“Wouldn’t it be humiliating for me if I left just because you told me to? This isn’t your house. Are you paying the rent? If you are, I’ll go out immediately and never come back.”Chelsea did not back down.Jessica was young and used to sitting in an office. She had not much strength and simply could not compete with Chelsea.Seeing that it was impossible to drive Chelsea out, Jessica turned and shouted angrily at her husband, “Hank Brown, can’t you see your sister is bullying me? Why aren’t you helping me to kick her out? I’m telling you now, between me and her, only one of us can stay in this house!”“Chelsea. Jessica. Will you two just stop arguing? You might not get tired of fighting all day, but I’m sick of it.”Hank was fed up with this state. He had no peace at home.As soon as he got home, it was either his mother or sister quarreling with his wife—not a single day of peace.Smack!Jessica was so angry that she slapped Hank.Hank was stunned by the slap. He clutched hi
Hank yelled behind the door, “Shut up and go home, Chelsea! Don’t come here anymore. You’ll just cause trouble!”Liberty was even more ruthless when she fought against his domestic violence. She chased him down several blocks with a kitchen knife.Did Chelsea forget that?Chelsea, who was scolded by her brother, yelled back furiously, “Yes, I’m a troublemaker. I just don’t like that b*tch. My parents are here, so this is my home too. What has that got to do with her? I can come here whenever I want. It’s not like I’m eating out of her pocket or sleeping under her roof. If she’s capable, tell her to pay for her own house. I promise I won’t take a single step into her house!”She wanted to make Jessica’s life a living hell!Jessica lay on the ground and cried bitterly.Except for the time when she was caught red-handed by Liberty and beaten up, she had never been so pathetic before.She was physically and mentally hurt and felt extremely aggrieved.Hank looked at her crying and f
Liberty did not care that her ex-husband was not living a good life after their divorce.All that mattered was that she was happy.At four in the morning, she woke her son up and brought him to All You Can Eat.Another busy day began.Sonny was still small and fell asleep along the way.When they reached the store, Liberty put two chairs together to let her son sleep on them, and a few more chairs on his sides to prevent him from rolling over and falling to the ground.The two assistants she hired came to work at six in the morning.Usually, the breakfast rush hour would be from half-past six to half-past nine.Serenity would come to pick up her nephew at seven.Sonny would be awake by that time.The little man was such a good boy and did not cry after waking up. He sat by himself at the cashier, playing with the set of blocks that he had not assembled yet.“Liberty.”Serenity called out to her sister as she entered. She lent a hand when she saw it was a full house at the d
Sonny recalled Jessica’s and his mom’s explanation, but he still could not fully understand the meaning of his mom’s words. He tilted his head and asked, “Dunc, are you married?”“No, I don’t have a spouse, so I’m not married.”“Why don’t you have a spouse?”“Because I don’t have a woman I like.”Sonny blinked and asked curiously, “You don’t like my mom? Also, my Aunt Ser and Aunt Elisa are very nice. Don’t you like them too?”Duncan was speechless.He said in amusement, “Your Aunt Ser is very nice, but she already has your Uncle Zack. I can’t like your Aunt Ser. Your Aunt Elisa is also very good, but I don’t like her that way. She’s not my type.“As for your mom... I only think of her as my friend. I come over every day because I like you.”Sonny seemed to vaguely understand the part where Duncan said he liked him.He asked instinctively, “Do you want to marry me?”Duncan froze. “Sonny, we’re both boys, so we can’t get married. Although I don’t have a girlfriend yet, I’m a s
“You don’t need to care about Liberty, nor do you have to find her since it’ll make you appear as having no confidence. I’ll handle her. I’m Duncan’s mother. It’s normal that I can’t accept a divorcee as my daughter-in-law.”Mrs. Lewis was afraid that Lily would go looking for trouble with Liberty and anger Duncan, causing him to dislike her.She added, “From now on, just focus on pursuing Duncan. I'll take care of Liberty for you.“I’m Duncan’s mom. No matter what, Duncan won’t fight with me.”Lily said while driving, “Mrs. Lewis, are you going to look for Liberty now? I think Duncan just treats her son well. He didn’t seem to pay much attention to Liberty. Maybe we’re overthinking.“Maybe Duncan simply likes Liberty’s son? I also saw what the boy looked like. He looks smart and is utterly adorable. There’s also nothing strange about Liberty renting Duncan’s store to open a breakfast diner. As long as she pays the rent, she’s just a tenant.“Furthermore, Liberty is Mr. York’s si
Liberty answered sincerely, “It’s Mr. Lewis’s lot and he said that he was going to charge me a cheaper rate since I am Zachary’s sister-in-law. We settled on eight thousand a month for the rental and if you add the utilities and all that, then it comes down to just shy of ten thousand.” Mrs. Lewis was relieved to hear that her son had charged Liberty a proper rental—at least he was not giving the shop away as an act of charity. Considering Liberty’s relationship with Zachary, charging her eight thousand per month for rental was a reasonable and fair price. "That brat is taking your money? You’re Mr. York’s sister-in-law, he should have the decency to let you use the lot without charging you a rental,” Mrs. Lewis said this intentionally to elicit Liberty’s reaction. Liberty quickly explained, “At the end of the day, business is business and I don’t think personal relations should play a part in it. I would not dare use the shop lot if he was not going to charge me rent at al
“Mrs. Lewis.” After Liberty glanced at the picture, she handed it back to Mrs. Lewis. After taking the photo, Mrs. Lewis asked Liberty with a warm smile, “Liberty, what do you think of this girl?” She made a point of observing Liberty’s expression to see how she would respond. Liberty gave her opinion candidly, “She looks beautiful and inspires a lot of confidence. I’d say she’s a very capable and independent woman, very trustworthy.” Mrs. Lewis noted the calm demeanor in which Liberty answered and said, “You’re very good at reading people, aren’t you? I would agree that Lily here is an independent woman. After graduating from university, she joined her family’s company and started from the foundation, keeping her identity a secret the entire time. “She climbed the ranks and is now the vice president of the company. It was only after she had been promoted to the top rung of the company that people found out that she was the chairman’s daughter and the younger sister of t
After Mrs. Lewis said this, she asked Liberty, “Liberty, how often do you see Duncan? He’s good buddies with your brother-in-law so I figured you see him from time to time. If you have the chance, please help me persuade and convince him to see Lily, alright?” Liberty smiled and assured her, “Mrs. Lewis, I’d be glad to help you out. Mr. Lewis is a wonderful person and I do see him now and then, but I’m not sure if I could influence him that much. “He comes to my place for breakfast most mornings and likes to play with my son. Next time he comes over, I’ll try to put in a good word for Lily and sway him to see her more often. “But I just have to tell you that there’s no guarantee, especially since our relationship for the most part is just that of a shop owner and a tenant. If you as his mother could not do much to sway him, I don’t think my words would have a much greater effect either.” Mrs. Lewis considered this and said, “You make a good point. Still, if he shows up for b
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