Twisted paths

Chapter 4: The setup

After being scolded by her husband, Anna decided she wouldn't hit Ryan at home anymore. "I can't do anything to provoke this old fool further before he involves the police," she thought to herself. "But I have a better plan. This time, it won't be traced back to me."

She quickly went upstairs to Mr. Carter's bedroom.

"Ryan needs to start going to school. I don't want him to be idle at home. Let him go and experience what being in a school feels like. What do you think?" Anna asked her husband as she entered his room.

"Good suggestion," Mr. Carter replied. "Oh honey, I'm proud of you. You should be thinking good for our child, not transferring aggression to a little boy."

"I'll make a few calls tonight, pay the school bills, and help you get everything arranged. But please do not order a guard to take him to his new school as it will be his first day at school. Take him there yourself. Okay? You know these things mean a lot to children. I would have gone with you, but I will be attending to a very important client tomorrow. Okay, honey?" Anna replied.

"Honey, I'm sorry for what happened earlier," Anna apologised, faking remorse in her voice. "I was having serious cramps, and it was messing up my mood. I promise I won't do such a thing again."

"It's okay," Mr. Carter said. "You know I will always forgive you, even before you ask."

"But please don't ever repeat such behaviour ever again. I wasn't joking when I said I would involve the cops next time. Anyways, I'm not going back on the punishment. You are not getting your monthly salary, and that's final. Goodnight," he said as he raised the duvet to cover himself and switched off the bed lamp.

Anna angrily went back to her room. She quickly picked up her phone to go through her social media, so as to get distracted and not remember her punishment, but she noticed she had three missed calls from her unknown secret caller.

She immediately called her secret guard and instructed him to check the courtyard and make sure no one was there. Once she received feedback from the guard, she sneaked out of the house.

"Hello, sir," Anna said when she called her secret contact.

"Hello," a deep voice replied. "What is the new development? And how is the little boy doing? Hope he isn't causing more havoc than he has already caused to our plans."

"No, he isn't, sir," Anna reassured. "Everything is under control. Do not worry too much."

"Well, I have good news. I'm returning in two weeks. Our plans are finally going to be achieved. I can't wait to see Carter's doom."

"Wow!" Anna exclaimed. "This is good news. I can't wait to see you, sir." But before she could finish her statement, he had already hung up.

The next morning, Anna woke up early, still in a very good mood from the news she received the previous night. She danced and hummed a song in the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the whole household. She even served her husband breakfast in bed.

"Wake up, my sunshine," she kissed him on the forehead and placed the tray she brought beside him.

Mr. Carter couldn't believe his eyes. He thought he was dreaming. Anna giggled at the surprise on his face. She hugged him tightly, kissed him on the forehead, and then presented the tray of food to him. He devoured the food hungrily, like a very hungry lion.

Anna proceeded to serve breakfast to the rest of the household. Everyone was surprised since this was unusual.

"Rose!" Anna called. "Get Ryan ready for his new school."

Ryan was still asleep, feeling tired from yesterday's work. Rose gently woke him up and took him to the bathtub for a warm bath. Then she fed him his morning tea, bread, and egg, and dressed him up for school.

Ryan was excited to attend school for the first time in his life. He had spent his whole life in the orphanage without ever going to school. But little did he know that Anna had devised a plan to frustrate him and make him look like a bad child in Mr. Carter's eyes.

Before Ryan left, he went to his daddy's room to give him a big, tight hug and kiss. "Be a good boy as always," Mr. Carter said. "And if you get good grades at the end of the term, you'll receive a very big gift from me."

"Okay, Daddy," Ryan responded, filled with happiness in his heart.

The driver took Ryan to school despite Mr. Carter's instructions that Anna should take him to school herself. He was admitted into grade three even though children of his age were in grade five, but he had to start from grade three because he had never been to any good school.

"Who is Ryan?" the new teacher asked as she walked into the classroom. "Your father is here to see you."

Mr. Carter entered the classroom accompanied by the school principal and the police. "Ryan, where is your school bag?" Mr. Carter asked.

Without hesitation, Ryan brought out his school bag. The police opened the bag and, to their surprise, they found the $10,000 that Mr. Carter had been looking for hidden inside.

Mr. Carter couldn't believe his eyes and, overcome with anger, he slapped Ryan. "How dare you!" he shouted. "You took the $10,000 I had hidden in my closet? What is a young child like you, who is only 10 years old, doing with such a large sum of money?" The police then took Ryan away to a youth care office.

Mr. Carter stormed into the room, seething with anger. "Ryan is only 10 years old. What could he possibly be doing with that much money? Did I adopt the child of a thief? This is not what I wanted when I decided to have a child!"

Anna remained silent and smiled inwardly, knowing that her evil plans were finally succeeding. She had hidden the money in Ryan's bag that morning before he left for school.

"Well, you should have listened to me when I said we didn't need an orphan in this house," she finally spoke. "These children in the orphanage are all useless and lack proper upbringing. What do you expect when you expose a child who has been poor and wretched all their life to a little bit of wealth? It shouldn't be a thing of surprise to you."

Within an hour, news of Mr. and Mrs. Carter's foster child stealing a large sum of money had already spread. Mr. Carter was a highly influential man, and any scandal that tarnished his reputation would make headlines.

"Are you just going to sit there and let an orphan ruin our reputation?" Anna instigated after she switched off the television. "The news is already on the media, and you know a thief never stops. He will do it again. Send him back to where he came from!" She pushed further.

Mr. Carter stepped outside for a while. He was so confused and embarrassed. He quickly called the police, instructing them to bring Ryan back home.

"Was Anna right all along? Am I being blinded by my desire for a child? Or maybe I should hear Ryan's side of the story first. He's innocent and wouldn't do such a thing intentionally. Perhaps he needed the money for something but couldn't tell me," Mr. Carter thought to himself as he headed out to return to work.

By the time Ryan returned, Mr. Carter had already left for work again. Anna immediately subjected him to a severe beating. This time around, she even used a very sharp knife to cut his skin.

"That is the punishment you get for coming into my family and tarnishing my image!" she shouted.

She knew he wouldn't even have the guts to tell Mr. Carter when he returned.

Ryan was already tired of life. He was still very confused with everything that was happening.

"I never took Daddy's money," the young helpless child cried out loud. He realised something immediately: how the rich trampled on the poor, and how they never accepted the poor.

"Ryan will have to stop going to school for a while," Anna instigated once more as her husband returned. "The news is spreading everywhere, and his classmates might mock him. Let him stay at home for some time so that we can provide parental guidance and monitor him."

"I think you're right," Mr. Carter agreed. "I will also take time off from work so that we can properly raise and train our child. We need to dedicate quality time to him."

"There's no need for that," Anna replied quickly. "It's just a minor case. I can handle the training. You just focus on your work for now."

"Okay," Mr. Carter finally relented, feeling exhausted from his day at work. "Goodnight," he said.

Anna retreated to her room with a sly smile on her face. Things were finally going the way she had planned, she thought, and she drifted off to sleep.