Secret Admiration: Finding True Love After Prison

Chapter 2 The Harsh Truth

Meryl's face went pale, her eyes losing their sparkle. Those hellish three years should have taught her something.

She took a deep breath, trying to control the storm of emotions inside her, her fingers curling into fists.

As the car passed under a bridge, the shifting light cast shadows on Dalton's face, highlighting his unchanged coldness. Swallowing her bitterness, Meryl asked, "Dalton... Did you pay off those people in prison, asking them to bully me?"

In prison, she had broken down many times, even thinking about ending it all.

But she couldn't let go of Dalton. She was scared he wouldn't manage without her.

She couldn't believe he could be so cruel to her.

Dalton's response was chillingly calm. "What do you expect me to say?"

Meryl froze for a moment, then a wry smile crossed her lips.

Was this his way of confirming it?

To him, she was just a jealous woman and had arranged for Lydia's kidnapping, leading to Lydia almost being assaulted.

The evidence had been plenty, leaving Meryl with no defense.

ruthless enough to risk her own reputation, and

that her love of seven years were

empty as the car pulled up to what

overseen every detail of the house, from the major renovations to the placement of flower pots. She had even helped with the painting. She had spent countless days and nights dreaming

the house was filled with Lydia's

lips turned pale from how hard she was biting them, her heart frozen

the maid: "She's

maid nodded and led

said, "Miss, when was the last time you

wasn't getting bullied in prison for

the maid away, she locked herself in the bathroom and scrubbed her skin

from her prison days still

the last month had brought some

hidden, ranging from bruises and scratches to long,

foot, which throbbed with each rainstorm, reminding her of the old pain. Whenever the pain became too much, Meryl would keep telling herself that the agony

she slipped into the fresh clothes the maid had left, which

as she opened the bathroom door, she walked

stumbled, nearly falling

shot out to steady her,

was jarring for both

his chest, the