I clutched my head, struggling to push my way out, but every path was blocked by reporters.
“Miss Pearson, society will condemn your actions. Didn’t you just run away because you couldn’t stand the poverty of the countryside?”
I raised my head, and not far away, I saw Quincy standing arm-in-arm with Luka, watching me with cold satisfaction.
“I didn’t. I was trafficked,” I said, my eyes burning red.
“Don’t use trafficking as an excuse every time something happens. How can you prove it’s real? There are always people who despise poverty and crave wealth, twisting their stories just to gain sympathy.”
Then, the man from my nightmares appeared.
He clutched the children, his face streaked with snot and tears, and fell to his knees before me.
“Wife, come home with me. The children need you, too.”
Instinctively, I turned to Luka for help, praying he would prove the truth for me. “He can prove what I said is true.”
Following my gaze, countless eyes shifted toward Luka.
“Talia, since you already have children, you must take responsibility. The children are innocent.”
In his eyes, Quincy wasn’t wrong, and the children weren’t wrong. No one was wrong, except me. Even you, Luka, chose to stand against me.
In an instant, I became the woman who abandoned her husband and children, the one who despised poverty and chased after wealth.
When the crowd saw the pitiful children, their contempt only grew stronger.
“I’ve seen plenty of women like this.”
“The most poisonous thing in the world is a woman’s heart; she doesn’t even want her own children.”
“Truly disgusting.”
Trash and dirty water rained down on me as Luka stood off in the distance, shielding Quincy behind him.
He cast me a single glance, a silent signal telling me to endure. In his eyes, the only thing that mattered was keeping Quincy out of the storm.
My vision blurred, and the world spun. Years of malnutrition had left my body too weak, and I was on the verge of collapsing.
Just then, a van screeched to a halt nearby. Several men in black suits rushed out, forming a wall around me as they hurled two suitcases full of cash at the bachelor.
The men in black steadied me and said, “Miss, forgive us, we came late.”
The reporters and onlookers stood frozen, unable to process what had just happened.
Before being helped into the car, I turned to look at Quincy, my lips moving soundlessly, “Don’t worry, Quincy, it’s not over yet.”