Chapter 548 Aurelie's Choice
Cecily suddenly choked and looked at Darian. Darian nodded, clearly agreeing with Blaise this time.
Cecily knew that Aurelie's mother, Sarah Newman, had passed away early, and Joshua had long since remarried. He had a daughter and a son, not just Aurelie.
But from the beginning, only Aurelie had a conscience and hads been paying off Joshua's debts. Joshua and his wife, Barbara Inome, had never spent a dime on his gambling debts, so their family lived quite comfortably, while only Aurelie kept filling Joshua's bottomless pit.
Their family also took this for granted.
Now that if Cecily helped Aurelie, Joshua, the scoundrel, remained the same, and this money would truly fall on Aurelie's shoulders.
Cecily reconsidered the issue.
"Keeping someone who never changes is useless. You might as well advise Aurelie not to care. Besides, Joshua has his own family now, with a wife and children. This debt shouldn't be Aurelie's responsibility, let alone yours," Darian told Cecily seriously.
Cecily had calmed down. She had been impulsive, thinking only of helping Aurelie through the tough times, not realizing that behind the tough times was an endless pit.
"I know what to do now." Cecily walked in quickly and asked the bodyguard at the door to announce for her.
Meanwhile, inside, Lillian had already handed the pen to Aurelie, saying, "Sign it quickly. Your child shouldn't have been born in the first place, right? Or do you want him to be an illegitimate child? Signing it can save your dad's life and reduce your debt. That's twenty million dollars! You're lucky to have us."
Lillian spoke dismissively, as if Aurelie were worth nothing at all.
Joshua, showing no pity for Aurelie, pressed on with his plea, his voice dripping with false concern. "Aurelie, hurry up and sign. Once you do, we can go home. Don't hesitate—think about how hard I worked to raise you. You can't just abandon me like this. Just sign the paper; it's just one child and one uterus. Even if you can't get married later, I'll take care of you."
Aurelie trembled as she gripped the pen, listening to Joshua's words. The overwhelming sense of sadness she felt was almost unbearable.
"Sign it, sign it now," Laura urged from the sidelines, her gaze fixed on Aurelie.
Everyone's eyes were on her.
Aurelie looked down at the agreement in her hands.
In the end, both the agreement and the pen were tossed onto the marble table.
Aurelie let her hands fall to her sides.
"What's this supposed to mean, Aurelie?" Joshua's brows furrowed in confusion.
Aurelie turned to face him, her expression resolute. "Why should I sign?" She gave a wry smile. "Didn't you say you've given me away as collateral to Nathaniel? So we're done, aren't we? Why should I keep paying off your debts with my own life?"
She thought, 'Isn't it enough? Isn't it?
'From twenty-one to twenty-nine, how many debts have I covered for him?
'Now, at nearly thirty, if I sign this agreement, it means I'm prepared to continue covering his debts. And the next $180 million will be solely my burden—why should I accept that?'
Aurelie was unwilling to do so. She was a woman on the brink of thirty, facing the loss of a child, her uterus, and potentially her lover, and now she was expected to carry a $180 million debt for the rest of her life. That was too much.
No one felt sorry for her, but couldn't she feel some compassion for herself?
And as for Joshua's claim of raising her with such hardship—was he joking?
Just two months after Sarah's death, he'd remarried and started a new family. When Barbara had said, "I don't want strangers in my home," Joshua had left her behind.
Hardship? If not for the debt, he might have forgotten he had a daughter.
Joshua's face darkened immediately upon hearing her words.
Lillian stood up, her face flushed with righteous indignation. "Aurelie, don't you have a conscience? This is your own father! Are you really going to disregard him for your own sake? What kind of daughter are you?"
"Aurelie, are you really going to abandon me? I'm your only family in this world. It's just a uterus—what's the big deal? You're still so young. One less organ is no problem. But me? I'm the one who's going to die. You can't be so heartless."
Joshua looked at Aurelie with disbelief, hoping she would revert to her old self—one who, moved by his pleas, would continue to pay off his debts.
Aurelie thought, 'It's just a uterus. Listen to what he's saying.'
"Don't call me that. I don't have a father like you." Aurelie took a deep breath, turned to face the family of three, and continued, "The money he owes is his problem. Don't talk about cutting off his hands; even if you were to chop him up and feed him to the fish, that's his business, not mine. I'm not signing the agreement, and I'm not paying the debt. If you come after me again, I'll call the police."
With that, Aurelie turned to leave. Joshua, used to Aurelie covering his gambling debts, was infuriated. He jumped up from the floor and, in a burst of anger, raised his hand to strike her.
"You're so selfish. You only care about yourself. I'm going to kill you."
Joshua was close to Aurelie, and she could almost feel the sting of the impending slap. As she instinctively shut her eyes, she braced for the pain that never came.
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