For a time, I had all three meals a day at the Ford house, and they managed to feed me until I gained a few pounds.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 27
Julian would affectionately tease me, calling me Little chubby Violet.
Those days were some of the sweetest memories of my life.
Even later, when tragedy struck my family, and Julian’s parents suddenly changed their attitudes, forcing him to cut ties with me, I didn’t blame them.
After all, the Ford and Rivers families were business partners, and in such a crisis, they had to protect themselves.
Even now, with Julian and me estranged, I still held onto the thought that someday I would take care of his parents in their old age.
So, when Norman told me that the incident back then was connected to the Ford family, my first instinct was to deny it.
“That’s impossible. Mr. and Mrs. Ford aren’t like that. They were close to my parents.”
Norman’s grip on my hand tightened.
“Violet, I know this is hard to accept. If I could, I’d wish for you never to know the truth. But there’s a critical piece of evidence–one only you can obtain.”
I stared at him, wide–eyed. “What… what do you mean?”
Norman gently pulled me into his arms, his hand soothingly running along my back.
“Violet, after your father sent me abroad, we kept in contact privately. But he never told anyone else about me. He knew his presence had already made him a target, a thorn in the side of certain people. Anyone connected to him was being watched. He wanted”
card.
o be his last
“The one card he could play to protect his precious daughter after he lost everything. Every. year, your father transferred money to a private account he set up for me. By the time you turned seventeen, it had grown into a substantial sum.”
I covered my mouth, my eyes stinging with an ache that seemed to reach my very soul.
My father was always so generous, so earnest in his belief in the good of the world.
He had foreseen the possibility of betrayal, yet he still chose to embrace the world with kindness and trust.
He chose to believe, and even so, he left an escape route for me, his daughter.
Tears streamed down my face, falling uncontrollably as the pain in my chest threatened to suffocate me.
“And what about you?” I whispered, my lips trembling. “Why are you only coming back now?”
I didn’t want to doubt Norman.
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Chapter 27
+25 BONUS
But after what I’d been through with Julian, trusting someone didn’t come so easily anymore.
