Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 4

As Ethan's words hung in the air, a heavy silence filled the car. He glanced at Claire in the rearview mirror, his frustration evident.

"Claire, I'm talking to you. Did you hear me?"-

Finally, Claire turned to face him, her voice steady as she spoke the longest sentence she'd uttered since her release.

"According to the National Prison Act, Article 48, inmates are entitled to meet with family or guardians during their incarceration."

"Inmates typically get a visit once a month, each lasting from half an hour to an hour."

"I served five years, a total of sixty months. I was supposed to see my family sixty times. Yet, not once did I get a visit."

"If your parents missed me so much, why didn't they visit? Were they so busy they couldn't spare even half an hour each month?"

Her voice was calm, but every word pierced through Ethan's fabricated story like a sharp blade.

a mix of panic and guilt. The anger he had

the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles whitening

best for you to stay there and learn to mend your ways. They were thinking of your

her own good,

best interest" meant taking the fall for Vanessa, enduring the harshness

her

into the Linwood family

a shopping bag from the backseat

abruptly, as if remembering Claire, and turned back with an awkward

something appropriate for the party," he instructed, before disappearing

still felt alien to Claire. It had never felt like home,

a sunlit dorm room with others. Sunlight would flood the space each morning, creating a cozy atmosphere. She loved

been her home, she realized it wasn't the sunlit warmth she longed for,

the door to her

only furniture