“If Carrie has been wearing a hyper-realistic mask, does it mean she has an extremely powerful person backing her?”Sugar took the plate of snacks and asked the rest, “Do you guys want some? I think those little snacks are delicious. I like them.”Serenity smiled. “You can have more, but not too much because we’ll be having our meal soon.”Serenity and Audrey had rushed back to Wildridge Manor after meeting Corey.“By the way, Aunt Audrey and I met Mrs. Longbottom when we were leaving the cafe, and Carrie appeared as soon as we returned to the manor. How can there be such a coincidence?”Elisa asked, “Why do I feel like Mrs. Longbottom is targeting you? She keeps bumping into you.”The women exchanged glances. Serenity told Elisa, “Could it be Madam Fisher’s doing? She might be controlling everything behind the scenes.”Elisa dismissed that idea. “If she was that capable, the Fisher family wouldn’t be in this messy state now.”The Fisher family had lost its influence in Jensbur
Serenity smiled. “That’s great. Since you think of us as old friends, you won’t refuse our request, right?”“I… I’ll ask my senior to investigate this for you,” Sugar agreed resignedly. Nothing to blame but her big mouth.Serenity did not feel bad at all. She took her plate of snacks and passed it to Sugar, saying, “You can have one more piece. You’ll still fit lunch in later.”Sugar chose a small piece and said while eating, “Your snacks come with too big of a price.”“It’s not expensive. Help yourself. It’s free.”Serenity smiled. “Tell your senior that I’ll pay whatever amount he wants. He won’t be working for free.”Sugar quickly said, “You don’t have to pay us. I was just joking. I’ll definitely help you, but I need my senior because I’m not capable enough. It shouldn’t be too difficult of a task for him.“If he finds it tough, then it must be really challenging.”Sugar’s senior had an intelligence network that spanned the globe. It was he who discovered Laurence’s true
“I don’t want to eat. I have no appetite. You don’t have to serve me. Don’t enter if I don’t call for you all. I’m irritated now,” said Belinda coldly. She paced around the living room and kept smoking. Elaine persuaded her softly, “You haven’t eaten anything since you came back. You can’t skip this lunch too.”“I said I’m not hungry. I’ll eat without you all nagging me if I want to. Get out. You don’t have to be on standby here.”Elaine had no choice but to leave, still having no clue of the problem Madam Fisher had encountered that put her in such a bad mood. Although Madam Fisher had times when she was upset in the past, Mr. Hunter was always there by her side to cheer her up. She would also vent her anger at Mr. Hunter and feel better afterward. Now that Mr. Hunter was no longer there to stabilize Madam Fisher’s emotions, the employees on duty felt tense and did everything cautiously whenever she was in a bad mood.Putting aside Mr. Hunter’s mistakes, he and Madam Fisher h
“I wouldn’t dare go home without her asking. It would only make her even angrier. Call Caroline and ask her to go home and check on her.”Evan said helplessly, “Alright, I’ll call Ms. Caroline now and ask her to check on the madam, then.”Since Celine was dead, Caroline was the only daughter left so there was no need to consider seniority.After they hung up, Hunter wondered why Belinda was in such a bad and anxious mood. What was it that even Gordon could not do anything about? Could she really have found the man she truly loved?It seemed Belinda was not the one who found him first, but the other party. Belinda’s two nieces were both staying in Wiltspoon and although her younger niece Lisa had been dead for over a decade now, she had left behind two children; one of whom was Liberty, who had come to Jensburg.Meanwhile, her older niece Audrey was the madam of the Wiltspoon Stones, who was also a legend in the Wiltspoon business world in her own right. The Fisher bloodline ran tr
Unfortunately it did not seem like it would work again this time.“What is it, Elaine?” Caroline asked coldly.Hayden brought a hot cup of coffee and placed it before her. She nodded at Hayden in thanks. Hayden then sat down opposite her and started doing her work, not paying attention to Caroline taking her call. It had to be said that Hayden was unflappable, which was expected of the president of Queen Enterprise.“Ms. Caroline, please hurry back. The madam has refused to eat even a single bite since last night and has been in a foul mood.”Caroline was silent for a moment before she said, “My mother isn’t eating because she just isn’t hungry yet. It’ll be fine, just don’t disturb her. I have an appointment with a client and if I flake on them, I’ll end up pushing them Ms. Hunt’s way.”“Ms. Hunt” referred to Liberty. Elaine knew this too. Caroline was not lying either, she was treating Hayden to a meal later.“It’s not because she’s not hungry; it’s because she’s in a bad moo
“That’s true, but you don’t look like one at all. There are lots of girls who still like you. Their hearts broke when they learned you were a woman but they still can’t get over you.”Hayden was silent for a moment before she responded, “I never gave them a chance and never led them on. There’s nothing I can do about that.”She had always been famous throughout Jensburg for being cold and indifferent to women. In the past, people speculated it was because she was gay or unable to get it up. Now, everybody knew she was a woman. Of course, she did not like women and was indifferent to womanly charms—she liked men.“That’s true, it has nothing to do with you. It’s us who can’t control our hearts, which keep falling for you. To tell you the truth, even I was particularly interested when I first met you. If you were a man, you would have been the first man I was interested in.”Hayden smiled slightly. “I’m lucky I’m not a man, then. Mr. Fletcher would hate me otherwise.”Caroline gave
Hayden smiled. “There’ll be plenty of opportunities in the coming days.” After a pause, she continued, “It would be better if you weren’t the heir to the Fisher family.” The title of the Fisher family heir was an extremely heavy burden for Caroline to bear. It was suffocating. Caroline smiled too but did not reply. Instead, she accepted her mother’s call.“Caroline, come home. I need to talk to you about something.”“Alright.” After Caroline agreed, Belinda hung up.Shoving her phone back into her pants pocket, Caroline finished the rest of her coffee and stood up. Apologetically, she said to Hayden, “I’ll treat you to a meal some other day.”Hayden got up to walk her out, all the way to the first floor. After watching Caroline get into her car, Hayden walked toward her own car. Her parents were waiting for her to have dinner at home together.Kevin had gone over earlier to do the cooking himself. Every time he went to her home, he would take her private chef’s job, but the chef
“You might not have had much to drink, but you still had some, and it was hard liquor. It would already be considered driving under the influence. For your safety, I think you’d better get someone to drive you home. If you don’t want me to do it, it’s fine. This is your family’s hotel. You could just get anyone to drive you home.”Most of the hotel employees knew how to drive.After a moment of thought, Hugh agreed. “Alright, I’ll get someone to drive me home. I won’t drive. You haven’t eaten much and probably haven’t had your fill yet. You should go back.”Selena smiled. “I don’t have much of an appetite and I’m pretty full. It doesn’t matter if I eat or not, I just like spending time with my friends. Are you only taking today off?”Hugh nodded. “My sister just got back, so I can have a short break. After this, it’ll be back to the grind again.”Before Hayden and Kevin started dating, Hugh lived a very relaxed life. After all, his sister bore the heavy burden. Now that Kevin had
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