Having tasted poverty, Carrie had learned to always have a backup plan.She started saving the money Mr. Longbottom gave her.Even if they were to go separate ways in the future, she would have some savings instead of relying on Trenton to give her a few thousand dollars as allowance every month.“Mr. Longbottom, does the host of the banquet know who I am?”“They don’t know your true identity. I’ve arranged for a wife from a wealthy family in Wiltspoon to take you there. Remember, you’re Mrs. Longbottom, not Ms. Carrie Newman. Your husband’s family keeps a low profile, and you don’t know any of them.“If you meet someone you know, you must pretend to be a stranger.”Carrie nodded.Mr. Longbottom released her chin.“Follow me upstairs.”Carrie was momentarily stunned.She knew what he wanted to do, yet she had no way of resisting it or daring to do so. Therefore, she had no choice but to follow him upstairs.…Meanwhile, at Fortress Hotel in Jensburg, Liberty pushed Duncan o
Duncan said, “For you, I’ll keep going. I’m only handling important business now.“My brothers help me too. They won’t let me get exhausted.”Duncan added, “If it weren’t for you, I probably would’ve given up on myself and on recovering. I wouldn’t have been able to stand up for the rest of my life.”“Silly.”“I’m not silly. I just love you and Sonny a lot. Many people keep asking how I got attracted to you when you were a divorced woman who didn’t even look that pretty back then.”Duncan smiled. “Honestly, I don’t know either. I just fell in love with you. I don’t need to find out why.“Maybe your striving to be a better self and transformation brought me to you.“I like Sonny too. I didn’t really like kids because they’re noisy, but I adored Sonny since the first time I saw him.”Liberty grinned. “I know I got lucky because of my son.”Duncan cared about Liberty more because she was Sonny’s mom, and he liked Sonny. They gradually developed feelings for each other after int
“I’ll just buy one toy, Mom. Deal?”Sonny was trying to negotiate. “No. It’ll just add to the pile at home. You don’t even clean up after playing sometimes. I’m the one who has to put everything back.”Sonny quickly said, “I’ll clean up, Mom. I promise I’ll do it from now onward.”He did pack his toys most of the time. There were only a few times when he did not. “Didn’t you bring some toys with you?”Liberty would not agree to Sonny buying toys that easily. More importantly, he already had too many toys. Sonny pouted and said, “I want new ones. I can bring them back and give them to my little brother, Mom.”“Your little brother can’t play with those toys yet.”“Can I get alphabet tracing books, then?”Sonny settled for less. The toy store sold a large variety of books and stationery. Sonny had looked around the store before running back to his mother. Jim said he would buy anything Sonny liked. However, Sonny did not dare to accept Jim’s offer. He needed to ge
Liberty flicked Sonny’s forehead. “What are you talking about?”Sonny rubbed the spot she flicked and told Duncan, “It hurts, Dunc. Can you blow on it for me?”Duncan immediately blew the spot and soothed it with his hand. He said, “You shouldn’t flick Sonny’s forehead so often, Liberty. His intelligence might be affected.”“How can he possibly become stupid from a flick? If he does, maybe it’s because he isn’t a bright kid from the start.”“I’m smart. I’m not stupid.”Sonny made a face at his mother and quickly hid himself in Duncan’s embrace. Dunc would protect him. In the end, Duncan brought Sonny into the toy store. After entering the store, Sonny did not need Duncan to hold him anymore. He took a few books and returned to Liberty. He raised his head and asked, “I already chose my books, Mom. Can I buy toys now?”Despite Duncan saying he would buy the toys for him, Sonny still asked for Liberty’s permission. He would give up if she insisted on not letting him buy an
Now that Sonny had a new toy, he wanted to go back to the hotel to play with it.Liberty had not yet fully explored Jensburg at night and she said to her son, “Sonny, is it ok if we get Jim to bring you back to the hotel and play with you? Mommy and Dunc will walk around a bit longer.”Sonny agreed after a moment of thought.Thus, Jim brought Sonny back to the hotel.Liberty nudged Duncan to continue walking. In a way, it was a date.“Duncan, why don’t we go watch a movie? There’s a big theater nearby. I pretty much have to pass by it every day, but I’ve never had time to actually watch one.”That was exactly what Duncan wanted.He immediately asked his bodyguard to go ahead to buy tickets while he and Liberty slowly made their way over there.Around ten minutes later, the couple arrived at the entrance of the movie theater.His bodyguard had already bought the tickets and was waiting there. He had even bought a bunch of snacks so the couple could have small bites as they watc
Taking advantage of the inattention of the people surrounding them, Duncan pulled Liberty’s hand to his lips, kissing the back of her hand before dropping another kiss on her palm.Liberty quickly withdrew her hand, a hot flush on her face.It was dark in the movie theater and no one was looking at her, so no one saw her sudden blush.“Duncan, be serious,” she whispered in admonishment.Duncan was a rugged man who was also the bold type.When he flirted with her, he could easily make her blush.Before him, she was just like a young girl.Serenity said that her sister was experiencing her second youth.Duncan chuckled. “Alright, alright. I’ll be serious. It’s not like I actually did anything.“Liberty, in the future, when you want to relax, just let me know. It doesn’t matter if it’s to go shopping, watch a movie, or go traveling—no matter how busy I am, I’ll drop everything right away to go to you.“Work is important, but your happiness is more important.“It’s not like I ne
Occasionally, Duncan would feed her snacks.By the time the movie ended, Liberty was full to the brim thanks to Duncan. She said, “Great. I haven’t even eaten supper yet, but I’m all stuffed. Now I have to take another walk to digest what I’ve eaten.”Duncan stood up. Liberty and the bodyguards hurried to support him as he walked outside.Duncan laughed. “Please wheel me back to the hotel on foot then. That’ll be your workout.”Liberty laughed too. “That’s fine with me, but if we’re walking all the way back, I might not be able to recognize the roads. If we get lost, we might end up spending the whole night walking in circles in Jensburg. You can’t blame me then.” “I won’t.”The sky was even darker now.By the time they came out of the movie theater, the streets were no longer bustling, gradually becoming less crowded.Liberty pushed Duncan as she walked slowly. The bodyguards followed them, protecting them silently.As they walked, it began to snow.“Duncan, it’s snowing. L
“Liberty, it’s very late. You should turn in. I’ll go back to my room to sleep too. Let’s have breakfast together tomorrow morning.”Duncan’s voice was a little hoarse.Liberty took the initiative to kiss him on the cheek. “Goodnight, Duncan.”“Goodnight.”Liberty wheeled him out. Then he wheeled himself back to his room.The smile on his face simply could not be restrained.It was very sweet.The rest of the night passed silently.It was the early morning of a weekend. There was no need to go to work. Coupled with the sudden cold weather, even Zachary who was usually an early riser did not feel like getting up. He stayed in bed, acting as a heater for his beloved wife.The drop in temperature in Wiltspoon made it feel so very cold, but it was actually only around fifty degrees Fahrenheit. It was predicted to reach a high of sixty degrees in the daytime.For Wiltspoonians though, this was already considered extremely cold weather.Many hurried to buy thick winter clothing on
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