He Sold My Parents' Lives for Wealth

Chapter 3

Warm liquid trickled down the back of her head. Clara clapped a hand to the spot and turned around, only to see a small face that was the spitting image of Chris.

The little girl, Dora, was holding a heavy wooden stool, her small face bright red with anger. "Why did you burn Liam? You're a bad nanny!"

Clara froze. The pain in the back of her head and the burns on her legs combined were nothing compared to the pain of her heart being ripped open at that moment.

This was her daughter. She reached out instinctively, wanting to touch that small face—but her hand stopped halfway, and she quickly pulled it back. Her hands were covered in blisters, the skin broken and raw, hideous to look at. She was afraid of scaring the child.

Dora saw her strange expression and grew a little scared. She threw herself into Yara's arms and said in a tearful, aggrieved voice, "Dora got revenge for Liam! I won't let the bad person bully him!"

Yara Lopez smiled triumphantly. "Dora did the right thing. You're her little mistress. You can punish her if you want."

Clara knelt on the ground, her whole body shaking. She remembered when she was pregnant with Dora. The hot pot restaurant had been sabotaged by competitors, and business had plummeted. They couldn't afford to hire a nanny.

Her mother-in-law's Alzheimer's had gotten worse and worse. She would wet herself every two hours.

Clara, heavily pregnant, had knelt on the floor to change her clothes and wash her body over and over again. Her mother-in-law didn't recognize her and would grab a broom and beat her, calling her a seductress who had lured her son away, saying she would kill her.

Clara could only protect her stomach and run away, hiding everywhere. Several times she had spotting and almost miscarried.

In the sweltering summer heat, she had stood out in public, heavily pregnant, running the restaurant. People spread rumors that she was cheating on Chris, that she had cuckolded him.

She hadn't said a single word. She had swallowed all the humiliation and grief, only wanting to keep the restaurant afloat and wait for him to come home.

On the day she gave birth, the summer heat hadn't faded yet. She had almost lost both her life and the baby's.

But now, the daughter she had risked her life to save was holding a stool and hitting her with her own two hands. She had never imagined this would happen.

Yara was very pleased with the look on her face. She snapped sharply, "Clean this mess up! Do you still want your things back?"

Clara's hands shook violently. The broken porcelain shards cut her fingers, and blood mixed with the congee, sticky and thick. But she didn't seem to feel the pain at all. She swept the shards and congee into the trash can.

She had barely straightened up when Yara's cold voice came again. "Do you know how much this pot of congee cost? Three hundred dollars."

Clara's movements froze. Yara took a sip of her coffee. "Are you just going to throw it away like that?"

Clara's face turned deathly pale. "What do you want me to do?"

"Eat it, of course. Did you think I was going to feed you separately?" Yara smiled contemptuously.

Clara's face turned ashen. "I won't eat it."

Yara Lopez smiled and picked up the divorce agreement, holding it close to the fireplace beside her. "If I guessed right, you probably have another man back home, don't you? That's why you rushed all the way here, isn't it? That's right, I'm humiliating you. If you don't eat this congee, you'll never get it back!" Yara shook the document in her hand.

Clara suddenly laughed.

Yara froze. "What are you laughing at?"

"On the way here, I kept wondering what kind of person the rich young lady Chris fell in love with would be. But are you really the daughter of a multinational corporation CEO? How could a well-educated lady, raised in the lap of luxury since childhood, be so cruel?" Clara said.

It was as if Clara had hit a nerve. Yara's face changed drastically. "Shut up! Mabel! Force her to eat it!" Yara shrieked, cutting her off.

Mabel rushed over immediately, grabbing a handful of Clara's hair. "Open your mouth!"

Clara bit down hard, refusing to open her mouth.

Mabel was incredibly strong. She pinched Clara's jaw with one hand, and with the other, she grabbed the seafood congee from the trash can and shoved it hard into Clara's mouth. The fishy, sweet congee, mixed with shards of the broken clay pot, flooded into her mouth.

The porcelain shards cut her tongue and scraped down her throat, making her shake all over with pain. She wanted to throw up, but Mabel's hand clamped down on her jaw like an iron vice, forcing her to swallow. A shard of porcelain got stuck in her throat. She coughed violently, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, dripping onto her clothes.

Yara sat at the dining table, holding Dora in her arms, watching the whole scene unfold. Dora tilted her little head and asked curiously, "Mummy, what is she eating?"

Yara leaned down and kissed her forehead, smiling as she said, "She's eating what a lowly nanny deserves to eat."

Clara shook her head, wanting to tell Dora the truth. She wasn't a lowly nanny. She was her real mother. The mother who had risked her life to give birth to her. But Mabel kept shoving more seafood congee into her mouth. She coughed and choked, unable to get a single word out.

Yara stood up, looking pleased with herself. "Remember this. In this house, you are nothing. Be a good, obedient dog for a few days, and I'll give you your things back."