NovelBookChapter 409 Shattered Illusions
Bodger, Taylor, and Mergan’s faces drained of all color.
They'd seen sof the online buzz. News clips. Videos.
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Jenn had gone live more than once, angrily accusing Mathilda of betrayal-of selfishly and maliciously turning her
and Sharon in.
They knew Mathilda had also been trafficked to that svillage. They had asked her about it back then.
Through tears, she’d claimed she had no idea why Jenn would smear her like that. Said she never betrayed
anyone.
They'd asked her, too-if she and Jenn and Sharon had all ended up in the svillage, why hadn't she told the
police, when they cto rescue her over four years ago, that there were still other girls being held captive?
She said she’d had no freedom at all, was beaten daily, and had no idea there were others. She cried. She
apologized. She said if only she had known Jenn and Sharon were there, she would've helped.
And they believed her.
They already felt guilty about what she'd endured. Seeing her cry like that, they couldn't bring themselves to
doubt her.
To them, their baby sister was pure-good-hearted. If she ever did something wrong, like setting Lily up, it was
because Lily had bullied her terribly in the past, She'd only been retaliating.
They never imagined that the sister they cherished, the one they thought was innocent and kind, would lie...
would betray others... would stand by and watch two girls suffer, even when she had the power to help.
The video had been short-but the truth couldn't have been clearer.
Bodger, Taylor, and Mergan were frozen in stunned silence, their worldviews crumbling in real time.
It was a long while before Bodger could speak, his voice raw and hoarse. “Mathilda... This morning you said
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtyou'd never met Jenn or Sharon... Why did you lie? Why did you betray them? Why, when you knew there were
other innocent girls in that village... when we cfor you, why didn’t you say a word?”
“Why?!”
Bodger had seen the viral story of Charles dying for Sharon too.
He wasn’t heartless. In a world full of shallow affection, that kind of love moved him-left him with a sense of grief
and awe.
He'd seen the clips online: Charles holding Sharon's ashes under the parasol tree, slowly growing cold.
It had hurt to watch.
And he couldn't help but wonder-what if, back then, they'd searched the village more thoroughly after finding
Mathilda? Maybe Sharon could have been saved. Maybe this whole tragedy wouldn't have
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Chapter 409 Shattered Illusions
happened.
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He couldn’t bear the thought that Sharon and Charles's deaths were caused-however indirectly—by the- very
sister he’d always thought was the kindest person he knew.
Maybe... he'd never really known her at all.
Taylor and Mergan looked no better.
They couldn't wrap their heads around it. Why would Mathilda betray Jenn and Sharon? Why, once she was safe,
hadn’t she spoken up?
They both stared at her, waiting for an answer.
“I... 1 only gave Jenn and Sharon up because | was forced to...”
Mathilda sobbed, gasping for breath between words.
She didn’t want to admit it. She never wanted to admit she’d betrayed anyone. But James's video had her
cornered. There was no denying it now.
Her crying grew louder, more desperate-like she was the victim, more pitiful than Sharon who died, more tragic
than anyone else.
“I didn’t mean to... If | didn’t tell them about the escape plan, those monsters would've killed me. | just wanted
to live...”
“I was scared. I'm not a bad person...”
In the past, the moment Mathilda cried, Bodger and the others would rush to comfort her, believe her without
hesitation.
But not this time.
They couldn’t convince themselves anymore.
Even if she had been under threat five
years ago, what SIeyosthe
"pre orp nt four years ago,
en she'd already been rescued?
What possible justification could there be for leaving those girls behind?
And deep down, they had a nagging suspicion-maybe she wasn’t even threatened at all.
Taylor couldn't help it anymore. He
turned toward her, voice shaking.
"Mathilda... Lily sajdya@wer behind
I
her kidnapping this time. That you
worked with traffickers to sell her into
the mountains again. Was she telling
the truth?” The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
“Taylor...”
Mathilda’s face turned ghostly pale. Her knees buckled, and she stumbled backward, nearly collapsing.
She grabbed onto the edge of the
table for balance, lifting her head with
vembing eidrecte aa
disbelieoverflowing with
wounded accusation as she looked
at him. The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
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Chapter 410 Unmasked
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