Chapter 44 That Dog and Aurora
Seeing Aurora’s indifference, Barnett couldn’t hold back his frustration and snapped, “Aurora!”
Aurora, however, acted as if she hadn’t heard him. She walked straight to the dining room, sat down, and began eating without a care in the world.
Her blatant disregard for Joshua’s condition chilled both Celeste and Barnett.
Tears streaming down her face, Celeste cried, “Aurora, do you even have a heart? Your father is like this, and you’re still thinking about eating?”
Aurora picked up a piece of meat and chewed it leisurely.
So delicious!
It was almost laughable. At twenty–three, she was finally eating the best–tasting meat she had ever had.
When she was at the orphanage, meat was a rare luxury.
After she came back here, the only meals she got were leftovers.
What was even more absurd was that she didn’t taste a warm, freshly made meal until she ended up in prison. If it weren’t for Adolph making sure she was “looked after” in there, she might
Chapter 44 That Dog and Aurora
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have thought life in prison was better than life in the orphanage or with her family.
After swallowing her food, she slowly said, “My heart was long broken by all of you. What, you can’t handle me treating you the way you treated me?”
She remembered the Christmas before her exams. She had a high fever for three days straight. During that time, she was too sick to get out of bed and had to lie in the storage room, but not one in the family even looked at her, let alone gave her a glass of water or a bite of food. They let her suffer alone.
It wasn’t until Daisy came home for the New Year that she found Aurora barely alive. If Daisy had been a day later, she would have died in that storage room.
And the Elvador family probably wouldn’t have noticed.
Daisy was heartbroken when she saw how bad Aurora’s
condition was and mentioned it to Joshua and Celeste. What did Joshua say?
“She’s tough. How could she die from a fever? To me, it looks like she’s faking it for sympathy. I know her better than you do, Daisy. If you’re bored, go shovel the snow outside.”
Celeste sighed, “Aurora is so stubborn. Why would she let herself suffer like this? Even if she’s mad at us, she can’t starve
herself for three days. If she ruins her health, what will we do then?”
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So Celeste knew Aurora hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for three days, but she never seemed to care.
Aurora went to the kitchen for some water and overheard this conversation. A chill ran through her body, and she felt like she was standing in an ice cave.
Celeste cried even harder. “How could you say we ignored you? You can’t speak like that, Aurora.”
How amusing!
What they had done, they had already forgotten.
What did that prove? That they never considered her part of the family.
Her life was worth less than Bertha’s dog.
After Aurora recovered, Bertha’s dog fell ill.
The whole family rushed to the pet hospital,
o over 100
thousand dollars on treatments, but the dog still passed away.
When the dog died, they cried like their own family had
perished, holding a funeral for the dog.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think it was a family member who had died.
But did it end there?
Chapter 44 That Dog and Aurora
Of course not.
Bertha blamed Aurora for the dog’s death, claiming she had somehow infected the dog, causing it to fall ill and die.
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But the dog had lived for eighteen years–everyone knew it had simply died of old age. Yet the Elvador family chose to believe Bertha’s baseless accusations over the vet’s diagnosis.
To take out their anger, Joshua punished Aurora by making her stand outside in the freezing cold.
Celeste just sighed in sympathy but never did anything about it.
Aurora had been malnourished as a child, and when she turned seventeen, her first period came, but it was very light.
On the day she was made to stand outside, it just so happened to be the first day of her period. She was so frozen that her period stopped.
She fainted from the cold, and once again, Daisy was the one who rushed to take care of her.
This illness kept her bedridden for half a month.
From that point on, her periods became irregular. When they came, they were much lighter, and she also developed severe
cramps.
All of this was because of the Elvador family.
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Looking back, she had been so naive, still hoping for love from people who treated her with such cruelty.
It wasn’t until she was sent to prison that she finally accumulated enough disappointment and saw through the true nature of this family.
Bertha, full of resentment, shouted at Aurora, “If anything happens to Dad, I won’t let you off the hook.”
Aurora paused mid–bite. With a sharp “clink,” she slammed her fork on the table.
“You won’t let me off the hook? What right do you have to say that?” She glared at Bertha. “Your father’s condition–wasn’t it caused by you?”
Aurora stood up and slowly walked toward Bertha. “Didn’t you come into my room first? Didn’t you provoke me first? Didn’t you strike me, forcing me to defend myself? And didn’t you run straight to your mother to cry about it?”
Her voice rose in anger. “You started this whole thing. Your dear father was furious because of what you said, and he ended up getting so worked up he suffered from alkalosis. Everything started with you, and now you’re blaming me?”
Aurora stopped in front of Bertha. At that very moment, her hand flew up.
With a sharp slap, she hit Bertha’s face. “I was being too tolerant, wasn’t I?”
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The slap left a clear red mark on the other side of Bertha’s face, perfectly matching the one from the other side.
Celeste screamed and lunged at Aurora, “Aurora, what the hell
is wrong with you? Are you trying to start a fight?”
Aurora sneered and stepped aside, dodging Celeste’s attack, causing Celeste to crash to the ground.
Barnett lost it. His anger boiled over, and he shoved Aurora hard, yelling, “Aurora, that’s enough!”
Aurora stumbled, nearly falling on her back.
Barnett was shocked and reached out to catch her, but in the next second, she landed in Daisy’s arms. His hand froze mid–air before slowly withdrawing, and the worry on his face. disappeared.
Aurora steadied herself and heard Barnett’s angry voice. “No matter what’s happened, you can’t just hit Bertha like that. And dad is sick–you’re just making things worse. How long are you going to keep this up?”
your
Aurora’s sarcasm was even more pronounced. “If you’re so worried about your father’s health, why haven’t you called 911? Why haven’t you tried to help him? I think you’re just waiting for the old man to die so you can inherit the company.”
“Shut up!” Barnett snapped, “How did you become so unreasonable?”
Chapter 44 That Dog and Aurora
He looked at her with disappointment. In recent days, he had been worried about her, but she was completely ungrateful, constantly throwing sarcastic remarks his way.
He had even worried that she would be mistreated if she
married into the Hawke family. But now, he saw that his
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concerns were pointless. With her attitude, she would probably deserve any trouble she caused.
While they were arguing, Joshua’s body became rigid, and his face turned purple, as though he was on the verge of suffocating.
Celeste, Barnett, and Bertha completely forgot about Aurora and focused solely on Joshua.
“What should we do? What should we do?” Bertha cried uncontrollably. She was genuinely worried about Joshua because, in this family, he was her only support. His love for her was the only pure thing she had ever known.
Barnett pulled out his phone and dialed Darren’s number. The call connected, but no one answered.
Celeste was in a complete panic, pacing like a headless chicken.
Aurora looked down coldly at Joshua, still lying on the ground.
She secretly hoped Joshua would just drop dead right then and there.
But if he really did die, the Elvador family would probably find a
Chapter 44 That Dog and Aurora
way to blame it on her, and she wouldn’t get the 10 million dollars she was owed.
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Thinking about this, Aurora said, “Daisy, go get a trash bag from the kitchen.”
