The Returned Heiress Who Had It All (Cassia) novel Chapter 131

Chapter 131 Sterling Zimmer

From the pitch–black room, a small boy slowly emerged.

His eyes were blank, his expression empty. He moved slowly and awkwardly, his hair messy, and his clothes dirty and wrinkled,

He looked about eight or nine–cute, but completely shut off from the world.

Danica, who had previously been grounded by Vance, felt like her father hated her. Eager to impress him, she forced down her strong discomfort and walked toward the boy.

Brie hadn’t been punished like that, but she had the same idea. She’d also heard what Peter said to Cassia.

That must be the autistic boy Peter mentioned.

“Aww, what a cutie! Come here, let me hug you!”

“Hey, little

guy, I’ve got candy! Come get some.”

Danica and Brie moved toward the boy, bending halfway down and opening their arms. Danica even reached out to grab his arm.

They did everything they could to lure him to their side.

But the boy avoided them. He even avoided Vance as he tried to approach him. Instead, he walked straight toward Cassia.

Peter looked a little annoyed at Sterling’s behavior around guests. But he kept a kind, understanding act. “Sterling, did you know Cassia came, so you came out?”

He knew Sterling’s autism was severe. Unless something special happened or someone he deeply trusted appeared, he never left his room.

Sterling didn’t respond. He slowly approached Cassia and lifted his little face. A faint light passed through his dull eyes.

Cassia was the exception–the one person he didn’t reject.

“My computer is broken.”

His voice was clear and pure, without any clutter.

“Okay,” Cassia responded softly. With her hands in her pockets, she passed between Danica and Brie and walked into Sterling’s room.

Sterling followed quietly, shutting and locking the door once inside.

The others stood outside, staring at the closed door.

Peter looked genuinely surprised. He pointed at the closed door and said, “Cassia and Sterling are a weird

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pair. That kid never lets anyone into his room. Once, a nanny tried cleaning while he was out eating. When he came back, he freaked out and threw her out and even bit her arm.”

He paused, then continued, “I didn’t expect him to let Cassia in so easily. Mr. Wood, your daughter is amazing!”

“Haha, it’s nothing. We barely raised her ourselves,” Vance said, scratching the back of his head, smiling proudly.

“No special upbringing, and she’s still this impressive? Mr. Wood, you’re being modest. Without your guidance, Cassia wouldn’t be this capable. She can even fix computers!”

“Haha…”

Vance felt Cassia wasn’t entirely useless–at least not today.

Bringing her back to the orphanage was proving to be a smart idea.

Danica clenched her teeth, twisting her face.

She couldn’t stand hearing people praise Cassia.

It’s just fixing a computer!

Yet she couldn’t do it.

“Brie, do you know how to fix a computer?” Cassia asked.

Computers were Brie’s blind spot. She’d never learned anything about them, much less how to fix one.

Even Brie couldn’t fix it–yet Cassia could.

Inside the room, Cassia sat at the computer, fingers flying across the keyboard and typing in raw binary.

Sterling’s computer had been hacked. While fixing it, she traced and shut down the attacker’s system, which completely crashed their device.

She then installed an anti–intrusion program she wrote herself, confident even top hackers would struggle to crack it.

“All done.”

Cassia typed the last sequence of Os and 1s, stretched her neck, and rolled her shoulders.

Honestly, her skill felt like a gift. Since she was little, she had been unusually sensitive to the mathematical logic behind Os and 1s, like they clicked for her.

Back when she lived in the orphanage, she had no real friends and often got bored. So, she challenged herself by hacking into corporate networks and other tough systems.

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Chapter 131 Sterling Zimmer

She never did it for harm–just for the fun of solving the puzzle.

Eventually, even that thrill wore off.

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“Thanks.” Sterling stood beside her. When he saw his computer working, a faint smile appeared.

Before coming to the orphanage, he had been diagnosed with severe autism. His parents thought he was mentally ill and didn’t want the trouble, so they left him at the orphanage and never came back.