Jessica knew she was being ridiculous. Whatever she was spouting was nonsense.She was just angry.In the past, Hank used to say that he would lose his appetite when he came home and saw how fat Liberty was.After the divorce, Hank kept looking for Liberty, and Liberty kept losing weight. She had lost tens of pounds in just two months but Liberty was still a fat woman if she were to be compared to a supermodel.However, for an ordinary person, Liberty just looked slightly chubby.Jessica felt that Hank came looking for Liberty because the latter lost weight and looked much better than when she got divorced.Liberty walked over.When Jessica saw her, she looked at Liberty with resentment and fury, and shouted fiercely, “Liberty, I’m not afraid just because you have a rich aunt. I’m not afraid that your brother-in-law is Mr. York either. I’ll tear you apart if you dare seduce my husband.”Liberty was highly amused and said, “Ms. Yates, are you feeling insecure because you stole s
“Ms. Yates, you can go back and question your husband if you don’t believe it. Why are you here to question my sister instead? You need to get this into your head. It was your husband who came to my sister, not the other way around.”Serenity could not help but add, “If you’re that insecure, cut off your husband’s legs to make sure he can only stay by your side in the future.”“Move out, Liberty. Move far away from here and don’t let my mother-in-law find out. That way, Hank won’t come to see you.” Jessica ignored Serenity’s mockery. Right now, the person she was most jealous of was Serenity.She was prettier and younger than Serenity, but it was Serenity who married Mr. York.Serenity’s life was too good to be true.Just what did Mr. York see in her?It was not just Jessica who had those thoughts. Many people did not understand what it was about Serenity that moved Mr. York’s heart and how she became his most beloved.Before Liberty could say anything, Serenity got furious and
Serenity hung up the video call.Zachary muttered, “She won’t even let me see Sonny.”If he had known, he would have kept teasing Sonny. That way, he could let Serenity hear his voice.Liberty looked at her sister but remained silent. She did not ask a single question since she brought her sister home. Serenity would naturally talk to her when she wanted to.When she saw her son’s mouth covered in gravy, she laughed and wiped the gravy from his face.Serenity wanted to go out after dinner.“Where are you going?” Liberty asked while washing the dishes.“I just want to go out for some air. I’ll use your e-bike.”“Stay close. The battery might not last. If you go too far and run out of battery, you’ll have to push the bike the rest of the way. Put on a jacket. It’s windy outside.”“Got it.”“Don’t ask Jasmine out for drinks. Zachary is worried about you, and I promised him I won’t let you drive recklessly or go drinking.”Serenity’s mood soured again at the mention of Zachary’s
Serenity and Sonny made two laps nearby and she ended up bringing Sonny to a nearby supermarket. They went home with a full load of snacks and a carton of milk.Serenity stopped the e-bike in front of Liberty’s block.She instinctively looked around but did not spot Zachary. She was relieved yet had mixed feelings.“Get down first, Sonny. I’ll push the bike into the garage and lock it up.”There was a public garage on the first floor for the tenants to park their vehicles.Serenity first lowered her nephew from the e-bike, then placed the snacks and the carton of milk she bought beside him.The little guy thought his aunt bought all these snacks for him, so he immediately squatted next to the bag and grabbed it with one hand while another was on the carton of milk. It was obvious he was trying to protect the food.“Sonny.”A familiar voice rang out.Sonny turned his head and saw Zachary standing behind him. He immediately stood up and called out happily, “Uncle Zack.”Then, h
After struggling to take his eyes off Serenity, Zachary quietly followed his sister-in-law out. Grabbing the paper and pen, Serenity wrote an apology and left her name and phone number so she could discuss repairs when the person got in touch. Seeing the anti-theft lock was unused, Serenity put the note on the pedal and clamped it down with the lock. Once she had done that, Serenity walked out of the parking garage. She saw her sister and nephew, but Zachary was nowhere to be found. “Liberty, is he gone?” “You bought a lot of stuff. Zachary volunteered to move them upstairs for you.” Pursing her lips, Serenity said nothing more. “You said you were just going out for a ride, but you ended up in a supermarket. I can’t leave you and Sonny in the supermarket. You shop until you drop.” With her son in her arms, Liberty chatted with her sister while climbing up the stairs. “Retail therapy is the best when you’re feeling down. You’ll come out of the store feeling new.” Lib
Since Serenity personally brought the piping hot glass of water out of the kitchen, Zachary assumed it was for him to warm himself up. Serenity was angry and gave him the snub, still refusing to forgive him. Nevertheless, her tiny gestures told Zachary that Serenity was not as heartless as she put herself out to be. With that in mind, Zachary felt a little better. As Sonny leaned forward, Zachary immediately moved the glass aside before hot water was knocked over. Sonny wanted to open the bag of snacks. Zachary pulled the bag over and opened it for him. “Thank you, Uncle Zack.” Grabbing a pack of chips from the grocery bag, Sonny gave it to Zachary and said, “This is for you, Uncle Zack. Aunt Ser said it’s tasty.” Aunt Ser rarely bought him chips, stating that too much junk food was not good for him. Yet, Aunt Ser always helped herself with a bag of chips. After Zachary took the bag of chips, Sonny dug out a few more snacks and gave them to Zachary. The little boy t
Struck by a thought, Zachary flipped the lights on and hurried to Serenity’s bedroom. He flung the door open and looked at the unchanged décor. Her things were still around. He examined her closet and found a few pieces of clothing missing. Her suitcase was still beside the wardrobe. She did not take all her things with her. Zachary sighed heavily with relief. He was so afraid of losing someone for the first time ever. Sitting on Serenity’s bed, Zachary brushed his fingers along her sheets as if he could feel her through her belongings. “Seren…” He murmured her name. “I’ll prove to you through my actions that you won’t hear another lie from me again!“You can ignore me for a year if I ever do anything to deceive or hurt you. Um… A year’s a bit long. Maybe three months.” After much thought, Zachary believed he would go crazy from three months of no interaction with Serenity. He mumbled to himself, “I think a week is fine. I lost my mind when you didn’t talk to me for a
Serenity said with a smile, “Of course, we’ll be open for business.” “They said you’ll sell the business and take it easy with life when we found out you were the missus of the York family. They also said they are willing to buy your business no matter the cost because of the good energy in your shop.” Mr. Charles added amid chuckles, “The place only has good energy because you’re there.” Did these people think they would marry up like Serenity just by taking over her shop? Nevertheless, it was not a bad idea to buy Serenity’s business. He could advertise saying that the shop once belonged to Mrs. York. “I’m still the same me, Mr. Charles. Jasmine and I put a lot of hard work into the shop. I can’t just give up on the shop after running it for so many years.” “I heard that the wives of wealthy families can’t work. Does Mr. York allow you to work?” Mr. Charles was in the mood for some gossip.Serenity kept quiet for a while before answering, “I’m a free person, Mr. Charle
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