Chapter 26
When Talia Taylor stepped out of the prison, it was raining.
Her loose sleeves covered her alarmingly thin body. A chill hit her straight in the face, and she hugged herself, shivering.
Three years had passed.
Talia never thought she would make it out of prison alive.
She walked numbly along the wall, moving slowly because her legs were stiff.
Her feet, once so graceful in ballet, now hurt badly with each step, like she was walking on knife tips.
Then, a Cayenne stopped in front of Talia.
The second she saw the license plate, she turned pale, and a hint of complexity flickered in her eyes.
The car window rolled down, and Kendrick Deven’s handsome but cold face showed up.
“You’re lame?” Kendrick glanced at Talia’s legs, his voice flat and emotionless.
Talia’s eyes started to sting for no reason.
This was the fiance she had loved for seven whole years.
And it was he who got her thrown into prison.
Was he showing concern by asking that?
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But from day one in there, Talia got beaten up by the other inmates.
They said Kendrick paid them to “take special care” of her.
“Get in the car.”
Kendrick casually draped his arm on the car window. He looked tall and sharp in his bespoke suit, all cool and distant.
If it weren’t for that guy’s order, he wouldn’t have come to pick Talia
- up.
Talia could tell that Kendrick was running out of patience with her, just like her parents.
When she was brought back to the Taylor family at 14, her parents felt bad at first and wanted to make it right.
But their foster daughter Valerie Taylor, whom they had raised for 14 years, turned them against her.
When Talia got framed by Valerie at 21, the Taylor family just lost it.
་་་་་་་
“Yeah, Valerie isn’t our blood, but so what? She has been with us for years. We already took you back. What more do you want?”
“Talia, how could you do that to Valerie? You’re
ot like her. You
weren’t raised by us, so you’ll never be as good as her.”
What did Talia even do?
Why wouldn’t they believe her even once?
“Get in the car!”
Kendrick glanced at/Talia’s legs, and his brow furrowed a little.
There was a nasty scar on her pale ankle, like a grotesque centipede
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crawling across her skin. It looked like it was sliced by something sharp.
Kendrick looked away and called out, “Robert.”
Robert Schumann got out of the driver’s seat and said respectfully, “Ms. Taylor, Mr. Deven wants you to get in the car.”
When Talia still didn’t move, Robert reached out to grab her.
Talia instinctively hugged her head and squatted down, crying out, “Don’t! Please don’t hit me!”
Robert was totally surprised by her reaction.
Talia had changed a lot. When Robert just saw her, he almost didn’t recognize her.
Talia used to be the picture of innocence and cheerfulness. Everyone in their world saw her as the perfect girl.
But now…
Her eyes were lifeless. She just huddled up, looking scared.
She was only in prison for three years. How did she end up like this?
Robert glanced back at Kendrick, who still looked calm and cold. His face didn’t show any emotion.
“Talia, how long do you plan to keep me waiting? After three years in prison, haven’t you learned to behave yet?”
Talia slowly got up and sat in the car in a daze, making her distance from Kendrick.
re to keep
The car had the heater on, but she curled up in the corner. She was
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caught in the rain and hit by the cold wind, so she felt groggy.
She tried to hold it in but couldn’t, and sneezed.
The car hit a speed bump, and Talia was thrown forward. She didn’t expect it, so she ended up half–kneeling on the floor mat.
Kendrick had been dozing with his eyes closed, but he snapped them open at the sound.
He glanced at Talia and said, “Talia, you look really pathetic.”
Pathetic?
Talia took a deep breath. Because of what Kendrick said, the floor mat felt hot under her feet, and she couldn’t sit still.
She huddled up, trying to make herself as small as possible, and her voice was quiet, like a whisper, “I’m sorry. I’ll clean the mat later…”
But before she could finish, Kendrick cut her off sharply, “Don’t bother. We’re going to throw it all away.”
Throw it away?
Just because Talia touched it?‘
Talia’s lips twitched and a hint of bitterness crept onto her face.
She turned her head and stared out the window at the street, her eyes a
bit red.
Grievance and anger surged inside her.
In Kendrick’s eyes, anything she touched was dirty, so it all had to go.
“So, Valerie is the only one who’s pure and innocent, right?”
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Kendrick’s face darkened, and he got angry, which didn’t happen often. “You don’t get to talk about her! I’m giving you one last chance. If you
go near her again, I’ll have someone finish what prison started!”
