“I know you and your sister aren’t pushovers, but I just want to do right by my sister.” Serenity was without a word. The aunt and niece shared an afternoon of conversation. Mrs. Stone insisted on going with Serenity to pick Liberty up at Lewis & Co. at five o’clock in the evening. Serenity let her be. Taking the wheel, Serenity drove Sonny, Mrs. Stone, and the others to Lewis & Co. Jasmine and Mrs. Lane did not come along. Halfway on the road, Serenity’s mind suddenly flew to Grandma May. She had not seen the old lady the whole afternoon. Serenity immediately gave Grandma May a call. She jumped straight to the question the moment the phone was picked up. “Nana, where were you?” “I was taking a stroll. Are you heading home? I’ll grab a cab back then.” Grandma May had been at Mr. Charles’ shop the whole time. She dared not show her face for fear Mrs. Stone might see her. “Nana, the DNA test results for Mrs. Stone and me are out. She’s my aunt. Aunt Audrey wan
Liberty did not have to look to know who it was. The voice was all too familiar to her. It was Chelsea, her former notorious sister-in-law. Mrs. Brown brought her daughter to Lewis & Co., but Liberty had her lunch at the office cafeteria instead of having it at home. She took a power nap at her desk before continuing her work. All the while, she did not leave the office. The mother and daughter were on a stakeout in front of the office building the whole afternoon. Tempers were flaring, to say the least. Now that Liberty was finally out, Chelsea’s fury had risen to an all-time high. Without regard to the building crowd, she yelled and caught the attention of many. The nosy passersby stopped to watch the drama unfold. Although Liberty was only a measly clerk in the finance department, she was personally hired by Mr. Lewis. That was how she became well-known in the company. The director of the finance department was worried about losing her job as she found out that Lib
Someone stood up to Chelsea. “That’s right. You’re a woman. How can you say that about Liberty? Liberty did the right thing. We’re behind you, Liberty!” “With a sister-in-law like that, I’d divorce and stay away from the family even if my man didn’t cheat on me.” Chelsea grimaced in the face of public criticism. She believed Liberty humiliated her. Suddenly, Chelsea pushed the e-bike that Liberty was holding onto. Liberty had a hard time wheeling the e-bike as it had a flat tire. Chelsea’s sudden push caused Liberty to topple over together with the e-bike. “Give us back the money. Your grandfather took the money from my mom and denied taking it. You’re responsible for your grandfather’s debt. Give the money back to my mom.” Still not feeling satisfied after the push, Chelsea went on to swing her handbag at Liberty. It did not stop there as she also made use of her feet to kick Liberty. Ditching the e-bike, Liberty stumbled onto her feet and snatched the purse from C
Black in the face, Duncan asked, “What’s going on here?” Chelsea got up from the ground and tried to charge at Liberty, but Duncan pushed her away. It took a few steps before Chelsea could steady her balance. Chelsea looked up and saw a towering man with a scowl standing by Liberty. The scar on the man’s face was terrifying. She might have nightmares if she stared at the scar long enough. Shaking in her boots, Chelsea lost the will to pounce on Liberty. Mrs. Brown hurried to her daughter’s side. The mother and daughter were a hot mess, but so was Liberty. The few security guards and female employees who tried intervening in the fight looked disheveled. It never crossed their minds that the fight between two parties involving three women could get so wild. It was impossible to tear them apart. “Who are you?” After catching her breath, Chelsea questioned Duncan. “I’m the boss of this company, and who are you? Who are you to come to my place of business and kick my
The Browns pair tried to flee. Alas, the cops arrived.“Stop them!” Seeing that the mother and daughter were going to make a run for it, Duncan commanded the people to swoop in on them. “Mr. Lewis, did you call the cops? What happened here? There seems to be a commotion.” The cops recognized Duncan. It was mainly because Duncan was a familiar face among the police force but not for a good reason. After turning over a new leaf, Duncan took an honest path and went into business. He grew Lewis & Co. into one of the major corporations in Wiltspoon in the span of a few years and had a net worth of billions. Everybody around here knew who Duncan was. Well, it would be more accurate to say that everybody doing business in Wiltspoon knew Duncan. “They came here to beat up my employee. Look at what they did to her.” Duncan pulled Liberty out from the crowd and showed the train wreck Liberty was. The cops were speechless. A catfight!Their gaze shifted from Liberty to t
The group had only elbowed their way into the crowd when Serenity cried, “Liberty.” Sonny called for his mother. It was not hard to take stock of the situation when Serenity saw Chelsea and her mom as well as the disheveled state her sister was in. Boy, she was riled up. Putting Sonny in her sister’s arms, Serenity rolled up her sleeve and was ready to get into a fight. “Seren.” Mrs. Stone worked fast and swiftly stopped Serenity from trying to stick up for her sister. “Seren, leave it to the cops to handle this.” The cops had been called. It would not look good on Serenity to fight in front of the cops. “Mr. Stone. Mrs. Stone.” Duncan was surprised to see the Stones. Out of respect, he approached them and said hello. Mr. and Mrs. Stone exchanged greetings with Duncan. Mrs. Stone asked, “What’s going on here, Mr. Lewis?” Duncan replied, “Let the cops take their statements at the station, Mrs. Stone.” He then said to the cops, “Officer, my employee has suffere
Mrs. Stone snapped, “Do you think an apology would cut it after you beat my niece up? We don’t accept your apology. You’ve pushed one too far.” She then told the police officers. “We won’t settle with an apology. Do what you need to do, officers. But I think compensation should be in order.” The Browns’ mother and daughter were detained, fined, and ordered to pay Liberty’s medical bills and emotional distress. Since they beat Liberty up and insulted her in public, Liberty could claim emotional distress due to reputation loss. Hearing that Liberty was Mrs. Stone’s niece, Duncan looked at Mrs. Stone in surprise. Mrs. Brown asked Mrs. Stone blankly, “Are you Liberty’s aunt? When did you come into the picture?” Liberty was not related to her mom’s side of the family. The family had not been in touch with Liberty and her sister for the last fifteen years. Serenity was the only family who attended Liberty’s wedding. Their extended families from both their parents’ sides did n
“Mom.” Hank entered the station, only to find his mother falling off the chair. Taking quick paces, he went up to pick his mother up. However, his mother could not stand still and was weak in her knees. “What happened to you, Mom?” Hank picked the chair up and helped his mother to sit down. His mother stared at Liberty with a complicated look on her face. Hank took a glance at her sister and found her with her jaw dropped while color drained from her face. “Are you alright, Mrs. Brown?” Having tagged along Hank, Jessica asked Mrs. Brown with concern. She then turned her attention to Liberty with the intention to rip one into her. Even if Liberty was divorced, she should not have scared her former mother-in-law. Nevertheless, Jessica was taken aback by Elisa’s presence. Jessica thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Mrs. Stone and the others were not public figures, but Elisa was famous and went viral for courting Zachary. Without a doubt, Jessica knew who she wa
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