Beast Tamer's Rebirth National Treasure Edition novel Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Chapter 146

David was momentarily stunned. He picked up the phone Natalie had dropped, and after seeing what was on the screen, his face went pale.

Finally, he opened his mouth and pleaded, “Natalie, what matters most is that we’re together as a family. Over the years, I’ve managed to save up some money from playing cards. I won’t bother with treatment anymore. I’ll give you all the money”

“What do you know?” Natalie shouted. “Your tens of thousands can’t even buy a decent bag. I’ve lived in the city for years because of you guys. If I have to go back now, do you just want me to suffer?”

That was when David remembered that Natalie was a pampered princess.

“What am I supposed to do?” David whispered.

That money was what he’d saved up over twenty years, but it was nowhere near enough for Natalie.

Just then, Natalie looked up, her eyes sparkling with resolve. “Dad, Mom, I know how to get the Sterling family to trust me again…”

*****

Sierra had been staying at the zoo for days.

Alex had already finished the posters, and Sierra jumped on her account to announce that WonderWild Zoo would officially start selling tickets on the first day of the New Year.

As for the online comments, Sierra couldn’t care less. She didn’t even spare them a glance.

She was enjoying her tranquil days at the zoo, while outside and online, everything was a total mess.

The police had lost track of David and Elouise, and nobody had any idea where they were. Even Natalie had gone missing.

The Sterlings had tried several times to meet up, but Ryan kept them out every time. Sharon had cried so much her eyes were nearly swollen shut.

To make sure Sierra wouldn’t be bothered, Henry and Thomas actually secured a team of a dozen retired military personnel from the government to act as the zoo’s security team.

Jonathan stared at the group in front of him. Each one was over six feet tall and looked like they belonged in a special forces unit, nothing like your average security guard.

Honestly, when Ryan stood among them, it was like a Corgi standing next to a bunch of Shepherds.

These guys weren’t just ex-military. They were probably the kind who’d survived life-or-death missions. And all of this was just to keep Sierra safe.

Jonathan was freaking out inside. He steadied Sharon by her arm and said, “Mom, let’s just come back another day.”

Sharon was hanging by a thread. She’d grown numb to all the online hate, but the real torture was her own guilt. It felt like a razor-sharp blade was shredding her from the inside out.

Sharon’s eyes were swollen like walnuts as she dragged herself back to the car, totally spent.

Inside the zoo’s café, Sierra sat at a table on the third floor, watching Jonathan and Sharon’s car pull away. She grabbed her steaming, aromatic latte and took a long sip.

‘Honestly,’ Sierra thought, ‘after everything I suffered in my previous life, what the Sterlings are going through now is

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Chapter 146

nowhere near enough payback.

Sophie, who was sitting nearby, suddenly said, “Sierra, the zoo’s opening soon. Mr. Monroe wants to film a promotional video, and the film crew will be here tomorrow, so be prepared.”

Sierra was lost in thought for a while before she responded. Then she nodded. “Okay.”

After a moment, Sierra noticed Sophie was still watching her.

“Sophie, what’s up? Why do you keep looking at me?” Sierra asked.

Sophie hesitated for a second. She wanted to be tactful, but subtlety just wasn’t her thing, so she blurted out, “Are you really not bothered by all that stuff online?”

Sierra shrugged. “It’s nothing, Sophie. I’ve been in the entertainment industry. I’ve seen every kind of storm. This is nothing.”

Sophie said straight up, “I just saw the look in your eyes. You seemed kind of upset.”

‘Sad?’ Sierra thought to herself.

She paused for a moment, then admitted, “Yeah, I guess a little. When I was a kid, I used to dream about having a normal, happy family.

“But whenever David and Elouise were in a bad mood, they’d just take it out on me. And when I finally got back to the Sterling family, I realized they didn’t really love me either.”

She was just a regular person. Even if she didn’t care about the Sterlings anymore, after the way she died in her previous life. it’d be a lie to say she didn’t hold a grudge.

Sophie stared at Sierra for a while, then out of nowhere said, “Hey, why don’t you come celebrate the New Year at my place?”

“Wait, what?” Sierra blinked, totally thrown off.

Sierra couldn’t help but twitch her lips, thinking, ‘What’s with this sudden switch?’

One second, Sophie was asking if she was sad, and the next she was inviting her over for New Year’s.

Sophie added, “Seriously, my mom’s a big fan of yours. She’d love to have you join us for New Year’s.”

Sierra didn’t answer right away. To be honest, her heart skipped a beat. She was actually tempted.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Sierra finally replied after a long pause. “You and your folks should enjoy your family time. What would I even do there? I don’t want to intrude.”

Sophie could tell Sierra just hated troubling others.

There was still plenty of time before New Year’s, so Sophie figured she’d just keep pestering her about it. Sierra would cave in eventually.

The next day, Sierra was up before dawn.

With the zoo about to open to the public, Thomas wanted to film a promotional video featuring all the staff.

Thomas had really gone all out. The film crew showed up with a mountain of high-end equipment.

The zoo now had over a thousand employees, and Thomas insisted on getting every single one in the shot. Thomas was still going over the details with the director.

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Chapter 146

“That’s right, every single employee, even Payton and the security guards outside. And we need to get every animal, to They’re all part of the WonderWild Zoo family, and not a single one can be left out,” Thomas said

Then he pointed at Sierra. “Make sure she gets plenty of screen time. Sierra’s the face of our zoo. The rest of us don’t need much camera time, but give her lots of close-ups and long shots.”

The director looked like he was about to blow a gasket at Thomas’s increasingly ridiculous requests. This is basically like asking for rainbow-colored black, the director grumbled to himself.

“Mr. Monroe, just how many animals do you have in the zoo? And how long do you want this video to be?” he asked, barely holding it together.

Thomas pursed his lips, totally oblivious to the director’s murderous glare. “We’ve got around five thousand animals right now, and the promo should be about half an hour long.”

“You do realize there are over five thousand animals and more than a thousand staff here, right? Never mind filming a promo, even just a slideshow of all the photos would take half an hour to get through,” the director said, exasperated.

Thomas knew he was asking for the impossible. Catching sight of Sierra’s cheerful grin, he scratched his head and looked at the director. “Maybe I could pay you a bit more?”

The director was speechless. “It’s not about money, man. The real question is, does this even make sense?”

Seeing the director about to lose his mind, Sierra finally stepped in. “Mr. Monroe, don’t make things so tough for the director.

“There’s no way we can film every single animal all at once. How about we just focus on the heads of each area and the animals that interact the most with visitors for the promo?”

“But what about the other animals?” Thomas frowned. He wanted every animal included because, to him, even the ordinary ones were just as special as the rare ones.

Sierra understood what Thomas meant. She explained, “Promos are meant to get fans hyped and curious, so we should show off the most popular and exciting animals. That’s what gets people interested.

“But that doesn’t mean we’ll ignore the others. I haven’t kept up with the WonderWild Zoo account lately, so after the holiday, I’ll find someone to take over. For the rest of the animals, we can feature them in separate posts. How does that sound?”

Thomas didn’t hesitate this time. Sierra’s idea was perfect, so he nodded. “Awesome!”

Seeing that, Sierra jumped right in to talk things over with the director.

The director finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Great, this’ll be a breeze.”

But the director couldn’t help but be surprised. Sierra was just in a regular zookeeper’s uniform, yet she had the final say, even overruling the director himself.

‘No wonder she’s such a big deal at WonderWild Zoo,’ he thought.

Sierra was a pro in front of the camera, so her part of the shoot went off without a hitch. But the rest of the staff was not so much. Especially Thomas, he struggled the most.

His face was beet red as he stiffly hugged Pip, trying to give Pip’s backstory. But he was so awkward that they had to do retake after retake, and Pip was getting totally fed up.

“I’m done, Mr. Monroe. You’re totally hopeless on camera. You’ve worn me out,” Pip complained.

With that, Pip scampered off to munch on some sugarcane. Thomas was left standing there, looking like he was about to

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Chapter 146

burst into tears.

Left with no choice, the director told Thomas to go settle the animals and switched things up to film Sierra’s segment first.

Sierra got a ton of screen time, and by the time they finished filming, it was already morning.

She’d been grinding away in the System until four a.m. the night before, so she barely got any sleep at all. Once the shoot was over, Sierra headed straight back to the staff dorm to crash.

The staff dorm was totally silent-everyone was still busy filming, even Payton, the security chief. Sierra was the only one left in the entire building.

Sierra unlocked the door. The door creaked open, and there was David, standing right in her doorway, smiling menacingly.

In the next instant, David grabbed a baseball bat and smashed it down on Sierra’s head with a heavy thud.

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