The CEO Gets What He Wants novel Chapter 353

After finding out through Allie that Cayden was dining at Azure Royal, Nicole dolled herself up and tried to stage a coincidental encounter.

Upon arriving at Azure Royal, however, she was surprised to see that Cayden had brought Avery with him.

What's so great about Avery? Why does he love her so much?

As if that wasn't bad enough, Nicole also saw Stephanie Quigley, a girl she grew up with in the orphanage. What the... Isn't that Stephanie? What is she doing here?

Nicole closed her eyes to stop herself from remembering the past, but the memories just kept flooding into her mind.

The next thing she knew, a flashback from when she was six years old began playing in her head like a movie.

Both Nicole and Stephanie, who was five at the time, were taken in by the orphanage within the same year.

Nicole was extremely skinny and pale back then, and the fact that she rarely spoke made her all the more unpopular. Stephanie, on the other hand, looked like a pretty little angel when she arrived at the orphanage wearing a dress and a tiara.

On top of her good looks, Stephanie was also easygoing and had many talents. She was great at singing, dancing, and storytelling. Her storytelling skills were so amazing that it felt like she was able to bring any fairytale to life. As a result, all the kids at the orphanage—boys and girls alike—developed a strong fondness for her. Sometimes, it even seemed as though the world revolved around her.

Nicole, on the other hand, received little to no attention from them whatsoever.

As Stephanie looked like the type of girl who was born into a wealthy family, Nicole never understood how she ended up at the orphanage, nor did she want to.

All Nicole ever wanted was to be the center of attention, but everyone at the orphanage only cared about Stephanie.

After racking her brain for a bit, Nicole came up with a despicable plan. She pretended to be close friends with Stephanie while secretly sabotaging her in every possible way. She stole things, beat up other kids, poured bugs in their beds, and even burned some of the orphanage's furniture. In other words, she committed theft, assault and battery, and arson.

By framing Stephanie for all of those misdeeds, Nicole was able to take her place as everyone's favorite.

As for Stephanie, she got labeled as a thief and a problematic child. Almost everyone in the orphanage hated and rejected her. Just like that, Stephanie spent the next five years being alienated and ignored by everyone.

One day, William and Claire came to the orphanage to adopt a child.

That was when Nicole knew her chance had come. She needed to seize that opportunity if she wanted to get out of that terrifying orphanage.

Despite it looking like a charitable organization, the living condition in the orphanage was extremely horrible. Not only did the kids often go cold and hungry, but lots of beautiful girls mysteriously went missing every year. Of course, new orphans were soon brought in to take their place, but Nicole still found it incredibly strange.

It wasn't until she overheard the orphanage director's conversation that she found out about the horrible things they were doing.

Apparently, they were secretly doing business with sexual predators.

Once a girl reached a certain age, they would sell her off to those willing to pay a huge sum.

Because Stephanie was so pretty, they decided to keep her until she was eighteen before selling her off to a wealthy man for a very high price.

As for Nicole, they were planning to sell her to an old, disabled, wealthy pedophile in two years.

Naturally, Nicole was utterly terrified when she heard that. She couldn't imagine how her life would be if she fell into that pedophile's hands.

At the same time, she couldn't help but laugh at the ignorance of Stephanie and the other kids. They were all living out their lives, completely unaware of the horrifying fate that awaited them.

Nicole then spent every single day plotting how she would make her escape.

One day, her chance finally came.

All the kids were excited when they received word about the state secretary, William, coming over to adopt a child. The kids all dolled themselves up nicely in hopes of getting chosen by William.

Since Nicole looked better than every other kid except Stephanie, she was the only one Nicole had to worry about.

Although Nicole had already ruined Stephanie's reputation, she was still afraid that William and Claire would somehow pick Stephanie over her.

As such, Nicole secretly spiked Stephanie's food with a huge amount of laxatives the night before their arrival. Sure enough, Stephanie ended up spending most of the night in the bathroom.

She was so dehydrated the next day that she couldn't even get off her bed, so she missed out on the opportunity to meet William and Claire.

Having gotten rid of her biggest threat, Nicole was able to win William and Claire over with her good looks and intelligence. That was how she got adopted into the Lambert family and started living a comfortable life.

Since Nicole couldn't be bothered to report the orphanage's heinous activities to the authorities, it remained operational long after she left.

When Nicole first arrived at the Lambert residence, she made sure to be on her best behavior for fear of them changing their mind about her.

However, Claire was very nice to her, and William treated her like his own daughter.

As she slowly came to accept her new status as heiress of the Lambert family, she became more and more arrogant.

A few years later, Nicole heard the orphanage was investigated by the police. The orphanage director and a few other big shots were arrested, and the orphans were all transferred to another charitable organization.

As she had kept tabs on Stephanie the whole time, she found out that Stephanie left the orphanage and started working while pursuing her studies.

Because Stephanie was still poor, her quality of life wasn't any different from her orphanage days.

Nicole, on the other hand, was living the high life.

Nicole felt relieved when she saw the huge contrast between the lives they had. She knew she did the right thing by sabotaging Stephanie. Otherwise, William and Claire would most probably have chosen Stephanie instead.

Nobody knew how much Nicole wanted to destroy Stephanie's beautiful face.

At some point, Nicole heard Stephanie went missing when she was seventeen.

According to the rumors, Stephanie got pregnant after being raped and went missing shortly after.

Naturally, Nicole was delighted when she heard that.

Given everything that had happened, she was shocked to see Stephanie working at Azure Royal as a waitress and attending to Avery.