The Broken-hearted She And The Icy He

Chapter 409 Shattered Illusions

Bodger, Taylor, and Mergan’s faces drained of all color.

They’d seen some of the online buzz. News clips. Videos.

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Jenn had gone live more than once, angrily accusing Mathilda of betrayal–of selfishly and maliciously turning her and Sharon in.

They knew Mathilda had also been trafficked to that same village. They had asked her about it back then.

Through tears, she’d claimed she had no idea why Jenn would smear her like that. Said she never betrayed

anyone.

They’d asked her, too–if she and Jenn and Sharon had all ended up in the same village, why hadn’t she told the police, when they came to rescue her over four years ago, that there were still other girls being held captive?

She said she’d had no freedom at all, was beaten daily, and had no idea there were others. She cried. She apologized. She said if only she had known Jenn and Sharon were there, she would’ve helped.

And they believed her.

They already felt guilty about what she’d endured. Seeing her cry like that, they couldn’t bring themselves to doubt her.

To them, their baby sister was pure–good–hearted. If she ever did something wrong, like setting Lily up, it was because Lily had bullied her terribly in the past, She’d only been retaliating.

They never imagined that the sister they cherished, the one they thought was innocent and kind, would lie… would betray others… would stand by and watch two girls suffer, even when she had the power to help.

short–but the truth couldn’t

Mergan were frozen in stunned silence, their worldviews crumbling in

hoarse. “Mathilda… This morning you said you’d never met Jenn or Sharon… Why did you lie? Why did you betray them? Why, when you knew there were other innocent girls in that village… when we came

“Why?!”

the viral story of Charles dying

of shallow affection, that kind

Charles holding Sharon’s ashes under the

hurt

they’d searched the village more thoroughly after finding

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Chapter 409 Shattered Illusions

happened.

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couldn’t bear the thought that Sharon and Charles’s deaths were caused–however indirectly—by the-

he’d never really known her

and Mergan looked no

couldn’t wrap their heads around it. Why would Mathilda betray Jenn and Sharon? Why, once she was safe,

at her, waiting for

gave Jenn and Sharon up because I

gasping for breath between

it. She never wanted to admit she’d betrayed anyone. But James’s video had her cornered. There was

louder, more desperate–like she was the victim, more pitiful

escape plan, those monsters would’ve killed

I’m not a