“This is your true personality. You’re always self-centered and lord over everything. You’re overbearing, arrogant, egotistical, and even paranoid!”Serenity’s words were full of mockery.That was Zachary’s character.He behaved the same way at the beginning of their marriage. Even if he pretended to be an ordinary person, his mannerisms were ingrained in him and could not be changed.It was only after the couple’s feelings warmed up and they had two conflicts that his overbearing self improved slightly.Now, he revealed his true colors again.It was suffocating to be with a Zachary York like that.That was especially true for Serenity, a woman who liked her independence. If she had a conflict with a man like Zachary, the fight would escalate and only worsen.Zachary clearly wanted to calm Serenity down, but he kept making mistakes that exacerbated his case, causing her anger to soar even higher. There was no way to extinguish the fury now.“Seren...”Zachary let her go and i
Serenity walked out of the room.Zachary followed suit. He kept silent and walked behind her without making a peep.She went downstairs, and he followed her downstairs.She went outside, and he followed her outside.In short, he was like her shadow now.Serenity walked up to the gate of the villa and tried to open the side gate but found it locked.Turning around, she looked at him and coldly ordered, “Give me the keys.”Brandt, one of the bodyguards, and the other servants followed at a distance. No one dared come forward to talk to them.They all saw how furious Serenity was.Even her words were like ice.Zachary was now her shadow.Zachary took out the key, but instead of giving it to her, he raised his hand and flung it far over and out of the gate.He shrugged and said, “I don’t have the keys.”Serenity wanted to explode from anger.She really wanted to grab him by the collar and give him a good beating.She looked at Brandt and the others.Brandt quickly said, “Do
The enraged and hateful Serenity who could not get out finally went back into the house and locked herself in a guest room. She pulled out her cell phone, wanting to ask her sister or best friend for help, but found that it had already run out of battery.“The heavens sure are testing me!”Zachary did not pester Serenity when she locked herself in the guest room.He was looking for help too.He went to Josh out of habit.Josh had just sent Jasmine back to the bookstore after bringing a charger to charge her e-bike.“Mr. Bucham, could you ask Zachary what he did to Seren?”Jasmine was concerned about Serenity, who was forcibly taken away by Zachary.Josh hummed. “I’ll call him now to ask.”That being said, Josh had a bad feeling in his heart.He knew Zachary inside out.Zachary most likely did not handle it well.Well, he was suffering the consequences of deceiving his wife.Of course, he deserved it.In the beginning, he concealed his identity to examine Serenity’s charac
Jasmine said, “I know Seren better than you do. I can assure you that she won’t do that, so let her come back.”“You’re not her. I can’t trust your assurance.”Jasmine was speechless.He was like a rock, unwilling to listen to a single word she said.Josh quickly took the phone back and comforted Jasmine. “Don’t mind him. He’s going crazy. He hasn’t experienced anything like this before, so it’s normal for him to handle it badly. You’ll be the one angered if you take him seriously.”Jasmine opened her mouth but was at a loss for words.Zachary was usually mature and calm. Although his expression was always solemn, he was excellent at handling people.Unexpectedly, he was now confining Serenity to his side and forbidding her from coming back.“Zachary, how’s Serenity now?”Josh asked with concern, “What did you do to her?”“I-I didn’t do anything to her. She wanted to leave, so I locked the gate and threw the keys away. She wanted to climb over the wall, so I threw the ladder
“Let me calm down, Zachary. I’ll call you back when I think of a solution, but you mustn’t do anything to hurt Serenity again. Otherwise, you really won’t be able to get her back.”Josh was so angry with Zachary that he wanted to hurry up and hang up the phone so he could calm down. He did not want to burst out in expletives in front of Jasmine since he was trying to maintain his good image as Mr. Bucham.After what happened to Zachary, Josh decided to be one hundred percent sincere when treating Jasmine. He would not lie or deceive her as Zachary did to Serenity.He ended the call before Zachary could respond.“Why did you hang up? I still wanted to persuade him. Judging by what he said, he’ll only make Serenity angrier. She might even start to hate him.”Josh said, “Didn’t you hear what he said? Even I’m speechless and getting angry too. I need to take a step back. How did I get a boss with a negative EQ like him?“Ugh, why is my life so hard?!” Josh sighed.He never once comp
“It’s not that he’s not afraid of losing her anymore, but decided to face the consequences of his deception. He has mustered the courage to face reality, but now, he’s going crazy from his fear and made another small mistake.”Jasmine sighed. “We can understand because it’s not happening to us, but we can’t experience Seren’s hurt and anger. In any case, I won’t advise her. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t do it now. She’s the one who was wronged, so why should I help Zachary? Wouldn’t it make her feel more aggrieved?“She was tricked so badly by the person she shares a bed with. Are we supposed to advise her to forgive Zachary instead of helping her vent her anger? I can’t do that. I would beat Zachary up on her behalf if I could.“I wonder if Mr. Stone knows. He can step in to beat Zachary up since he’s her cousin. I’ll be relieved if I see that.”Josh was speechless.Zachary had indeed managed to infuriate a lot of people.“Oh, Elisa. She told me she’d be back in two days. She’
Meanwhile, what was someone who locked herself in the guest room doing?Serenity found a pen and paper in the room. She sat down in front of the sofa, put the paper on the coffee table, and then plopped down to carefully write a divorce agreement.The couple did not buy another house after the marriage, so there was no property to divide.He once said that he would leave the house in Brynfield to her, as well as the national MPV, if they divorced.Serenity did not want them.She did not want the house he used to deceive her!She did not want his car either.The car she was driving now was bought with Zachary’s money. She would pay him the full amount after the divorce.She would not split his property or require him to compensate for her youth that sort of thing, or anything at all. They would each keep whatever assets under their names, and no one would owe the other anything. She just needed him to sign the paper.If he wanted her to compensate for the loss of his youth or t
Back then, she did not care because she was not in love with him.Now that she was, she cared after learning the truth. Her heart clenched in pain.When she thought about the recent time spent together and his affection toward her, her heart felt even more painful, and her fury was reignited too.Was his adoration fake? Was it part of his deception too?Her neck still hurt a little.That jerk!Zachary York was a jerk!Felicia and the others were silent.All of them were cognizant of Zachary’s web of lies to Serenity from the beginning.“Do any of you have an Apple charger? My phone is out of battery. Lend me a charger for a while.”Felicia was about to reply when her colleague next to her nudged her lightly. She snapped back to her senses and quickly said, “Mr. Zachary has a phone of the same brand. You can borrow a charger from him.”Their discreet movements did not go past Serenity’s eyes.She knew that without Zachary’s consent, she would not even have the chance to char
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