Chapter9
So when Mona suddenly threw a punch, the whole room was stunned. It was so unexpected, it shattered everything they thought they knew about her.
To them, Mona was the quiet type–never fought back, never talked back, could go hours without saying a word. No one ever knew what she was really thinking.
The first to react was Addie. She rushed over to help up Micah, pointed at Mona, and shouted, “How dare you hit your father! Do you have no shame? Are you even part of this family anymore?”
Mona replied, calm and direct, “That’s exactly what I want to know. Am I really your daughter? If so, why would you treat me like this–let me take the fall and go to prison? I don’t even know if that paternity test was real.”
Addie was so furious her vision blurred. Her voice rose, sharp and angry. “Mona, you ungrateful girl! How can you say something so heartless? Apologize to your father right now and we’ll forget this happened. Otherwise-”
Mona stepped forward and looked her straight in the eye. “Otherwise what?”
“Otherwise, get out of this house!” Addie shouted, pointing to the door.
“I’ll leave–if you can prove I don’t belong here. Otherwise, no one’s kicking
me out.”
‘What a joke. Everyone else in this family is still living comfortably–why should I be the one to go?‘ she wondered.
Chapter?
She wasn’t leaving. She was going to take back everything that belonged to her in the Morse family–and send every last one of them to prison.
Without giving her fuming parents another glance, Mona turned and headed toward her room.
She hadn’t gone more than a few steps when Liza called out, “Mona, that’s a man’s jacket you’re wearing, isn’t it?”
Mona didn’t even flinch. She walked away without a word. Whose jacket it was had nothing to do with them.
Liza leaned into Eldon’s arms, her eyes red with tears. “Eldon, do you think Mona got tricked by some guy? She’s even wearing his jacket. Maybe her clothes were torn? Oh no, what if she did something with him?”
Eldon stared at Mona’s back as she disappeared down the hall, his expression unreadable.
Back then, no matter what was going on, the moment Mona saw him, she’d light up and run straight to him. She used to say she’d love him. forever, that she’d do anything for him–he couldn’t shake her even if he tried.
But now? She’d been back for two days, and even though he kept finding excuses to show up around her, it was like she didn’t even see him.
Eldon figured she must still be holding a grudge. After all, she did serve. three years in prison–for Liza.
‘Wearing another man’s jacket? Must be a ploy to make me jealous. I know it–deep down, she still loves me,‘ he thought.
But this new version of Mona–sharp, wild, unbending–was intoxicating.
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He liked her like this.
“Eldon.” Liza called his name over and over, but he didn’t even hear her.
Mona returned to her room. She took off the jacket and stood in front of the mirror.
A long, angry whip mark stretched from her shoulder all the way down her back–casily 20 or 30 centimeters long. Just moving made it sting like fire.
She didn’t have a single cent to her name–not even enough to buy disinfectant.
She needed a job. Fast. Ideally, something that paid at the end of each day.
She’d been thrown in prison the summer after taking her exam.
No degree, a criminal record–getting a decent job quickly wasn’t going to be easy.
She’d heard people say nightclubs paid daily. Maybe she could work a few shifts, scrape together 300 dollars, and at least keep her head above.
water.
Meanwhile, Eldon had ditched Liza and followed Mona. When he got to her room, the door hadn’t closed all the way.
Through the narrow crack, he saw her standing by the bed, half undressed. Her back was completely bare–smooth, elegant, porcelain-
white.
The whip mark slashed across her back like a scar on fine silk. It gave her a kind of tragic beauty–breathtaking.
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Mona suddenly sensed someone behind her.
Before she could turn around, a strong chest pressed against her back. Arms wrapped around her tightly.
She tried to pull her clothes back up, but his grip held them down.
“Mona. why are you ignoring me?” Eldon whispered against her ear, his voice full of wounded longing.
“Mr. Oconnor, please have some respect.” Mona pried his hands off and stepped away.
With her back to him, she calmly fixed her clothes, then turned and gave him a cold, steely look.
Even after three years, Eldon was still ridiculously handsome.
He had those classic bedroom eyes–soft, deep, always looking like he was in love with whatever he was gazing at.
ASTRU
