Chapter 5 A Means To An End

• Perplexed, she stared at her father with her wet eyelashes, wondering why her beloved dad shouted at her. She wasn’t given room to react when Sandra walked to them and, with a hand on Daniel, dragged him back to the room.
• The following four days went by in a blur, with Sandra acting like an angel in front of her dad and a monster behind her. She had brawled on the day of her brother and mother’s burial. Her little self had held on to her mother’s coffin, demanding she wake up. When Daniel tried pulling her away from it, she threw a tantrum, demanding for her mother and brother to wake up and come home.
• She watched with her little eyes as their bodies were lowered into the grave, and in a flash of emotion, she jumped from her seat and rushed towards the grave, planning on jumping in herself, but the pastor was quick to react by stopping her. Sandra was then asked to take her back to the car until the funeral was over.
• She remembered the day vividly, down to how Sandra had slapped her when they got into the car to draw attention to her miserable self.
• That day marked the beginning of her slavery in her own home.
• A week after the burial, her father got married to Sandra, and Jenny came to live with them. She was grateful to have a girl of her age, but she soon regretted having that feeling of being grateful, as Jenny was a replica of her mother.
• Most of the punishment she undergoes is caused by Jenny. For a whole year after her mother’s death, she never neared the four walls of a school.
• Thankfully, her grandma suspected all was not well whenever she visited and insisted on moving into their family home. With Grandma living with them, she returned to school and was able to put up with the ugliness of Sandra and Jenny.
• "Why did you leave me, Mom? Why did you both go away and leave me alone here?" Aurora's voice trembled with unspoken grief as she wrestled with the ghosts of her past. She longed for answers that would never come, for closure that remained forever out of reach.
• And then, amidst the chaos of her memories, a voice broke through the silence—a voice she had longed to hear once more. It was her brother, Ken, his laughter ringing like music in her ears, his presence a beacon of light in the darkness.
• "Aurora, come play with me." Ken's voice echoed in her mind, a bittersweet reminder of happier times. She remembered the joy of their shared adventures and the bond that had once united them against the world. But now he was gone, taken from her by a fate too cruel to comprehend.
• Tears welled in Aurora's eyes as she confronted the harsh reality of her existence, the pain of her loss threatening to consume her whole. She longed to escape, to flee from the memories that bound her to this place, but there was no escape from the prison of her mind.
• And then, as if in response to the questions her heavy heart had asked, a gentle knock echoed through the room, shattering the stillness like a thunderclap. Aurora's heart skipped a beat, her pulse quickening with a mixture of fear and anticipation.
• The knock instantly brought her mind back to the present, and she sat upright, dreading that the demon was back and her torments were about to start. She couldn’t bring herself to walk to open the door, and the knocking never ceased as well. Aurora tried to steady her breath and gathered strength to face whatever was standing at the other side of the door. But the weight of her despair was a heavy burden to bear, pressing down on her shoulders like a mountain of lead. With each passing second and with the incessant knocking on the door, she finally moved to open the door with a shaking leg and uneven breath.
• ***
• Meanwhile, Lawrence drove back down the street to report to Lorenzo. On his way, he kept wondering why Aurora was sold to a cold heart as Lorenzo by her father. He knew his boss firsthand and how he dealt with everyone. He had no mercy; she pitied the girl, but there was nothing he could do.
• Grabbing the data he had collected on Aurora from the car compartment, he alighted from the car and walked towards the elevator to meet with Lorenzo.
• On getting to the top floor, he knocked briefly before he heard his cold voice ushering him in. Adjusting himself briefly, he entered the office to meet the devil.
• He walked briskly to drop the data he had collected on Lorenzo's table, who picked it up shortly after and glanced through it.
• “Where is the form her father signed?” Lorenzo demanded. Lawrence dropped it on the table, and he picked it up as well.
• “Get me all the data on Aurora Bennett. Why would Daniel sign off his beloved daughter this easily? He even made the offer himself, not that I did.”
• “Yes, boss.”
• "Leave,” he ordered.
• As Lorenzo sat in his office, brooding over the day's events, he couldn't shake the anger he felt when he saw Aurora. She was supposed to be his property now, a means to an end, yet something about her stirred an emotion he couldn't identify, an emotion he despised.
• Lawrence knocked minutes later and entered, carrying a file with details about Aurora's background. "Here's everything we could find about her," Lawrence said, placing the file on Lorenzo's desk.
• Lorenzo picked up the file and began to read. The more he learned about Aurora's past, the more his anger grew. Her father's betrayal, and the abuse she had suffered, these things should not matter to him, yet they gnawed at him.
• "She is a means to an end," he reminded himself, closing the file. "Nothing more."
• “Boss, what is her job role?” Lawrence asked. He didn’t wait for his answer before he scurried out of the office due to the deadly look Lorenzo shot at him.
• After Lawrence left, Lorenzo wondered what exactly he wanted the girl to do. This is the first time in his line of work that a father would be willing to sell off his daughter. Daniel even made the offer himself.
• He looked at her data again and found it amusing that she was quite talented. Why was she looking malnourished then? He didn’t have time to think it through as his phone vibrated, cutting across the still air.
• He dashed out of the office and headed to his casino, with Lawrence hot on his tail.
• “The Chicagoans are here and heading to the casino. I need you to inform my men to be stationed at their strategic places. Nothing must go wrong. They have disobeyed me for a long time.”
• “On it, boss, should we attack on sight?”
• “You know your fucking job; do it!” he thundered.
• Lawrence shut up immediately and hurriedly sent messages to the men, preparing for the impending showdown with the Chicagoans.
• As Lawrence hurried off to execute the commands, Lorenzo seethed with fury. The Chicagoans' insolence would not go unpunished. They had dared to defy him, to challenge his authority, and now they would face the consequences.
• “I have been too lenient these days, and they have taken my quietness as a weakness. I need to remind them of what I am capable of.” He muttered to himself with a face devoid of any emotion.
• "I want to skin them alive," Lorenzo muttered through gritted teeth, his words dripping with venomous hatred. He moved in long strides as he couldn't wait to see those who dared to oppose him.