8
“Rowan isn’t as good as me. I’ll take you abroad and keep you locked up. Then you’ll be all mine.”
I calmed down and tried to reason with him: “William, this is illegal detention. Let me go, and I’ll pretend this never happened.”
But he just chuckled darkly, stroking my hair: “You think I’m stupid? If I let you go, you’ll just call the police and have me arrested first thing.”
I had to try a different approach. “William, when did you start liking me anyway?”
He fell silent for a moment. “When you gave me that strawberry milk outside. Later I found out it was something you couldn’t even afford for yourself.”
“Wren, you were willing to give me things you couldn’t bear to have yourself. You must have liked me, right?”
His voice seemed to carry a hint of pleading.
I opened my mouth, wanting to shatter his delusions.
But considering my current situation, and fearing he might do something extreme, I kept quiet.
But my silence seemed to give William a glimmer of hope.
He hugged me affectionately, resting his head on my shoulder.
“I knew you cared about me. Don’t worry, I’ll be good to you for life.”
But I didn’t want that.
I hadn’t fought my way out of the village just to be with someone.
The police found us quickly.
It turned out my roommates noticed I hadn’t come back for several nights and contacted the counselor to report it.
I was successfully rescued, while William was taken away and locked up.
When I returned to the dorm, I even bought some snacks and fruit with my part–time job money to bring back.
After Jessica left, there were only three of us in the room.
The other two roommates had become friendlier with me because of this incident.
They explained they hadn’t meant to badmouth me before. It was just that my behavior back then was so undignified, it made people look down on me.
But now they said they understood. One roommate patted my shoulder hard.
“I just realized you weren’t weak. You were biding your time!”
“Yeah, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have known Jessica’s family’s snacks were problematic. She was always showing off to us, but ended up
in jail from her ill-gotten gains!”
<
in jail from her ill–gotten gains!”
I smiled slightly without answering. This was the best outcome for me.
I heard from others that Jessica was sentenced to five years. Her family went bankrupt. Some were arrested, some fled. Basically no one could look after her anymore.
She had one chance each month to see family. But she specifically asked to see me.
The detention center contacted me several times before I finally made time to go.
Jessica had completely lost her previous arrogant demeanor. She wore a prison uniform, had cut her hair short, and was bare–faced. She was even missing half an ear, apparently from my bite.
When she saw me, she cried.
“Wren Fisher, do you know you’ve ruined my life? I used to be a proper rich heiress. It’s all because of you that I ended up like this!”
I was really confused and asked back: “Did I tell your family to add extra preservatives? Or did I tell you to beat me up?”
Jessica’s voice was hoarse from crying: “We weren’t the only ones adding preservatives. If it wasn’t for you, no one would have investigated so thoroughly.”
“Wren Fisher, you’re my nemesis. You’ve ruined my whole family! And you stole William. Are you satisfied now?”
Mentioning William, I realized I hadn’t asked about him.
But facing Jessica, I said: “I’m not with him. He’s probably in the same situation as you, working the sewing machines inside.”
Jessica was stunned, completely caught off guard.
