Chapter 74
“Wait!” Justin’s voice sliced through the tension in the room.
His calm tone belied the storm brewing inside him.
“Ms. Brown, don’t you still owe me an apology?”
Ryan sighed in exasperation, clearly wishing he could stop Justin from making a scene.
He was about to say something when Bella’s cold, indifferent gaze locked onto Justin, halting him mid-sentence.
Her eyes felt like they could pierce right through him, and for a moment, Justin felt the weight of something deeper than anger—something that almost felt like regret.
Bella didn’t say a word, but her look told him everything.
Just as the silence grew thick with unspoken words, a soft, sweet voice broke the tension.
“It wasn’t Annie! It wasn’t Annie!” The voice was filled with both urgency and innocence, and it caught everyone off guard.
Bella’s heart skipped a beat, her eyes lighting up as she turned toward the source of the voice.
“Carrie!”
A young girl in a simple white dress with a peculiar “cauliflower” hairstyle, which Bella knew well was Bethany’s work, rushed toward them.
Carrie had a delicate, fair face, but there was an awkwardness in her demeanor, a reflection of the emotional neglect she had suffered.
Bethany, bitterly jealous of her sister’s beauty, had always bullied Carrie, making sure to make her look awkward or unkempt in public.
The two sisters were polar opposites in Bethany’s eyes, and she saw Carrie as nothing but a threat to her own image.
Carrie, who was autistic, had grown more withdrawn as she matured.
She would often shrink into herself, especially in front of strangers.
In fact, Bella had been the only person in the Salvador family, aside from Wilma, to ever offer any real warmth or support to Carrie during her time with the family.
After Bella left, she had missed her sister-in-law more than she cared to admit.
Seeing Carrie again here, especially in such an unexpected moment, filled Bella with a mixture of surprise and joy.