Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 306: Illegal Procedure

The article that exposed Clara was simple and concise, yet it targeted her in a way that she could never slip away from.

First, it started by exposing the IP address Clara used to put the article about Anne up, which was traced all the way to her personal computer, a little bit of hacking had achieved that and it was something Kristen was incredibly skilled at.

With the blatant evidence of the article’s origin, no one could argue that it wasn’t Clara who posted it.

Then, it further went on to highlight several other gossip threads about Anne which had been posted in Sterling Enterprises company forum, all created by Clara.

Anyone could already see a pattern of Clara personally targeting Anne because as people read those forum threads, jealousy and defamation could already be sensed.

Anne didn’t stop there, exposing Clara’s character with a few simple words,

A snake wearing the skin of a dainty flower.

With Kristen’s help, Anne found several sources of evidence to release against Clara one after the other that peeled off her hypocritical mask.

Later included were CCTV shots from along the executive floor at SE, exactly where Andrew’s previous office was located. These shots showed Clara standing outside Andrew’s office, most times opening her shirt buttons and pulling up her skirt, a clear way to seduce the person within the office.

Anne didn’t shy away from using words that would make Clara appear like a perfect vixen, it wasn’t her fault Clara chose to be merciless when putting out an article about her, it was only right she returned the favor too.

Immediately after Anne’s article about Clara was released, several young masters also came forward, making videos about how Clara would trick them into falling for her, only to abandon them all after she’s gotten what she wanted out of them.

It exposed Clara as a woman who used men to her own advantage, using her beauty as a weapon to keep them under a spell until she used them to either boost her own personal image or heighten her connections in society before she would go on to trample them as if she never knew them at all. Some even admitted to being offered her body as repayment to keep their mouths shut, of course no man would refuse a taste of a beautiful flower.

The number of men Clara had slept with to protect her scheming reputation was incredibly alarming.

During this moment it was also made public about how she had tried to put something in Andrew’s wine once before at a private party, an incident that was kept quiet by the Hastings to cover up for Clara. People began to recall hearing that as a rumor. Not only that, Anne also released the situation of her being locked in a freezing room, as well as almost being strangled to death at a parking lot, both incidents with no one else behind them but Clara.

There was nothing worse than being proven to be an attempted murderer.

The comments beneath Clara’s article seemed far worse than the ones bashing Anne.

In the blink of an eye, the article released by Clara was relegated to a bitter scheme all created by Clara to ruin Anne, after all it wasn’t the very first attempt.

Clara’s article might have claimed Anne to be a scheming woman who trapped Andrew with a baby that might not be his, but Anne’s article exposed Clara for putting up a fake personality while trying to seduce a man who was already happily married at the same time trying to physically harm his wife just to keep the man for herself.

The tides changed swiftly, and instead of bringing Anne down, it felt like Clara had pushed herself in a corner instead.

Even at SE, no one stood up to support Clara’s claims, in fact it seemed like people finally had the outlet to speak up, talking about how Clara threatened them but they had no choice but to keep quiet, after all she was an angel in people’s eyes and if one person accused Clara of something, it was most likely no one would believe it, hence everyone chose to keep quiet even after being a victim of her hidden evil nature.

With all of this buzz exposing Clara’s true self, many people called out the Hastings family to bring Clara forward so she could face the crimes she committed of trying to murder someone.

The article Anne released was taken as evidence by the police for being the suspected culprit behind her attempted murder in the company’s parking lot and they went on to file an official report against Clara, making them dig into her deeply and slowly, several things began to surface.

Maids going missing at the Hastings villa but being covered up by Ingrid Hastings, further investigation revealed those maids were actually killed brutally.

One of them had her head smashed repeatedly by a heavy object, and another seemed to have been drowned in a bath tub. These maids were victims of the rage bursts of a spoilt child whose tracks would end up being covered by her over indulgent mother.

It was also revealed that her mother gave the permission for an illegal procedure on Clara’s whole appearance when she was a bit younger, having plastic surgery performed on the face of a girl who was barely thirteen years old to alter her appearance.

Many knew Clara’s face since she was in her teens, hence no one suspected she was a beauty who had gone under the knife, but it turned out, Clara was quite average in terms of looks naturally and she hated how others looked down on her for it, so even at a young age she had requested to alter her appearance and her mother as the parent supposed to raise the child had approved of whatever she wanted.

This revelation completely overturned the image of the name Clara Hastings.

Not only had she been over indulged by a parent who had her entire appearance altered for the fickle and vain desires of beauty, she was also a psychotic woman whose anger would lead her to harm people and only realize it a while later.

Taking someone’s life was like a game to her, and whenever she was in a terrible mood she would hurt some of the maids at the Hastings home, but her mother would clean it up eventually. Many of the former staff who had been threatened and paid off for their silence came forward to testify.

In merely a few days, Clara’s elegant little image crumbled like a house of cards.

But the culprit herself...had strangely suddenly disappeared.

A few days later, Andrew appeared at a press conference.

The conference hall was a storm even before Andrew appeared. Reporters eagerly pressing forward, flashes illuminating the air like frantic lightning. Everyone eagerly wanted to get the direct issue about the recent scandals from Andrew himself.

"As everyone is aware, Mrs Sterling is heavily pregnant, it would be too exhausting for her to appear at a conference so please proceed with your questions." Andrew’s publicity manager answered the press when they asked why Anne was absent at the conference.

Andrew had insisted she stayed home because her doctors constantly said that she needed rest. Anything that could potentially be stressful or tiring for her were things Andrew wanted to avoid.

The moment he stepped onto the stage, the entire hall fell breathlessly quiet. His face was sharp enough to cut through glass and his eyes could have burned from their intensity. This type of an intense look was never directed at his wife, this type of look could make some people with fragile hearts pee their pants. There was a doting reserved privately for his wife and a strictness directed to others.

"Let’s get one thing clear." He said, gripping the podium. "I’m not here to entertain rumors, I’m here to protect my wife."

Murmurs rippled and the cameras continued to flash rapidly.

"Mr Sterling, what do you have to say about the rumors that you were trapped into marriage?"

A derisive smirk lifted his lips as he spoke directly into the conference microphone with a calm and composed voice that commanded steel attention,

"If there was ever a trapping in our marriage, then it was me trapping her. When it comes to my wife I’m a very greedy man, I’m greedy for her love, greedy for her attention, greedy for her smile. I love my wife, more than anyone has ever loved another person before, does this type of relationship feel like a trap to you?"

The murmurs that erupted in the air were gasps of awe, revealing an immense shock that erupted across the whole hall.

The rumors claimed the man hated his wife, yet here he was strictly defending her.

Andrew Sterling, the steel hearted man that kept away from women as if they were plagues, had anyone ever thought a day such as this would arrive and he would speak about a woman with so much affection?

It took several minutes before any of the reporters could regain their voices to ask another question since one single answer seemed to have given the answer.

Evidently, Andrew Sterling loved his wife so deeply, the notion that he was trapped in marriage seemed like utter rubbish now.

"Mr Sterling, the allegations concerning your wife’s pregnancy...the rumors also said that the child might not actually be..."

The reporter saying this felt too scared to offend Andrew, so she didn’t fully complete her words, but the sharp look in Andrew’s eyes remained as he finished for her by saying,

"Might not be mine?"

Andrew motioned to someone next to him and they moved to set something up, which made the huge screen behind him turn on, playing a video.

There were exactly five men kneeling in an empty room looking to have been tortured with blood stains all over them. One couldn’t tell if the damage on them was done by the authorities or some other power, however these men openly admitted something that wasn’t too shocking considering the allegations that spread about Clara lately.

"I’ve never met her before, I don’t even know who she is. But I was paid by a friend, he said he works for Clara Hastings and if I agreed to do this, she would reward me handsomely. I was paid to post videos online talking about sleeping with someone called Anne Thompson, miss Hastings also said that if I made everyone believe she might be carrying my child I would get a hefty bonus..."

The other men went on to admit that they had indeed been paid by Clara to defame Anne.

"Annelise is carrying my child." Andrew’s voice boomed across the conference hall where everyone had been rendered speechless. They couldn’t make a single reaction, everyone lost in awe of how black hearted a beautiful and angelic looking woman like Clara could actually be on the inside.

"Our child carries a true Sterling blood, and if anyone ever dares to target her or our child again, I will make sure they face consequences they can never recover from."

And with that, Andrew walked off the stage leaving the hall to erupt once more in frantic conversations.

The press conference spread far and wide, and in a distant city, inside a secluded exclusive private hospital, Clara could be seen viewing it all while sitting in the hospital bed dressed in a hospital gown for patients, her hands trembling as she clenched her fist angrily, however a second later she smirked like someone planning something big which would change the course of her sudden downfall.

She had fled at the right time, otherwise all of this mess would have caught up to her. Who knew one single move of trying to destroy Anne would actually backfire this hard, all the things Clara had done in the past was no fully exposed. But she wasn’t scared, not when she had a way out.

By her feet, there were several of Anne’s pictures kept around, images taken from different angles. A male doctor walked into the ward at this point, his eyes fell on the television showing the news for a moment before he faced Clara.

"Everything is ready miss Hastings, are you sure you want to go ahead with this procedure?" The doctor asked to make sure.

Their hospital wasn’t a legal establishment as they carried out procedures that weren’t even approved yet by the world health organization, whoever signed themselves up at this hospital was doing it at their own risk, and the staff there only understood the language of money.

They had altered the appearance of multiple dangerous escaped criminals in the past as long as those people had lots of money, Clara was no different, her crimes didn’t matter to them at all as long as she could pay.

"I already signed your stupid papers right? I’m sure I want to carry out this procedure."

The doctor glanced at one of the photos Clara had been holding, he didn’t care if it was an obsession with the woman’s appearance or if Clara had evil intentions, since she consented to the procedure he would do his job.

"Alright, you will be sedated shortly and we’ll carry out the procedure. I’d like to remind you once again of the complications you might face. This is not plastic surgery, it’s something far more dangerous..."

The doctor found it imperative to remind Clara of the risks she stood to face after such a huge procedure which involved complete facial makeover and remodelling to a specific person, and bodily alteration to a certain structure of her chosen model, it wasn’t surgery that would cut and stick her together, it was a new very dangerous procedure of alteration and cloning, not to mention she not only wanted to clone her face to the provided person’s image but also wanted vocal chord alterations to imitate a specific intonation of a voice Clara had been playing repeatedly just to master the wording of the person’s method of speaking.

Such alterations could destroy her whole facial structure, and make her lose her voice completely if complications arise.

"Save it, I don’t care about complications, just perform the surgery and make sure I look every bit exactly like her!"

The doctor sighed and nodded before he left the room to prepare his team.

Clara picked up one of Anne’s pictures with a devious smirk on her lips,

"You didn’t think you’d won already did you?"