The Vanishing Vows

There are always unexpected things that happen in everyone's life. For instance, Elara never imagined that one day, her biological father would suddenly reappear after having discarded her and her mother like trash. In her childhood memory, the house looked like the most beautiful palace she had ever seen on the cover of a fairy tale book. The house was huge with very bright lighting, and it had a beautifully curving spiral staircase. It was the first time Elara realized that a staircase could actually be part of a house. At that moment, Elara looked up at the large chandelier on the ceiling and unconsciously shifted sideways, feeling intimidated by the enormous object. When her gaze fell on her feet, which were wearing a pair of sandals that looked very shabby compared to the color of the floor she was standing on, Elara realized she did not belong there. Elara first came to that house with her mother, who was shouting angrily at a man who only looked at them indifferently before asking the guards to drag the mother and daughter out of the grand palace. Elara never expected that twenty years later, she would walk back into that palace. Not as an unwanted visitor as she was twenty years ago, but this time as a guest who was invited. When she first came to the house, Elara was so focused on the beauty of the palace-like house that her memory of her biological father was very vague. She only remembered his voice, which carried a tone of mockery, and the man was supposed to look younger than he did now. He was once the heir to a high-class conglomerate. He graduated from a prestigious school and married a wife who could match his handsome and impressive appearance. Although he led a life of arrogance and pleasure, he still managed to get into big trouble. Elara now stood before Thorne Crowe, quietly assessing his view of her. At the moment, Thorne Crowe looked at Elara with a scowl. He had treated the young girl very badly, so he had always imagined that when they met, she would either berate him or simply talk about how difficult it was to live as an illegitimate child without a father. However, Thorne Crowe felt extremely uncomfortable because the girl just stood there with a very calm demeanor. Not long after Thorne Crowe made a decision for the sake of his family's reputation, all the girl's information was gathered on his desk. Her name was AnElara Maheswari, 25 years old, single, an English graduate, working as a translator, and the only remaining family member after her mother passed away five years ago was her grandmother. The timid and frightened child from twenty years ago had become a very composed adult. Considering the girl's background and what she would ask for soon, Thorne Crowe couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. In contrast to Thorne Crowe, who was burdened with many thoughts, Elara calmly found a chair and sat down without waiting to be invited. She then casually took out her phone and responded to some work emails. Seeing this, Thorne Crowe furrowed his brow and cleared his throat quietly. Elara immediately looked up and asked, without sounding humble or arrogant, "Mr. Crowe, what exactly do you want from me?" "You… I can’t believe how much you’ve grown." Thorne Crowe had a lot of experience negotiating with people, but when faced with his illegitimate daughter, he could only start the conversation with a light topic to ease the awkwardness between them. Elara chuckled softly before responding, "Mr. Crowe, if you didn’t want something from me, you wouldn’t have taken the initiative to invite me here. So, please, just state your needs right away." Typically, a storyline like this would involve a scoundrel of a father searching for an illegitimate child he had abandoned because he had no other heirs. But that was not the case with the Crowe family. They had another daughter, so if something happened to that daughter, the news would definitely be hotly reported. After hesitating for a moment, Thorne Crowe replied, "I want to make a deal with you." Elara coldly responded, "Go on." The reason Elara got into the car was because she was curious. In reality, when the guards came to pick her up, she could have screamed loudly in the street, but Elara did not do that and calmly got into the car. She came because she wanted to know why Thorne Crowe suddenly sought her out after years of forgetting her. Thorne Crowe tapped on the folder in front of him and said, "I know you have a debt of one hundred million. That’s not a small amount." "Right, so is Mr. Crowe planning to help me pay off this debt?" Elara asked with a mocking smile. "I can help you settle the debt." Elara’s peach blossom eyes narrowed fiercely as she asked, "What do you mean?" "My daughter was supposed to get married next week, but now she can’t. Therefore, I want to bring you into the Crowe family, and you can replace her in the marriage." “‘My daughter?” Elara muttered quietly, recoiling at the distasteful words. Elara felt her disgust for the man before her growing stronger when she heard that the reason this bastard had come looking for her after abandoning her for so long was to help his beloved daughter who was in trouble. The statement was too similar to an episode of a cheap, nonsensical drama Elara took five seconds to react, "Are you serious?" Thorne Crowe narrowed his eyes. "Who am I? What benefit would I gain from lying to you?" "Why can’t she get married?" Thorne Crowe’s expression darkened in an instant, but he answered quietly, "She is pregnant with someone else’s child." Elara fell silent. Her desires and common sense were fiercely debating at this moment. It would be very annoying to have to marry a stranger to replace someone else, but is marriage worse than carrying a debt like that into the afterlife? Now, it was only herself and her grandmother left, so she hoped they could live peacefully in the future. If she could get out of this murky debt by paying one price, why not? After coming to a decision, Elara took a deep breath and asked, "The marriage… what are the conditions?" "Everything depends on your future husband. Essentially, you just have to do whatever he asks." Elara’s fan-like eyelashes fluttered slightly. Without hesitation, she firmly answered, "I want five hundred million. That must be a small amount for you." Thorne Crowe narrowed his eyes. He did not seem surprised, but it was clear he was not pleased. Given how urgent Thorne Crowe’s situation was, Elara was sure that the man in front of her would not refuse when she raised the price. Elara knew that such a marriage must be very important due to its relation to the continuity of the business and the family’s fate. Only with such a critical issue would Thorne Crowe be willing to marry off his precious daughter. But who would have thought that Selene Crowe would suddenly become pregnant with another man’s child? It was so embarrassing that no family could accept such humiliation, so the marriage should be canceled. But if the marriage was canceled abruptly for such a reason, both families would clash, and it would have adverse effects on the party that caused the problem. Elara thought about Selene Crowe’s beautiful and gentle face, which was always active on social media. She clearly seemed intelligent, so why would she dare to do something so foolish just before her wedding? However, considering it from another perspective, Elara pondered if Selene Crowe did this deliberately to avoid the marriage. Perhaps the reason was that the groom was an old, ugly, disabled man with strange habits, or even someone who enjoyed violence. Elara was suddenly brought back to that grand house to save the Crowe family. So, even if the Crowe family’s stock price were cut in half, five hundred million would surely be nothing to them. Elara’s guess seemed correct as Thorne Crowe immediately replied, "Okay." Hearing this, Elara secretly regretted her decision to ask for too little. She should have asked for a higher price earlier if she knew Thorne Crowe would agree so quickly. Despite her regret, what’s done is done. So, Elara immediately stood up and said, "Well then, it’s settled. You can arrange whatever happens next. I need to get back to work now. See you." Thorne Crowe looked at her in surprise. "You… don’t you want to ask anything?" the man asked with a furrowed brow. Elara shrugged indifferently and replied, "I don’t care about anything else as long as you really give me the money." "Don’t you want to ask about who your future husband will be?" Elara glanced down at the screen of her phone. It had been less than half an hour since she left her workplace, yet she already had numerous messages. She did not look at the man as she casually replied, "I don’t care about that." Elara had lived a difficult life since childhood, and when her mother passed away, things became even harder with the unreasonable debt left behind. Her future was uncertain, and she had long lost any illusions about love and a beautiful marriage. Therefore, even if her future husband turned out to be worse than a criminal in prison, to the extent that Selene Crowe did something foolish to reject the marriage, as long as Elara could secure a substantial amount of money to ensure her own living and provide her grandmother with a comfortable old age, she did not care about anything else. After all, she was essentially selling herself, and that was not difficult for her. So, Elara did not care about who her future husband would be. After leaving the luxurious Crowe residence, Elara immediately ordered a taxi and headed back to her workplace. She didn’t look back even once.