Mr. CEO's Substitute Bride-Chapter 985 - 981: Dreaming of Standing on Stage Since Childhood

"Lara, whether you stay or leave, you’re always going to be my girl!"

"But I love singing," Sophie Foster turned around again, clinging to Nicholas Croft’s arm, saying, "I’ve dreamed of standing on stage since I was a kid."

Slightly conflicted, Nicholas Croft suggested once more, "Why don’t you join my company? I’ll arrange for an experienced manager to guide you, make you a household name."

As soon as Nicholas finished speaking, Sophie rejected the offer, released his arm, and sat back properly in the passenger seat, looking ahead and saying, "I promised my mom I wouldn’t enter the entertainment industry."

"Your mother didn’t want you to get into the entertainment industry? Why?" Nicholas glanced over momentarily, puzzled. So many people support their children’s fame by encouraging them to attend art schools, yet her mother wouldn’t let her.

"My mom said that the industry is too dirty." Sophie continued to look ahead, and if you looked closely, you’d notice a fleeting flash of resentment on her face as she spoke.

Before her death, her mother told her that back in the day, a man took advantage of his position in the industry to exploit her. When he found out she was pregnant, he wouldn’t let her have an abortion, and when the ultrasound revealed it was a girl, he forced her to terminate the pregnancy.

By that time, she was almost fully formed. Her mother couldn’t bear to abort her own child, so she retired from the industry. Only when she fell seriously ill and knew she didn’t have long left did she take Sophie to T City to find her biological father.

But the way that man acted... it really disappointed her. He refused to pay for her mother’s medical treatment. After her mother’s passing, he kept saying he’d look after her, but in truth, didn’t he just want to bring her into that industry to make money off her?

"Your mother was once... an artist?" Nicholas tentatively asked, and Sophie coldly denied it, "No, my mom was just an ordinary housewife who collapsed from overwork."

Sophie spoke the truth. As far back as she could remember, her mother was like any ordinary woman. She ran a small shop, busy every day restocking and selling goods, and also picking her up from school. Later, when business declined, her mother fell ill, her health deteriorating until the doctor finally told her it was lung cancer...

At sixteen, when she heard her mom had a terminal illness, it felt like her world had collapsed.

Seeing the distress on Sophie’s face, Nicholas didn’t press on, but sighed as he looked ahead, "Tomorrow I’ll get two bodyguards to go with you to work. It’s safer that way."

"Uncle!" Sophie exaggeratedly frowned, turning her head to Nicholas, "Don’t scare me like that! I barely earn three to five thousand a month; that won’t even cover the cost of hiring bodyguards."

"Money isn’t as important as your safety."

"It’s fine, Uncle,"

Sophie wrapped herself around Nicholas’s arm again, "At our shop, as long as it’s not consensual, no one dares to force anyone. It’s the rule."

The saying goes that every industry has its rules. If a nightclub can’t ensure the safety of its resident singers, then who would come to perform?

"You like singing?" Nicholas asked while driving, and Sophie nodded, "Mm-hmm,"

"Alright then, keep working there, but take care of yourself and don’t let any bad guys take advantage of you."

"Yes, Uncle Nicholas!" Sophie exaggeratedly saluted and then teased with a smile, "Uncle Nicholas, you’re so cautious, why don’t you just tie Lara to your belt, so you can take her everywhere with you."

"If you’d like, I’d love to do that!"