Chapter 298: A Living Nightmare
Raylee was not the least bit anxious. “There’s no need for you to step in. Tiffany will deal with her. Years ago, all it took was an accusation that I had stolen her necklace, and I ended up with a four-year prison sentence. Now that she’s been sexually assaulted… Mindy’s fate will undoubtedly be far worse than mine.”
“You’ve been through so much,” the masked man murmured, his fingers gently brushing through her hair. “If only I had been stronger back then, I could have saved you. You wouldn’t have had to suffer like that in prison. I’m so sorry. I’m the one who caused you pain.”
Raylee blinked in disbelief. “What are you talking about? Why are you apologizing? You’re not the reason I was in jail. You said you weren’t strong enough to save me back then. Does that mean you knew me four years ago?”
The man in the mask quickly denied it. “No, I meant that I wish I’d met you sooner. If I had, maybe I could’ve protected you from all of this.”
Raylee’s worsening illness weighed heavily on him. His demeanor reflected his pain, and though his words carried immense emotion, Raylee missed the deeper meaning behind them.
Turning to face him, she implored, “You can help me now. There’s something I need to ask of you.”
“You silly girl, just say the word. Even if you told me to blow up the Earth, I wouldn’t hesitate.”
“Why are you so good to me? What if I can’t live without you?” Raylee abruptly sat up. Her cheeks flushed as she buried her face against his firm chest.
After a while, she continued, “Regarding Tiffany’s scandal, the Lorimer family will stop at nothing to cover it up. Sure, the internet has a memory, but it forgets just as easily. I want you to spread the word for me, and let this incident grow as big as it possibly can. I don’t just want Mindy to face justice; I want the entire Goodridge family thrown into complete disarray. With Tiffany’s fury burning hot enough, neither Waverly nor the Goodridge family will come out of this unscathed. I want to see them caught in a storm they can’t shake off no matter how hard they try.”
“Consider it done.” In front of Raylee, the masked man made a phone call and issued orders. The arrangements were set in motion that very night. “Raylee, trust me. I’ll make sure the Goodridge family hits rock bottom, so low they’ll be living worse off than rats in the gutter.”
“Thank you…”
After planting a few kisses on his icy cold face, Raylee peacefully drifted off to sleep, comforted by the thought of the Goodridge family in utter chaos.
That night, Raylee’s high fever triggered an onslaught of nightmares. Her mind took her back to her childhood, when she was the beloved daughter of the Goodridge family, living the carefree life of a prominent young lady. Her sweet, bubbly demeanor brought constant joy and laughter to the Goodridge household – those were the happiest days of her life.
The revelation that she wasn’t their biological child had completely shifted how the Goodridge family saw her. Those who had once doted on her now looked at her with scorn and disappointment. Those stinging, disapproving gazes lingered in her mind like a haunting dream. They had never truly cherished her; they had simply believed she was their biological daughter, connected to them by blood.
Her nightmares also pulled her back to the incident from four years ago – the day she was falsely accused of stealing a necklace. That day, she had accompanied the Goodridge family to a birthday banquet. Passing by Tiffany’s dressing room, she heard the distressed meowing of a cat trapped inside a cabinet and went in to rescue the poor animal. To her surprise, she stumbled upon Waverly, trying on jewelry that clearly didn’t belong to her, standing at Tiffany’s vanity table.
“What are you doing?”
Waverly didn’t say a word, her face betraying guilt as she quickly left the dressing room. Raylee had assumed it was nothing more than a minor matter. But shortly after, when Tiffany returned to the birthday banquet, she announced that her necklace was missing. Mindy, Waverly’s closest friend, wasted no time pointing fingers at Raylee, accusing her of entering Tiffany’s dressing room. Raylee countered, revealing that Waverly had also been in the dressing room. Yet Waverly refused to admit it; instead, she broke into tears, insisting she was being falsely accused. Alaric, Harriet, and Samuel all jumped to her defense, leaving Raylee to bear the brunt of the accusations. Labeled a thief, she became the target of public condemnation. Casimir then produced so-called surveillance footage as evidence. Right then and there, Margaret demanded that Casimir call off his engagement with Raylee, declaring that a thief had no place as the future lady of the Sutherland family. Raylee never saw the alleged evidence herself. Nonetheless, she was abandoned and turned into an outcast, with everyone around her siding against her. Branded a thief, she was reported by Tiffany before the banquet was even over, landing her in a detention center. The overwhelming support for Waverly, coupled with the relentless accusations, left Raylee isolated without anyone to defend her. Before long, she was sentenced.
On her first day in prison, Alaric arrived with a declaration of disownment, cutting all ties between her and the Goodridge family. From that day forward, she was no longer considered a part of their family. She was filled with resentment. The family who had once cherished her since childhood had cast her into a living nightmare. During her time in prison, the Goodridge family never visited her. They treated her as though she were a complete stranger.