Chapter 32
Talia squatted down, lifted the hem of her dress, and showed the hideous scar on her ankle. Everyone in the hall gasped.
“But why doesn’t anyone care if I’m upset?”
Talia’s fingers slowly traced the wound.
Today was a gloomy, rainy day, and the scar throbbed a little, but she was used to it.
“I’ve always wondered which one of you bribed those female inmates to treat me like this. I’ve got dozens of scars all over my body. Do you want to see them?”
They said it was Kendrick, but Talia didn’t believe it. She wanted to find out the truth in front of everyone.
The young ladies present winced at the sight of the wound. Growing up in families like theirs, they were always coddled and had never gone through anything like this.
“Was it you?” Talia looked at David and Maeve, then quickly turned her eyes to Valerie. “Or you?”
Her gaze flicked briefly over Kendrick’s face, then she looked away coldly.
When Talia lay bare her unsightly scar for everyone to see, Kendrick had a strange feeling.
Seeing that she didn’t seem to care about him anymore, he felt a twinge of jealousy.
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Chapter 32
Talia squatted down, lifted the hem of her dress, and showed the hideous scar on her ankle. Everyone in the hall gasped.
“But why doesn’t anyone care if I’m upset?”
Talia’s fingers slowly traced the wound.
Today was a gloomy, rainy day, and the scar throbbed a little, but she was used to it.
“I’ve always wondered which one of you bribed those female inmates to treat me like this. I’ve got dozens of scars all over my body. Do you want to see them?”
They said it was Kendrick, but Talia didn’t believe it. She wanted to find out the truth in front of everyone.
The young ladies present winced at the sight of the wound. Growing up in families like theirs, they were always coddled and had never gone through anything like this.
“Was it you?” Talia looked at David and Maeve, then quickly turned her eyes to Valerie. “Or you?”
Her gaze flicked briefly over Kendrick’s face, then she looker away coldly.
When Talia lay bare her unsightly scar for everyone to see, Kendrick had a strange feeling.
Seeing that she didn’t seem to care about him anymore, he felt a twinge of jealousy.
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For years, Talia had been tagging along with him, totally carefree.
And he had got used to it.
“Tally, please stop. You can be the elder daughter in the Taylor family if that’s what it takes.” Valerie cut Talia off, her hands shaking as she covered her head.
“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have stayed with the Taylor family like this. The day I got kidnapped three years ago, I should have died out there.
“But what you went through in prison has nothing to do with
me, Mom, or Dad. Prisons are full of trash. You got yourself me, Mom, or Dad. Prisons a
locked up by doing something wrong. You brought that
bullying on yourself.”
Valerie’s nose was a little red, and tears kept welling up in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them back.
“Kendrick, you shouldn’t have saved me back then. You should have let me die.”
With just a few words, she made it seem like she had nothing to do with Talia’s suffering in prison.
Talia glanced at Valerie with a distant look. “People who truly want to die don’t talk about it all the time.”
“Talia!”
Kendrick’s forehead knotted in a frown. He moved to protect Valerie, patting her hand gently to comfort her. Then he turned to Talia and said, “I told you before we came here to think before you speak. Do you even realize what you’ve done
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Loday?”
A bitter smile flickered across Talia’s lips.
She was falling apart. She showed everyone her wound, the one she never wanted anyone to see. But in Kendrick’s eyes, it was just a tantrum.
“Yeah, I’m being a pain. But you’re my fiance. Aren’t you supposed to be on my side no matter what? Why do you protect another girl right in my face?”
It took Talia’s reminder for everyone to finally get it.
Kendrick was Talia’s fiance. And yet, he had been sticking up for Valerie from the very beginning.
While Talia was away for those three years, some people started making guesses and figured something was going on.
Lately, whenever the Deven Group put out a tender, the Taylor Group always showed up with a bid, and it was usually Valerie who handled it.
Meeting in the business world was nothing unusual, but Kendrick and Valerie seemed to show up together way too often.
But since Valerie and Talia were sisters, nobody thought anything fishy about it. In high society, reputation was everything. Valerie wouldn’t take her own sister’s fiance.
But after Talia dropped that little hint, people started to catch on. So, something was going on between Kendrick and Valerie?
Valerie and her brother–in–law?
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Wow, what a crazy situation.
It was so dramatic that it got the high–society ladies gossiping.
There was always gossip in high society, but fresh stuff was hard to come by, especially when it involved the Deven and Taylor families.
Talia looked at Valerie and laughed. “I’ve always been part of the Taylor family. Do I need you to give me that spot?”
She curled her lips into a small smile, her eyes sparkling with a bit of light.
All the feelings she had been holding back for so long burst out. She walked over to the decanter and picked it up with her slender fingers. “You think I put something in it, huh?”
She grabbed the bottle and took a big swig. “I did it to myself. Happy now?”
The sharp taste hit her mouth right away. The bottle’s
opening was too wide, and the liquid spilled down the corners of her mouth, soaking her clothes.
After a couple of gulps, she threw the decanter right in front. of Valerie.
The sound of the porcelain smashing echoed all through the hall, and the broken pieces scattered everywhere.
It was shattered.
Talia felt shattered too.
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