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
Serenity struggled and finally managed to push him away, but he wanted to continue. She was so angry that she swung her hand at him.The slap resounded across the room and shocked Brandt and the maids.Zachary was also stunned.He looked at Serenity’s face, which was red from the anger within. When she glared at him, her eyes gradually reddened, and he saw tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.He had again brought her more pain and further angered her.Zachary blamed himself.He thought his warmth could make her calm down...Brandt snapped back to his senses and hurriedly sent a message to Sam since the latter was the actual butler here. Brandt was only filling in for Sam since Sam was on leave, but he felt he could no longer handle the situation here. He had to call Sam back.It was frightening. The missus actually raised her hand against Mr. Zachary.This was a scene they had never witnessed in all the years they had worked for the Yorks.The men of the York family had
Brandt and the maids did not even dare to breathe.After a long time, Zachary raised his voice and ordered Brandt, “Go and bring my phone charger for the missus.”“Yes, sir.”Brandt quickly went to get the charger for Serenity.Was Zachary allowing her to charge her phone a sign that he would let her leave?In fact, Brandt also felt that Mr. Zachary should not keep Serenity under house arrest and that he should let her leave so that they could both calm down.However, he did not dare say such a thing.Serenity was too important to Zachary and he was afraid she would never come back if she left.That was why he forced her to stay with him. However, that would only aggravate the couple’s conflict.Brandt soon returned with the charger.He handed it to Zachary.When Zachary passed it to Serenity, he could not help but grab her hand when she took the charger, begging, “Seren, don’t bring up divorce again, okay?”Serenity drew her hand back and took the charger.She turned away
Zachary was also relieved.After a moment of silence, he walked over and sat across from Serenity.He used his fork to put food on her plate, but she picked up her plate to avoid the gesture, refusing his food.Zachary bitterly retracted his hand and placed the food his fork held on his own plate instead.“Seren, these are all your favorites. Have more,” he said tenderly.Serenity paid him no response, not even a glance. She simply ate by herself.“I’ll help you peel your favorite shrimps.”Zachary put on the disposable gloves to help her peel the shrimp, but Serenity simply took a shrimp and ate it whole, shell and all.Zachary was speechless.His wife did not even give him the chance to perform.Ding dong... Ding dong...The doorbell rang.It was already dark and chilly outside. Who would visit at this time of day?“I’ll get the door.”Brandt went to open the door.There was a car parked in front of the villa. However, Brandt did not recognize the vehicle, which meant
Serenity was surprised to see that the person who came in was her sister. She immediately put down her plate and walked toward Liberty.Zachary’s knee-jerk reaction was to grab her wrist.Serenity stared at him coldly.“Seren...”Zachary’s heart ached with such a glare from her. He felt like their relationship as husband and wife had returned to the way it was on their first night. No, it was even colder than the beginning of their marriage.He finally let go of her hand and let her walk toward her sister.“Seren.”Liberty jogged over.When the two sisters were face to face, Serenity plunged into her sister’s arms and wailed her heart out.“Seren...”Liberty hugged her sister tightly.“Cry if you want to. I’m here.”“Liberty...”The floodgates to Serenity’s suppressed emotions finally broke free when she fell into her sister’s embrace. She cried pitifully for a long time.Zachary stood not far away, watching his petite wife cry. His heart ached, but he could offer her com
“I don’t want to lose Seren, Liberty. I don’t want to divorce.”Zachary spoke first.“I know I deceived Seren by hiding my identity. Seren is different from the rest. She won’t be particularly happy just because I’m rich. I let her down, so she can get angry. She can scold me and hit me, but she can’t leave me. She can’t divorce me!”When Zachary finished, Liberty said to him, “Do you think you’ll never see Seren again if you let her walk out of this villa?”He stayed silent.He was afraid.He was truly terrified that he would never see Serenity again if she left the villa.“Zachary, Serenity is my sister. We’ve depended on each other for many years, and no one knows her better than I do. She’s not the kind of person who retreats and runs away when things go wrong. No matter how angry and upset she gets, even if she asks you for a divorce, she won’t run away.“Running away isn’t going to solve the problem.“No matter how bad the situation is, you have to face reality.“Let he
Sonny refused Duncan and slid out of bed himself, looking for his mother while crying. When he searched the house but still did not find Liberty, he cried even harder.“Sonny, do you want some candy? Don’t cry. Dunc will give you candy.”Duncan tried to coax him.“I don’t want candy. I want Mommy...”“I’ll bring you outside and buy you a windmill, okay?”“I don’t want windmill. I want Mommy...”Sonny’s cries grew louder.Duncan was unable to soothe Sonny no matter how he tried. He did not know how to coax children.In the end, he took out his cell phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Sonny. “Don’t cry, okay? Come here, I’ll let you play with my phone. We can watch cartoons.”Sonny slapped his phone away with one hand.“I don’t want phone.”Duncan scratched his head, feeling a headache. “I thought children these days could be dealt with easily if they have a phone to play with.”Sonny did not want to play with his phone.However, there were many harmful effects of children
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m mainly concerned about Zachary and his wife,” Duncan said frankly, seemingly worried that Liberty would misunderstand him.“You went to visit them, so how are they now?” Duncan asked concernedly.Liberty sighed before she said, “You and Zachary go a long way back, don’t you? In fact, both of you are good friends and aren’t simply related in business. Mr. Lewis, even you side with Zachary to deceive us.“You know Zachary’s temper more than I do. He obstinately insists that things will be fine as long as he keeps Seren there. He won’t even allow Seren to walk out of his villa. I noticed that he’s quite weary, whereas Seren is slightly disheartened.”Duncan opened his mouth as he wanted to speak up for his good friend. However, he had no idea what to say. He had said good things about him countless times. He said so much that he felt thirsty and drank quite a lot of water at Liberty’s place.“Zachary has to come around to it now, otherwise we won’t be
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