Chapter 16 Blind and Unforgiven
Chapter 16 Blind and Unforgiven
On the top floor of the Anexis Club office building,
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Bastian sat at his desk, hands folded, forehead resting against his fingers. A stack of work in front of him needed handling, but he couldn’t focus on a single thing.
It had been several days now. He’d already sent his assistant to search for any trace of Azalea, but there had been no news at all.
She had no money, was just a young girl, and had left home with nowhere to go. Where could she possibly have ended up?
Even the bodyguards he’d sent to wait outside her school hadn’t seen a trace of her.
Just then, his phone rang.
It was his mother calling.
“What have you been so busy with these past few days? Sydney even came asking if she did something to upset you. If you’ve got time, come home, and we’ll all go to the hot spring resort together.”
Hearing Ivy’s cheerful voice through the phone, Bastian felt a sudden, sharp pain in his chest.
Azalea had been missing for days, and his mother still had the heart to take the whole family to a resort to relax for Sydney’s sake.
The shock faded into a wave of cold bitterness. So this was how Azalea had always been treated at home.
“No, I’ve still got things to take care of,” he said flatly and ended the call.
He almost wanted to go straight to the police, but his assistant knocked and walked in just then. “Sir, we found her. Ms. Azalea went to rent a room in Grey Hollow after she left the Larks.”
“But…” the assistant didn’t even get to finish. Bastian had already snatched up his car keys and was rushing out the door.
When he finally arrived at Grey Hollow and saw the area, he was genuinely stunned. He hadn’t even known a place like this could exist in Draywick.
The alleys were narrow, dirty, and crowded. There was barely anywhere to park.
His expensive car stood out like a sore thumb, instantly attracting attention like a caged animal in a zoo. He had no choice but to find a spot further away and walk back to the location his assistant had provided.
For someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth, the toughest thing Bastian had ever endured was probably that month in Erlands, surviving on nothing but instant noodles.
A wave of dizziness hit him as soon as he stepped into Grey Hollow. The air was thick with a stench he couldn’t name. Trash was piled in corners, and shirtless men sauntered past without a care.
Groups of yellow–haired punks loitered by the roadside, smoking and leering at every young woman who passed.
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Chapter 16 Blind and Unforgiven
Azalea had been living here?
His face turned pale. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of dangers she might have faced. A young girl. and such a beautiful one, too, how could she have possibly survived here?
Stumbling slightly, he jogged the rest of the way to the building she’d supposedly rented. After asking around, he finally found the landlord.
“Excuse me, has a pretty girl, looks about 16 or 17, ever rented a room here?”
The landlord could tell at a glance that Bastian wasn’t just anybody. Remembering how a man in a sharp suit had slipped him a wad of cash not long ago–telling him to kick out the girl, he quickly figured this newcomer was probably here for her.
With a warm, almost eager tone, he asked, “Yeah, was her name Azalea, by any chance?”
Bastian’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Where is she now?”
The landlord gave a greasy smile, eager to please. “That girl? I haven’t seen her since I followed your man’s instructions and kicked her out.”
“Kicked her out?” Bastian was stunned.
Who ordered her to be kicked out?
The landlord saw the change in his expression and knew he’d slipped up. He started backing away with a nervous laugh. “I don’t know, don’t know anything.”
Just then, the assistant finally caught up. “Sir, I didn’t get the chance to finish earlier. On Tuesday, Ms. Azalea was accused of cheating during the school’s opening exams. Mr. Cassius went to the school to handle it, but it didn’t go well. Afterward, he had his assistant pressure the nearby businesses to refuse her service.”
Bastian trembled, his body seized with a mix of fury and disbelief. Cassius did this?
Cheating? Seriously?
A girl who scored nearly perfect on every test cheating?
Tears welled up in Bastian’s eyes. He was terrified that something might’ve already happened to Azalea.
“Call the police,” he growled, the words tearing out of him.
The assistant jumped at his tone. She was just a worker. She couldn’t say anything, even if she thought he should’ve done this long ago.
Then, something clicked in his mind. Bastian turned on his heel and rushed back toward his car, fury simmering under his skin.
He drove straight to the Lark Group, stopping at the entrance without a second thought.
He didn’t even acknowledge the greetings from the front desk and took the elevator straight to the top floor.
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Chapter 16 Blind and Unforgiven
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At that moment, Cassius was in an online meeting when the office doors were slammed open with a bang. He turned around, frowning, only to get punched squarely.
Bastian grabbed his collar, yanked him from the chair, and roared, “Cassius! Are you even human!”
The assistant quickly ended the video call in a panic.
Cassius shook his head to recover, stunned. “Are you crazy?!”
“No, you’re the crazy one!” Bastian snapped. “Azalea’s out there with no money, no home, and you not only ignored it, you broke her last lifeline!”
Cassius realized what this was about. His cheek still stung from the punch, and his face twisted. Without a word, he kicked Bastian hard in the gut, sending him staggering back and snapped, “You done throwing your tantrum?”
The blow to the stomach made Bastian double over, but the pain helped him calm down slightly.
“Azalea switched to the academic class without permission and even got caught cheating. She embarrassed the Larks! Worst of all, she laid a hand against me. What’s wrong with teaching her a lesson? She’ll come crawling back after suffering outside for a while.”
Cassius looked entirely unrepentant.
Did she fight back? He even laid hands on her?
Bastian was reeling. That punch he gave earlier was nowhere near enough.
“Suffering? Hasn’t she suffered enough already?” His voice cracked with emotion. “She should’ve grown up loved, spoiled, and safe, but she got kidnapped at five years old because of you! She was trafficked. If it weren’t for a kind couple on the road who helped her escape, she would’ve been sold off God knows where. She ended up in an orphanage, alone, for ten years. You don’t think she’s suffered enough?”
Cassius‘ face darkened. The incident of Azalea going missing had always been his sore spot.
He refused to accept that it was his fault. In his mind, raising Sydney as a stand–in was already his way of making–up for it. He had been trying with Azalea, switching her to art school, hiring tutors, and paving a new road for her.
So why couldn’t she just behave? Why did she keep going against him?
He saw her rebellion as revenge for the past; in his view, punishing her was simply putting her back in her place.
But Bastian wasn’t done. “If you haye time, maybe read the reports your assistant hands you. Cheating? She shouldn’t have switched to academics?”
He sneered, his eyes full of icy scorn. “Do you know that ever since she started at Draywick High School, she’s scored nearly perfect on every test?”
Seeing the flicker of disbelief on Cassius‘ face, Bastian’s voice turned cold as frost.
He laughed, but it was hollow, stripped of all warmth. This was the brother who’d sworn he’d make it up to Azalea?
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Chapter 16 Blind and Unforgiven
And now, he didn’t even dare to face his own mistakes.
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