“Duncan doesn’t even mind that Liberty’s a divorced woman with a son. Everyone knows that he treats her son well. His love for Sonny is sincere.“He’ll be a caring father toward his stepson, and he doesn’t mind that his wife is a widow or a divorcee. He’s the most suitable person for me.“Even Liberty, a mediocre divorcee, can find a man who’s a hundred times better than her ex-husband. I’m much more capable than her. Am I not good enough for Duncan?“So what if Duncan and Liberty are lovers? As long as they aren’t legally married, I still stand a chance. I’ve confirmed that Duncan will be able to recover from his injury. The doctor said he could recover fully by next year if he consistently persisted in his physiotherapy.”Rhea thought she was better than Liberty and more suited for Duncan. She wanted to fight for herself and Dean. She would not need to worry about him mistreating Dean if she married Duncan. Rhea felt jealous whenever she witnessed Duncan’s affection for Son
“This isn’t something that takes a day or two. Don’t worry or overthink. I’m no longer an impulsive young girl. If the situation is disadvantageous for me, I’ll retreat immediately. I won’t let it affect our family’s image or Dean.“It’s late. Please rest up. I feel full from the bowl of soup, so I’ll go on a stroll before sleeping to aid digestion.”After speaking, Rhea stood up and walked outside. Old Mrs. Torres said, “You’ve been working the entire day, Rhea. Don’t go too far, and turn in early. You have to head out early again tomorrow.”Rhea had countless meetings and documents to handle every day. Managing a company by herself was exhausting. Old Mr. and Mrs. Torres dared not call her during the day unless it was urgent. She simply had no time to answer calls. Even if Dean called her, she would say she was busy and hung up. “I know. Please go and rest.”Rhea walked out of the house. Old Mr. and Mrs. Torres watched her leave. After exchanging glances, they sighed
No matter how major the deal was, Liberty still had to eat her fill before she went in to discuss.Liberty laughed and replied with a voice note, “I got up late today. I would be late if I only left for the office after breakfast, so I thought I might as well pack my breakfast and have it in the office. By the time I finish eating, it’ll be right about time for my morning meeting. Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’m thinking of coming back this weekend to spend some time with Sonny.”Serenity hummed in interest. Liberty did not send her anything else, so she did not disturb her sister further.Liberty was much busier than she was now. Her business was at least stable now, while Liberty’s was just taking off.Liberty packed breakfast for herself and arrived at the office, eating it as quickly as she could before her morning meeting started.Then, she sent Duncan a voice note saying, “Last night, I dreamed that a faceless woman came and told me that you didn’t want me anymore and told
Liberty only said she had a dream and because of that, Duncan abandoned his work and came here to take up his friend’s precious time.He was afraid Zachary would laugh at him.He, however, simply felt uneasy. He did not think Liberty would have a dream like that for no reason.It was said that your worries tended to surface in your dreams, after all.Did Liberty have a dream like that because someone said something to her and she started overthinking it?“Just say whatever it is that you want to say. We’ve been friends for so many years. What is there that can’t be said?” Zachary got up and walked around his desk as he asked Duncan, “Do you want coffee, tea, or water?”“Coffee, please.”“There should still be some in the pantry—let me see. If not, I’ll just get you some water.” Zachary entered his pantry.A few moments later, he walked out, carrying two steaming cups of coffee.“There was enough for two cups.” Zachary placed one of the cups before Duncan and sat back in his
“I’m not Hank Brown. I am definitely not him! No matter how many better women than Liberty there are out there, I won’t even be interested in them, because I’ve set my heart on her and won’t marry anyone but her for the rest of my life.” After a pause, Duncan asked, “Zack, tell me—do you think I should get married to Liberty sooner rather than later? In the past, she didn’t want to marry me, but later on, it was me who didn’t want to burden her with my disability. I don’t want to get married before making a full recovery.“Is that why she doesn’t believe in me? I was really scared that I wouldn’t be able to recover fully and would be stuck in a wheelchair forever. And that I would drag her down.“It was hard for her after she divorced, raising Sonny on her own too. If she was burdened with a cripple like me on top of that, she would’ve had an even harder life. I love her—I just want to make her happy, not burden her,” Duncan said all of this from his heart.Zachary slowly took a s
After a moment of silence, Duncan admitted, “Yeah. Everyone has dreams, but you’ve never told me about having a dream like this before. Did you dream about that last night because you were worrying about our relationship before falling asleep?“Or did someone say something to you to make you anxious?”Liberty dismissed with a laugh, “No way. Who would say anything to me? I’m not in Wiltspoon, anyway. Even if you do have admirers, they’d have to wait for me to get back to get to me.“I just inexplicably had a dream and told you. What I want to know is if you’ve unconsciously stolen someone’s heart.”Zachary had not told Duncan that Serenity suspected Rhea Torres was interested in him. Liberty was even less likely to tell him.How could she say that without proof and cause trouble for her sister?However, she trusted Serenity’s intuition. Rhea might really be interested in Duncan and he had no clue.Serenity told her that Rhea’s husband, Victor Torres, passed away a long time ago,
“I’ll keep up with my rehab and get back to how I used to be. I won’t become a burden to you, though I can’t promise when I’ll get better. Now that I’ve changed to an electric wheelchair, I can operate it myself to get around and reduce the burden on my caretaker.“I’ve thought about it and I think we’d better get our marriage license first and hold the wedding after I’ve recovered fully.” Duncan remembered what Zachary said about Liberty being possibly traumatized from her last marriage and worrying that he would be stolen by someone else.Then they would just get married. He would be her man. Who could take him away?He was a very single-minded person. Otherwise, he would not still be unmarried at thirty-six.Once he fell in love, it was for a lifetime.There was very little room in his heart and he only had just enough for Liberty.If anyone wanted to get in—well, there was not even enough space to stand in there.For some time, Liberty wanted to get married to Duncan, but
“Registering the marriage won’t take much time. You can just make some time to come back.” Duncan insisted on them getting their marriage license first.Once they were husband and wife in the eyes of the law, Liberty could relax.He would officially be taken and any interested ladies would stay away from him.“Duncan, let’s have a good chat about this when I have time. You should consider it carefully during this time too. Marriage is a big life event and you shouldn’t be impulsive about it. As a divorcee, I have to be very careful about my second.”Duncan could tell that Liberty did not want to get married to him right now. Perhaps she was too busy, or perhaps that dream had worried her, but she had changed her mind again.Her last sentence made it clear that the trauma from her last marriage had cut deep.He had not done enough. In reality, there were no such contenders for his love, but just a dream could make Liberty worry that he would turn his back on her, and change her mi
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
Austin was extremely patient with the boys. Although they occasionally caused trouble, most of them were minor issues. They would never do something they were not allowed to do.After breakfast, Austin brought them their bags. With a boy in each hand, he left the house. It was to prevent the boys from saying he was playing favorites. Dominic was used to that scene. Initially, Austin was simply Ms. Isabella’s private chef. However, he gradually took on more responsibilities.He would take the two young masters to school. If he had time in the evening, he would also fetch them from school. Austin also made sure Louis and Phillip did their homework, supervised their hobby classes, and played with them. Sometimes, he would even teach them martial arts and train with them. Dominic felt Austin was an all-rounder. It seemed like there was nothing Austin could not do. No wonder Ms. Isabella thought highly of Austin. However, Austin was a young master of a wealthy family. He w
Louis and Phillip were downstairs having the breakfast Austin had prepared for them. The food was different every morning, and everything was delicious.Having gotten used to Austin’s cooking, Louis and Phillip could no longer stand the food provided in the school. They thought the food there was terrible. Louis was enrolled in an elementary school not far from home. As he was a first grader, he did not need to stay in the dormitories and could have his lunch and dinner at home. Phillip, who was a year younger than him, was still in preschool. He would have breakfast and dinner at home. Actually, the preschool did provide breakfast, but Phillip refused to eat in school and insisted on having breakfast at home. In order to eat the breakfast Austin made, he would get up early in the morning without the adults waking him. After putting on his clothes and washing up, he would head to Louis’s place with his bag. “Austin.”Louis suddenly asked, “Did my sister come back last n
Isabella had always thought Tati was teasing her. Therefore, she did not take her words seriously. She thought it was completely normal for Austin to treat her well as she was his boss. From Austin’s perspective, she was his source of income. Now that Isabella pondered about it deeper, she realized perhaps Austin did come to Satbury for her. It was not just to be her chef. He always said Grandma May only gave the York lads a year to pursue their fiancées. However, Austin had never left since he started working for Isabella. Even if he did, it was to accompany her on business trips. He was busy feeding and taking care of her every day and had never gone to pursue his so-called fiancée. He did not even try to gather information on her. Was he not anxious?A year would go by pretty quickly. Although it felt like it had not been long since Austin started working for Isabella, three months had passed. Time really flew. Three months had gone by in the blink of an eye. Neve