Chapter 333
But she didn’t dare tell him what she knew. If she did, things like today would just keep happening again, and Austin would also end up in danger.
Seeing her stay silent, Austin continued, “Was the reason you saved me back then because you didn’t want to see me get sent to St. Gabriel Reform Academy?”
Emily still didn’t answer his question. She looked up at him and explained, “I know your influence runs even deeper than the Bennett family. However, St. Gabriel Reform Academy’s influence is more extensive than you might think. Don’t look into it anymore.”
Austin didn’t miss the flicker of fear in her eyes when she mentioned St. Gabriel Reform Academy. He knew that as long as St. Gabriel Reform Academy was still around, the wounds carved deep in Emily’s heart would never really fade.
He couldn’t help but squeeze her hand tighter. “No matter how powerful St. Gabriel Reform Academy is, you still made it out, didn’t you?”
“That’s because someone put their life on the line for me,” Emily said, her voice suddenly shaking with emotion. “You have no idea how ruthless they are in there. Anything evil you can’t even imagine is just business as usual in that place.
“Almost no one ever gets out as lucky as I did. That place has been around for decades. Once your name is on their list, you can’t escape. And I was the first one to get out. They’ll never let me go.”
Emily thought she’d mastered hiding her feelings, but seeing Brady today, it was like being yanked straight back into that place all over again.
Seeing her in such agony, Austin felt like someone had just wrenched his heart hard in their fist. He yanked her into his arms tightly.
“After you saved me, you kept me by your side because you were afraid someone from St. Gabriel Reform Academy might come after me and take me back, right?” Austin asked.
He didn’t know what kind of place St. Gabriel Reform Academy was, but he was sure they wouldn’t have let Emily go unless there was something about her that they were wary of.
He knew Emily was kind, but she wasn’t the type to let someone she barely knew stay by her side all the time for no reason.
She let him stick around not just because he shamelessly insisted on it, but also because she was quietly protecting him.
Austin thought, ‘Why does someone as good as her have to suffer through all this?”
Emily didn’t say a word. She just buried her face in Austin’s chest, gripping his shirt for dear life as she cried silently.
The sorrow in the air spread quietly, as if it were going to fill every corner of the house. Emily had no idea how long she had cried to sleep without even realizing it.
Maybe it was because her emotions were in complete turmoil, or it was those memories she’d tried so hard to bury that were suddenly surging back up, but Emily fell seriously ill.
She spent two days in bed, feverish and half-awake, drifting in and out of restless sleep, jolted awake by nightmares again and again, only to slip back under.
In her dreams, it felt like she was right back in that place. She was always hungry and freezing, suffering endless insults and beatings, always on guard against the people who wanted her dead. And there was that pitch-black mask with a twisted smile.
“Stay away from me!” Emily cried out in her sleep. Emily’s brow was tightly furrowed, clearly trapped in a nightmare as she kept repeating those desperate words, trying to push something away.
1/2
Austin sat by her bedside, carefully wiping the sweat from Emily’s forehead. His heart ached as he watched her. If only he could dive into her nightmares and drive away whatever was tormenting her. But all he could do was stay by her side, powerless.
The sound of a phone ringing broke through Austin’s dark mood.
