Beast Tamer's Rebirth National Treasure Edition novel Chapter 221

Chapter 221 Camping

Jonathan’s words left Sharon and Shawn feeling utterly humiliated and defeated, as if they’d been buried alive.

Sharon muttered to herself, “No wonder Sierra changed so much. She doesn’t listen to anything, doesn’t want anything. All she wants is to leave.”

In that moment, Sharon finally realized the harsh truth: she was the one who truly destroyed Sierra.

If she hadn’t turned a blind eye, Sierra would never have died in her previous life.

Sierra’s death in her previous life was so horrific that after her reset, she couldn’t wait to escape the Sterling family and the ruthless, soul-devouring entertainment industry.

Sharon thought, ‘It was all my fault. I am the real villain. And Natalie! David and Elouise were already in prison, but Natalie hasn’t faced any consequences.

‘Letting her stay in the house for the rest of her life is letting her off way too easy!’

Sharon’s eyes darkened as she said, “I’m going back to the Sterling family.”

She was hell-bent on making sure Natalie spent the rest of her life trapped in endless misery: begging for a way out, but never even getting the relief of death.

*****

March rolled in with warmer days, and one could finally feel spring in the air.

The WonderWild Zoo only closed for one day each month. It was barely enough time for a real getaway, and definitely not enough to head home.

So, a few days before their day off, the wildlife rescue team made plans to drive out and camp at a trendy spot nearby.

The night before, everyone had their camping gear packed and ready to go.

After thinking it over, Sierra invited Elliot, too.

When Elliot heard the invite, he just stayed quiet on the phone.

Sierra figured calling up Elliot out of the blue was probably putting him on the spot, considering how busy he always was. Bosses were like beasts of burden, always tied to the grindstone. It was not like they could just drop everything and go.

Since Elliot didn’t say anything, Sierra hurried to say, “Elliot, if you can’t make it, we can always pick another day.”

“I can make it. Who said I couldn’t? Tomorrow’s Friday, and my company’s on a four-day workweek with three days off. I’m free,” Elliot replied.

Sierra could hear the sound of papers shuffling on the other end of the line.

Most likely, Elliot was already wrapping things up at work and getting ready to leave.

Once Elliot agreed, Sierra finally hung up.

But what Sierra didn’t know was that, back at Elliot’s company, an announcement had just gone out: everyone was getting a paid day off tomorrow.”

An employee texted in the group chat: [Connor, what’s going on? Is the boss ditching work again to go play games?] Connor replied: [Seriously, what kind of person do you think the boss is?]

The person texted: [It’s just us in the group chat, and the boss isn’t around. Spill the beans, Connor. If we figure out why, maybe we can get more paid days off in the future.]

Seeing everyone replying, Connor glanced over at Elliot’s office. Elliot was humming a tune as he packed up his files, clearly ready to head out.

Connor opened the work group chat and typed: [All thanks to Ms. Sierra Sterling from WonderWild Zoo. She invited the boss to go camping, and now he’s strutting around the office like a peacock, practically throwing a party in there.] Connor was really getting into it, typing away like crazy: [I’ve never seen anyone crush on someone as hard as the boss does. This is a first for me.

[If Ms. Sierra Sterling ever wanted a dog, I swear our boss would be out there tomorrow, consulting experts on how to turn himself into one.]

Connor sent his messages, but after a while, no lang on the mug Flat agranded.

Successfully unlocked!

Next to him, an employee kept his head down, mating Caios despute looks.

Connor was clueless. He had no idea what was going on.

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Chapter 221 Camping

But out of habit, he turned around. There was Elliot, leaning against the doorway of his office, giving Connor a half-smile that was both amused and a little dangerous.

Elliot said, “Connor, bet you flunked all your essays as a kid, huh?

“It’s one thing to call your boss a dog, but blasting it out in the company’s mega group chat? Really?

“Do you think I don’t care about my image at all?”

Connor stiffened and ducked his head.

Connor’s heart sank as he realized what he’d just posted. It was like the sky was falling.

“M-Mr. Paterson, I didn’t mean it, I swear,” Connor stammered.

Elliot said, “I saw everything, Connor. Your paid leave is canceled for tomorrow.”

With that, Elliot turned and walked back into his office to finish packing up.

Connor just hung his head in silence.

He’d read tons of webnovels, but never thought something like this would actually happen to him in real life.

After getting home, Elliot burned the midnight oil, rushing to finish everything before dawn.

Vivian’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw her son still glued to his work late at night.

But before she could say a word, Elliot flashed a smug grin and said, “Mom, bet you didn’t expect this. Sierra invited me to go camping tomorrow. Don’t give me that look. She only invited me, not you.

“Looks like I’m officially the VIP of the Paterson family in Sierra’s book!”

Vivian thought, ‘He’s hopeless.’

She didn’t even bother to hide her eye roll before heading back to her room to get some sleep.

The next morning, Elliot was up at the crack of dawn, sneaking into Vivian’s room to snag some sunscreen and slather it all over his face.

Instead of his usual suit, he rocked a black casual set, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His forearms looked ripped, veins popping.

Elliot brought along some homemade snacks he whipped up in the middle of the night.

When they all met up, Sierra grinned and said, “Good thing you brought that. Last night, we kept thinking we were missing something.”

Elliot couldn’t take his eyes off Sierra.

“No worries, I made plenty. Even with a big group, there’s plenty to go around,” he said.

Ethan chimed in, “We brought a ton of skewers, too. We’ll grill them up this afternoon.”

They spent the whole drive joking around and laughing, and after two hours on the road, they pulled up at the popular campsite everyone’s been talking about online.

They got there super early, and since it was Friday, there was hardly anyone around.

Even after they finished setting up the tents and got the charcoal burning, still, not many people showed up.

The guys were huddled together, threading skewers and shooting the breeze, while Sierra and Sophie lounged off to the

side, helping themselves to the fruit Elliot had thoughtfully washed and served up just for them.

By noon, all kinds of meat were sizzling on the BBQ grill, with the charcoal popping and snapping underneath.

Before long, the mouthwatering aroma of grilled meat filled the air.

Sierra was a great cook and was about to jump in, but Elliot stopped her.

Elliot said, “Sierra, there are way too many skewers on the grill right now, and the smoke’s pretty heavy. It’s not great for you to breathe in so much of it.

“If you want to grill something later, I’ll save some for you so you can have fun with them.”

With that, he gently shooed Sierra away, but made sure to leave a dozen raw beef skewers nearby for her to grill whenever she felt like it.

All morning, Sierra and Sophie somehow managed to keep their clothes perfectly clean.

Sierra couldn’t help but ask Sophie, “Is Elliot always this hardworking back home?”

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Sophie nodded and said, “Pretty much. None of the women in the Paterson family ever cooks.”

Vivian absolutely loved to cook, but honestly, everyone was too scared to try her food.

One time, Vivian watched a foraging clip on YouTube and talked the whole clan into driving up to the nearest state park hills to pick fiddlehead ferns.

They came home with two grocery bags’ worth, and Vivian hated to waste food, so she tossed the lot into a skillet with butter and garlic.

Who knew one “fresh-from-the-woods” side dish would have the whole family sprinting to the bathroom all night?

Every time Sophie thought about it, she couldn’t help but think that good thing Vivian never tried mushroom picking.

If she had, the whole Paterson family would’ve been laid out flat that night and buried the next day.

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