Florence pushed the door open and Katherine met gazes with the head of the orphanage. A woman seasoned by age but full of energy. Her gray hair did make her look older but wiser. She looked stern but kind.

"Katherine Park." She said her voice full of authority. "You grew up well."

​​

"Mrs. Esmeralda, it's nice to meet you." She bowed respectfully.

"Nonsense." She rebuked her "you should say it's been a while."

"Ahh... you knew me when I was a child? I'm sorry I don't remember." She said.

"Ofcourse you don't, you were barely two years old when your mother whisked you away. You wouldn't remember."

"Then you do know my mother?"

"If I didn't would I ask you to come here? Come. Sit. Miss Florence please can you get Katherine and I something to drink?" She asked.

"Sure thing." Florence nodded and walked out of the room.

"How did you know my mother? Did she... adopt me?" Katherine asked slowly, Esmeralda almost didn't hear.

"Are you afraid you might have been adopted?" She asked Katherine carefully.

Katherine shook her head defensively, when Esmeralda gave her a pointed look she sighed and nodded slowly.

"Why? You think you people with biological parents are better than all those other kids out there?" She asked bluntly.

"No!" She rose her hands up yet again, defensively this woman made her fearful. "I'm sorry if it sounded that way, I just grew up always feeling inferior and no matter what I did I could never measure just because of my parentage. You must pardon me please." She sighed, feeling incredibly guilty.

Esmeralda stared at her intently before giving her a small smile. "It was always obvious growing up without a father, your life would be difficult. But it pains me now knowing you feel inferior. You're a goddamn doctor, what kind of people did you grow up with that you still feel inferior?" She shook her head.

"The owners of the hospital and other large corporations, that doesn't matter. I'm here because I recently learnt that the man I always called father isn't actually my real dad."

Esmeralda brow quirked in an emotion Katherine placed as amusement cause how else would she explain that smirk?

"And now you want answers. Alright, I'll tell everything I knew about your mother." Katherine nodded and Esmeralda continued. "Your mother was twenty two when she appeared suddenly in front of this orphanage Twenty five years ago. She was wet, crying and terrified. She was carrying you when she came here you barely a month old. I was scared you'd died, as you were deathly silent and very pale. But your mother refused to give in, even when the doctor told her you wouldn't make it through the night. The current head of the orphanage at that time, only planned to let her stay for one night. She said it would be to cruel to let her be alone when her child died. But your at the end of the day your mother was right, you didn't die."

"Why did she want my mother to stay only one night?" Katherine asked.

"The circumstances at with your mother came here were very suspicious. It was very obvious she was running from someone or something. She never left the building for any reason at all until the day she left with you." Esmeralda informed her.

Katherine frowned. "Did you ever figure out who she was running from?"

"Not specifically but my boss was very sure she was involved in illegal things before she came here."

"What kind of illegal thing?"

Esmeralda paused and sighed, Katherine pursed her lip. "What illegal things?" Katherine asked again. "Please tell me."

"We always believed she was running from a pimp or something of the sort." Esmeralda said slowly.

"A pimp? You mean my mother was coming from a brothel?" Katherine asked in shock and paralyzing fear.

"It was only a rumour going around, it-"

"Please don't sugar coat anything Mrs. Esmeralda, tell me my mother a twenty something year old was coming from a brothel with a baby. Was that child me?"

**************************************************

Jason stared at Patricia as he continued to remind himself, he needed to be close to her, it wasn't an option. They needed to find that auction house.

Patricia smiled sweetly at him from across the table were they sat in a most expensive restaurant. "You're awful quiet today." She said a though she was making a mere observation.

"What do you expect me to say to the person that sent cops to my house." He said, his bored expression hiding the displeasure he felt, that is putting it lightly.

Patricia's eyes widened slightly but she composed her self quickly. Apart from meeting Jason here because he was her fiance and she actually liked it, she was here to find out why he was still engaged to her. After everything Jessie told her, she had the right to question. There two scenarios:

1. He had an ulterior motive something he could only get by remaining close to her, if that was the case she had to figure it out.

2. He was doing this for Jessie, and if he was he would bring her up in their conversation her or that the police came to his house. And though there was no concrete evident blame her. Either way, he had an ulterior motive but she needed to make sure it wasn't to help Jessie.

And just right there the worst of the two scenarios, Jessie Marin that bitch never just gave up.

"Did Jessie tell you I did that?" Patricia asked.

"Do I need anyone to tell me who is responsible? It's quite obvious plus I'm not a fool." He scoffed.

"So she was right? You love her?" Patricia said happy her voice wasn't as shaky as her heart felt at the moment. Just when the fuck did she fall for Jason?

Jason faced contorted into a look of annoyance and disgust. "Love her? Why are you talking about foolish things? She is my property, I paid a lot of money for her and the only reason I still keep her is because she's actually my money's worth." He stated

"Is that why you sent the cops to my manor? Because you thought I was in love with her? Hey Patricia Lee, do you like me?"

Preview 188: Physical affection has nothing to do with feelings.

His brow quirked and he smiled, all the while unzipping her dress, Patricia hadn't realised until the skin of his palms came in contact with her back and flinched as if he burned her. He probably did, she moved forward pressing her body closer to his. Jason finished it, pushing her flush against him as he moved underneath her dress.

Her hands gripped his shoulders as she tried to calm her breathing. 'Get it under control Patricia! He can hear everything your face is right by he's ear!' She rebuked herself.