Echoes of a Hidden Love Chapter 2

I didn't take the money.

Not out of pride.

I just didn't want to owe the Sterling family anything anymore.

They raised me for twenty years; I went to prison for their daughter for five.

We were even.

I rented a small apartment and ran myself ragged until I finally found a job that didn't care about my criminal record.

But just half a month later, I was fired.

After I persistently questioned him, the manager finally stammered out:

"You offended someone you shouldn't have."

I froze, unable to say another word.

Someone I shouldn't have offended.

Aside from the Sterling family.

Who else could it be?

That day, clutching my bag, I walked out onto the street. A fine, misty rain was falling, the cool droplets blowing onto my face and body.

As I passed the central plaza, the giant screen was broadcasting a live event featuring Mia.

I stopped and looked up.

Standing on the award stage, she was breathtakingly beautiful, radiating confidence. The camera panned, and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Sterling looking at her with tears of joy.

Looking at her like she was an invaluable treasure, their eyes full of nothing but love.

For some reason, I suddenly remembered my adoptive mother visiting me in prison for the first time. Seeing how dangerously thin I had gotten, she cried and promised:

"Chloe, after you get out, Mom will take care of you for the rest of your life. Mom loves you."

But the last time I saw her, two years ago, the only emotion left on her face was a faint trace of guilt.

She said:

"Chloe, Mia is getting engaged to Liam Vance. She really loves him. After you get out, could you leave the city? So the Vance family doesn't find out about the past."

Liam Vance.

The crown prince of the Vance family.

We had TVs in prison, so I would occasionally hear about the epic, deep romance between Mia and Liam.

Everyone said Liam Vance was a notorious playboy, but he gave it all up for Mia. He even stepped into the entertainment industry he so deeply despised, just to pave the way for her, funneling resources to her, and even personally presenting her awards.

Sometimes, I envied Mia.

I envied that she had parents who loved her, a boyfriend who adored her, and in her short twenty-something years, she had already achieved both career success and true love.

Unlike me.

No parents, no career, no lover.

And... no one who loved me.