Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 295

The very first thing she did upon waking was look for Claire.

Her gaze darted desperately around the room, and the moment she spotted Claire sitting quietly on the sofa, she forgot all about her own weakness and disheveled state. Nothing else mattered.

Propping herself up with trembling hands, her legs barely supporting her, she half- crawled, half-stumbled toward Claire, inching forward with sheer determination.

Tears streamed down her face, unchecked and uncontrollable.

"Claire, I was wrong. I swear I'll never take Vanessa's side again. Please, please forgive me. Your brother-your brother's in prison because of Nathan, that monster. Claire, you're all I have left."

Adah's voice cracked with sobs, hoarse and filled with despair. As a mother, she collapsed at Claire's feet, weeping bitterly, pouring out her regret. She looked utterly broken, as wretched as a person could possibly be.

But Claire remained as she had been before-expressionless, unmoved, cold as stone.

She only glanced at Adah briefly, her eyes indifferent, before turning away.

That coldness, that utter lack of feeling, drove a knife straight into Adah's heart.

moment, Adah finally understood what it

was done with her. There would be

tore at Adah's heart, leaving her

she pleaded, "Claire, are you really going to be this heartless? Are

lingered on her. She didn't hear, or didn't care, what

indifference, that

dark with anger as she spoke up, voice sharp with righteous fury. "Mrs. Linwood, you have no right to call Miss Claire heartless. In the three years she lived in the Linwood household, did you

when she finally returned to her family, you ignored her. Every month you sent a

the same school uniform all year round. You saw it and looked the other way. For three years, you never bought her a single

you threw a birthday party for Vanessa

at the table together, laughing, eating, enjoying yourselves. When I suggested bringing Claire something to eat, you wouldn't let me. You said if she didn't

school, still growing, buried in homework—so hungry she was pale and thin, her hair brittle and lifeless. And you

like Nathan, or lied about her like Vanessa, but your cold indifference, your utter neglect

you accuse Claire of being heartless? How dare you blame her for turning her

kept these words

for a crime she didn't commit,