Mr. CEO's Substitute Bride-Chapter 1053 - 1049: Raised Her as a Daughter

"But what?" Beatrice Hargrave asked, feeling puzzled by Nicholas Croft’s actions back then. He clearly loved her, and he had the ability to resolve things, yet he said he wouldn’t care about her. Every time she recalled his heartlessness over the years, her heart would ache for a long time. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

In the time just after being sent abroad, every night she would sit hugging her knees on the windowsill, staring blankly at the moon outside, feeling despondent all day. Back then, she thought she was depressed and even sought a psychologist. It was only through medication and counseling that she gradually recovered.

"Mia, if Uncle said... he always treated her like a daughter, would you laugh at Uncle?" Nicholas Croft curved his lips in a smile that held a heartbreaking bitterness.

"No," Beatrice shook her head, knowing well that Uncle was a lolicon. Every time things got passionate, he’d restrain her to call him "Uncle." Yet, she had never imagined that in his heart, he’d always raised her as a daughter, spoiled and indulged her, but in the end, he just left her...

Smiling once more, Nicholas leaned back on the sofa, unconsciously swirling the wine glass in his hand. He sighed, "Lara’s background is quite pitiable, no parents... moreover, she relied heavily on me..." When mentioning Sophie Foster, the lines of Nicholas’s handsome face softened, a faint arc at the corner of his lips, as if that heavily made-up face was reflected in the crystal chandelier.

"And I’m much older than her, so I raised her as a daughter... Whenever I was on a business trip, she’d secretly drink my wine and smoke cigars. I knew I shouldn’t let her develop these bad habits, but..."

Nicholas paused again. Mentioning Sophie Foster, his heart was filled with happy memories. Beatrice turned her eyes to look at him, frowning tightly, her hands on the sofa unconsciously clenching.

"I just couldn’t bear to make her quit. Perhaps I indulged her too much, and later when I was on a business trip, she went to a nightclub and ended up hurting someone, putting them in the hospital...

At that time, I kept reflecting if it was because I spoiled her too much that made her act so recklessly.

So, I made a decision to pretend not to care about her, let her suffer a bit in the temporary detention center, hoping that this lesson would teach her not to be so reckless again..."

Beatrice bit her lower lip. It turns out... Uncle was so thoughtful towards her. It’s just that she was so scared at the time, curling up every night on the cold bed, facing the darkness alone. When he said he wouldn’t care about her anymore, she felt like the sky above her had collapsed.

In despair, she agreed to her father’s demands, promising him that if he got her out, she would enter the entertainment industry.

Sigh...

Nicholas exhaled a visible tremor, then sighed again, a self-mocking smile forming at his lips.

"But suddenly she disappeared. At first, I thought she was sulking and refused to see me until I pulled some strings and they told me that in all of T City’s shelters, there was no such person..."

Nicholas took another deep breath, licked his lips, then said, "That’s when I realized, my self-righteousness... made me lose her forever..."

"Did you never look for her?" Beatrice asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Nicholas suddenly turned back, smiled at her, and said, "Let’s not talk about her. I know she must resent my harshness back then, so she doesn’t want to see me,"