Chapter:05: Manipulation:

The loud echo from his cold voice rang in her ears as she tries to look up at him with uncertainty. Even though the man had said these words in a very low tone, she could clearly hear the reverberation of his words echoing in the room–It was as if he had shouted at the top of his lungs which in turn has been dribbling in the darkness.

Miranda was shocked and she immediately froze in astonishment. It felt as though, she had heard the wrong thing by mistake.

Perhaps, she was mistaken. This is because she has seen many lustful men, who only care about getting into her pants. She has never been asked to give birth to a child in exchange for her desires like this.

This was the first and she was determined not to believe it.

Miranda's eyes widened, but she thought

that she had just heard wrongly. She tried to look at the man for confirmation, but it was too dark to even make out his face.

"Did you hear my conditions? Or should I repeat it  once more for you?"

The man asked, this time with a sprinkle of impatience.

He sounded like he was tired of looking at her pensive outlook, so he wanted to get things done and over with already.

She blinked but she was still in a state of

shock to reply. Even though the air conditioner in the room seems to be working perfectly, she could still feel certain hotness oozing from within her body and in due time, alone trail of sweat fell down from her forehead and landed on the ground right in front of her. But, it was too dark to even make anything of that.

She couldn't bring herself to believe that she had heard the right thing the first time. However, after hearing him ask one more time, she was sure, she wasn't wrong. She was just too shocked to believe it.

“I will give you a minute to think about it," he said after a few seconds. He noticed that the timid girl hadn't said anything in response to his question, so he decided to answer the question for her.

Yet though his tone lacked any warmth

his voice was still magnetic and Miranda's heart couldn't help but somersault. It was beating so loudly it was as though the other person could hear it under the dark silence. But she was quick to gather her wits back.

This wasn't the time to lose her sense of judgment; that's if she even had a sense of judgment, to begin with–A helpless girl like her had no reason to believe that she would ever be presented with a chance to differentiate between right and wrong. She was only allowed to succumb to situations presented to her.

Although there were still many questions,

there was always only one choice for her. Oh! It wasn't even a choice, to begin with, but a decision already made and she just have to make do with what she found herself.

“There's no need to think about it for a

minute." She looked at the blurry silhouette in front of her and said, "I promise you. I will give you a baby!" She looked directly in the direction of the dark shadow standing in front of her without moving an inch. Her lips curled up with determination and her eyes sparkled up with readiness– she was born ready for this; sacrifice is a word that she always never goes against no matter what.

Even though she felt that it was wrong giving in to a man she had never known before, she still decided to go for what she thinks will be beneficial for her sister, Amanda.

If her sister could get better if she does this. Then, she might as well have no reason to resist such a great offer that was capable of saving a life.

Moreover, the main purpose of her existence was to look after her ill twin sister–If there was no certain thing to begin with, she would have ended her life a long time ago. So, here is a chance to save her sister. 

The pale and shattered face of her sister subconsciously appeared in her mind, and she smiled bitterly at the thought of saving her after all these.

"Alright." The man didn't seem to be surprised by her choice–He seems like he was already aware of what her answers would be, so he simply moved a bit closer to he , and extended his hand “Give me the ring.”  He ordered in his cold, icy tone and without thinking twice about it.

Without any form of hesitation, Miranda stretched out her lean hand and put the ring into the man's palm.

After taking the ring, the man looked down at her and instructed, "You can take the second step now."

This sounded like he was giving her a choice. But the truth of the matter is that she was never blessed with a chance, and definitely not this time as well.

Hearing his words Miranda's breathing tightened and she didn't dare to move. She didn't think he was this efficient. 

She hadn't imagined that she would be asked to sleep with him right now and in a creepy place like this. Also, with an unknown man– This was never what she always wanted for herself and her sister. However, things changed and situations happened.

And even though she might have done this type of thing with Lucas several times, she only endured it because she had Iove him. Doing it with another, a  stranger even, was her very

bottom line. She was technically like those women who sell their bodies to anyone at this point.

She was nothing but a cheap, bloody whore with no dignity attached to her existence.

"What? Do you want me to help you take it

off?" Instead of the indifference that she

Was starting to get used to it, his tone this time carried a trace of impatience.

After quietly observing the reluctance in her movement, the man instantly became impatient and urged her on.

Miranda gritted her teeth and said, "I'll do

it myself."

she told herself in her heart that she could do anything for the sake of her sister's illness. She was willing to sacrifice even the most precious thing she ever had to make sure that Amanda gets well.

With the thoughts of finally getting her sister treated of her illness in her mind, Miranda subconsciously closed her moist eyes and decided to do whatever it takes to get the money. Moreover, this is not the first time, she has done something so desperate for money. So, why she was suddenly lost of decisiveness?

With this thought in mind, her clothes peeled off one layer after another, much like how she had Most of her dignity. She wanted to cry, but she swallowed it back.

She groggily took off all the clothing materials in her body as the man was impatiently waiting for her. After that, she moved to lose to the wide, soft bed.even though, she hadn't touched the bed yet , she was sure that it was going to be as soft as the bed she was used to sleeping in before the destruction of her family.

However, just as she was about to lie

down, her phone suddenly rang. The ringing sound from her mobile phone broke the silence in the room.

Miranda's cell phone lit up in the

pitch-black room. With the lights from her phone as the guidelines, she hurriedly reached out to get it. She was going to hang up. but when she saw that it was the number from the hospital!

At the sight of the number from the hospital, her heart fretted and she felt the bones in her lean body tweaking in fear– She was overwhelmed by unknown elements of fear.

She quickly slipped off the bed and

answered.

"Is this Amanda's family?" a female voice

asked as soon as she held the phone close to her ear.

“I am her sister," Miranda said anxiously. "How is my sister? Is anything wrong? Is she alright?” She asked with a panic-stricken tone and the fear in her heart would be heard through the tone of her voice.

"She's gone." The female voice said. "She

was there this afternoon when I made the

ward rounds. But when I checked again, she

was nowhere." She finally said the word.

Hearing this Miranda's heart suddenly tightened. She was very clear about Amanda's situation. Once she left the hospital, the Consequences would be...

"Did You check the surveillance cameras?" Miranda said. "She couldn't have left the hospital at all" She was so sure of that, so she wanted them to be certain they weren't mistaken about this–She was afraid of even thinking about the possibility of things getting out of hand.

"Yes. She seemed to have received a

phone call and left after that. Would you like

to come over and take a look?"

Miranda was instantly disheveled and she couldn't think straight at this point, so she  immediately touched around for

her clothes and put them on without saying a word.

Her heart was beating loudly in her chest and the sound could be heard in the silent room.

"Alright, I'll be right there."

She hung up the phone and realized that

there was an unidentified man in front of her.

"I...." But she only said a syllable when he

interrupted.

"You want to leave?"

"I'm sorry, sir. My sister is missing. I must

go find her immediately!" Miranda said with a remorseful gaze.

"I'll take the ring as a deposit." The man

stepped away from her and stood by the

curtained windows. "I hope you don't

change your mind."

Only then did Miranda raise her eyes to look at the ring that she had given to the man initially.

Miranda was so anxious that she didn't have time to get the ring back, so she said,

"Alright, sir, wait for me to find my sister first."

She hurried outside, but she didn't expect

that the servant would help her arrange a

car. 

She heaved a sigh of relief and prayed for the kind maid, who had saved her the stress of waiting long for a taxi in the middle of the sloppy street.

Thus, in less than an hour, Miranda

arrived at the hospital.

The ward was still the same as when she

left, except Amanda was not inside.

She hurried inside and look around for her sister. She ran into the bathroom and even checked under the bed with the hope that she would find Amanda.

There was nothing! Nothing was left to search for!

This realization made Miranda well up with tears. Just then, she swept her gaze and saw the cell phone on the bed.

With her eyes resting on the cell phone on the bed, Miranda instantly rushed over.

She quickly picked up the phone, She knew Amanda's pin code, so she immediately unlocked it.

But as soon as the screen flashed. her

face paled and her world stopped.

It was a photo of her. She was pressed on

the bed by Lucas with her wrist tied up. It

was evident what she was doing.

This has always been Lucas's way of torturing her– Whenever she goes to him in search of help, he would always tie her up before sleeping with her. He wanted t humiliated her and make her feel like a villain in her own skin. Even though she was aware of his intentions, she never objects as her objection would only bring her pain and suffering.

However, she had never imagined that Lucas would be as heartless as to take pictures of her and use them for this purpose!

Miranda's fingers trembled as she scrolled down. 

There were even more pictures,

different times and places, but the same protagonist who had been trampled into the mud finally reached the end where there were a few lines, "Know where your

hospitalization fee came from, naive sister! If you'd rather still be a parasite to your sister stay in the hospital. If you don't want to, you should know what to do."