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.

of despair, she had clung to that pendant

looked up again, her eyes were

bitterly and continued, "Yeah, I was in

turned pale as

when Lydia exposed Meryl's past, Bianca also suspected it

it up, she believed i was

and couldn't believe

to smooth things over. "Meryl, you've had too much to drink. Let

I could have made her disappear without a trace. Why would I

slap

from his study,

this nonsense right now!" he

cheek stung, but Meryl didn't

really wanted to hurt her, they would have done it when they first grabbed

at Lydia, who bit

into a spectacle. His one daughter ended up in prison, and the other was nearly assaulted all because of a bitter feud between

let out a cold laugh, thinking, "Can't handle this,

to her own suffering, this was

years ago, they had agreed to send Meryl 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

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

who had also raised a