The next morning, the news of Steele Enterprises bankruptcy and Noah Calhouns imprisonment spread throughout Cloud City like wildfire. Anastasia watched as the court officials sealed her home and the company with red stamps, and her employees from Steele Enterprises blocked her car, demanding their wages and compensation. She felt as helpless as if she were standing on the edge of a cliff.
Her phone rang urgently, startling her. "Are you satisfied with my welcome gift?" Edward Cullens devilish voice came through the receiver, laced with a sinister rasp.
Anastasia clutched her chest, her heart already scarred and now stabbed again by this mans sharp blade.
"Edward, please spare the Steele family. I will repay the debt," she choked out, her words filled with pleading.
Edward scoffed, "You? What do you have to offer?"
Anastasia heard the mockery and disdain in his tone. She indeed had nothing left to offer except for herself.
"I will do anything I can," Anastasias eyes dimmed with the realization.
Edward was silent for a few seconds before speaking in a deep voice, "What if... I want your sister, Claire Randall?"
Anastasias face drained of all color instantly.
"No... you cant..." she stammered, "Shes only nineteen..."
"Anastasia, with me, you have no right to refuse," Edward hung up the phone.
Anastasia clutched the steering wheel tightly, gasping for air.
Regaining her senses, Anastasia drove towards the hospital.
She had to prevent Edward from laying his dark intentions on Claire Randall!
That was her sister, the family member her father had repeatedly asked her to protect!
In the hospital room, Anastasia looked at Claire, who was pale on the bed, and felt a lump in her throat.
"Sis..." Claire looked at Anastasia, her big eyes filled with tears, "Did you find a matching bone marrow for me? I dont want to die, I dont want to lie here waiting to die..."
Her desperate cry was like a blade stabbing Anastasias heart.
"Dont worry, Claire," Anastasia hugged her, soothing her softly, "I will make sure youll be okay."
Anastasia and Claire were half-sisters, and their relationship had never been close growing up.
But now, in the face of great adversity, their bond as family became incredibly important.
She had to do everything in her power to hold up the Steele family and protect her sister.
After soothing Claire to sleep, Anastasia left the room, her body heavy with exhaustion.
But as soon as she opened the door, she saw Edward standing at the door, holding a cigarette that was about to burn out...
Anastasias face turned pale instantly, and she slammed the door shut in a panic, protecting the hospital room door.
"You... dont let her see you... please..." Anastasias lips trembled.
Edward crushed the cigarette under his foot and reached for Anastasias clothes.
"No..." Anastasia was terrified, but she was afraid that Claire in the room would hear the commotion outside and didnt dare to resist loudly.
"Since youre begging, show me the proper attitude for begging," Edward pinched Anastasias cheek, looking at her expressionlessly.
Anastasia bit her lower lip so hard it bled, "Please, not here..."
"Thats... more fun," Edward smiled coldly.
He dragged Anastasia ruthlessly towards the stairwell, his gaze flicking to the burning gaze from the crack under the hospital room door, his lips curling.
It was really interesting...
Afterwards, Anastasia clung to the stair railing, not allowing herself to make a sound.
It wasnt until she was close to death that the man behind her released her waist, which she could barely hold onto.
"You know what I hate about you the most?" Edward dressed neatly and looked at Anastasia, who was collapsed in the corner, "Youre clearly a prostitute, but you pretend to be a chaste woman, its really disgusting."
His words were like sharp thorns piercing Anastasias chest, one by one, slowly entering, causing blood to flow.
The pain was self-evident.
She closed her eyes, suppressing her tears.
"Are you feeling wronged?" Edward bent over and pinched her chin, a wild coldness in the corner of his mouth, "When your father had someone rape Isabelle, she was crying on the ground like this... You should be glad that its me whos on top of you now!"
He roared, then lit a match and lit a cigarette, leaving after smoking.
The door to the stairwell was slammed shut.
Anastasia leaned against the wall and stood up after a while, tidying her messy clothes.
The scent of the man in the air was suffocating.
She rubbed the bruises on her wrist, her legs weak as she walked outside.
But as soon as she opened the door, she saw Claire in the hallway.
Anastasias eyelid twitched, her voice sharp with tension, "Why are you here? Arent you resting in the ward?"
Claire stood still, looking at her with a strange expression.
"Sis, was that the person just now? Is Dads imprisonment related to him? Are you with him again?"
Anastasias heart rose to her throat, and what she didnt want to happen, happened.
"You rest well, dont think about it..." Anastasia didnt want to answer her questions directly, "Be obedient, after the surgery, I will take you abroad..."
"You know how much Dad hated the Cullen family, hasnt what happened six years ago made you realize?" Claires tears rolled, sobbing incessantly, "You shouldnt still love him, right?"
Anastasia tightened her hand, shaking her head heavily.
"Dont talk about it, its not your business," she pulled Claire back to the ward, and then left, almost fleeing.
Six years ago, Edward Cullen, the man who had rushed into her life like a lone wolf, had indeed taken root in her heart.
But things have changed, and people are no longer the same.
Todays Edward is a demon, an enemy, but no longer her lover.
After she left, Claire, who was lying in bed, opened her tightly clenched hand, revealing a crumpled business card inside.
"Edward Cullen..." Claire whispered the name on it, unable to control the memory of the mans fingertips just now.
She put the card under her nose and took a deep breath, the unfamiliar scent instantly invading her internal organs.
In Claires mind, she flashed through the red marks on Anastasias neck, with a strange smile on the corner of her mouth.
The seed that had sprouted in her heart six years ago grew rapidly at this moment...
Back at home, Anastasias eyelids kept twitching, and she always felt that something big was about to happen.
A cool breeze blew in from the window, knocking over the photo frame on the table.
"Bang," the glass fell to the ground and shattered.
Claire looked at her father in the photo, and her heart stopped beating.
The phone rang sharply, and the mechanical voice of the police came from the cold receiver.
"Miss Steele, your father jumped to his death in prison."