Chapter 24 – Secrets

Dora's father died in a car accident when she graduated from high school, and her mother abandoned her when she was young. Now she was all alone in this world. Bella's not only a friend, but also family to her.

Bella knew what she was thinking, patted her back, and nodded, “I'm sorry, Dora. I won't let you worry about me again.” and snorted, “Thank you.”

“You are welcome. Bella. Why does your forehead swell up like that?”

Dora loosened her grip and noticed her face was swollen.

She smiled embarrassedly, “You know I am always rushed. When I came here in a hurry, I ran into a utility pole.”

Dora poked Bella’s forehead, and said, “You are a grown woman. How could you still be so careless when you are in a hurry?”

Half an hour later, Bess, accompanied by the nurse, came out and forced a smile at the sight of Bella. Though she still hurt, she continued to push a smile, “Why did you come here? I’m okay, don’t worry. Will this leave deduct from your pay? You will come home a couple of days late?”

Bella came forward to help her, and whispered, “It's all right. I'll come home a day later if I have one day off.” Looking at the gauze from her forehead to her ear, she knew a scar would be left on her face, and hatred rose deep in her heart.

“How could Len, that asshole, have done this to you?” Her eyes turned red from weeping, “Your face was disfigured.”

Bess looked at the fuming Bella and softly whispered, “It's all right, Mum is already an old lady, nothing I do really matters as long as you do well.

“Mum.” Her tears couldn't help but fall.

Why is this world so unfair that her mother, such a kind-hearted woman, suffer so much, while Laura Sanders, that evil woman, can live a good life?

Bess just was lightly injured so that didn't need to be hospitalized. When they came home and looked at their house, the sofa was thrown out of the door, and several big holes were cut in it; the wardrobe was thrown out with the door broken, and the glass coffee table and a vase were all broken.

The living room was cluttered with clothes, sundries and dishware.

Bella was enraged but afraid to affect her mother’s mood, so she suppressed her anger.

The kitchen was scattered with broken dishware, and there's no place to cook.

Dora ran out to get some takeaway for them. After having eaten dinner, they let Bess rest and cleaned the house.

“Dora, you can go home, I'll do it by myself,” Bella said, she knew Dora owned a small fruit store which was her father's legacy. Her dad’s dream was to run his fruit stores all over the world, but now she mostly dealt with monthly rent.

She helped Bella lay out the wardrobe, then said, “OK, then you can clean up alone.” If she didn't have to worry about the fruit shops rent, she would have stayed with Bella until they finished.

After cleaning, Bella went to the supermarket to buy some tableware and ran to the second-hand market to buy some old desks and chairs.

On that busy afternoon, she didn't notice the time pass by.

After cleaning the house, Bella immediately stewed a pot of chicken broth for her mother and added some beneficial traditional medicine.

She'll be back to Williams’s Mansion in the evening, and this soup can be enough for my mother to eat for two days. Then she can ask to leave and look after her again.

When she was thinking about this stuff, her phone rang.

She took out her phone and looked at the strange number. She answered it without hesitation, there was a sexy, indolent sound, “You're ten minutes late.”

What?

Seeing the time, her face suddenly changed.

It was 8:00pm. How did the time pass so fast?

Bella’s voice became sad, and she carefully murmured, “Can I take two more hours? I'd like to make soup for my mother.”

At least let my mother eat a meal of her own.

Charles's voice, sluggish and indifferent, “Yes, you can. But you are still late.”

“No, no. Please don't.” Bella immediately tried to stop him when she realized that he didn’t inform her that she was going to be late, but the proud commander had hung up the phone.

She looked at the screen of the mobile phone. How did Charles have her phone number?

For a powerful man like him, it would be easy to get her phone number.

Let's take a breath. Anyway, Bella was late now, she had to take care of Mum first.

She almost dropped her phone when she heard Bess call her name.

“Mum, does your head still hurt?” She shook her hands, looked at her mother, and smiled, “The soup needs to boil for a while. You can just rest. Try the new couch I bought this afternoon. Oh, right, I got the money from your bag, and the rest of it I put on the coffee table.”

“I don't hurt. I’m okay, and I'm not afraid.” She looked at Bella with concern, “Did your boss ask you to go back?” Bess looked at her with self-reproach, “It's all my fault. Go back to work, go quickly.”

Bella pretended to be alright. “Rich men are stingy. He was worried that I ran away when I got the money.” She pushed her out to the living room.

Bella failed to convince Bess, but as she sat down in the living room, Len called again.

Today, Bess said she wasn’t angry because she didn't want Bella to argue with Len. When she saw it was him, her face turned blue. But she was afraid he would do something more violent.

She hesitated a few seconds, but still picked up the phone. “Bess, did that wicked girl come back? You must persuade her to marry Charles Williams. If not, I promise you will live a harder life. And if you cannot persuade her within ten days, I'll tell her personally about her life. You think then she will admit you are her mother?”

“Mum, who’s that calling?” Bella came out of the back room with the chicken broth.

Bess was frightened, “Just a wrong number.”

Her eyes betrayed her and subconsciously didn't want to let her know that it was Len on the phone, and she also didn't want her to know the secrets of her origin.

Bella stared at her face and smiled “Well, let's have soup. I have to leave.”

As soon as she walked out of the house, her eyes turned cold.

The phone call must have been Len, he called to threaten her mother because she sort of heard that the voice that leaked from her mother's phone belonged to him.

A faint idea emerged in her mind.

Len Sanders, even if he wanted to sell her, she will make sure he did not get any money!