Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 14

It was time for her to leave.

She stood up and reached for the door.

Before her slender, pale fingers could touch the handle, the door swung open from the other side. Standing there was a woman in her late fifties.

The woman was momentarily taken aback upon seeing her, but then her face broke into an uncontainable smile. "Miss Claire, you're really back?"

Claire paused for a moment, "Nanny May?"

Looking at May, a whirlwind of emotions surged within her.

In the entire Linwood household, only Nanny May treated her as the true lady of the house. The other staff were cold and distant, acknowledging only Vanessa as the Linwood's rightful daughter, referring to her merely as Miss Claire.

On sweltering summer days, when she was covered in heat rash from the stifling utility room, it was May who bought her a fan with her own money. During the freezing winters, when she shivered from the cold, it was May who got her an electric blanket for warmth.

Thinking of these moments, Claire's eyes welled up with tears beyond her control.

the plastic bag in Claire's hand. "Miss

her mouth, unsure of what to say, and simply nodded in

She knew all too well how precarious Claire's existence was in the Linwood household-the cold stares,

you if you

it off, "It's just

had Claire endured to

she was just a

come home without eating a thing. Let me make you a bowl of

Claire declined again.

"No, thank you."

I leave here, the sooner I

truth, she simply couldn't bear the thought of eating anything from

all

beg on the streets than endure the Linwood's disdain any

look down on her, except