Chapter Seven: Seduce Hawkins Pride

Miracle's POV

Have you ever felt that drowning sensation? Like you were slowly sinking to the deepest part of the ocean as the water engulfs you whole. You can't breathe and it feels like someone is strangling you. I tried swimming, but it was futile.

One moment you're drowning, the next thing you know, you were choking on your own sobs and drowning in your own tears. It was a dream. I knew I was dreaming, but the feeling felt too real. It was suffocating.

Then someone was sitting next to me, offering a shoulder, a handkerchief I can use to wipe my tears with. When I turned to look at him, I saw a familiar face. His face was void of any emotions, but strange enough, he has this calming aura around him that feels like you are being lulled to sleep.

"It's okay to cry. Let it all out. Don't bottle up your emotions, Miss Verity." He said in a soft voice that made me melt into a puddle of emotions.

"I-It hurts." I whimpered, accepting his handkerchief and using it to cover my face so he wouldn't see me crying. "I feel so alone. I feel so... so isolated."

"I'm here, aren't I? You're not alone. You won't be alone anymore."

His voice started to fade and when I looked at him again, he was fading into the air. I reached out the hand holding his handkerchief, but I couldn't reach him anymore.

"Reach out to me. I will save you." He managed to say before he vanished into thin air.

I woke up with a gasp and realized that I had fallen asleep, curled up in the corner of the holding cell where I was waiting for my verdict. I realized that it was already morning and I fell asleep without eating anything. I grasped my aching head, and stretched my limbs. I looked around the lifeless cell where I can see other people like me who are waiting for our fate. Strange enough, I felt... free. And that is ironic considering I am about to be locked in here for God knows how long.

I called our lawyer yesterday and he told me that he couldn't help me because my father would fire him. He gave me advice that I should swallow my pride and ask him for forgiveness, while proceeding to tell me that I wouldn't survive without money.

I jumped a little when a guard appeared in front of my cell with a bored look on his face. "Reeve, you have a visitor."

My nose scrunched up when he called me by that disgusting name, but stood up nonetheless. I wonder who will visit me other than my so-called 'family'.

"It's Verity, actually," I corrected him when I was close enough so he could handcuff me. "Wait, that doesn't sound right, either." I mumbled with a scoff.

"Stop mumbling and move along." The guard pushed me forward and I obeyed.

"Who is it?" I found myself asking, not looking forward to seeing anyone other than a lawyer.

"Your father."

It was too late to refuse and something tells me that the guard will take me there anyway. He took me to the visiting area and I saw him, the one who gave me my surname but never acted like my father. He looked at ease, as if he didn't just falsely accuse me so he could put me in jail. And for what? To teach me a lesson?

Norman Verity was never the father figure to me. I grew up being jealous of my classmates because they can bring their father to field trips or at school to play games and attend meetings. Mine never set foot in my school. He always used his work as an excuse, but he was never home either. Whenever he is home, he and my mother will scream at each other while she hides in my room. It wasn't when I turned twelve that I realized why he was like that to my mother and I. He was having an affair with his younger secretary, Delilah who had a daughter with another man. Not long after my mother found out about their affair, she met a terrible accident that left her in such a pitiful state. Her lower half is paralyzed and she never talked to anyone again, not even me.

Norman took that as a chance to divorce my mother and marry Delilah a year after the accident, and they moved in. I didn't understand what's happening and he wanted me to get along with them. Deliah and Blair acted like they own the house and they would often abuse me when Norman wasn't around, but when he found out, he didn't show any care either. He favored Blair over me and it made me wonder if she was his real daughter, and not me. I tried to be as normal as I can be until I graduated and met Mark when I started my journey in teaching.

And here I am many years later. Locked up by my sperm donor.

"You look great. Maybe this is where you belong, Miracle."

Miracle. My mother told me she named me that because I was a miracle. Because they waited for so long to have a child. How ironic.

"What do you want?" I asked him coldly, already tired of interacting with him. I was lucky enough to be free from him, but here he is bothering me again.

He raised an eyebrow. "I expected you to kneel and beg me to release you. I guess you haven't learned your lesson."

"As if you'll do that if I did," I scoffed. "Come to think of it, I'm surprised Delilah isn't here. Did she release your leash?"

Anger crossed Norman's face and his lips curled.

"How dare—"

"Say what you want or leave because I have no time for this. Maybe you thought you are punishing me this way, but no, Norman, you are giving me a reward. This... is a luxury." I said, gesturing around the place and he slammed his hand against the glass wall separating us.

"I knew you will be like your ungrateful mother when you are old enough! I could have picked any woman but I chose her and gave her the best life, but she chose to punish me this way! Your mother is a greedy little witch and that is why I'm happy I found Delilah and I won't have you disrespecting her like this!"

"Greedy? All she ever wanted was your time, attention and your duty as her husband! You shouldn't have married her if you will treat her like this!" I screamed back at him while breathing heavily. "Then maybe she could have found a better man!"

Norman let out a mocking laugh. "As if she can."

No longer wanting to listen to his voice and even see his face, I stood up to leave when what he said next made me stop.

"I will release you and your mother, but you have to do something for me first. You have my word."

I turned my sharp gaze at him, waiting for him to continue, although I knew I probably wouldn't like what he would say.

"I don't trust your words. I want a contract."

"Deal."

I gave him a pointed look and he gave me a conniving smile. A smile I have seen so many times when he wants something.

"I want you to seduce Hawkins Pride and find out his weakness."