Chapter 15
Emily suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion. It was like no matter how she explained herself, the Bennetts would always believe whatever “truth” they wanted to believe.
She felt completely drained, no longer willing to waste her breath.
She didn’t want to go shopping with Emma and Lydia. In fact, she didn’t understand why Lydia insisted on bringing her along.
But she knew that if she refused, Lydia would surely act hurt-and then the rest of the Bennetts would come down on her with endless accusations.
So she let Lydia pull her along into Cloudridge’s most prestigious luxury mall.
Before she turned eighteen, Emily had been a regular here. Many boutiques had VIP accounts under her name. But now, all of those accounts had been reassigned-to Lydia.
As soon as they entered, the store clerks-who used to greet Emily with glowing smiles-now approached Lydia instead, holding up their latest arrivals.
They were so enthusiastic that Emily got pushed aside, almost twisting her ankle. No one even looked in her direction. It was as if the girl in the ill-fitting hoodie had never once been Cloudridge’s brightest star.
The staff crowded around Lydia, eagerly inviting her into their boutiques.
Lydia glanced at the Emily who’d been pushed out of the way, then headed toward one of the fashion stores.
Emily couldn’t figure out what that look in Lydia’s eyes meant-but something about it gave her a very bad feeling.
While Emily hesitated, Lydia had already entered the store and picked out over a dozen dresses, asking the manager to bring them all out to try on.
“Ms. Bennett, this dress flatters your figure so beautifully.”
“Ms. Bennett, your skin is absolutely flawless-it makes the whole outfit glow.”
“This gown looks like it was tailor-made for you, Ms. Bennett. It’s perfect on you.”
Emily listened to those familiar compliments swirl around Lydia, but felt nothing at all inside.
Those praises had always belonged to the daughter of the Bennett family. They had nothing to do with someone like her, someone who’d crawled out of hell.
She originally intended to use this moment to slip away. After all, with Lydia around, she’d inevitably become the one everyone ignored.
But Lydia seemed to be watching her on purpose and immediately called out, “Emily, what do you think of this dress?”
At once, everyone turned their eyes to Emily. A flood of curious and appraising stares landed on her, making her instinctively step back, her whole body tensing.
She hated the feeling of too many eyes on her. At St. Gabriel’s, when that happened, it usually meant they’d come up with some new way to torment her.
Emily clenched her hands tightly together, forcing herself to hide the fear.
“I-It looks nice,” she stammered, hoping to answer Lydia quickly so the attention would move off of her.
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Chapter 15
But Lydia wasn’t done. She picked up several more outfits and enthusiastically ran over to Emily, clearly determined to get her opinion.
Emily endured the sharp, knife-like gazes falling on her as she fielded Lydia’s relentless questions, one after another.
Lydia, however, seemed completely oblivious to her pale face
Or maybe she did notice-but simply didn’t care. In fact, she even exaggerated a distressed expression. These dresses are all so pretty. I really can’t decide which one to get…”
Sensing the moment, the store manager stepped forward with a flattering smile. “Ms. Bennett, if you love them all, why not
take them all?
“Our owner is Mr. Vincent Shaw. He specifically told us that if Ms. Bennett ever took a liking to anything in the store, she could just take it. No payment necessary”
At the mention of Vincent’s name, Emily felt as though a needle had pierced her otherwise numb heart-bringing with it a pain she couldn’t control.
