Everly was envious.
When Maddie was pregnant with Everly, her husband, Ike Flemming, died in an accident. At the time, her family, the Zellers, advised her to abort the child and leave the Flemmings to remarry someone else.
However, Maddie had a very deep bond with Ike, who was an only child. Kaden had not had to beg Maddie to keep the baby, as she insisted on giving birth to Everly, Ike's only living legacy.
Maddie had hoped for a son, since the Flemmings had a large family business. If it were a son, the succession would be much smoother, at least when it came to winning over the senior executives.
Yet, a girl, Everly, was born. Maddie was utterly disappointed and could not accept that she was a girl. She even suspected the hospital had swapped her child out.
She clamored for a maternity test to prove it and refused to believe it even after Kaden and her own family all said the child had not been swapped out.
Finally, they actually did the DNA test, which proved Everly was biologically Maddie's. It was only then that Maddie accepted that she had a daughter. Still, not being able to have a son with her late husband remained Maddie's biggest regret.
Kaden and Maddie were eager for Everly's arrival, but after she was born, her mother was very unhappy for a time. Kaden was the one who brought Everly up. Even now that she was an adult and had started taking over management of the company, Maddie often bemoaned that Everly was not a boy.
It was not that Maddie did not love her daughter, but at the same time, she lamented.
That was why Everly was envious of Heath and Callia.
Heath was the first of his generation, and his parents only had him more than a year
after tying the knot. The entire York family naturally treasured the first of the
grandchildren they very much looked forward to having.
All the more so for Callia, who was the one and only daughter they had had in generations. The moment she was born, she was surrounded by love and was truly their beloved princess.
"Mr. York's nickname..." Everly chuckled but did not continue.
Sonny laughed too. "We all thought it was so normal to call him that when he was young, but it's weird to call him that now that he's all grown, isn't it?"
"Oh, no, it's fine if he's used to it and won't get mad about it."
"He won't. We're used to calling him that, and he's used to being called that too, but only family is allowed. If an outsider addressed him that way, he'd blow his top on the spot."
"Do you have a nickname?” Everly asked curiously.
"They just call me Sonny."
"When I was young, my grandfather would call me Evey. He still does. My mom rarely does, though."
Sonny knew about Everly's circumstances and felt a little sorry for her.
She had no choice but to be strong.
She had no siblings, and her mother
was a pushover who had poor judgment sometimes, while her grandfather was getting on in years. She had to safeguard the Flemming assets so how could she not be strong? Without strength, she would not be able to protect it.
She said she did not want to get married and just wanted to have two kids via IVF to avoid schemes from potential in-laws.
Her maternal uncles and aunts had tried multiple times to introduce her to guys and asked Maddie to urge her to go on blind dates, but none of them were judged worthy by Kaden.
They were all heirs who had the looks but not the capability. They appeared to be rich heirs, but their family businesses had actually been running on a deficit for a long time and urgently needed other rich families like the Flemmings to patch up their losses.
Even Zellerco, the Zellers' company, was on the decline. If it were not for the Flemmings' support here and there a these years of consideration for the fact they were in-laws, Zellerco would have@losed down long ago.
Despite all the help the Flemmings had given them, the Zellers continued to scheme
against the Flemmings in all sorts of ways to swallow their assets.
They were utterly ungrateful bastards!