Zachary’s cell phone started ringing.Before Zachary even looked at his phone, he told Josh, “It must be my wife that's calling. Maybe she wants to pick me up after work.”Josh pouted. “Hey, I am doing pretty well myself. Heck, I even had my wedding before you. You don’t have to show off, I'm not provoked at all.”With a wide grin on his face, Zachary replied, “I’m not showing off. That’s just how my wife and I get along every day.” It became the daily routine for the couple that Zachary would pick up Serenity or the other way round.The moment Zachary took out his phone and realized that it was Remy calling, his ever-handsome face twitched.Zachary thought it was Serenity who called. He did not expect it to be Remy.With eyes as sharp as a hawk, Josh saw that it was Remy’s name on Zachary’s screen.Josh busted out laughing.Zachary shot him a mean glare, and Josh turned away to continue his gleeful laughter.Despite the humiliating circumstance, Zachary answered Remy’s call
“The Yorks have so many men. Even if you and I aren’t around, they’ll be able to hold up. Besides, I’m just going to be away for a few days. York Corp is a big group with mature management. Even if we’re not available for a month, the company will be fine,” Zachary said to Josh. The mid-level and senior managers in the company were not raised for nothing. Josh breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled as he said, “As long as you’re not asking me to stay in the office to work my butt off for you.” Zachary said with amusement, “I’m not an exploiter. Look how nervous you are. I’ve never ordered you around, have I?” “No, no, I’ve always volunteered to be ordered about by you.” Zachary was lost for words. Josh chuckled and said, “I should be glad to have worked hard for you. After finding your happiness, you didn’t forget about me and matched Jasmine to me. We’re good friends and brothers.” “You're as sweet as ever with your words. No wonder Ms. Sox fell for you and agreed to mar
Josh answered softly and whispered in Jasmine’s ear, “I came with Zachary. He knows he looks too cold and will scare your little customers away, so he’s standing guard in front of the store. He’s more useful than a surveillance camera.” Jasmine chuckled. Serenity heard the young couple’s conversation and knew her man was here too. She looked out and saw Zachary’s tall and robust body. Zachary and Josh came after work. It was past the busiest time in the store. The former stood in front of the store for a few minutes and then entered. “Seren, can we go now?” Zachary asked his beloved wife gently. Serenity looked at the time and replied to him, “Soon.” She then said to her best friend, “Jas, why don’t I leave first and you shut the door later before you leave?” Jasmine readily agreed to it. “Sure.” With that, Serenity went around the counter to go into the bathroom. She put on light makeup in the mirror before coming out of the bathroom. After picking up her bag, Se
Josh laughed and asked Jasmine, “Isn’t it good to be a landlady? I remember you said you didn’t have a big dream and will be content with living as a landlady as your parents did.” “Being a landlady is too boring. All I do is collect rent every day,” Jasmine replied to him. “You can ask me to collect rent for you.” Jasmine laughed. “You’re a landlord yourself.” Back then, she did not want to help her parents collect rent every day, so she rented this place and opened a bookstore with Serenity to pass the time. It did not matter if they made money as long as she did not need to go around collecting rent. “The people from our hometown found things to do to pass the time. My aunt drives a Porsche to work now, which is better than her boss’s car. She’s a cleaner and gets about three grand a month, but she does a serious job. “Her boss said her car was too good, so she drove a BMW instead the next day. Her boss still thought that it was still too nice of a car, so she could on
The table in the dining room was filled with Jasmine’s favorite dishes. “Sir, madam, enjoy your meal.” After Josh and Jasmine took their seats, the butler said respectfully and excused himself. He left the opportunity to take care of Jasmine for Josh. Josh had always taken great care of Jasmine, who was also a foodie. Even if they had dinner by themselves, they would enjoy their food very much. After the meal, Josh took Jasmine for a walk in the courtyard to get her familiarized with the environment. That night, the young couple stayed in the villa. In the following days, Josh picked up Jasmine after work every day and returned to their home. The happy days passed quickly. Another week was over in the blink of an eye. Josh began his marriage leave. After Liberty was discharged from the hospital, Zachary brought Serenity to Annenburg for a break and a vacation as he usually did in the past. Liberty still needed home rest after being discharged. Before flying to Ann
Liberty saw Callum walking over. She immediately said, “Ms. Newman, I’m going to the bathroom.” Before Camryn could reply to her, she hurriedly slipped away to make room for Callum. Liberty knew Callum was pursuing Camryn, but Camryn was not willing to accept him and had avoided him for half a month. As a result, Serenity had to go to Spring Blossoms countless times. “Liberty, I want to go to the bathroom too. Wait for me.” Camryn found her white cane and wanted to go to the bathroom with Liberty but did not get any response. “Liberty?” “Liberty walked away.” Callum’s low voice was heard. Camryn subconsciously squeezed her white cane. She regained her normal state right away. “Mr. Callum.” She greeted Callum politely and apologized, “Excuse me.” Callum reached out to grab her wrist. “Camryn!” He called out in a low and hoarse voice. “How long are you going to avoid me?” Camryn withdrew her hand and answered calmly, “Mr. Callum, I’m not avoiding you. I’ve b
Camryn was embarrassed. Callum took a few deep breaths and eased his tone as he said, “Hand me the end of your cane, and I’ll lead you there. We’ll take fewer detours so you won’t bump into other people.” There were too many people at the wedding dinner. Camryn could not see, so she could easily bump into others. “Mr. Cal—” “Call me Callum!” Camryn pursed her lips again and said, “Tell me the route. I can walk there by myself.” “I’ll count to three. If you don’t hand me the end of your cane, I’ll carry you there!” Camryn was speechless. She reached out the end of her cane to Callum to not anger him. With that, Callum grabbed the cane. Nonetheless, he slid his hand further to the middle to shorten the distance between him and Camryn. “Follow me,” Callum said in a low voice. He took Camryn to the bathroom. “I’ll wait for you at the door. If you don’t come out in half an hour, I’ll go in.” Camryn asked, “Aren’t you afraid of being embarrassed?” “You’re not af
“I’ll count to three. If you can’t make a decision, I’ll carry you away.” Seeing that Camryn still refused to compromise, Callum threatened her again. He started counting. Camryn was worried that Callum would actually knock her out and carry her away. She quickly interrupted him when he counted to two and said, “Then please send me home. That said, you must’ve drunk a lot. Don’t drive after drinking.” Callum curled his lips into a smile and said, “I purposely stayed away from any alcohol so I could take you home.” He was the most irresponsible groomsman for once. The other groomsmen more or less had drinks on behalf of Josh. Callum was the only one who did not drink. Camryn had nothing more to say. Soon, a warm and thick hand held her hand. Camryn wanted to shake it off. “The hotel is full of people, and your cane can easily poke someone. This is good.” Callum did not give her the chance to shake him off. Instead, he took her cane away and held her hand as they wa
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