Master of his heart (Brielle and Max)

Chapter 1194

Emma took a deep breath, only to hear the usual snide comments from the women who always looked down on her.

"That's right, everyone knows the Odeberg family nearly ended up playing daddy to the kid in your belly. What a huge embarrassment! You owe us big time for this!"

As the insults flew, Peyton, who was inside and equally mortified by the scandal, thought the demand for twenty thousand was way over the top.

She stepped outside, only to find the crowd ready to get physical.

"The Odebergs! What do you think you're doing? Picking on us because we don't have a man in the house, is that it?"

Seeing Peyton emerge, the Odebergs became even more brazen.

"Lock Emma up tonight! Big Mama Moll, if you don't cough up that twenty grand, we're not releasing her!"

Peyton was frantic, instinctively looking around for help, but the Odebergs, with their deep pockets and usual bravado, had intimidated the villagers into silence. Nobody was willing to stand up for the Molls, preferring to watch the drama unfold. So, before Peyton's eyes, Emma was surrounded by men from the Odeberg family and locked in a room.

That room was Peyton's, now off-limits to her.

If Peyton didn't produce the money, the Odebergs weren't going to release Emma and were content to camp out in the Moll family's yard, refusing to leave.

anger, Peyton knew that if she did

plus a scholarship of five thousand Peyton had never spent, hidden under her mattress, savings meant for her retirement. The Odebergs had only spent a couple of

especially when not a

and had been locked up for three

to the present, Emma felt close to starvation. There was a small toilet in the room, thankfully, as it was Peyton's, who had spent

was

appetite having increased

pregnancy, her stomach constantly

g in protest. Contes

vision from hunger, she

her mother and

outside, pleading on her behalf.

were determined to target the

to eat these past days, but

Emma felt she

was a moment

room, she hoped to find something, anything

sight of some corn cobs hanging from the rafters, half-eaten by rats, a disgusting sight. Emma wanted to devour them, but thinking of Dustin's child, remembering a photo, tears