Chapter 0004

Aaron didn’t see the smile on Serena’s face as he walked out of the company with her. 

She had returned this time to get what always belonged to her. When she left two years ago, it was just an excuse to not get married. After all, she was still young and there were many fish in the sea. Why should she settle for Aaron when there could be someone so much better?

Quite alright, Aaron was one of the eligible bachelors in Ashford City. Not only was he stinking rich, but he was devilishly handsome and had achieved great things at a young age. 

Who wouldn’t want him?

Serena knew he would always want her but she wanted to explore her options. What if she lost someone better if she settled for Aaron just because he had a silly crush on her? 

Besides, at that time, it wasn’t known who would be the heir of the Wentworth group. It was a debate between Aaron’s elder sister and himself. How could Serena possibly know that Celia Wentworth would fall in love with a foreigner and leave the country, thereby leaving Aaron as the only heir? 

Now he had accomplished many things and was incomparable to other bachelors in the City. Since there was no one who could match up to Aaron now, she decided to return and take her place by his side.

But she discovered he wasn’t the same. The way he looked at her… his eyes didn’t have the same twinkle they had two years ago when he bid her farewell. 

She had expected a more lively welcome. By now, he would have taken her to his fellow bachelor friends to show her around but he didn’t. It seemed like there was something on his mind. 

Aaron went to arrange for the arrival of his male assistant that had been away for two years so Serena was left alone in the car. 

She wanted to go after him but his phone suddenly rang. Her eyes squinted when she saw that the person who was calling was saved as ‘T’ by Aaron.  

Her gentle demeanour suddenly vanished and a look of menace flashed through her eyes. It dawned on her that Aaron was acting strange because there was a woman in his life. 

Serena couldn’t have that. 

At the moment, Aaron was the only man who matched up to her. There was no way she would let him slip out of her fingers when he had always been hers from the beginning. So she watched as the phone rang and rang again with a vicious look on her face. 

When the calls stopped coming through, a message was received. She tried to open the phone but there was a password. 

She tried to use her birthday but it was denied. Anger surged within her. ‘When did Aaron change his password? Am I still his world?’

Pursing her lips into a thin line, she took out her phone and made a call. 

“Big brother, I’m back,” She said the moment the call went through. 

“Hey, little sis. What’s up?” The man she had called responded knowing she wanted something. 

“Can you help me crack Aaron’s phone password?” 

“What do you need it for? Aaron isn’t someone you can do tricks on-”

“I know. But you know how he’s supposed to marry me but there’s another woman texting him.”

The man on the other side kept quiet for a moment. After a minute, he called out a string of numbers that Serena used on Aaron’s phone and it suddenly unlocked. 

“Do what you need to do but be careful. Don’t lose this chance. We need the Wentworth group on our side. I’ll look into this female to see if she’s of any threat to you.” 

The man was none other than Harry Winston, Serena’s brother. He was a tech expert and their company usually dealt with software development. Cracking a password was as simple as a walk in the park for him. 

Serena smiled from ear to ear. “Thanks, bro. I love you.” 

She cut the call and read the message but a menacing look flashed through her eyes when she saw what the contact named ‘T’ had sent. 

Serena was about to reply to the text but she saw Aaron approaching the car from the corner of her eyes so she quickly deleted the text and locked the screen before placing the phone back where it was. 

She was annoyed that Aaron wasn’t fawning over her the way he used to. He was being polite but wasn’t acting like someone smitten with her. 

She thought this was because of the female texting him and hatred brewed in her heart. ‘Just wait and see. I’ll get rid of you.’

When they arrived at the company, she was elated that Aaron showed her off to his employees. This gave her hope that he still loved her. It was obvious this T woman was the one who was seducing him.

He had gone to the bathroom when they arrived at the office and that’s when a knock sounded at the door. Serena opened the door and frowned when she saw Nora standing outside with an envelope in her hands. 

“And you are?” She snapped arrogantly, wrinkling her nose, thinking she was the T on Aaron’s phone. 

Nora was taken aback by the hostility coming from the future lady boss. She silently took back her words. This lady was vicious and didn’t deserve the CEO at all!

Nevertheless, she gave her the envelope and said. “Please pass this to Mr Wentworth. Tessa left it here.” 

Serena’s brows furrowed when she opened the envelope and found two cheques. She immediately put two and two together and realised this woman named Tessa is the T who was calling Aaron relentlessly earlier.  

She went back to her seat and placed the cheques in her Chanel handbag just as the phone on the table chimed. 

Irritation flared through her. She knew it must be the same person texting. Grabbing the phone, she read the text and clenched her fists. 

‘You think I will give you the opportunity to look good to Aaron?’ She sneered and deleted the text before replying with good riddance and deleted it as well. 

She knew Aaron didn’t like material girls. Once he knew she was hungry for money, he would be disgusted with her. 

Smirking, she sent her brother a message with instructions to make him hack into Tessa’s phone and send a message to Aaron’s phone. 

A smirk crossed her lips as she put the phone back where it originally was. 

‘Tessa or whoever you are. You’re no match for me.’

…

Days passed by fleetingly fast.

“When are you returning to work? It’s been five days,” Elena Hilton inquired as she peeked into her daughter’s room. 

“I quit my job, Mom,” Tessa who was lying face down on the bed grumbled, feeling depressed. 

“What? How can you quit your job? How will you survive now?” Elena was shocked to hear this piece of news. 

When her daughter suddenly showed up, she was ecstatic to see her but then she noticed that something was wrong with Tessa. She looked like she had lost her whole world and no matter how much she asked, Tessa didn’t disclose what was actually the problem.

“I don’t know, Mom. I’ll look for another job, I guess,” Tessa mumbled lazily. 

She didn’t feel like doing anything at the moment.

Her eyes were swollen from all the crying she had done for the past five days. She had gone through most of the stages of grief. During the denial stage, she couldn’t help but call Aaron’s phone several times. 

Of course, Aaron didn’t pick up any of her calls or respond to her messages. This infuriated her and led her to the anger stage. Everything made her angry even the innocent soap operas on the TV that displayed a kind of love that could only be one’s fantasy. At the third stage, she found herself asking questions like, what if she was more submissive? Perhaps Aaron would have loved her. 

She thought she would have managed to win his love if only she had tried harder. 

Now she was in the fourth stage. The depression stage. She was not in the mood to do anything else. 

“Did something happen at work dear? You haven’t told me anything and just keep moping around,” Elena narrowed her eyes, worry filling her as she wondered what could have happened to her daughter. 

She was not a fool. Tessa clearly looked heartbroken so she was convinced this matter involved a man but since she didn’t want to tell her anything, she could only wait for her to want to talk to her about it. 

“I want to be left alone, Mom,” Tessa said, turning to the other side, her back facing the door. 

Elena sighed and left the bedroom. There was a reason she was anxious about Tessa being around. She had a problem that she didn’t want Tessa to find out about. 

‘I just hope they don’t show up while she’s here,’ she thought silently and proceeded to her room. 

…

Tessa was woken up by a commotion outside. At first, she was irritated because all she wanted to do was sleep all day and forget about her problems but then she heard her mother’s voice. She seemed to be pleading with someone and that person was being rude. 

“Please, Mr Rodgers, give me some time to look for the money. I shall pay you back, please don’t take my house.” 

Tessa’s heart sank into her stomach. If she had heard clearly, it seemed her mother had gotten herself into debt. 

“Hmph! All you do is tell me lies. Today, I’m getting this house or your daughter. I heard she’s back. If you don’t want to pay you can give her to me as collateral. You will get her back once you pay…” 

Tessa hurriedly got up from the bed and rushed outside. Anger surged within her when she saw her mother kneeling on the ground while the man called Mr Rodgers was staring down at her. 

He was a balding man with a large beer belly. He had come with five of his lackeys and they had baseball bats in their hands as if they had come for war. 

Tessa felt a chill when she saw this but she had to save her mother. 

“Who are you people and what do you think you’re doing?!”

Mr Rodgers turned to face her the moment he heard her voice. When he saw that she was a beautiful young lady with skin that looked like she bathed in milk and honey, his eyes lit up with lust. 

He licked his lips and raked his eyes lecherously up and down her body. Thinking he had really won the lottery this time, he grinned from ear to ear and said, “Your mother is owing me money. If you come with us, I’ll spare her. If not, I’ll grab your house. She put it as collateral.” 

Tessa felt fury brewing within her. She clenched her fists at her sides and glared at Mr Rodgers and his minions. 

“So you’re loan sharks? Do you know that what you do is illegal?” She couldn’t help but hiss. 

The man’s eyes flashed dangerously before he burst into laughter. “Do you think the police don’t know what kind of business I do? You’re free to report me if you want. I’m just not sure if your house will still be yours by the time you’re coming back.” 

Tessa knew the society she grew up in well enough. It was full of biasness and corruption. There’s nothing the local authorities would do if this man was powerful in terms of wealth. 

He looked like an underground mob boss. The police were indeed powerless against those kinds of people. 

In the meantime, Elena lowered her head in shame when her daughter came out. She had planned to keep her debt a secret until Tessa left but alas, Mr Rodgers decided to show up today.

Not wanting to involve her daughter in such matters, she grabbed onto Mr Rodger’s leg and begged. “Please, my daughter doesn’t know anything about the debt. Let her go. I’ll pay you back, I promise.” 

Mr Rodgers felt a flash of irritation and suddenly kicked Elena in the stomach, “bitch! How dare you grab me?! I’m here to collect my money!” 

Tessa’s heart squeezed seeing her mother being kicked viciously so she quickly took out her phone from her pocket and checked her account statement. Her eyes lit up when she saw the amount she had saved up for the past two years. 

“How much is she owing you? I can pay back the debt!” She confidently said and Mr Rodgers squinted his eyes at her, stroking his grey goatee. 

“It’s ten thousand dollars,” he said grumpily. 

Tessa frowned. “That’s why you kicked my mother and threatened to grab the house?” 

The amount was too little for the shameless loan shark to demand to grab the house as payment. It may have been a small house but the minimum price it could cost was fifty thousand dollars. 

Thankfully her savings for the past two years were amounting to ten thousand dollars. She quickly asked for Mr Rodger’s details and sent him the money, much to his annoyance. He had hoped he would walk away with a beauty instead. 

When they left, Tessa was about to grill her mother about the loan she took when she realised she was motionless on the ground. Her brows furrowed and a sense of unease settled in her stomach. 

“Mom?” She called out and rushed towards her, only to gasp when she saw the blood trickling from Elena’s mouth. She was unconscious but she was still alive. 

Quickly, Tessa booked a cab and took her to the hospital. 

She was waiting outside the emergency room when the doctor on duty stepped out. 

“How is my mother, Doctor?” Tessa hurriedly asked. Her stomach was in a knot. 

The doctor sighed. “Your mother requires emergency surgery. She’s in her second stage of stomach cancer. Why did you take long to take her to the hospital?” 

Tessa heard a ringing sound in her ears at the doctor’s words. 

“C-cancer?” Her eyes had grown wide like saucers and her mouth couldn’t close as she stared at the doctor. “W-what do you mean? My mother doesn’t have cancer.” 

“Well, our results show that she has. She got chemotherapy for the first stage but it recurred and she took long to come for treatment.”

Tessa swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, her stomach twisting. “Do the surgery then.” 

The doctor scratched the side of his neck. “We can’t do the surgery over here but we can refer her to a hospital in the City.” 

Tessa was in a daze the whole time she was in the ambulance accompanying her mother to the City. Apart from being sad, she felt guilty. She was busy having fun with Aaron while her mother had to get a loan to treat her cancer. 

Heck, she didn’t even know her mother had cancer. 

When they arrived at the hospital, a female doctor with glasses in a white coat walked out and handed her a paper.

“Make payment at the reception and bring this back. The price for the surgery is five thousand dollars.”

Tessa’s heart dropped to her feet. She had just spent her last money, where was she supposed to get that amount of money?