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
Nevertheless, before the couple could celebrate, Hank’s boss had urged him to return to the office and continue working.After that, Hank caught sight of the interview regarding how Mr. Zachary pampered his wife.Serenity’s husband, Zachary, turned out to be that Mr. Zachary York. Hank did suspect that before, but Zachary denied it.In the end, Zachary was really that Mr. Zachary York.When Jessica learned the news, she was madly jealous. She was jealous of how fortunate Serenity was to be able to rise from rags to riches. Previously, Jessica was also jealous when she found out that Mrs. Stone was Liberty and her sister’s aunt.Jessica had been consumed by jealousy the entire afternoon, which caused Hank to feel unhappy.It was Serenity’s business to marry Zachary. Was Jessica jealous because she looked down on Hank?“Liberty!”Hank finally spoke and started bombarding questions at Liberty, “Is that man Mr. Lewis? Mr. Lewis walked out of your house. What did both of you do? I
Lilian often messed with the medicinal herbs her master cultivated, which led to her being chased and scolded by him.It seemed her son had inherited her restless nature.“How’s Sonny been lately?”Liberty had been on edge these past few days because Caroline had been preparing to lure her three brothers into a trap and had not had time to call her son.“Same as usual, but it seems like things have soured again with the Browns.”Serenity added, “Sonny still answers when Hank calls him, but he doesn’t seem happy when his grandparents visit. He doesn’t like going to the Browns’ place, and he doesn’t want to take their calls either.“Hank’s mother and sister are truly incorrigible. They must have been badmouthing you and Duncan in front of Sonny again, which is why he’s upset with them.”During the holidays, Sonny had stayed with the Browns for a few days and started to warm up to them.However, who would have thought that the mother and daughter would start spouting nonsense in f
Once the baby was born, he would apply the knowledge he had learned over the past few months to care for the baby. He was determined to be a competent and responsible father.Serenity released her arms from around him and shifted to her side.Zachary let go, too, allowing her to turn.Then, she planted countless gentle kisses on his face.“Babe, with you here, the baby and I will be just fine. Don’t worry too much,” Serenity comforted softly after kissing him.“You are my rock. If even you are nervous, I’ll start feeling anxious too, and that won’t be good.”Hearing this, Zachary immediately said, “Seren, don’t worry. I’ll protect both of you. Alright, I won’t be so nervous anymore.”He gently touched her rounded belly again. “Lil’ Bun should be a calm kid. He’s not that mischievous.”He felt that the baby’s movements were not too intense.Serenity wanted to tell him that there were times when the baby kicked more vigorously, but she decided against it, knowing it would only m
“Just hit the gym a few more times. Lately, you’ve been spending less time there.”Every day after work, he would come home and orbit around her. As a result, he had less time to work out.It was normal to gain a few pounds eating well and exercising less. Did he really think he could eat anything without gaining weight?The reason he could maintain a model-like physique before was that he exercised daily.“Ow.” Serenity suddenly cried out in pain.This startled Zachary so much that he nearly jumped up, asking anxiously, “Is it stomach pain? Are you going into labor? Let’s go to the hospital right away.”He was about to pick her up, but Serenity stopped him by pressing his hand.“Don’t be so nervous, Zachary. It's not time yet. It’s not happening so soon. It’s just the baby kicking again. His kicks are getting stronger.”As she entered the later stages of pregnancy, the little one inside her was growing stronger. Sometimes, a couple of kicks from the baby could actually hurt.
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