Zachary’s family did not want to put the strain on Serenity. Mrs. Stone was Serenity’s aunt and a senior on Serenity’s side of the family. She should be showing more love and affection to Serenity. “Aunt Audrey wasn’t trying to push me into having a baby. Her heart is in the right place. We have been a real married couple for a few months now, but I’m not pregnant yet. I think it’s normal she’d ask.” Sticking her hand out, Serenity gave him a squeeze on the cheek and smoothen his puckered brows. She said, “Don’t make that wry face. Your frown is scary enough to startle your timid wife. “You can be a ghost for Halloween with that face. No makeup required.” Amused by her remark, Zachary flicked her forehead. “Have you seen such a handsome ghost? If you’re timid, then there’s no one with nerves of steel in the world.“Fine. I’m not mad. I think it’s between us whether we want to start a family. Other people shouldn’t stick their noses where they don’t belong. Even my parents ar
Serenity replied, “I think so too, but it’s too early to talk about this. We’ll see how things progress. I believe Elisa has feelings for Remy. My aunt will eventually give her blessing if there’s chemistry between them.” Elisa was always true to her feelings. During the time she was in love with Zachary, even when he did not reciprocate her feelings, she boldly pursued him. She would undoubtedly seek her family’s approval if the feeling was mutual with Remy. “Don’t worry about them, honey. They are not children. They can work it out on their own. It’s late. Let’s rest.” Zachary lowered his head to give Serenity a smooch on the forehead before whispering affectionately in her ear. “I will practice self-restraint so your body can rest too. I’ll just hold you tonight. I won’t touch you.” Lifting her chin, Serenity met his gaze and returned the kiss. They then slept in each other’s arms. She was always the first to doze off. It did not take long for Serenity to wander of
Zachary answered in a mild manner, “I’m a nocturnal person. I’m not usually home at this hour.” He adjusted his schedule and was in the same time zone as the majority of people in the city after he got married. “Sit,” Julian said to Zachary. “This calls for some liquor. I brought out my good alcohol.” There was a bottle of liquor and two glasses on the coffee table. Judging by the alcohol in the glasses, the cousins had been drinking. Zachary rejected. “Thank you, but my wife doesn’t like me drinking. She’s not keen on the alcohol stench. I rarely drink when I go socializing now.” Julian was dumbstruck at first, but he soon burst into laughter. “Josh said the power of love has changed you. Now I believe him. You have changed a lot, Mr. York.” Zachary was not one to say no to alcohol during business engagements. He took a glance at Josh, smiled, and replied, “Josh doesn’t drink much now either. He stopped smoking too.” Josh jumped in. “Jasmine hates the smell of tobac
Zachary read the documents three times before quietly putting the papers in order and slipping them back into the file. He then handed the file to Julian and thanked him. “It never occurred to me that they would use the Yates girl,” Zachary callously remarked. “Liberty brought it up to me because she thought it was strange. That got me thinking. It was strange indeed. She never wanted Hank to see Sonny before, but now she visits with Hank and tries to be friendly with Sonny.” They had a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Newman and his wife were in on it. They also suspected that it must be someone Zachary had offended. To everybody’s surprise, Jessica was the pawn in this game. Since the Browns were related by blood to Sonny, the family’s attempt to be nice to Sonny did not raise any suspicion. “They’re not trying to get even with you, Mr. York. It’s your wife they are after, but you had her surrounded by security. Your wife can fight too. They wouldn’t try anything in broad dayli
“How about six months?” “Oh, I’ll take it!” Julian said with a smile, “Why don’t you take maternity leave too? Mr. York, just leave him. Give him the two-month marital leave and not a day more. Let me know if he doesn’t come back to work when the two months are up. I’ll tie him up and deliver him to you.” “Hey, I’m your family, you know.” “I don’t even care if it’s my brother. Besides, you’re only my cousin.” Josh remarked, “I can’t depend on you for anything…” He was joking, of course. The two-month marital leave was more than enough. Since Jasmine, Serenity, and Elisa were working together on a project right now, Jasmine was focused on making it work and turning a profit. Julian finished the liquor and said, “It’s late, Mr. York. You should go back and rest.” Zachary stood up and expressed his gratitude to Julian once more before Josh saw him out. Several minutes later, Zachary’s fleet of vehicles left the Buchams’ residence. It was getting deeper into the nig
“Sure.” One to satisfy her sister’s palates, Liberty made pasta with bacon bits. Liberty added basil to her sister’s plate, but she had none of that. “The food is ready.” Liberty called her sister over to grab her plate. Serenity put a pause on work and went to wash her hands before taking her portion. The sister sat down at the table. As usual, Serenity pulled out her phone and scrolled the news while eating. “No phone during mealtimes. Put away your phone.” Liberty had rules during mealtimes. “I was just looking.” Although Serenity said so, she slipped the phone back into her pocket. “I don’t want to see you on your phone while at the dining table anymore.” “Got it.” Serenity could never defy her sister. Besides, screens during mealtimes were a bad habit. “Are you really not coming with me to the event tonight, Liberty?” “Nope.” “I think you should broaden your horizons, Liberty.” Liberty took her time with the pasta. Since the food was fresh out of th
Duncan and Serenity did not have a lot in common to talk about. With Serenity here, Duncan could not have a private moment with Liberty. After Liberty made him his order, customers started coming into the diner. Nevertheless, the menu items ordered were already made in advance, so the workers could serve the customers without needing the boss to be in the kitchen. Liberty went back to her spot and continued her breakfast. “Duncan.” The voice made Duncan lose his appetite. Liberty and Serenity turned their heads and watched a beautiful woman walk through the opened glass door. Serenity did not recognize Lily, but Liberty had seen a picture of Lily before. Liberty thought Lily looked better in person than in the picture. Lily made a good match with Duncan. “Ms. Harmon, would you like something to eat?” Liberty put down her utensils and got up to serve the customer. Lily moved her gaze from Duncan to Liberty. She had observed Liberty a few times in the dark, and this w
Lily was not at all offended. She and Duncan had long known each other, but there was barely any interaction between them. More accurately, they never really hung out together. It was not strange that Duncan had little knowledge of her past. “Here you go, Ms. Harmon.” Liberty made the food and brought over Lily’s order. She put it in front of Lily and said with a smile, “Enjoy, Ms. Harmon.” Lily gave Liberty a smile. Liberty returned to her seat. “How did you get to know her, Liberty?” Serenity whispered. “Mrs. Lewis came by the other day and had a chat with me. She told me she was trying to pair Ms. Harmon and Mr. Lewis up. She showed me Ms. Harmon’s picture, and that was how I recognized her.” Liberty kept her voice down when replying to her sister. She added. “Don’t you think they make a cute couple? It feels relaxing to be around her. She doesn’t have the arrogance of the upper crust.” Serenity looked into her sister’s eyes before burying her head in her food. S
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