Secret Admiration: Finding True Love After Prison

Chapter 6 Raking up the Past

"Yeah, I did time." Meryl's eyes scanned the crowd, finally landing on Lydia.

Lydia reached out to grab her hand. "Meryl, stop saying that. I just spoke without thinking, okay?"

Meryl pulled back, avoiding Lydia's touch, yanking her hand away.

Suddenly, Lydia stepped on the hem of her dress and fell to the ground.

The fall was hard, and shards from a broken glass on the floor hadn't been cleaned up yet.

Dalton immediately rushed over, pushing through the crowd to help Lydia up.

Her hand was a bloody mess, with shards embedded in her skin.

Dalton's eyes blazed with anger as he glared at Meryl. "Meryl, you never learn! I warned you..."

Meryl's heart skipped a beat. She knew Dalton didn't care about her, but seeing him protect another woman still hurt.

"What did I do? I just pulled my hand away. She fell on her own."

Seeing their hands clasped together, Meryl felt a pang of irony. She lowered her gaze, gently touching a spot on her chest where a pendant hung, a gift from someone long ago.

she had

up again, her eyes

"Yeah, I was

face turned pale as Meryl

when Lydia exposed Meryl's past, Bianca

apologize and try to cover it up, she believed i was just a slip of the

up and couldn't believe she

over. "Meryl, you've had too much to drink. Let them help you upstairs to sober up." But Meryl ignored

I could have made her disappear without a trace. Why

a sharp slap echoed through

emerged from his study, his

stop this nonsense right

stung, but Meryl didn't

had minor injuries. If those men really wanted to hurt her, they would have done it when they first grabbed her. Why take her

as people glanced at Lydia, who bit

Now, Meryl was airing their dirty laundry in front of everyone, turning them into a spectacle. His one daughter ended up in prison, and the other was nearly

a cold laugh, thinking, "Can't handle

own suffering, this was

to prison to teach her a lesson because she had refused to admit her mistake, and they thought she was beyond help. Bianca sometimes wondered if they had been

in prison. They believed this might be the only way to set Meryl straight, fearing she would otherwise go down the

raised by Camille, who had also