Chapter 6
Harry's hesitation hung in the air, a prelude to a storm. Finally, he gave a slow nod. "Yes, I do."
Aurora's shoulders slumped, as if a heavy burden had lifted. Her relief was palpable as she exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
The manager, seizing the moment with brisk efficiency and a practiced smile, interjected, "Take this young lady to the VIP room. I'll be with you shortly."
The receptionist's mouth gaped open in shock, silently thanking her lucky stars she hadn't been rude earlier. In her line of work, the pay was good, but crossing the wrong person could be career suicide. Straightening up, she said to Aurora with newfound respect, "Please, this way."
Aurora glanced back, mouthing to Harry, "Trust me."
Harry returned a smile, inwardly hoping Aurora wasn't leading him into trouble.
The VIP room contrasted sharply with the bustling lobby outside—quiet, isolated, and secure like a fortress. When the manager entered, Aurora had already removed her mask, revealing a face far younger than he'd expected. Taken aback by her age but wary of her connection to Harry, the manager nonetheless displayed a blend of curiosity and respect.
"How can I assist you, Miss?" he asked, his tone almost obsequious.
Aurora wasted no time, outlining the situation. After a moment's consideration, the manager responded, "If you don't have information about the trust's trustee, we'll need to verify your personal data. We can cross-reference it with our beneficiary database to see if there's a match."
Aurora nodded. "Please do it as soon as possible."
The manager performed a fingerprint scan, but the results surprised him. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I'll need to verify your retinal scan as well."
Aurora cooperated without hesitation. The results flashed on the screen with a swift, decisive beep, confirming the initial scan with unambiguous clarity. The manager's eyes widened in disbelief, his face paling as he processed the information.
"My apologies, Miss," he stammered, his voice betraying shock. "It seems your mother does indeed hold significant assets with us. However, this is beyond my authority. I'll need to call in our director."
If his initial respect had stemmed from Harry, it was now entirely due to Aurora's own status. She was no longer just an unimportant high school student—she was a VIP in her own right.
Aurora, though inwardly surprised by the size of the assets, remained composed. She understood how, in her previous life, Crawford Group had rapidly dominated the Mercida market and formed alliances with Jydratica. It had all happened after Jaxon gained control of these funds.
Aurora nodded calmly, her composure earning her even more respect from the manager, who, now even more deferential, added, "Just to be thorough, we'll also conduct a DNA test to compare with your mother's. It will take some time, but we ask for your patience."
Aurora nodded in agreement, her demeanor serene.
After several rounds of verification and a considerable wait, Aurora finally received the assets her mother, Esme, had stored with Woodside Capital Management.
The figures on the documents stunned her, even with her past life's knowledge. She now possessed three hundred million dollars in cash, along with a medical formula book and several properties.
She recalled the medical book from her childhood—left behind by her mother when the orphanage took her in. That very book, confiscated by Jaxon when she'd returned to the Crawford family, had propelled Maura to fame as a world-renowned doctor. Aurora, the rightful heir, had been forbidden from studying it. Even when she secretly learned from the book, she kept her knowledge hidden for fear of angering her father.
Everything—the wealth, the properties, the formula—had been taken by Jaxon in her previous life. She finally understood how Crawford Group had pivoted to pharmaceuticals and skyrocketed in success. It was all thanks to this book.
With the recent surge in popularity of traditional medicine, known for its effectiveness and lack of side effects, a single formula could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This book contained over a hundred. Woodside Capital Management's valuation of three billion dollars wasn't an exaggeration.
"Ms. Crawford, would you like to withdraw all of these assets?" the manager asked with the utmost deference.
Aurora, aware that Jaxon wouldn't relinquish this fortune easily, shook her head. "Leave one hundred million dollars. I'll withdraw the rest."
The manager nodded briskly. "Of course. I'll take care of that right away."
Worried that Jaxon might discover her whereabouts, Aurora chose not to have Woodside Capital Management send a car. By the time she arrived home, the Crawford family had finished dinner and were lounging in the living room, glued to the TV.
"Where have you been, coming home so late!" Jaxon's voice rang out, sharp as always.
Aurora held up her shopping bag, flashing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Just out buying some clothes. I'm starting school soon, and I don't want the whole Crawford family to be the laughingstock because I'm still wearing my old, worn-out clothes."
Stacy raised a suspicious eyebrow. "And where did you get the money for that?" she asked, her voice dripping with disbelief. After all, she hadn't given Aurora any pocket money.
Aurora maintained a casual expression. "I put it on the Crawford family tab. I did get into Mercida High School, remember! And didn't Dad reward me with $100,000 for that?" She cleverly replaced "bet" with "reward," subtly challenging Jaxon's pride.
Jaxon's face tightened at her jab, but he couldn't argue. He cleared his throat, waving off the tension. "You should be home early. Stop wandering around at night. You should be more like Maura."
Of course, Jaxon couldn't resist praising Maura. It was as if every comparison was an attempt to elevate Maura and diminish Aurora.
"Yeah, yeah, got it," Aurora muttered, her indifference palpable.
She turned and headed upstairs, her stomach growling, but no one bothered to ask if she'd eaten. No surprise there, she thought.
Once in her room, she carefully locked the door and pulled out the book she'd been cherishing.
She didn't open it immediately. Instead, she ran her fingers gently over the cover, its weight almost unbearable. A parent's love runs deep. Seeing Esme's preparations tugged at something inside, a quiet reminder of a love she'd once thought lost.
In her past life, Jaxon had twisted that saying, justifying his cruelty as tough love, his harsh discipline as guidance. He had called his exploitation a sacrifice for the greater good, dragging Aurora through seedy business deals while shielding Maura from even the slightest discomfort.
Aurora clenched her fists. 'How could I have been so blind to believe any of it? Even if Maura were Jason's biological daughter, I'm still his flesh and blood. So why the blatant favoritism!'
She had no answer, but she no longer cared. Any affection or hope she'd held for her father had vanished. All that remained was a single goal—to crush the Crawford family, to watch the empire she'd helped build crumble.
As these thoughts swirled, her mind returned to Esme. In her past life, Aurora hadn't cared, having been fed lies by Jaxon—that Esme had abandoned her, leaving them estranged for over a decade.
Fueled by bitterness, Aurora had dismissed Esme's legacy, even transferring her longing for motherly affection onto Stacy, constantly seeking the love and approval Maura enjoyed that never came.
Looking back, Aurora realized how naive she had been, caught in their manipulations, a mere puppet in their twisted game.
Guilt toward Esme crashed over her like a storm. Her eyes burned as she fought back tears, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. She even wanted to punch herself.
If Maura was the product of an affair, then Jaxon had been cheating on Esme while she was pregnant. And Stacy would have been nothing but a homewrecker.
And Aurora had spent her life begging for affection from the very people who had wronged her mother. Now she saw why her last life had ended in tragedy—penniless, disgraced, and abandoned.
She suspected Jaxon and Stacy were behind her mother's disappearance, and she was determined to uncover the truth, no matter the cost. She would make them pay.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door, pulling Aurora from her thoughts.
"Aurora, are you in there?" Maura's sickly sweet voice drifted through the door, laced with false politeness, as if she were terrified Aurora might snap.
Aurora quickly hid the book, composing herself. When she opened the door, her face was unreadable. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice flat, devoid of emotion.