Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 227: One More Chance

At the very moment Anne shut her eyes, thinking she would hear Cynthia scream or gasp at suddenly finding someone under Andrew’s table, Anne heard the approaching footsteps stop abruptly.

She slowly opened her eyes looking upwards to see Andrew dismissively flick his finger at Cynthia as if indicating that there was no need for her to pick the file for him.

A sigh of relief escaped Anne’s lips just as Andrew began to lean over attempting to pick up the file. Convenient enough for him she was looking up, giving him the chance to abruptly press his lips over her own very lightly in a fleeting kiss as his finger grabbed the file and he pulled away again, the two people in the office remained unsuspecting of whatever had just happened under the table.

Anne remained in the same spot with shock filled eyes before she blinked, coming back to her senses.

She knew he was teasing her from the light smirk she could see on his face as he opened the file and began reading through it and Anne could only accept her fate and remained sitting under the table. He might be having the time of his life teasing her and kissing her but she was the one hiding like a little thief tsk.

At first there was still a pleasant look on Andrew’s face as he began to read the file, however several seconds later, his expression changed abruptly. He raised calm eyes to the two people in his office.

"This is your demand?" He held up the file carelessly and the timid young woman called Denise nodded.

"I know that you’re the only one who can help me, and...and I’m the only one who...can sell these properties to you...if you help me, I will..."

"I don’t help people, I only do business. This isn’t a business proposal."

"Yes but... you’ll get what you want... I’ll sell any property on Sera island to you as long as you help me."

Though Anne had no idea what the discussion was about, she found herself listening keenly.

She couldn’t help but be suddenly plagued with a curiosity that made her wonder what kind of help the woman needed and why she seemed so desperate for his help.

"Cynthia." Andrew suddenly called, dropping the file dismissively on his desk.

"Yes sir?"

"I sent you to purchase properties, what made you think I would entertain this?"

"Sir, miss Denise was adamant. I didn’t want to make decisions for you and she insisted on speaking to you about it, that’s why I brought her here."

"Mr Sterling please...I need to find out how my brother died...and the only way I can do that is by going to the hidden baseland in Zurich, and you’re the only one who has a way to access the..."

"I’m not interested in your personal issues..." Andrew’s words trailed off as he felt something from below the table, he stiffened glancing down for a moment before raising his gaze back to the desperate young woman who looked on hopeful that he’d changed his mind.

"I’ll give you the pass to the baseland and you’ll sell the properties to me." He suddenly said making the girl called Denise almost jump in joy.

"Thank you...!" She breathed out with relieved tears in her eyes and Andrew could only look down at a certain someone who seemed to have begged him with her eyes.

.....

Several hours later, Clara could be seen inside a bar, colorful blinking lights zoomed in and out of focus, she swirled a deep red liquid in her glass, her mouth tilting upwards in a self mocking smile as she raised the glass to her lips and took a sip.

An old memory flashed into Clara’s mind, in that memory she saw a little girl.

The girl looked to be around the age of nine or ten and she was surrounded by other kids around her age, some of them a bit older, all the kids laughing and pointing at the little girl’s face.

"She’s so ugly! Hahaha!"

"Hey, mud face!" Someone called making the several other kids continue to laugh even more.

"Mud face, more like troll face!"

"Hahahaha! She looks like a troll!"

That little girl huddled in a corner and cried painfully. She cried so hard and pleaded for them to stop laughing but they never listened, the sounds of mocking laughter became a loud jarring echo in her head that rang over and over again until her thoughts blurred.

How many times had she ever been called ugly, how many times had she been laughed at?

If being ugly was bad, so terrible that it made people hate you, then she wouldn’t be the only one to suffer this pain, this ridicule.

The girl suddenly raised her head and let out a sharp scream, grabbing a branch on the floor she lunged forward and the first kid she could grab became unfortunate enough to suffer the harsh rage of the girl’s hysteria as she slashed the branch across his face brutally with a force one wouldn’t expect to receive from a girl that young.

"Aaarghhhh!" The young boy in his pre-teens, voice slowly beginning to thicken let out a sudden sharp scream that echoed with fright and pain as blood began to pour over his hands which was covering his face.

The little girl they were laughing at had suddenly jumped and grabbed something off the floor then slashed towards his face until he felt nothing but pain. The deep wound continuously bleeding until the boy passed out on the floor while the other kids ran away leaving the girl standing over the unconscious boy like a shadow of death looming over him with an unremorseful look in her eyes.

She looked down at the boy, smiling in satisfaction as she muttered, "Now you’re ugly too."

A few years later, the girl could be seen crying in her mother’s arms.

"Mom, I want to be beautiful, I want to be the prettiest girl, I want everyone to look at me, so everyone can stop hating me."

It had taken a lot of time and money to get the girl out of the scandal where she hurt a boy and disfigured his face, but her mother didn’t see a little psychopath whenever she looked at her child like others said, she saw her own sweet child who was suffering from the pains of people’s vain desires to see something beautiful in everyone they looked at and hate anyone they couldn’t find beauty in.

"You’ll be beautiful my child, I’ll get the best doctors, they’ll make you the prettiest girl in the world."

That memory faded from Clara’s mind as she sipped her wine again, this time with a pained look in her eyes.

"I gave you one more chance Andrew." She muttered to herself inaudibly over the loud music in the bar. She slipped her hand into her bag, her hands fisted around a small green bottle and a vicious look appeared in her eyes.