Ava opened her eyes slowly. Her head was still dizzy. Her body ached. She found bandages wrapped around her upper body.
The last thing she remembered was saving a child and it almost endangered her life. She didn't know how it happened. The girl was now in a room ... a private room ... not a hospital as she should be.
Ava's eyes glanced around the room. Everything about the room was luxury. The combination of white and natural oak made the room look spacious and bright. Moreover, the large mirror on the left makes the room feel twice as big.
Was she in a rich man's house? Sure. Who would place a guest ... a stranger, in such a splendid room.
Ava got her sense of smell back. She inhaled the strawberry scent coming from the aromatherapy candle in the corner of the room. The luxurious scent was different from her cheap strawberry perfume. It wasn't that she didn't have good taste but that her financial situation prevented her from buying high-quality perfumes.
Everything in the room made her feel comfortable. The owner of the house seemed to have similar tastes to her. The only difference was the contents of their wallets.
Shortly after, a woman entered the room. She seemed to be a maid in the house, judging by the way she was dressed. Her eyes were slightly surprised as he looked at Ava. However, she soon regained her composure within seconds.
"Ah, you are already awake. I'll call Mr. Montgomery," said the woman.
She stepped out of the room again before Ava could ask her a thing or two. It was just that the name Montgomery reminded the girl of something she had heard.
William Montgomery?
However, she immediately dismissed the thought as there were many Montgomerys in this world. How could she be stuck with the same Montgomery among thousands of Montgomery in this world?
Unfortunately, it turned out that what Ava hoped for didn't come true. When the room door opened, the maid who had entered the room earlier came in with a man named Montgomery she knew. The only Montgomery she had ever met.
Ava's throat constricted as those green eyes stared at her without blinking.
"Is there anything else you need, sir?" asked the maid, breaking the silence that had fallen in the large guest room.
William shook his head. "You may go."
Now, there were only Ava and William in the room. William took a seat on the couch in the corner of the room. He didn't want to get too close to the girl because he knew what she could do to his body. He didn't want his desire to arise unsolicited because he remembered Paula. What's more, he didn't want his feelings to be hurt because he knew Paula could no longer be by his side.
Ava's head swiveled, following William's movements. The situation was so tense. Unlike their first meeting, when she and William were involved in a hot, sexy atmosphere. At this time, she only got a piercing glare from William.
Ava was still confused because of a little boy she helped. However, the confusion turned out to be even more and more. William's intense gaze made her look down, feeling uncomfortable.
"Ah, sorry! I … I still don't have anything to repay the money I borrowed—"
"Why are you here?" asked William, interrupting Ava's words, coldly and curtly.
Ava fell silent, growing frightened. The pain of her wound was now completely gone. It must be because she was really scared.
"I … I'm here to work," Ava answered in a low voice. She was innocent. She should not be afraid.
Even though she didn't have the money to pay back the three million dollars she borrowed from Willam, she was still innocent because there was no time limit for the payment.
"Work?" William asked, narrowing his eyes.
Ava nodded.
"Was the money I gave you the other day still lacking?" asked William again. His eyes looked at Ava curiously.
"Something happened and I lost all my money. My father bought me a ticket here because I would not have survived if I had stayed in NJ." Ava tried to explain briefly and straightforwardly. However, William looked at her sarcastically, as if she was lying. He couldn't help. She tried to con him in the past.
"Not a bad story," commented William curtly, making Ava's chest feel tight.
"I'm not lying—"
"How much did you get paid to approach my son?" William asked matter-of-factly.
"Approaching … your son?" she asked. Of course, she did not understand what William accused her of.
"Six months ago, you were asked to trick me into signing an agreement," explained William. "Now that Martin has failed, you must have been asked to approach my son, right? What do you plan?"
Ava's eyes widened. As it turned out, the boy she was helping was William's son, the handsome green-eyed man she almost tricked last month. Not only that, the boy's father was now accusing her of other crimes.
"Can't you see that I was badly injured, trying to save your son?" Ava asked fiercely. She did not expect that her good deed would be mistaken for an evil one.
"That's the old way, isn't it?" said William sarcastically. "Pretending to help your prey from being chased by criminals, even though they are your friends."
"Hey, I almost died—"
"Unfortunately, you didn't die," concluded William, making Ava's eyes widen. Did she have to die so that William would believe she meant no harm?
"You, ungrateful man!" Ava's anger boils over. She forced her body to get up from the comfy king-sized bed with white sheets that she had been sleeping on. "You know what, sir? I almost died helping a kid I didn't know who screamed for help when I was about to go to work. Instead of thanking me, the father even accused me of being mean to his son. "
Ava's eyes widened, looking at William with hatred. "Thank you for the bandages and your kind hospitality!"
As Ava was about to leave the room, William said again. "Stop following me," without taking his sharp eyes off her. "I know Martin told you to set me up again. Tell him that's impossible because I'll get rid of you soon enough."
Ava shook her head weakly. She already thought that was what was in William's head. He must have thought that she would con him again. To William, the stigma of being a fraudster still couldn't leave her image.
The girl squeezed her cold-sweating hands. She opened the door without looking back at the man.
After Ava left the room, William called his man to interrogate the two thugs who attacked Lukas. He wanted to do the same for Ava. However, Ava's honest eyes made him hesitate to do that and let her slip.
"No! That's not true. Scammers have to be good at acting, right?" muttered William to himself.
While he was seriously thinking about his problem, suddenly the room door opened again, revealing Ava with a shy red face.
"What else?" William was startled, almost jumping in surprise.
"Ah, it's raining outside. If you take me to work by car, I will forgive your mistakes today," Ava said awkwardly, unsure whether her request would be granted or not.
Meanwhile, William just gaped in disbelief. The girl before him was shameless, wasn't she?
The driver drove Ava to the bakery. After saying thanks, she got out of the car to meet her boss. She was too late for work. She was afraid that Monica would fire her because of the mistake she did during her first month at work.
Once she was in Monica's room, she explained everything she went through and that she missed her shift. Monica's eyes looked at the young woman in front of her with pity. "I almost fired you if I didn't see your wounds."
Ava just grinned. Luckily, she didn't get fired. She felt she couldn't afford to lose her job because of what happened earlier.
"You can go home!" she said. "Are you able to work tomorrow morning?"
"Of course!" said Ava, nodding happily. "Thank you, Monica! You are the best boss I've ever wanted."
***
The next day, William, who was about to leave for the office, was confronted by his son. The little boy looked at his father angrily.
"Why can't I go to school today, dad?" he shouted, demanding a reasonable explanation from the strict father.
"You ask me the reason?" William asked back with a cold gaze. "What you did yesterday was the worst thing ever. Of course, I will punish you with something comparable. You were allowed to go outside if you were always under the watch of guards. You broke the rule, you are not leaving the house at all."
"No!" Lukas refused and did not accept his father's decision. "I did it because you treated me too strictly! Why couldn't I visit you at work?"
"Okay, visiting me at the office…," William muttered while glaring. "Did you visit me at the office? Didn't you run away and wander outside?"
Now, Lukas got scared. "I came to your office yesterday. But …."
"But?" asked William inquisitively.
"But … I heard Danica say there is a maid who looks like my mother in the bakery. So—"
"What?" raged William. He didn't expect that Danica's stupid conversation was one of the reasons that made all the mess happen yesterday. His hands clenched, determined to cut Danica's bonus this month.
"Father, where is ... mom—ups, the woman who helped me yesterday?" asked Lukas again, now in a whining tone. "Why wasn't she at home when I woke up?"
William cleared his throat, irritated by the whole situation that was getting out of control. "You can't go near her anymore!"
"Why? If she didn't help me, I would have been taken away by those bad guys," protested Lukas loudly. He tugged at his father's pants, making the neat cloth wrinkle a little.
William brushed off his son's tiny hand gently. He then crouched down, aligning his face with his son's. "Luke, not everything you see is what you see. There are a lot of bad people out there pretending to be good ones."
Luke's emerald eyes widened, he couldn't believe his father's words. How could the woman who defended him sincerely be a bad person?
"I hate you, dad!" shouted Lukas, then ran to his room, leaving his father.
William could only look at his son expressionlessly. After all, he couldn't let Lukas wander around anymore. He had already lost Paula. He didn't want to lose his only child. The most precious memento from her.
"Henry, make sure that Lukas studies at home starting today," William ordered the head butler at his house.
"Okay, sir," said the head butler. "Oh, I almost forget to tell you that Miss Anderson plans to visit this afternoon. Is it permissible?"
William's brows furrowed. He was not pleased that Henry called Julia, Paula's stepsister, Miss Anderson. He knew Paula wouldn't be happy to hear that because she got the name Anderson just because her cunning mom tricked Robert into marrying her again.
"I said, just call her Julia," William said correcting Henry.
"Yes sir. Is Miss Julia allowed to visit?" asked Henry again. He had to immediately confirm the answer. Otherwise, Julia would terrorize him all day.
"Fine," William replied indifferently. He then quickly left the mansion since his schedule was quite tight today.
***
Meanwhile, at Anderson's mansion, Julia and Amanda were eating breakfast. Robert certainly wasn't in their midst because he was still in a long sleep at the hospital, assisted with equipment and injections of medication to keep his heart beating.
"No progress with Luke?" Amanda asked her daughter with a flat look.
"I'm going to pay a visit to William's mansion this afternoon. It would be easier to persuade him if William wasn't home, would it?" replied Julia with a triumphant smile. She was happy to finally get access to William's house. Usually, there would always be a reason to refuse her request.
"Good! Remember, you have to be able to win that bastard kid's heart so that William will marry you for his child," said Amanda. "We need the kid to get access to all of Paula's possession."
Julia nodded. She knew her mother was very upset because she didn't expect that almost all of Robert's property was given to Paula, and almost nothing was left for Amanda but the monthly budget. After Paula died, things didn't change because everything fell into Lukas' hands.
"If only I had dealt with that bitch earlier, none of this would have happened," Amanda grumbled, reminiscing.
"It's not your fault, ma'am. We didn't expect that my father's company would go bankrupt so quickly after he died," said Julia to calm her mother. She poured hot tea for the beautiful middle-aged woman to calm her down.
"You're right, I also didn't expect that Robert's wealth will escalate this much at all," Amanda said angrily. "Remember Julia, all our efforts must be successful. Otherwise, both of us could suffer for the rest of our lives."
"That was so sad. You left Robert for dad because dad was much richer than Robert. Later, you chased him again for the same reason but you got nothing," said Julia sarcastically.
"Watch your mouth, Julie! Just do your job properly," Amanda snapped, unable to accept that she was being treated like that by her daughter. "Remember, I can't fool everyone forever. There's no guarantee that Robert's lawyers will be willing to work with us all the time. If you fail, hell awaits us, Julie. Keep that in mind!"
"Okay, mom! Leave everything to me," said Julia with determination. His father's debt was so much. There was no other way to pay it off than by getting Robert's possession. Paula's wealth. Owned by Lukas.
Julia rose from her seat. After saying goodbye to her mother, she immediately prepared to leave William's mansion. The sooner the better. So she thought.
"Henry, I'm going to the mansion right now," said Julia, announcing her arrival by phone.
"But, Miss, the young master is—"
"I'm going there now!"
Without hearing Henry's explanation, Julia immediately asked the driver to drive the car to William's mansion.
"Wait for me, Lukie baby …." The grin on Julia's face revealed all her greed for wealth. She would try to take everything that previously belonged to Paula. Be it her possessions or her man.
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