CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 403: DEBT

"Almost a hundred thousand dollars," Mia’s father said without hesitation, his voice full of greed.

"That’s how much she is ready to give me as long as I hand Mia over to her."

Aurora’s expression did not change. She nodded slowly, as if she had already expected it.

Then she looked straight into his eyes and said in a steady voice,

"I am ready to give you two hundred thousand dollars. But there is one condition. You must sign an agreement saying you will never trouble Mia again. You will cut all ties with her and will not even go near her, no matter how poor you become. If you ever go against the agreement, you will face jail time."

Mia’s father stared at her in shock. For a moment, he looked as if he could not believe his ears.

"Are you serious? You will really give me two hundred thousand for Mia?" he asked.

He wasn’t concerned about the prison time at all.

Aurora gave a single, firm nod.

The greed in Mia’s father’s eyes deepened. He almost smiled. "Then I am ready. I will sign it," he said quickly.

All this time Mia’s mother had been sitting silently on the edge of the sofa, watching everything without a word. Aurora turned to her at last.

"What about you?" Aurora asked. "You have been quiet the whole time. Do you agree?"

Mia’s mother looked up at Aurora. Her voice was soft but her words were sharp. "I want a hundred thousand too."

For a moment, Aurora clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Her heart ached for Mia. She had never expected that Mia’s parents could be so heartless.

To them, their daughter was not a person to love and protect but a way to make money.

She took a deep breath and steadied her voice. "Fine," she said.

"I will give each of you two hundred thousand. But after you take the money, you will have no connection to Mia at all. You will never contact her again. Not even in the worst days of your life. That is the price."

Both Mia’s father and mother exchanged a quick glance. Greed shone in their eyes. Finally, they nodded together.

Aurora pulled out her checkbook from her bag and slowly wrote down the amounts on two separate checks.

Then she held them up but did not hand them over.

"You have not signed the contract yet," she said calmly.

The couple looked at each other again, then nodded. "We are ready," Mia’s father said.

Aurora called Emily and asked her to come up with a legal contract.

Emily arrived soon with the papers already prepared.

The contract stated clearly that Mia’s parents would cut all ties with Mia and would never approach her again under any circumstances.

Mia’s father signed first, his hand shaking slightly but his eyes glowing with greed. Mia’s mother signed next without any hesitation.

Once both signatures were on the paper, Aurora handed each of them a check.

They held the checks as if they were holding gold and left the apartment almost at once, happy with the deal they had made.

The room grew quiet after they were gone.

Emily looked around the small apartment with worried eyes.

She then turned to Aurora and asked softly, "Aurora, what are you planning to do next? Don’t you think it’s extreme?"

Aurora’s face remained calm. Her voice was steady when she replied,

"People like them would have continued to drag Mia down. They are the kind of parents who see their own child as a way to gain money. If we had let them stay in Mia’s life, they would have been like a tumor that keeps growing. Sometimes it is better to cut off the problem completely rather than leave it there and let it rot the person’s future."

Emily lowered her eyes and nodded. She understood what Aurora meant.

"Then what about this apartment?"

Aurora stayed silent for a moment, then said calmly,

"We will buy this apartment and give it to Mia. But to make sure her parents never try to come back, we will create a rent agreement on paper. It will be written in such a way that it looks like Mia is paying a fair rent, so no one can question it. They will think Mia is just a tenant and won’t dare to bother her."

Emily nodded slowly, understanding the idea.

She was about to ask another question, but Aurora raised her hand lightly and said,

"That is enough for now. I need to check on my friend."

Emily understood at once and did not ask further. She quietly left the living room.

Once Emily was gone, Aurora walked up to Mia’s room. She stood in front of the door and knocked softly.

For a long time, there was no response. Aurora almost thought Mia would not open the door.

But just as she was about to knock again, a small, weak voice came from inside.

"Who is there?"

Hearing Mia’s voice, Aurora’s heart softened. She said gently, "It’s me. Open the door, Mia."

After a few seconds, the door opened slowly. Mia stood there. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.

She looked out first, as if to make sure her parents were gone.

When she saw only Aurora standing there, she let out a shaky breath, then quickly pulled Aurora inside and closed the door.

The moment they were alone in the room, Mia threw her arms around Aurora and clung to her tightly.

Her body trembled, and her tears fell again.

Aurora wrapped her arms around Mia and patted her back softly. Her voice was calm and gentle.

"It’s alright. Everything is okay now."

Hearing Aurora’s words, Mia’s fragile control broke completely.

She sobbed into Aurora’s shoulder and said in a broken voice,

"I can’t believe my parents would think of making money out of me. All this time, I thought that even if they were strict and sometimes cold, they were still working hard to give me a better future. But I was wrong."

Aurora stayed quiet and let Mia speak. She knew Mia needed to let out all her pain.

Mia went on, her voice shaking.

"My father worked only to gamble. My mother worked to buy herself clothes and all the things she dreamed of. Neither of them ever really cared about me. They barely gave me the basics I needed. Sometimes I felt I should be grateful just because they didn’t throw me out. When it came to my school, I fought for a scholarship. I worked so hard to enter the elite high school, thinking that if I studied there, I would finally live a better life. I thought I could escape all the misery. But they... they pulled me back into this nightmare again. I don’t know how many more years I have to suffer before I can be truly free from them."

Aurora’s heart ached as she listened. She kept patting Mia’s back to calm her and said softly,

"It’s alright. I have handled the situation."

Mia pulled away a little, wiping her eyes. She looked at Aurora with confusion. "What do you mean? What have you done?"

Aurora let out a soft chuckle and waved the paper in her hand lightly.

"I made sure they will never be able to bother you again. Look at this."

Mia took the paper with shaky hands. Her eyes moved over the words, and with every line she read, her expression shifted from confusion to shock.

She looked up at Aurora, her voice trembling.

"You... you gave them two hundred thousand each? And in return, they signed to cut all ties with me?"

Yet at the same time, she felt something inside her breaking.

Her own parents... served all the ties just like that for $400,000. Though it was a big amount... Mia never thought that it was enough to make them break off the relationship with her.

’So heartless... At this point... I even suspect that they are my real parents or not...’

Aurora nodded, her tone calm as if it were not a big deal.

Mia’s eyes turned moist, and her voice sounded choked.

"Why would you do that? That is so much money! How am I ever going to repay you? I cannot take this from you."

Aurora smiled faintly. "You don’t have to repay me."

But Mia shook her head hard. Her voice was firm.

"No. I cannot take something like this for free. Even the hundred thousand I asked you for before, to save the apartment, was only borrowing. I never meant to take it and never return. As for this $400,000, I will return it. I cannot take this money as if I deserve it. Please, either take those checks back from them or make sure the checks bounce. I don’t want to owe you this much."

Aurora sighed softly and chuckled.

"You don’t need to worry. I gave them the four hundred thousand, but I will get the value back in my own way. You don’t need to repay me."

Mia straightened up, her eyes serious. "Then I will pay you back when I get a job. I will not let this debt remain between us."