A while later, Dave answered, “Quinn is an adult. She’s free to go wherever she wants. All we are expecting as parents is that she lets us know where she goes.“We have no problem if she wants to go to the wedding.”Dave was not worried about anything happening to his daughter. He was happy enough so long as his daughter stayed out of trouble. However, people might get the wrong idea about Quinn and Julian’s relationship if they were to attend Zachary’s wedding together. Quinn was twenty-four years old. His wife often nagged him about pulling Quinn into self-defense. Now, Quinn had muscles that scared off potential suitors, and she had no takers. Dave did not stop Quinn from attending Zachary’s wedding with Julian. It was great for his daughter to see the world and broaden her horizons. Julian smiled. “You’re an open-minded parent, sir.” Dave grinned and asked Julian to enjoy the fruit and snacks. Julian tasted the fruits and stayed away from the snacks. A car pulled up
Will and Mark made a run for it. Zoey did not want to hear Will and Mark saying that they would take care of Quinn. She thought it would jinx Quinn from finding a man.Julian got up when he saw Will and Mark coming out of the kitchen. Dave introduced his sons to Julian, and Julian said hello to his future brothers-in-law. Will and Mark courteously greeted Julian while sizing him up. When everybody sat down, Will asked Julian. “I heard from Quinn that you’re interested in joining our gym?” Julian smiled. “That’s right.” Mark cut to the chase. He said, “You’re a little old to start off with training. Even if you pass our character assessment and pay the fees, you can’t learn much. You’re wasting your money, and we don’t want to scam you.” Julian said with a smile, “I know. Ms. Crawford and Mr. Crawford have made that clear. Money isn’t the issue. I just want to learn and take it from there. At least, I can work out.” Will and Mark left the conversation at that. Quinn and
Quinn put down her bag of mozzarella sticks and went to fetch her father a bottle of good wine and a few wine glasses. Dave poured Julian a full glass and asked, “Do you drink?” “Dad, Mr. Bucham has to socialize for business, so he has to drink,” Quinn replied on behalf of Julian. Julian smiled. “Alcohol and business go hand-in-hand, but I don’t usually drink a lot. Two glasses is my limit for beer, and I can handle a glass of liquor. I won’t let myself go wasted. It’s not good for my health, and anything can happen.” “That’s good, Julian. You must know your limit when it comes to drinking,” Zoey praised him. Julian’s face beamed. He had a good understanding of the Crawfords’ individual personalities. If Julian’s close friends were there, they would roll their eyes at Julian’s statement. There was no way Julian would stop at two beers. Julian had lied through his teeth. It would take more than two glasses of beer to take Julian down. Besides, beer was not Julian’s u
Quinn said with a smile, “My mom will get adventurous with food sometimes, but she prefers the familiar healthy choices.” Locals in Summervale had a taste for rich, flavorful food. Zoey, a northerner with a taste for bland food, eventually influenced the rest of the family to adopt her culinary preferences.Of course, Zoey was not selfish. She considered her husband and children's love of flavorful food and would try new dishes every couple of days. However, she could not bring herself to eat the food as it did not sit well with her stomach.Dave felt bad for his wife and told everybody to get takeaways if they had cravings. “So Mrs. Crawford is from the north like me. No wonder I felt a connection to her right away.” It dawned on Julian. Julian knew where Zoey was from, but he did not feel it was polite to ask her about it during their first meeting.Zoey came from a town far from Wiltspoon. The area had no public transportation, so Zoey would have to drive for hours to g
Two days passed in the blink of an eye and here came Zachary and Serenity’s wedding day. The doors of Wildridge Manor were wide open to welcome guests from all cities. The guests would travel to the manor right after landing in Wiltspoon and would stay at Wiltspoon Hotel as arranged by the Yorks. The hotel’s operation would only resume the day after the wedding. Serenity was awakened by Liberty before sunrise. The makeup artist Zachary hired had already arrived and was waiting for Serenity to wake up. The plan was to put on some light makeup on Serenity, suitable for pregnant ladies. Serenity was sleepy. She did not sleep well as she was too excited and chatted with her friends for a long time before bed. After being awakened by Liberty, Serenity tubbed her eyes and looked outside. She closed her eyes again when she saw the barely lit sky and murmured, “Let me sleep a little longer, Liberty. It’s only a simple makeup that won’t take long. Let the makeup artist eat somethi
As Serenity walked to the bathroom, she said, “You’ve told me the same thing countless times. I can memorize them already.”Liberty laughed. “Have I? I felt like I’ve only said it twice. I’m just worried about you. It wasn’t easy for you to get pregnant, so you must be extra careful. There’ll be many people during the reception. Anyway, you should take care. I reminded Zachary about this too.”“Did Zachary promise you that he won’t let anyone bump into me?”Liberty nodded. “He did.”“You have nothing to be concerned about then. Since Zachary said so, nothing will happen to me. Don’t worry too much. You’ve been worrying about the wedding for the past few days.”Furthermore, Liberty did not let Serenity help out. She would tell Serenity to sit or lie down even with the slightest movement. Serenity was in perfect pink of health, so her baby was definitely healthy and strong too. The baby would not be affected that easily. However, Serenity still listened to her strict sister and
Alice would still throw up every day. She did not gain any weight other than the baby’s throughout her pregnancy. It hurt Clive to see her that way. He harped on about only having one child and refused to put Alice through another pregnancy again. Due to his nagging, Alice wished she would give birth to a son. Although Clive did mention that he preferred a daughter, she wished to have a son who could inherit the Stone family’s legacy. Serenity often told Zachary about Alice’s honesty. Many people would refrain from revealing their preference for a specific gender for fear of being accused of discrimination. However, Alice never failed to be straightforward in saying she wanted a boy.“Mom.”Speaking of the devil, Serenity and Liberty heard Sonny’s voice. At first, Liberty thought she was hearing things. It was still too early in the morning, and Sonny would usually not be up. After hearing his voice again, Serenity told Liberty, “It’s Sonny. He’s awake.”Liberty exited the w
Serenity and Sonny whispered to each other their complaints about Liberty being too scary as they walked. Liberty, who overheard them from behind, was speechless. She was like a mother figure to Serenity. She wanted to marry Serenity off extravagantly. “Missus.”The makeup artist Zachary hired stood and greeted Serenity with a smile when she saw her walking down the stairs. Serenity returned a smile. “Good morning, Ms. Gardner. Sorry to have made you wait. I woke up late this morning as I had gone to bed late last night.”“I didn’t wait long. Go ahead and have your breakfast. Then, we can start after you have a short rest.”Most people were not yet aware of Serenity being pregnant. As Ms. Gardner was the makeup artist, Zachary had disclosed Serenity’s pregnancy to her. He also reminded her to use skincare that was harmless for pregnant women. “Let’s eat together, Ms. Gardner.”Ms. Gardner refused politely, “I’ve eaten before coming over.”As she was a seasoned bridal mak
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