Shawn uttered in agony. “Seren, I know you’re married, but it’s just a marriage of convenience. You’ll divorce. I like you, Serenity, and I’ve fallen for you a long time ago.“I know you can’t accept me now. I tried to keep my distance from you, but I couldn’t do it. All I can think about is you the first chance I get. Serenity, I want you to know that I love you.” Presenting Serenity with the bouquet once more, he looked her straight in the eye. “Serenity, would you give me a chance to go after you?” Jasmine had a talk with him and warned him against it. However, Shawn could not simply drop his feelings and give up. He really loved Serenity. Shawn regretted not confessing his feelings to Serenity the moment he fell in love with her. Serenity might wait until he was older rather than marry a stranger if he had come clean about his feelings. Serenity reached out and snatched the flowers before walking past Shawn to throw the bouquet into the bin at the door. Turning her
“Shawn, I’m someone else’s wife now. My husband and I have gotten a marriage license. Although we married right away, we’re developing feelings for each other. I won’t betray my husband. “If you’re hell-bent on getting in between my husband and I, starting troubles and rumors, you’re depleting what’s left of our relationship. I’ll be forced to hate you and see you as an enemy.” With paleness overtaking Shawn’s complexion, Serenity sighed, wondering when she ever sent out the wrong message. As she would put it, she would rather die than be nice to Shawn had she known it would give Shawn the wrong idea. Serenity was long-time friends with Jasmine, so she knew Shawn through Jasmine. As she was older than Shawn, Serenity had always played the part of an older sister to him. It never crossed her mind that… “Shawn.” Relaxing her tensed facial muscles, Serenity said, “You’re a nice and cheerful boy, Shawn, but you and I don’t go together. Stay away from me. I can promise to keep
It was because Serenity and Zachary got into the marriage without any feelings for each other in the beginning. It took a lot of care for them to come this far. Serenity drove away. Shawn wanted to take his car and gain up on her, but seeing that no one was watching Serenity’s shop, he gave up the chase and stayed to watch over the shop. Serenity ran into Elisa at the corner turning into the school. Their cars nearly collided right before both parties jammed on the brakes. Elisa rolled down her window to give the other party a piece of her mind when she realized that it was Serenity’s car. She shouted, “Where are you going, Serenity?” Serenity was surprised to see that it was Elisa. Noticing the beautiful middle-aged woman sitting on the passenger’s seat next to Elisa, Serenity guessed it must be Mrs. Stone. She nodded at the mother and daughter and said, “I have an urgent matter to attend to, Elisa.“Jas is in the hospital for a cold and fever. No one’s looking after the
To everybody’s surprise, Zachary grimacingly ignored Josh and stormed past him. The only thing Josh heard was Zachary callously telling Mr. Chaplin, “Notify all senior-level executives for a meeting now.” Josh wondered if the earth was about to shake. “Duly noted.” Mr. Chaplin was ahead of Josh in responding as Josh was taken aback by his best friend’s sour face. Zachary made a beeline to his office, only to stomp back out in less than two minutes to head to the meeting room. Josh went with him this time. There was no one in the meeting room. No meeting was scheduled today, to begin with. Yet, Zachary told Mr. Chaplin to notify higher management to attend a last-minute meeting. The man was on a warpath! Zachary entered the meeting room and took a seat at his place while waiting for the arrival of his executives with a stoic face. Josh paused before making his way to Zachary. He pulled a chair out and sat next to Zachary. “What’s going on with you, Zachary? Who g
Zachary fell silent. “You should let it all out to me before the others arrive. Don’t bottle everything up inside. You’re not just harming yourself by doing that but everybody in the company too.” Zachary’s rage brought forth hellfire! Josh was trying his best to keep the better days alive in the entire office building. “I saw Serenity with Shawn when I was delivering her a coat.”Josh was rendered speechless. With his jaw wide open, Josh had a hard time finding the words before finally saying, “It’s a misunderstanding. I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding. Sometimes, what you see isn’t the whole truth, Zachary. Don’t sulk as you did before. You have to give the missus a chance to explain.” “Shawn confessed his feelings to her.” Josh paused and replied, “Shawn is my idol. He’s bold and courageous. Mr. Lowe taught him well to be his successor.” Zachary gave Josh the stank eye. Josh rubbed his nose and said with a smile, “Zachary, maybe I should get Mr. Chaplin to buy you
The senior executives entered the meeting room in droves by then. Seeing the two biggest bosses waiting in the room, the senior executives were startled and got a bad feeling about the meeting being called at the last minute.Zachary still had his poker face on. Some looked at Callum, hoping to seek comfort from him. The least he could do was tell them what the sudden meeting was about. Although Callum appeared calm, he was looking at Josh. Sure, Callum was from the same family as Zack, but Josh was closest to Zack. Josh got up.“I’m going to the men’s,” he said while tipping Callum the wink. Getting the hint, Callum got to his feet and followed behind Josh before all attendance was accounted for. Despite knowing what was going on, Zachary did not stop them. Zachary stared at the senior executives who were in the meeting room. Josh mentioned that he would drive his employees up the wall when he went mad. Zachary was interested to see how so. Everybody was at a loss
Serenity stopped the car in front of York Corporation’s building before giving Zachary another call. While on the road, she had called Zachary no fewer than twenty times. The jealousy-ridden sourpuss refused to take her calls. It made her worried sick! Fortunately, Zachary finally accepted her call. “I’m at the entrance of your office building, Zachary. Can you take thirty minutes off work? Come out. I need to talk to you.” Jumping to his feet, Zachary approached the window in the meeting room and pulled open the curtains to look down. Since he was on a high floor and far away from the ground, Zachary could not tell if the car at the entrance belonged to Serenity. “Are you listening, Zachary? Say something.” Serenity uttered anxiously, “Come out. I’ll wait for you at the entrance until you’re off work if you don’t come out.” Zachary’s husky voice came through. “Hang on. I’ll be right out.” Closing the curtains, he turned on his heel to walk out of the meeting roo
“You’re a b*stard! You won’t even give me a chance to explain. What you see isn’t always the truth.” Serenity let go of Zachary and angrily pinched him on the arm. He scared her. She thought they were entering another phase of silent treatment. Zachary quietly took her pinching. It hurt like hell, but he did not care. All was good knowing that she cared about him. “Shawn confessed his feelings to me, but I rejected him. I’m your wife. I won’t leave you unless you decide you don’t want me anymore.” “Really?” The concealment of his identity came to mind. Would she stay by his side when she was to find out that he had been lying to her for so long? “Don’t you believe me?” Letting out a sigh, Zachary pulled her into his arms. “Serenity, I was really angry when I saw you with Shawn. My instinct told me to leave. I know that you were not to blame. Shawn was all over you.“The truth is… I’m jealous. “I’m green with envy. I’m jealous at the thought Shawn loves you and
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