “That’s not a priority for now. We can burn that bridge when we come to it. If they do dare blackmail us, we’ll just send them on to meet their maker.“The only thing is they both have families. If we kill them, we have to kill their families too. That way, there’ll be no one who’ll report it to the police.“And it’s best to make it seem like an accident too, or else it’ll seem suspicious.”Justin and Jason both felt Adrian was right. If they were going to kill the Dott brothers, they might as well kill their families too.Caroline internally cursed how merciless they were. The Dott brothers thought they could earn some money from Adrian to live a better life but little did they know, it would bring destruction upon themselves and their families.What the Clark brothers did not know was that the Dotts were forced to say what they did earlier.It was not that they had not left yet. Rather, they could not, because
Belinda had done everything other mothers would have. She loved them, yet the three of them had gotten a smaller portion of her wealth than their own children did. Indeed, Belinda left her grandchildren with more money.After all, her grandchildren still had a long life ahead of them.Therefore, she distributed more wealth to them. The Clark brothers loved spending lavishly and kept losing money whenever they tried to establish businesses. They also had many mistresses and never hesitated to spend money on them. Belinda was partial toward her sons about their affairs and also persuaded her daughters-in-law not to get a divorce. In truth, she resented her three sons for being promiscuous and inheriting their father’s flirtatious traits. While Hunter may have been interested in other girls, he dared not cheat on Belinda because she was strict. However, he still had an affair the moment he spotted an opportunity.Later, Belinda chased the Clark brothers’ mistresses out of
Celine, whom they had cared for all long, was not their biological sister but the daughter of the previous butler. Celine’s father was ambitious. He tried making his daughter the Fisher family’s successor. Justin was speechless.“Free me, Jason. I’m already in your hands. Are you still scared that I’ll escape? Let me out. It’s too stuffy in the sack. I feel terrible.”Caroline made a request. Jason seemed to be the one with some lingering feelings for his sibling. Well, that was not really the case.If he truly had even a sliver of sibling love for Caroline, he would have stopped Adrian and Justin from kidnapping her instead of joining the plan. If Caroline had been fortunate, she could have had five brothers doting on her. Sadly, she was unlucky. None of the five brothers had cared for her. They all wanted her dead. Was she a failure as a person, or were they too cruel?Jason said, “Just stay put, Caroline. We’ll let you out when we arrive.”They could not release Car
Caroline could not beat them. Then, her mouth was gagged with a cloth, and her head was covered with a sack. Someone forced her into a car. She heard Adrian saying to his brothers, “Let’s go.“Tell Celine’s brothers to follow us. Assign a few people to clean up and leave quickly.”After that, Caroline heard the sound of an engine starting. The car moved. She could not see what was happening. While she was shoved into the backseat, her arms and legs were unbound. She removed the cloth from her mouth but not the sack from her head.Someone held the sack tightly and started hitting and kicking her. “Tie the sack, Justin,” said Jason in a hurry. The person beating her up was Justin. “I know it’s you guys, Justin and Jason. What are you doing? Let me go. Mmph…”Caroline grunted in pain. She suffered a punch from Justin. She held her head tightly to prevent any injury to it. Many blows landed on her body. “It’s fine even if you know it’s us, Caroline. You better stay
“Ms. Caroline.”The bodyguards looked toward Caroline. Caroline opened her eyes and said calmly, “Stop the car, but don’t get out. Only get out when the situation gets out of hand. Remember to protect yourselves.”“Ms. Caroline…”“I’ll keep myself safe. Don’t worry. I treasure my life. There’s still a long life ahead of me. I haven’t even started enjoying good days. I won’t want to die.”Caroline chuckled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. There was sorrow in those eyes. In the end, she and her brothers could not coexist. It made her realize how bad her luck was with families. She was switched at birth and mistreated by her adoptive family. She thought her biological parents would treat her well after returning to them, but it turned out to be the opposite. Caroline had many family members, yet somehow, she was still alone. The people who truly cared about her were Darren, Liberty, and some others. Caroline’s bodyguards knew she had been waiting for that moment.
The bodyguard in the passenger seat turned and informed Caroline. Caroline remained calm. She said, “Speed up and let them chase us. The road ahead has many curves. A truck will turn over if it goes too fast.”The people in the truck were probably her brothers from the Dott family. She wondered how much money Adrian had given them. Were they planning to drive the truck to chase her and create an accident?Caroline’s driver immediately acted on her orders. The truck behind them accelerated as well. Soon, they arrived at the section of the road with many curves and downhills.Accidents could happen easily if a car drove too quickly at a curve. The truck driver was not ready to give up his life. He decelerated when he saw the curved road ahead. By the time the truck turned, Caroline’s car was gone. The truck driver immediately stepped on the brake. He stopped by the roadside and made a call. He was not one of the Dott brothers but someone else they hired. The driver c
“They’re my biological brothers and father, Em. Although they had attacked me with their words before, they never hurt me physically.“It’s okay. I have bodyguards with me.”Caroline was letting Emma know that she would still be heading home. After sighing, Emma said, “Be careful. Call the police if something feels off. We didn’t treat you well in the past, Carol, but I saw through your family and came to a realization.“You helped me a lot, and you’re the aunt of my children. I wish you well.”Caroline knew Emma was genuinely concerned about her. Ever since she exposed her brothers’ affairs and took her sisters-in-law’s side, her sisters-in-law, especially Emma, have changed their attitudes toward her. When Adrian and Emma were fighting on the verge of divorcing, Caroline stood by Emma unwaveringly. She had also assisted Emma in many instances. Although Emma had left the Fisher family, she would always be Caroline's sister-in-law. “I will be careful and live well, Em.
Since it would be a sleepless night, drinking some coffee could help them stay awake. At eleven o’clock, Caroline and her bodyguards left the cafe. She sensed some people had been following her the entire night. The bodyguards had also noticed it, but Caroline prevented them from alarming those people and let them continue following her. It would be none other than Adrian’s people anyway. Adrian, Justin, and Jason had finished their tasks early and got off work on time. They had the entire night to themselves as they did not have to work or attend events. After Caroline got in her car, she suddenly received a call from Emma. She picked up the call. “Hi, Emma.”“You can call me comfortably, Carol. I’m not your sister-in-law anymore.”Caroline immediately switched to Emma’s nickname. “Why aren’t you asleep but calling me at this hour, Em? I hope my nieces and nephews are obedient. Now that the school term has started, you should be able to relax when they’re at school