Hayden had no intention of reclaiming her identity as a woman at the moment.“We haven’t had a grand proposal yet,” Kevin honestly replied.Hugh chuckled. “I thought you already proposed. I mean, it’s such a big deal, how come none of us in the family knew? So, you haven’t had a grand proposal yet, huh? Then when are you going to grandly propose to Hayden?“You better make it grand and pick a crowded place for the proposal. The crowd might even cheer together for my sister to marry you.”As long as Kevin proposed splendidly and was seen by people, there would surely be many onlookers. Perhaps nobody would cheer for Hayden to marry him and instead, they would probably hurl unpleasant words or eggs at her.Some might remind Kevin that within the country, he and Hayden cannot become legally married.Unless Hayden regained her female identity, only then would the marriage proposal from Kevin receive everyone’s blessing.Kevin was also aware of this. “When Hayden is willing to marr
Kevin stared at his future brother-in-law and remarked, “No wonder we get along so well. We’re the same kind of people—shameless and unapologetically so.”Hugh remained silent as Kevin walked away.The future of Queen Enterprise and who would manage it were matters for the Queen family. Even if he became their son-in-law, he would neither interfere nor voice his opinion.This was mainly to avoid others thinking that he was after the Queen family’s money.To be honest, he did not really care about the Queens’ wealth. Although they were one of the elite families in Jensburg, they were not as financially powerful as his own family.As soon as Hayden stopped working, Kevin pushed the door open and entered.“Hay, are you done? Let’s go eat.”Kevin walked over with large strides, smiling at her while asking.Hayden nodded, neatly stacked the processed documents, and pressed the intercom. She informed her secretary to come in and collect them. She then got up and walked around her desk
Belinda did not immediately explode. She inquired, “May I ask if Hunter Clark is here?”“Who? Who’s looking for me?”Hunter happened to come out of the bathroom, having just finished showering.Holding a dry towel to wipe his hair, he asked upon hearing the question.When he saw his wife standing at the door, Hunter was dumbfounded.He thought he was seeing things and quickly rubbed his eyes. Looking again, he still saw his wife’s face, well-maintained but marked by the traces of age.“Darling, she’s looking for you.”The woman stepped aside and addressed Hunter.In her heart, she guessed that Hunter’s wife had come looking for him.She honestly could not care less. She lost count of the number of these men’s wives who came knocking on her door. As long as she did not get involved with men from high society, her true financial backers would not find out.After all, her main sponsor rarely came to see her. He had many women around him, and he might have forgotten about her. F
Belinda slapped Hunter ten times, leaving his face bruised and swollen with blood trickling from his nose and the corners of his mouth.He did not dare fight back.He endured the wrath of his wife.Hunter waited until Belinda stopped, then grabbed her hand and asked with a heartbroken expression, “Honey, did you hurt your hand? Are you tired? I’ll help you blow on it.”Belinda kicked him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.“Take both of them away.”Belinda coldly ordered the two bodyguards to take them home for further punishment.She would not let anyone who betrayed her off lightly.The two bodyguards immediately entered the room and dragged the woman out, following Belinda.Hunter did not need the bodyguards to help him up. He got up from the ground and obediently followed behind Belinda, begging for mercy as he walked, saying that he had been tricked by the woman. He absolutely denied he had been attracted to the woman and that he had come to the hotel with her cou
After the bodyguards restrained the woman, Belinda beat her up until her face was utterly bruised, so much so she was almost unrecognizable. “Belinda.”Hunter was worried that she would beat the woman to death. He also felt sorry for the woman he had been intimate with for some time and went to pull Belinda’s hand away. By doing so, he had redirected Belinda’s wrath onto himself. She turned and slapped him across the face. Belinda started hitting her husband without caring that they were in public. At that moment, Kevin, who had been watching the commotion unfold, stepped forward. “Madam Fisher,” said Kevin. Only then did Belinda stop hitting Hunter. She looked toward the person who called her and realized it was Kevin. She seemed to have snapped back to her senses and adjusted her clothes, which were messy from hitting her husband and the woman. She said, “Mr. Kevin.”“I just returned and had no idea what happened here, but this is my hotel. You should have some merc
After Hunter was taken away, the woman was left to suffer from the spectators’ criticisms. Knowing she was a homewrecker, no one sympathized with her despite her wounded state. She dragged herself up and left. She had no idea that Hunter was Belinda Fisher’s husband. If she had known, she would not have fooled around with him. The woman also did not expect that mentioning her other lover’s name did not help her at all and made her suffer a beating. It used to work every time. Kevin brought Hayden into a private room in the hotel. While waiting for the food to be served, Kevin asked, “Was the show interesting?”They had only arrived at the hotel minutes after Belinda did. Of course, Kevin did not let Hayden watch Belinda catch her husband cheating in front of the hotel room. Instead, they lounged in the hotel lobby for a while. If it were not for the woman attempting to escape, they would not have had the chance to witness the entertaining part. “It was exciting,” re
That would be an issue. On the other hand, Caroline was on her way home. She had received news from Darren that her mother had returned to Jensburg. She also knew her mom had gone to Fortress Hotel right after touching down to catch Hunter in the act. Caroline had pretended to know nothing about her father’s affair. However, as Kevin had mentioned, she was the mastermind. Kevin was simply giving her a helping hand. Belinda had informed everyone to gather at home. Caroline guessed that Belinda’s anger had reached its limit. She silently wished Hunter the best of luck. Caroline’s brothers were nervous as they had no clue why Belinda suddenly summoned them back to the house. Not only that, they were puzzled by her early return. Did she not say she would only return a few days later?When Caroline arrived, Celine and her three sisters-in-law were already there. Her brothers arrived shortly after. When their gazes met, Adrian scolded Caroline, “Were you aware that Mom w
Everyone held their breath upon seeing Hunter’s state. Belinda sat on the sofa with a cigarette in hand. She did not even spare Hunter a glance despite his sobs. The room stood in silence. Even Celine, who was Belinda’s favorite, did not say a word. Adrian crept to his wife’s side and asked softly, “What happened to Dad? Who beat him up?”Emma replied, “Mom did.”After a pause, she turned to look at Adrian. There was a hint of glee in her whisper. “Dad cheated on Mom and got caught red-handed. The woman was beaten up too.”Adrian’s expression changed upon hearing those words. He was reminded of his own affair. Although his parents had known about it and chose to turn a blind eye, Hunter’s affair was a grave issue. It would affect him and his brothers, who had committed the same mistake. Adrian kept quiet as he stood beside Emma. “Mom.”Caroline broke the silence. She glanced at Hunter whose handsome face was unrecognizable before setting her eyes on the frowning Belin
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