Following Jasmine’s praises, Liberty replied smiling, “So you’re saying I have the potential to be a wealthy woman.”
“Let’s not forget that Mr. Charles foretold that things will be difficult for Liberty and Seren before they can enjoy the easy life.”
With Sonny in Jasmine’s arms, she and her brother followed Elisa into the main house of the Stones‘ residence.
Drake had the pleasure of meeting these ladies before. It was impolite of him to butt in while the girls were chatting. Hence, he quietly became a wallflower, secretly hoping Mr. Bucham would arrive soon. At least, he would have company.
Ring, ring, ring…
Liberty’s phone rang.
Stopping in her tracks, she pulled out her phone and looked at the display screen. By the looks of the number, the call came from a landline.
“Who’s calling you? Is it someone from your ex–husband’s family?” Elisa asked with concern upon seeing Liberty’s reluctance in answering the call.
“I don’t know who’s the caller. It’s a landline.”
After much hesitation, Liberty picked up the call in the end.
“It’s me, Liberty.”
Liberty uttered, “Mike?
“What do you want?”
Liberty’s voice turned flat.
Mike let out an awkward laugh on the other end of the line. “I heard you got a million bucks from your husband when you divorced him.”
It alerted Liberty’s internal alarm bells to ring.
She callously asked, “Who told you that I got that much money? I didn’t work or have. any income after I got married.”
“Your mother–in–law said so. Liberty, my business has hit a rough patch and is in the red. I lost all the money I profited from over the years. I don’t have cash going into. the business, so I was thinking if you could lend me a million bucks.”
Liberty sneered in anger.
There were no boundaries when it came to these people.
They would not stop bugging her and Serena.
“You might want to look in the mirror and see if you can find your dignity, Mike. After all that you’ve done to me and my sister, you have the gall to ask me for money?! That’s right. I do have a million dollars, but I won’t lend it to you. I’d rather give the money to anyone else than you!”
“Oh, come on, Liberty. We’re family after all. Look, you girls were stubborn then. You didn’t get your husband to pay us for family support. He married you without forking out a dime to us. Look where it landed you. You should ask your future husband to pay for our grandparents‘ care, so he would feel responsible to the family and would not ditch you unnecessarily.
“Your future husband will only treasure you if he commits a sum of money to marry you. You don’t have use for the money you have now anyway. Why don’t you lend me the million dollars? I’ll pay you back when my business recovers. Besides, you and your sister are the reason my business is failing.
“My business wouldn’t have suffered if you didn’t ruin me with your post on Twitter. I’m taking in a loss every day.”
“I’m not going to lend you the money! Not even a dime!”
“Liberty…”
Liberty hung up on the call.
With the phone slammed in his face, Mike cussed his heart out.
“What did she say?”
His father inquired concernedly, “Is Liberty going to lend you the money?”
“Dad, you know she won’t do that. We’re not even on the best of terms. Even a good friend won’t lend me a million bucks.
Restless, Mike paced around the living room.
They were now back in their hometown, and everything cost them money. It was fine when Mike’s business was doing well before, and he was bringing in clean profit every day. However, Mike was put out of business and about to lose his capital. He started to count pennies.
Old Mrs. Hunt would be discharged from the hospital and return home in two days. With the New Year around the corner, the old lady wanted to be home for the celebration.
The Hunts, apart from Old Mr. Hunt who had been caring for his wife in the hospital, were now living in their hometown and taking turns going into the city to take care of
Old Mrs. Hunt.
Oh, right. John was still in the city, looking for a job.
However, many companies were on early Christmas and New Year leave, so it had not been smooth sailing for John.
Stone Group came down heavily on John. Any companies interested in hiring John for his capability would receive a call from Stone Group thereafter. As the companies did not want to step on Stone Group’s toes, they would change their mind about hiring John.
John even attended interviews with companies that were at odds with Stone Group, but the outcome was the same.
He spent some money to ask the manager of the human resources department at these companies why they would not take him in. The companies replied, saying that John had crossed someone, and any companies that hired him would be made the enemy.
John asked the human resource managers if the person was from Stone Group.
The response he got was, “Did you p*ss Stone Group off too? Don’t you come from a farming town? Does your family own a farm? I’d advise you to go pursue a career in that. At least, you can earn a livelihood. It’s unlikely you will find a job here.“
Despite John’s persistent questioning, the human resource managers would not reveal to him who else, apart from Stone Group, was putting an end to his professional career.
John knew that someone had Serena and her sister’s back. He thought it was Elisa at first, but now it seemed there was someone more powerful than Elisa standing behind the sister.
Who could it be?
The person had the power to stop anybody from hiring him in Wiltspoon.
Having lost his confidence, John decided to wait until Grandmom was out of the hospital and send his grandparents back to their hometown before figuring something out in the new year.
“What do we do now?”
Stuart was anxious. “Whoever’s behind Serena and her sister must be some sort of big shot. They’re the reason for our job losses and business failures. You’re feeling the pinch too even though you don’t run a huge business.
“Mike, we can have a family meeting when your grandmom is out of the hospital. We should apologize sincerely as Serena had asked and see if things will change for the better.”
Serena mentioned that they should apologize for framing the sisters, tarnishing their names, roasting them, and putting them in the face of cyberbullying.
Mike was hesitant.
“It’s bad enough as it is. What’s so difficult about issuing a public apology online? We can offer gifts to Liberty and her sister after the public apology. We must clean up our act and apologize this time. Things might be better when the sisters put the matter behind them.”
Mike uttered resentfully, “It was too much of Serena and Liberty. Sure, we started it, but it was only a Twitter post. So, we hired people to troll them, but they fought back too. It’s been hard on us the last two months. We suffered quite a huge loss.
“We’re even now, but the girls won’t back down. Must they push us this far?”
Mike was not ready to forgive and forget.
He added, “They can’t let go of their resentment toward us and still hold the incident against us, Dad. It’s likely we won’t ever reconcile with the sisters. I can bet my money that they will try and take back their parent’s property.”
“That is our family’s home base. They’re married, so they shouldn’t have a share of the property. The girls don’t have the right to do so!”
“Dad, all children have the right to inherit the property. It’s just a custom in our town to leave the inheritance to sons.”
“What should we do now? We clearly don’t have the upper hand.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.