Alicia suddenly realized she didn’t have any slippers. Even though the shoe cab was packed with shoes, she didn’t dare touch any of them.
Alicia slipped off her shoes, rummaged through her bag for two clean stic bags, put them over her feet, and finally made her way inside.
Stepping into the living room, Alicia found it huge and almost empty. There wasn’t a single unnecessary item; everything was spotless.
Clearly, no one had ever lived here before; it was just like one of those pristine show ts one would see in a sales center.
The whole ce was decorated in shades of gray, which looked upscale but also felt a bit suffocating.
Alicia walked around for a bit. The ce was enormous, yet had only one bedroom–and that bedroom was bigger than some folks‘ entire apartments.
Besides the bed, there was an open bathroom, and right across from the bed was a massive home theater setup.
Alicia thought to herself, ‘Mr. Yates really knows how to live. Watching movies on a screen bigger than an entire wall while chilling in bed? Now that’s the life.
The kitchen, living room, and dining area flowed together as one huge open space, making the whole ce feel even more massive.
The kitchen was fully stocked with every utensil imaginable, but not a single trace of anyone ever cooking here no oil, no smoke, nothing.
Alicia was going to start cooking to save some cash, but she’d have to ask Charles first if that was cool. <fna961> Read full story at find?novel</fna961>
Alicia was just about to start cleaning up when she suddenly realized the giant living room floor–to–ceiling windows could actually slide open.
Alicia pushed one open and was stunned. There was a rooftop courtyard. It looked like it stretched on forever, easily 4,000 square feet—and there was absolutely nothing there, just wide open space.
‘Oh my gosh, this ce is amazing. It’s my dream home,‘ Alicia thought to herself. ‘When will I ever own a ce like this? He’s amazing. I still have a long way to go.
Alicia closed the sliding door to the courtyard, got ready to tidy up, and then headed downstairs to grab some essentials.
But just as Alicia was putting her clothes away in the closet, the doorbell rang.
Alicia rushed to the door and answered the video doorbell. Outside stood a courier in a service uniform, clutching a giant box.
“Who are you looking for?” Alicia asked.
15:40 Wed, <b>Oct </b><b>1 </b>
The courier responded. “I’m with delivery. I have a proxy purchase package here for Miss Lawrence. Is it convenient for me to bring it up to you now?”
Alicia thought for a moment and said, “Just leave it downstairs. I’lle get it in a bit.”
“Got it.” The courier left the box at the front desk downstairs and took off.
Alicia went downstairs, grabbed the box, and brought it back up. When she opened it, she was shocked to find all the essentials she had just nned to buy.
There were toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, women’s slippers, and even tissues. She dug a little deeper and even found sanitary pads.
“This is way too thorough,‘ Alicia thought.
Alicia pulled out her phone and sent Charles a quick WhatsApp message. [Thanks.]
Charles was in the middle of a meeting with some top executives at thepany when his phone buzzed.
He nced at it and saw Alicia’s message. He couldn’t help but smile. ‘Wow, my girl’s actually texting me first. Feels pretty great,‘ he thought to himself.
Even after settling in, Alicia treated the ce like a museum, afraid to touch a single thing.
She kept everything spotless, always putting things back exactly where she found them. Honestly, she was moving around like she was walking on eggshells.
All Alicia wanted was to stash away some cash as fast as she could and finally buy her own ce. Then she could decorate it however she liked and make it her own–no rules, no limits.
Alicia grabbed her phone and logged into an international art site where she sold her paintings.
Staying afloat in the Lawrence family took more than just a few outside gigs; just buying presents for all those Lawrence family members was a money pit. Selling art online was her real lifeline.
Her paintings did surprisingly well overseas. Lots of folks loved her work; honestly, as soon as she uploaded a new piece, it was usually snatched up in no time.
With Tiffany back these past few months, Alicia had been tied up doingmissions for her, so she hadn’t posted much new art online.
But in the past month, since she hadn’t taken any requests from Tiffany, she’d managed to upload three fresh pieces.
Alicia checked her ount and grinned; all three paintings were gone. One sold for 1,000 dors, and the other two brought in 1,500 dors each. The three paintings sold for a total of 4,000 dors.
‘Guess it’s time to upload more, Alicia thought to herself, pulling out her sketchpad and pencil, diving right
into her work.
Fueled by her dreams, Alicia was bursting with motivation.
<b>44 </b>
53 vouchers
Hugh had just finished lunch and returned to the office when he received two unexpected calls from business partners canceling their contracts. Only then did he catch the news about the incident at the hospital online. Hugh was so furious that he could barely breathe, flinging his phone across the room.
Maria was startled. “What happened, Hugh?”
Hugh gritted his teeth. “You gave me twoplete fools. Call Andrew and Archie right now. Tell them to get back here immediately.”
Seeing how angry Hugh was, Maria didn’t dare ask any more questions. She quickly dialed Andrew’s number.
By now, Andrew and Archie had already rushed out of the hospital. Maria called to tell them their dad wanted them home.
After hanging up, Andrew nced at Archie and said, “Mom wants us back. When we get there, just zip it. Whatever happened today, Dad can’t hear a word about it.”
Archie nodded. “Please, I’m not a fool. There’s no way I’ll spill to Dad. Let’s just get this over with. Talk about bad luck.”
They caught a cab and headed home.
As soon as they walked in, a ss came flying across the room. Andrew dodged, leaving Archie to take the hit straight on his arm.
Archie winced in pain, shooting Andrew a re. ‘Seriously, why’d he have to duck?‘ he grumbled to himself.
Archie rubbed his sore arm, then shuffled over to Hugh, who was ring like thunder. Archie shot his dad a nervous look and asked, “Dad, what’s wrong?”
Hugh exploded, “You really have the guts to ask me that? Are you two total idiots or what?”
Archie stammered, “Us? What did we do?”
“Still won’t tell me the truth? Still acting innocent?” Hugh snapped. “Take a look online and see what people are saying about the Lawrence family.
“You two have made us aughing stock, and now thepany’s getting dragged down, too. Do you even realize that?”
As soon as Andrew heard thepany was affected, he fumbled for his phone and went straight to check Twitter.
Sure enough, everything they did at the hospital had been posted online, and it was now trending on Twitter.
Archie muttered softly, “Dad, we really were just trying to teach that girl a lesson.”
“Teach her a lesson?” Hugh banged on the table. “You’re teaching me a lesson, that’s what. The inte is flooded with people saying we mistreat our adopted daughter, and we’ve already lost several partnerships.
15:40 Wed, Oct <b>1 </b>
“Do you have any idea how much money thepany has lost? You two idiots, no allowance for the next three months.”
When Andrew heard he was losing his allowance for three months, he panicked. He had ns to hit up the racing club with his friends this month. Without pocket money, he had no way to go.
Feeling desperate, Andrew blurted out, “Dad, Archie kept insisting we go. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Archie was stunned. ‘Andrew, tossing all the me on me when things get tough?‘ he thought.
Archie fired back immediately, “Dad, that’s not what happened. Andrew’s making things up.
“Tiffany told me Alicia couldn’t afford her hospital bills, so I started to think maybe Alicia stole money or something from the house to pay for that nice room.”
She continued, “I was just nning to check if anything was missing at home. If nothing was gone, I wouldn’t have gone after Alicia.
“But then I bumped into Andrew, and he said it didn’t matter if Alicia really stole anything–if we used her, then everyone would believe it. That’s why I went with him.”
<b>AD </b>