Can’t Win Me Back by Ginger Sue

Utterly stunned, Mandy's hand halted mid-air, the sting of impact pulsing through her palm. She had landed a hard slap on Jonah's face instead.

Julien gazed at Jonah, who had unhesitatingly shielded him, his heart pounding so hard that it was about to explode. "Jonah, I..."

"Aunt Mandy, please do not hit Julien. He's not to be blamed. It's all my fault."

A deathly silence descended on the corridor after Jonah addressed Mandy. His calmness in the face of unyielding pressure felt the more pitiful. "Julien has suffered through beatings for me and the Taylor family. I do not ever want to put him through anything like that. I will protect him to the best of my ability."

Jonah's declaration caught everyone by surprise. Meanwhile, Julien's head hung low. Though Jonah's gesture touched him, he found himself weighed down by guilt and self-blame.

Since childhood, Edgar and Mandy had instilled in him the belief that he was the hope of the Lovelace family, thus impressing upon him the expectation to become a responsible and independent man.

to the family. He

was beaten. What

in a bad place ever since he left the Lovelace family," Jonah recalled the frightening red marks on Julien's fair complexion. He clenched his fist to suppress his anger. "When Julien heard

nervous. "Did the Lovelaces.

said in a barely

to toe, Mandy stumbled backward. As an ex-Lovelace who left the family, she was privy to their scary and inhumane family rules applied to punish

and Julien's relationship had been exposed, Mandy genuinely worried that

by Neil, still looking feeble from the severe relapse. Still, he sat upright, refusing to reveal his vulnerability in front

children appeared worried and scared. Judging from the timing of