Chapter 4
Brennan had been looking for Calleigh for a month.
Just when he thought that he had made a wrong judgment, that Calleigh was not as bad as he had investigated, she showed up in his private room as an attendant.
He had underestimated her.
“Mr. Todd, what… What is going on?” The restaurant manager accompanying Brennan looked at him with trepidation.
“How long has she been here?” Brennan turned to the manager, expression souring.
“A month,” the manager stammered.
A month! That was how long it had been since she escaped the Todd residence. She didn’t want to escape but merely wanted to raise the stakes. Damn it!
At the same time, Calleigh glared at Brennan, and her gaze was a mixture of resentment and grievance.
Why was this world so small?
“What are you talking about? Let me go, or I’ll call the police!” She struggled to break free from Brennan’s grip, but he did not budge at all.
Calleigh was in so much pain, that her forehead was now covered in sweat.
The manager, dreading the worse, berated Calleigh, “Wendy, you’re too presumptuous!”
“Wendy?” Brennan said, snorting. “You actually hid your prison record and changed your name to Wendy?”
At this moment, the waitress who had asked Calleigh to take over rushed in, but she was too scared to speak.
Calleigh was in despair. She was two days away from getting this month’s salary! But everything was ruined once again.
“Why are you haunting me? Why!” The pent-up grievance and anger instantly made Calleigh’s eyes turn red. She tugged her wrist and bit Brennan’s forearm. The sharp pain caused him to let go of her.
The next second, Calleigh whirled around and ran away.
She was too weak to fight anyone, so her only option was to flee.
By the time Brennan came to his senses, Calleigh had already run out of the restaurant and quickly got on a bus. After a few stops, she got off the bus.
Calleigh burst into tears as she walked on the side of the road.
Taking Ariel’s place in prison, having her virginity taken away by a man who was now dead… and just as she was released from prison, her mother was long gone.
Was she not unlucky enough? What kind of monster was that Brennan guy? Why the hell was he haunting her?
Why!
Did she look like a pushover just because she had gotten out of prison and had no one to rely on?
Calleigh cried until she felt nauseous. She crouched on the side of the road and emptied her stomach. As she had not eaten, she vomited green acid.
A passing elderly woman patted her on the back. “Young lady, are you pregnant?”
Pregnant?
Calleigh tensed up at the thought of this. Recently, she constantly felt nauseated but never thought of the possibility of pregnancy. With this woman’s question, she suddenly remembered that more than a month had passed since the night she slept with the man.
Alarmed, Calleigh went to the hospital with only a few dollars in hand, which was far from enough to get a check-up.
The doctor gave Calleigh a test paper for her to take a urine test. Ten minutes later, the results came out, and the doctor’s voice was firm and certain when he said, “You’re pregnant.”
Calleigh felt faint. “No, I can’t be pregnant.”
“You can always terminate it,” the doctor said coldly. Then, he raised his head to look outside. “Next.”
Calleigh walked out and sat alone on the hospital bench, feeling helpless.
“Don’t cry. Please, wipe your tears.” Calleigh heard a lovely voice in front of her. She looked up and saw a little girl in diapers.
The girl raised her chubby little fingers to wipe Calleigh’s tears. However, she couldn’t reach it, so she patted Calleigh’s leg to comfort her.
Calleigh’s heart instantly melted by the little girl’s gesture.
“Sorry, my daughter is a sensitive child.” A young mother stood in front of Calleigh and smiled.
“She’s so cute,” Calleigh replied politely.
Watching the mother and daughter pair walk away, Calleigh felt envious and could not help but touch her belly. She had no relatives, and the child she was carrying was her only flesh and blood.
A sense of joy and anticipation of being a mother rose in her heart.
But how was she going to raise the baby?
She couldn’t even afford to pay for the procedure to get rid of it.
Early the next morning, Calleigh came to the prison. “Can I visit Beth Moseby?” she begged the guard, a glimmer of hope blooming in her chest.
When Calleigh was first imprisoned, Beth had already served her time for a few years. Beth took good care of her and saved her from a lot of suffering. She did not know Beth’s background, but she could feel that the older woman was from a wealthy family.
Every month, someone would send a generous amount of food to Beth.
The few hundred dollars that Calleigh had brought with her when she was released from prison was from Beth.
“Beth Moseby has been out of prison for more than a month,” the guard said, checking the database.
“What?” Calleigh was surprised.
“You are Calleigh, right?” he suddenly asked.
“Yes, I am.” Calleigh nodded.
“When Beth was released, she left a phone number for you. You were taken away by a car when you got out. I called after you, but you didn’t respond.” The guard handed the phone number to Calleigh.
“Thank you.”
Two hours later, Calleigh met her cellmate, Beth, in the VIP ward of a private hospital in the richest part of South City.
Beth’s eyes were dim. She was lying on the bed, her face pallid and sickly, yet her white hair appeared elegant. Calleigh could tell that young Beth must have been a stunning woman but didn’t know why she had ended up in prison.
“Aunt Beth?” Calleigh called softly.
Beth slowly opened her eyes. When she saw that it was Calleigh, she coughed in surprise and excitement. It took a while for the cough to die down. “Calleigh, I can finally see you,” she said, words coming out slow. “I asked that brat to bring you here, but he kept telling me that you went back to your hometown. You finally returned. It’s good that you’re back.”
“I just returned from my hometown, Aunt Beth,” Calleigh replied, helping to cover up the lie.
She knew that the brat that Beth was talking about must be her son. Calleigh finally realized that it was Beth’s son who had spent a lot of effort to save her by getting her acquitted.
It was generous enough of them to get her out of prison. How could such a wealthy family allow Aunt Beth to have a friend like her?
Therefore, Calleigh thought it was reasonable for the son to deceive Beth.
“I have never forgotten that if not for your care back in prison, I wouldn’t have been able to live until now, wouldn’t have reunited with my son.” Beth was getting emotional as she talked, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
Calleigh shook her head. “Let’s not talk about that anymore, Aunt Beth. When I took care of you back then, I never thought of asking you to repay me.”
She was thinking about how to ask the seriously ill Beth for money.
Calleigh bit her lip and made up her mind. “Aunt Beth, I know that I shouldn’t be asking you for a favor at a time like this, but I really have no choice. I…”
“What’s wrong? You’re already here. If you’re facing any trouble, just tell me.”
“Can you… lend me some money?” Calleigh lowered her head, not daring to look at Beth.
“How much do you need? I’ll give it to you,” a gentle voice chimed in behind them.