Liberty said, “There’s a part two. It talked about Grandmom being admitted into the hospital and prepped for surgery with the date fixed, having received help from kind netizens.“The netizens are really tearing into me, calling us ingrates. Apparently, Granddad and Grandmom struggled hard to raise us, but we repaid them with nothing after we made something of ourselves. We didn’t even visit Grandmom now that she was sick in the hospital. They said we were heartless and a letdown to our grandparents and deceased parents.” Liberty did a slow burn after scrolling through the comments all day.It hurt especially when her parents were brought into the picture. Mom and Dad were way better children to Granddad and Grandmom than her uncles when they were still alive. Yet, this was the treatment Serenity and Liberty received from Grandmom and Granddad now that their parents were dead. “Liberty, don’t read what the keyboard warriors have to say. They don’t know the truth and will belie
The despair, anger, sadness, and helplessness did not go amiss between the lines. Tears filled Serenity’s eyes as she flipped through her sister’s diary while accounts of the past flooded her mind.[Dad’s side of the family and Mom’s side of the family were ripping each other apart over the insurance money. All of them were trying to get a bigger cut. No one cared about Serenity and me. No one talked about adopting us and taking care of us. Mom and Dad were dead, but all they could think about was money. What about our feelings? Is this what they call a family?Mom, Dad, come back to us. Do you know what your daughters are going through now? How could you leave me and Serenity behind? It was raining. Was God feeling sorry because my sister and I lost our parents? We didn’t have a mom and dad anymore. I cried for Mom and Dad, but they could no longer hear me. I looked at Serenity’s clueless face and cried. She cried too.Serenity had been asking me when Mom and Dad were coming ho
Serenity put her sister’s diary pages on Twitter in response to the viral tweet about ungrateful granddaughters. Apart from Liberty’s diary, Serenity also put forth evidence from her hometown to prove her grandparents had been living a nice life upon pocketing several hundred thousand dollars. Their children were also among the richest in town. It struck Zachary that his dashcam would have recorded Old Mr. Hunt’s cocky voice when he called Serenity while Zachary and Serenity were on the way to Liberty’s place for dinner. Zachary went to check on it and confirmed another crucial piece of evidence caught on tape. Serenity then uploaded the recording of her conversation with Granddad onto the internet. She left the netizens to fume and raise hell as it was no longer her concern. Zachary did not give the file on the Hunts to Serenity to publish online. Instead, he left it in Josh’s hands to expose the occupations and incomes of the family’s sons and grandsons, under the identit
Instead of retreating to her room, Serenity went to the balcony and sat on the swing as she stared at the flowers and stars in the night. Having pulled herself together, Serenity got up and went to her room. It was a quiet and peaceful night for the young couple. Meanwhile, at the hospital, the Hunts were caught in a media hell storm. The media circus which they had dragged Liberty and Serenity into did not impact greatly on the sisters. However, Serenity’s response to their tweet not only contained Liberty’s account of the truth back then, but also the recording of the townspeople’s narration. Even the town council backed up Serenity’s claims. The Hunts’ jobs, income, and residences were uncovered by resourceful netizens. They lived in villas and had decent employment with annual incomes ranging from hundreds of thousands to over a million. The younger family members were not the only ones loaded as Old Mr. and Old Mrs. Hunt had savings up to hundreds of thousands as well.
John’s father, Chris Hunt, said to Mike, “John’s job is priority. If he loses his job over this…” Chris stopped short of finishing the sentence, but by the look on his face, Chris was putting the blame on Mike. It was Mike’s idea to turn the media against Liberty and Serenity. “Uncle Chris, John has been working at the same company for years. His boss won’t fire him over something so trivial. I’ll clarify that John has nothing to do with the whole thing.” Mike ran a home business, so whatever was going online had no adverse effect on his business. Feeling assured, Chris phoned John and told him to explain his innocence in all of this before potentially losing his job. “The girls are too much,” one uncle reproached. “Fine if they didn’t want to pay. Why did the girls have to ruin us like this?” Although the Hunts’ tweet about the ungrateful granddaughters went viral, the post did not spread as far and wide as they liked. Serenity’s response, however, received a lot of atte
Old Mrs. Hunt was well-known in town for her temper. She was assertive and never yielded to anyone. She insisted that her sons and grandsons were not in the wrong. God knew how long the old lady could keep up with that pride. Without any idea how her relatives spent the night, Serenity had a good night’s sleep. As morning light rolled around, she dreamed about her parents. She cried out to her mom and dad while trying to reach them but only caught air. By the time she woke up, tears had drenched her pillow. Serenity stared blankly at the ceiling for a long time before sitting up. She pulled out tissues to wipe away traces of tears on her cheeks as she mumbled under her breath, “Mom, Dad, did you know that your daughters were bullied? Don’t worry. Liberty and I aren’t the same kids from fifteen years ago. They can’t push us around anymore.” She picked up her phone for a look. Serenity muted her phone before she went to bed last night. There were multiple missed calls and u
Tensing his facial muscles, Zachary gave Serenity a warning look. “Mr. York.” Serenity asked him, “Can I kiss you?” Zachary was stumped. Had she no shame? She went as far as to ask a man this kind of question. “Your smile is gorgeous. It took my breath away. I just want to hold you and have my way with you.” “Serenity, you sure have the cheek.” “My cheeks are right here.” Serenity smacked her face with a smile as Zachary winced. “I only said that because we’re married. I mean, we’re married in the eyes of the law, so it’s not a crime to kiss you.” With Zachary pulling back a few steps, Serenity burst out laughing at his flight instincts. Zachary flew off the handle. Well, she was to be blamed for his reaction. The last time she even touched his face out of nowhere. As her roars of laughter tipped him over the edge, Zachary closed in suddenly and grabbed the chuckling girl to pull her into his arms. Zachary dipped his head forward and sealed her lips, swallowin
“You don’t have to transfer the money for the car.” Zachary changed the subject back to the recent car purchase. As Serenity did not have Zachary’s bank account details, she had been sending fifty thousand dollars to his mobile device every day. However, Zachary had not once accepted the transaction. The first transaction of fifty thousand dollars had made its way back to Serenity’s bank account. “I got you a car to uphold my public image. I might be busy with work, but there are occasions I’d need to bring you to business dinners too. It’d be humiliating for me if people were to find out that my wife rides an e-bike that could break down at any time.” Zachary saw the car as keeping up appearances. “I thought it was an apology gift,” Serenity retorted. Zachary replied after a pause, “It works both ways.” “Well, don’t give me any more living allowances for the year since you already got me a car.” Zachary lifted his chin and stared at her without saying yes or no. Se
Zachary, afraid that his wife might refuse to spend time with him at his office in the future, emphasized that he was not busy today.He had already cleared his morning schedule because he needed to accompany his beloved wife for her prenatal checkup.His secretary was well aware of Serenity’s checkup dates. Whenever he saw Serenity turn up at the office with his boss, his secretary would quietly adjust his schedule.Sometimes, on the day of the Serenity’s checkup, his secretary would not schedule any appointments for Zachary at all.Even if appointments were scheduled, Zachary would request they be canceled or rescheduled.Now, in Zachary’s eyes, his wife’s matters were the most important.With Alex now able to share the workload, Zachary felt that he, as the eldest of his generation who had shouldered the bulk of the burden for so many years, deserved a break.Plus, there was the elite team the company had trained; if not now, then when would they be put to use?Everyone was
Tony turned around and left.Only after hearing the door close did Carrie dare to open her eyes.She had woken up while Tony and his son were on the phone, but she did not dare move, fearing that Tony might suspect her of eavesdropping.Just now, when that old lecher stood by the bed looking at her, there was definitely a murderous glint in his eyes. She could feel it.Sooner or later, he would kill her.Carrie was filled with panic. She wanted to escape but was afraid she would not succeed. No one was there to help her.For a moment, Carrie even considered running to Camryn to confess everything, but she quickly dismissed the thought. The reason she ended up in this situation was entirely due to Camryn.She and Camryn were sworn enemies. Their conflict would not end until one of them was dead. However, even if she died, she would drag Camryn down with her.-Meanwhile, in the CEO's office at York Corporation, Zachary, seated at his desk, kept glancing up at his pregnant wife.
“You should have gotten rid of them all back then and cultivated a network of people loyal only to you.” Manny felt that his father should not have spared those people in the first place.Tony said, “There were too many of them, all relatives and friends with the same goal as us. We couldn’t eliminate them all at once.”Back then, he had incited everyone to join him in wiping out the entire main family, sparing neither the elderly nor the children.It was because they were all from the collateral branches, jealous of the main family’s long-standing control, and shared a common goal that his conspiracy succeeded.He had also spent over a decade waiting for the right opportunity.Who would have thought that even after wiping out the main family, he still could not obtain the family seal, token, or totem? Without these, he could not become the true head of the family and could only act as a proxy. Many of the connections loyal to the head remained inaccessible.Moreover, much of the
It was his father. Manny composed himself and picked up Tony’s call as he walked toward his car.“Hey, Pops.”“How’s it going, Manny? Has there been any progress?”Tony was still in Carrie’s room at the moment, but had gotten up and walked to the balcony to call his son.Carrie was still fast asleep, though her face was set in a frown. She was obviously discomfited.Tony had pestered her for the majority of last night, so it would be weird if she did not feel any discomfort.Despite her begging, Tony would not let her go. He even forcefully drugged her to make her mess around with him while out of it. He was simply an old pervert.Before she passed out, she cursed him in her heart. However, she knew that Tony only treated her so roughly because she was just his mistress—a tool for him to vent his frustrations on.If she really was his wife, he definitely would not treat her like this.In the past, she had ambitions of taking Mrs. Longbottom’s place and becoming the real missus
Tati also finished her plate of pastries.She followed Isabella out.“Isa, you’re always so busy and exhausted. If you’re feeling even a little unwell, you should have a good rest. Stay home for the day. I can handle the work you have on hand. It’s the same either way.”Tati wanted Isabella to take the day off so Isabella could spend some time with Austin and nurture their relationship.However, Isabella still declined Tati’s kind offer.She said, “Not today. There’s an important meeting today, and I have two important clients to meet. I’m fine, really. Don’t worry. From now on, I won’t touch alcohol.”Given her current status and position, no one would dare to force her to drink during social engagements.Many people also knew that Isabella would not drink outside her home, fearing that she might fall victim to someone’s schemes.However, Isabella would occasionally make an exception. When she was in a good mood, she would have a couple of drinks.Hearing this, Tati stopped t
Austin still smiled gently and said, “It’s all thanks to Ms. Isabella’s guidance.”He felt that he had indeed improved a lot.Grandma May really understood him well. The wife she picked for him could actually help improve his culinary skills.“After eating the sweets, I feel much better.” Tati picked up another piece of pastry and ate it.Austin quietly retreated, not wanting to disturb their conversation and also to avoid overhearing their private matters.“Just ignore him. Are you really going to skip work because of him?”Isabella added calmly to Tati, “If you let him provoke you, he’ll only cling to you even more. If you act like he doesn’t exist and don’t respond no matter what he does, he’ll naturally give up once he sees that you’re completely unresponsive.”Tati said, “I’m afraid that he’ll go and bother Edith and Eleanor if he doesn’t get anywhere with me. They don’t have the same resolve as we do.”She, therefore, decided to bear the brunt of it.“Every time I see hi
Austin replied, “Both Mr. Louis and Mr. Phillip woke up very early, especially Mr. Phillip. He gets up earlier than Mr. Louis every morning. It’s really hard on him, getting up so early in such cold weather.”Sometimes, he himself felt like staying in bed a little longer, reluctant to leave the warm comfort of his blankets.Even after the New Year, Satbury remained quite cold. In contrast, over in Wiltspoon, the temperatures had begun to reach a high of over seventy degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime, with nighttime lows around fifty degrees.The two provinces and cities were simply incomparable. The temperatures in Wiltspoon were just so very comfortable for Satbury locals.Isabella smiled and said, “Phillip is just afraid he’ll get here too late and that you’ll assume he’s not coming over for breakfast, then not prepare any for him. He's such a little foodie.”The house was never short of snacks for the little ones. In fact, any goodies were always reserved for them first.Yet,
Even when she attended banquets, she would show up in formal clothing. Isabella did not remember the last time she wore a dress. Perhaps it was when she was in third grade. In fact, she liked wearing pretty princessy dresses when she was young. Her mother had told her that.As Isabella was the first child and extremely adorable, Delphine had dolled her up like a princess. Her pretty dresses filled the closet. Her parents, aunts, uncles, and relatives would always gift her many beautiful dresses. As she grew up, perhaps when she was in fourth grade, she stopped wearing dresses. Regardless of who gave her new pieces, she would refuse to wear them and give them to her cousins instead. After everyone realized she disliked dresses, they gradually stopped giving her them. Delphine had asked Isabella why she disliked wearing dresses. Isabella reasoned that she could not walk quickly enough while wearing one. She valued speed and efficiency. Delphine said she had alway
While the private chefs Ms. Isabella had hired in the past were respectful, they were leaning toward flattery instead of sincere dedication, like how Austin was toward Ms. Isabella.Dominic was experienced. He could sense that Ms. Isabella treated Austin differently. She was also a special existence to Austin. It was normal for young people to be attracted to each other. Initially, Dominic wanted to advise Austin not to even think about dating Ms. Isabella. However, upon discovering that Austin was a young master of a wealthy family, he decided not to interfere. Dominic was glad that he did nothing.Austin returned to the house. Instead of heading straight to the kitchen, he went upstairs. He stopped outside of Isabella’s room and knocked on the door lightly. No response came from within the room. Perhaps Austin was too soft when he knocked. He knocked on the door again with more force and asked, “Are you up yet, Ms. Isabella? It’s time to have breakfast.”Isabella w