Reborn In a Murderer’s Embrace

Chapter 32

It was only later that I learned why he had left me for dead at the hotel that night. Melody’s father had fallen ill, suffering a stroke during a bout of heavy drinking. The medical bills for his treatment and rehabilitation had piled up into a mountain of debt.

Dexter, who demanded nothing but the best, had spared no expense: a private room, top–notch nurses, an elite team of doctors, and the most advanced rehabilitation care.

He could effortlessly drop tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions on Melody… But when it came to me, his stinginess knew no bounds.

Melody took for granted all the privileges he lavished upon her, while I was shackled with a burdensome debt.

I owed him a life debt, the intact remains of my parents, and a sum of money and gratitude I could never repay in this lifetime. For a long while, I confused gratitude and guilt with affection. I couldn’t tell them apart, nor could I separate them.

Sometimes I wondered, did I ever truly love Dexter? And what exactly did I love about him?

Was it the moment he saved me, or the way he risked everything to pull my parents‘ bodies. from the wreckage?

Did I love the look of concern and fear of losing me in his eyes as the car burst into flames?

I guess I was just fooling myself. Back then, I believed Dexter cared for me. I thought he might have loved me too, but it was all an illusion.

Even my love for him now felt like a distant, long–forgotten mirage.

you have the gall to stick around the Fitzgeralds‘ like a bad penny? You were already an adult when you entered the Fitzgerald household. Have you no shame? You’re just hovering around to worm your way into Dexter’s life,

for Harbor City because Dexter’s father was chronically ill, always convalescing there. With her gone for half a year, I felt vulnerable. Without Hailey, there was no one to

1. me.

become even more unrestrained with

in my dorm room, or even renting a basement flat. I didn’t

to face his cold interrogations about when I planned to stop my charade.

of the stairs, her voice dripping with mockery. “Do you know what people outside say

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Chapter 32

your own parents, and now you’ve cursed Dexter’s father with chronic illness. What’s the point of someone

control as her words cut deep.

was the anniversary of

at the Fitzgerald residence, Dexter remembered

and be done with it,” Serena sneered from below, as Dexter’s fair–weather friends laughed at my misery. They never saw me as a human

yet. Phoebe, I hear you’re pretty desperate for a man, huh? Come on down, and

a

said, grabbing my wrist and trying

stairs.

as I struggled, I watched with horror as Melody purposefully loosened her