The Punishment

The driver drove Ava to the bakery. After saying thanks, she got out of the car to meet her boss. She was too late for work. She was afraid that Monica would fire her because of the mistake she did during her first month at work.

Once she was in Monica's room, she explained everything she went through and that she missed her shift. Monica's eyes looked at the young woman in front of her with pity. "I almost fired you if I didn't see your wounds."

Ava just grinned. Luckily, she didn't get fired. She felt she couldn't afford to lose her job because of what happened earlier.

"You can go home!" she said. "Are you able to work tomorrow morning?"

"Of course!" said Ava, nodding happily. "Thank you, Monica! You are the best boss I've ever wanted."

***

The next day, William, who was about to leave for the office, was confronted by his son. The little boy looked at his father angrily.

"Why can't I go to school today, dad?" he shouted, demanding a reasonable explanation from the strict father.

"You ask me the reason?" William asked back with a cold gaze. "What you did yesterday was the worst thing ever. Of course, I will punish you with something comparable. You were allowed to go outside if you were always under the watch of guards. You broke the rule, you are not leaving the house at all."

"No!" Lukas refused and did not accept his father's decision. "I did it because you treated me too strictly! Why couldn't I visit you at work?"

"Okay, visiting me at the office…," William muttered while glaring. "Did you visit me at the office? Didn't you run away and wander outside?"

Now, Lukas got scared. "I came to your office yesterday. But …."

"But?" asked William inquisitively.

"But … I heard Danica say there is a maid who looks like my mother in the bakery. So—"

"What?" raged William. He didn't expect that Danica's stupid conversation was one of the reasons that made all the mess happen yesterday. His hands clenched, determined to cut Danica's bonus this month.

"Father, where is ... mom—ups, the woman who helped me yesterday?" asked Lukas again, now in a whining tone. "Why wasn't she at home when I woke up?"

William cleared his throat, irritated by the whole situation that was getting out of control. "You can't go near her anymore!"

"Why? If she didn't help me, I would have been taken away by those bad guys," protested Lukas loudly. He tugged at his father's pants, making the neat cloth wrinkle a little.

William brushed off his son's tiny hand gently. He then crouched down, aligning his face with his son's. "Luke, not everything you see is what you see. There are a lot of bad people out there pretending to be good ones."

Luke's emerald eyes widened, he couldn't believe his father's words. How could the woman who defended him sincerely be a bad person?

"I hate you, dad!" shouted Lukas, then ran to his room, leaving his father.

William could only look at his son expressionlessly. After all, he couldn't let Lukas wander around anymore. He had already lost Paula. He didn't want to lose his only child. The most precious memento from her.

"Henry, make sure that Lukas studies at home starting today," William ordered the head butler at his house.

"Okay, sir," said the head butler. "Oh, I almost forget to tell you that Miss Anderson plans to visit this afternoon. Is it permissible?"

William's brows furrowed. He was not pleased that Henry called Julia, Paula's stepsister, Miss Anderson. He knew Paula wouldn't be happy to hear that because she got the name Anderson just because her cunning mom tricked Robert into marrying her again.

"I said, just call her Julia," William said correcting Henry.

"Yes sir. Is Miss Julia allowed to visit?" asked Henry again. He had to immediately confirm the answer. Otherwise, Julia would terrorize him all day.

"Fine," William replied indifferently. He then quickly left the mansion since his schedule was quite tight today.

***

Meanwhile, at Anderson's mansion, Julia and Amanda were eating breakfast. Robert certainly wasn't in their midst because he was still in a long sleep at the hospital, assisted with equipment and injections of medication to keep his heart beating.

"No progress with Luke?" Amanda asked her daughter with a flat look.

"I'm going to pay a visit to William's mansion this afternoon. It would be easier to persuade him if William wasn't home, would it?" replied Julia with a triumphant smile. She was happy to finally get access to William's house. Usually, there would always be a reason to refuse her request.

"Good! Remember, you have to be able to win that bastard kid's heart so that William will marry you for his child," said Amanda. "We need the kid to get access to all of Paula's possession."

Julia nodded. She knew her mother was very upset because she didn't expect that almost all of Robert's property was given to Paula, and almost nothing was left for Amanda but the monthly budget. After Paula died, things didn't change because everything fell into Lukas' hands.

"If only I had dealt with that bitch earlier, none of this would have happened," Amanda grumbled, reminiscing.

"It's not your fault, ma'am. We didn't expect that my father's company would go bankrupt so quickly after he died," said Julia to calm her mother. She poured hot tea for the beautiful middle-aged woman to calm her down.

"You're right, I also didn't expect that Robert's wealth will escalate this much at all," Amanda said angrily. "Remember Julia, all our efforts must be successful. Otherwise, both of us could suffer for the rest of our lives."

"That was so sad. You left Robert for dad because dad was much richer than Robert. Later, you chased him again for the same reason but you got nothing," said Julia sarcastically.

"Watch your mouth, Julie! Just do your job properly," Amanda snapped, unable to accept that she was being treated like that by her daughter. "Remember, I can't fool everyone forever. There's no guarantee that Robert's lawyers will be willing to work with us all the time. If you fail, hell awaits us, Julie. Keep that in mind!"

"Okay, mom! Leave everything to me," said Julia with determination. His father's debt was so much. There was no other way to pay it off than by getting Robert's possession. Paula's wealth. Owned by Lukas.

Julia rose from her seat. After saying goodbye to her mother, she immediately prepared to leave William's mansion. The sooner the better. So she thought.

"Henry, I'm going to the mansion right now," said Julia, announcing her arrival by phone.

"But, Miss, the young master is—"

"I'm going there now!"

Without hearing Henry's explanation, Julia immediately asked the driver to drive the car to William's mansion.

"Wait for me, Lukie baby …." The grin on Julia's face revealed all her greed for wealth. She would try to take everything that previously belonged to Paula. Be it her possessions or her man.