"Those people, they never wanted to adopt me! They just wanted a child bride for their mentally disabled son! When I refused, they beat me, yelled at me and starved me! If I hadn't run fast, they would have dragged me to the bed of a retard right now!”
She cried like her heart was being torn apart.
The surrounding neighbors also sympathized.
"In a law-abiding country like this, how are monsters like that allowed to exist? Do these deserve to be called a human too?”
"Aaron, you and your wife have always been kind. You volunteer at the orphanage every week. Why not take her in and adopt her? You’re a senior executive at your company, so you can afford to feed one more mouth."
“Yeah, and you’ve only got one kid. Raising two isn’t much harder than raising one. Maybe it's destiny that she is here. Let her stay. Poor thing."
I managed to convince Aaron. So at this moment, he did not have a gut to agree so readily before I approved.
I took his phone and called the police.
"Cassandra," I said gently, "it’s not that Auntie doesn’t want to help. However, your adoption paperwork has already been processed. If we take you in now, it’s illegal. You wouldn’t want your Auntie to be accused of kidnapping by your adoptive parents, would you?"
"The police will help. If your adoptive parents really abused you, the adoption can be revoked. Then you’ll be safely returned to the orphanage. Trust me,” I added.
After hearing what I had said, her eyes filled with hatred, but I did not care.
I calmly explained the situation to the police.
The neighbor wanted to sleep again so when he saw the matter being handled, he returned home.
Since Aaron did not have any recollection of her love, I worried he’d get soft-hearted again. Just in case, I insisted on taking Cassandra to the station myself.
Before I took my leave, I glanced back and saw my daughter peeking out of her room. She looked scared. So, I asked Aaron to stay and comfort her. Then I took Cassandra to the elevator.
All the way down the apartment, she continued her pitiful act, pleading with me to adopt her. She claimed everyone else in the world wanted to hurt her and they were horrible person.
Regardless of what she was saying, I stayed polite and silent.
I made a report at the police station until six in the morning. Meanwhile, Cassandra was held there while they contacted her adoptive parents.