Stuart said with utmost regret, “We shouldn’t have done that. Your grandmom could’ve used her savings to pay the hospital bill. It was enough to cover the bill if each of us contributed a little.
“But none of you was willing to fork out the money. We tried to make the girls pay instead. Do you remember what Liberty did when we asked for family support during her wedding? We should’ve known the sisters are no pushovers. They were only young ladies back then.”
Mike sort of regretted it too, but there was no point crying over spilled milk. What was done was done. The Hunts could only continue what they started.
“I’m going to go around to see if I can find out who has the sisters‘ back.”
Mike even pondered killing the girls. He could look for someone to finish them off.
Nevertheless, since Serena got Noah locked up in jail after the stunt he pulled, Mike had to quit on that thought.
They should apologize and go from there.
Mike would resort to more desperate means if nothing changed after the apology was made.
Even if he had to go down, he was taking Liberty and Serena down with him.
Elisa was there to hear the entire conversation between Liberty and Mike. She angrily uttered, “I can’t believe they’re still hounding you for money.”
“He wants to borrow money from me, saying that business is bad now, and he’s in the red. He needs to pump in a million bucks into operations.”
“How shameless of him! And I thought I was the most brazen person in Wiltspoon. People called me shameless for going after Mr. York, but compared to your relatives,
I’m considered modest.”
Liberty ended up soothing Elisa instead. “Don’t get worked up over these people, Elisa. Serena and I will never be on good terms with them. Those people can go to hell for all I care.”
The hardship the Hunts faced right now was karma hitting back at them.
“Come on, let’s enjoy the buffet and alcohol. Elisa, your pastry chef makes the best desserts. I’m going to eat to my heart’s content today!”
Jasmine turned the subject of conversation elsewhere.
Elisa laughed at her. “Desserts are fattening… Liberty, I wasn’t not talking about you.”
Unbothered, Liberty replied, “Desserts are fattening, but I cut out sweets in my diet.”
“I don’t care if desserts have high calories. I run and train every day, so a bit of dessert won’t kill my weight.”
Pulling Elisa along, Jasmine called Liberty and her son to go inside the house.
Since Liberty gave up on sugar, she had to hold out against anything tasty at the party.
Keeping to her diet was the first step to losing weight.
By the time Josh arrived, Jasmine had had her fill and was drunk.
Drake came along as the designated driver for his sister. While helping his drunk sister out, they ran into Josh who was surrounded by a crowd.
Josh came late on purpose so that all eyes would be on him.
It never crossed his mind that Jasmine was on her way out when he had just arrived.
“Mr. Bucham.”
Drake nodded at Josh.
“What’s going on Ms. Sox?”
“My sister is drunk.”
Josh was speechless.
It seemed she could not hold her liquor.
“Mr. Bucham, I’m off to drive my sister home.”
Holding his sister up by the arm, Drake gave Josh another nod and brushed past him.
Jasmine was not the only person under the influence of alcohol. Even Elisa, who enjoyed more than the occasional drink or two, was smashed.
It was because the pair had somehow chatted about Mr. York, and Elisa called the maid to switch their wine to hard liquor. Jasmine and Elisa took turns downing the drink until they were wasted.
Josh wanted to walk toward Jasmine as the public watched on, so everyone would know he had a thing for Jasmine. Guess the plan went up in smoke.
Even the best–laid plan would go astray and this seemed to be the case for Josh.
Josh only showed up at the Stones‘ party because of Jasmine. Now that Jasmine was gone, he did not have a reason to stick around.
The Stones‘ party was the buzz and only ended at midnight.
The following day, Liberty was firm on returning to her little home together with her son, despite Mrs. Stone’s insistence for her to stay.
Before leaving the Stones‘ residence, Liberty had a long talk with Mrs. Stone. Mrs. Stone wanted to give two houses to Liberty and Serena, but after consulting with her sister, Liberty turned down Mrs. Stone’s generous offer.
Mrs. Stone also wanted to give each of her nieces a lump sum of money to enrich the sisters‘ material lives.
Liberty refused the kind gesture as well.
Liberty said to Mrs. Stone, “Aunt Audrey, Seren and I are young and able. We don’t need your help. Don’t worry too much about us. Have faith in us. We will get to the top with our own effort.
“I do have one thing to ask of you. Try not to let everybody know that Seren and † are your nieces. We have seen all kinds of people and the ugly side of humanity. I’m worried that others might use us against you or the Stone Group.”
After much thought, Mrs. Stone replied, “I’m happy that you think that way, Liberty. You are both strong–willed like me. I’ll take a step back since you don’t need my help, but you must let me know if things get tough for you.
“It doesn’t matter if others don’t know about our relationship, but your relatives must know of that fact, or they’ll continue to pester you girls for money.”
Stone Group’s reputation came in handy at times.
“They already know Elisa stands behind us.”
Elisa got into it with the Hunts at the shop.
“I won’t go out of my way to tell them, but I might use your name to put pressure on them when we take them to court to repossess our parents‘ home. It should work in our favor.”
“Tell me when you decide to start the legal battle. I can help you hire the best lawyer. With the inheritance law, you should win the case.”
Liberty knew that she and her sister would get the house back through court. However, the Hunts were despicable and would not easily back off. Even if the sisters won the legal battle, the Hunts would play dumb. The sisters would have to pull out the big guns and use Aunt Audrey’s name.
Following the long talk with Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Stone was true to her word and only watched her nieces in the dark. She did not interfere with her nieces‘ lives.
It was only right to leave the girls to walk their paths.
It took a week before Zack got rid of his nasty cold.
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.