Chapter 97

Why, after all these years, had she still searched for Williams, at the risk of finding her married, in a relationship, or even dead?

It was the question many carried silently, sharp and intrusive, yet none had dared to voice. None, that is, except Adeline. Adeline’s brilliance was not just in her intellect; it was in the way she could peel back the layers of a person’s soul with a single, piercing look.

The question lingered in Esther’s mind, echoing long after it was spoken. For the first time, being asked felt like permission.

This was when she confessed.

“When I met Williams,” Esther began, her voice a fragile thread in the quiet room, “she was full of life, a young teenager like me. Brilliant. Kind. She had her little group of nerdy friends, and I was the centerpiece of the most popular clique, the one every boy wanted to date and every girl envied. Teachers favored me because my parents came from a rich, influential family. They made enormous donations. I was Esther Dara, the promised heiress of the Dara family.”

Her lips tightened, the words heavy with old chains.

“I wasn’t allowed to show weakness. Ever. I had to live up to the admiration and the expectations of my classmates, my family, and everyone around me. I had tutors, so many tutors, yet I couldn’t keep up. On the exterior, what people saw was a girl pampered by her parents, but in private, I was reprimanded for not being as intelligent as my brother or the other kids.” She paused before adding bitterly, “My older brother was smarter than I. Above normal, even.”

Her gaze dropped, shoulders subtly folding inward.

“So, for once, I wanted to find my own solution and not rely on my family. While my friends were busy playing queens of the hallway, I approached the top student in the class, the one every teacher admired not because she was rich, but because she was brilliant, Niran Williams.”

Esther paused, drawing in a deep breath, as though the air itself were difficult to swallow.

“She was kind. She welcomed me with open arms. She gave me her time. During lessons, she made sure I understood. After class, she asked if I needed help with my homework. She would bring me little snacks, a note, asking if I’d eaten, if I was okay. It was the first time I felt seen, not as an heiress, but as a person. I fell in love with her care before I even understood what love was.”

Her voice trembled.

“That letter, everything in it was sincere.”

She stopped again. Adeline reached for her hand, squeezing it softly. “Go on.”

“It was her. I had written her a letter too. But when my friends stumbled upon it, when I saw their faces, the disgust it portrayed, I froze. I was terrified, of my reputation, of the world, of the disappointment I would cause. So, I stayed silent. I let them do it. I told them I only wanted to improve my grades, that nothing was going on. I thought the lie would stay in the room.”

Her fingers curled as if grasping something long lost.

“Before I knew it, they spread the poison. They said I had approached Williams to study, and that she had harassed me. That she was a pervert. Everything spiraled out of control.”

Tears slid down Esther’s face.

“She avoided me. Even when I tried to talk to her. When I realized what they were doing to her, I confronted them. I told them we had to fight back. I was ready to fight. It was horrible, but she pushed me away. Violently.”

Esther’s voice broke.

“Out of love, she forced me to leave her. She was afraid the same harm would come to me. What would my parents do? My friends? Everyone?”

She inhaled sharply.

“One brave teacher tried to act within the administration. He was fired the next day. When our parents were informed, and my parents found out, they were ready to do the worst to hush everything up. To them, Williams was a pervert. In the end, her mother took her out of that hell.”

Her tears fell freely now.

“Later, I learned what had actually happened to her. The things no one talked about. I didn’t have the means to search for her, or even to defend myself. My family controlled everything. I cut contact with everyone and fell into a depression. One day, I was so unwell that they hospitalized me. On my sickbed, I confessed everything to my grandmother.”

“What did she say?” Adeline asked softly.

“She smiled. She kissed my forehead. And she said nothing. Nothing at all.” Esther exhaled shakily. “But she took care of me physically and emotionally. A year later, she passed away, while I was close to my final year graduation. When she died, to everyone’s shock, I was her sole heir. She left me her money, and a letter.”

Esther’s voice collapsed into a whisper.

“You are free, my sweet girl. I love you.”

She wept openly. “She knew she was dying. She knew I needed to escape my family’s grip to live my life. So, I searched for Williams.”

She lifted her head, eyes piercing as they met Adeline’s.

“Tell me, how do you forget the only person who ever cared for you without expecting anything in return?” Her voice cracked. “And I thanked her with misfortune.”

Her body gave way.

“They shoved her head in the toilet. They beat her until she couldn’t stand. They raped her, to correct her perversity.”

She collapsed.

So that was it. Williams’ Calvary. A corrective rape meant to drag her back into what they called sanity. When people remembered the bullied girl, they had never measured the scale of it. They had closed their eyes when she was insulted at the classroom door, when seats emptied around her, when her meals were spilled, her notebooks torn, her body struck during recess, her days soaked in threats.

And when she still endured, held together by her exceptional grades, they decided to do the worst.

It was organized. A gang-organized rape to fix her soul.

Esther had lived with that guilt like a Machiavellian torment. Williams had been betrayed by her peers, her school, her so-called friends. Even when the truth surfaced, the institution covered it up.

If Williams had lost her faith in humanity that day, Esther had lost everything.

She never stopped blaming herself for her cowardice. The more she grew older, the more she understood the cruelty of such actions. She realized she had lost something irreplaceable, a love as pure as crystal.

Adeline, listening, discovered a new depth of love and disappointment all at once.

While Esther unburdened her soul to free her heart…

On the other side of town, another woman was preparing to unburden her bag, but not in the same way.

That woman was Yada.

She stepped into the Dara residence, the opulence of the foyer feeling like a mockery. Inside, the air hummed with the electric tension of a screaming match. Esther’s parents were arguing.

“Finally. Where is Esther?” Mr. Dara demanded, his face a mask of aristocratic fury.

“Sir, she has gone to join Williams.”

“That’s impossible! What on earth is going on? I thought you were her lawyer!”

“I am.”

“Then what is my daughter doing with a woman who almost killed her?”

“It’s possible they know each other and intend to settle this out of court.”

“I don’t care if she’s her friend or her best friend. I will prosecute her! Do you know who she is?”

Esther’s mother tried to calm him. “Please.”

“No. I want to know where they are. The police briefed me on all the charges this woman faces. And I hope she doesn’t plead insanity. She almost killed my daughter, who is also pregnant!”

Yada looked at Esther’s mother, who stood in the corner, a ghostly figure. “You were supposed to keep the pregnancy private,” Yada said. “That was Esther’s secret to tell.”

“I am her father!” the man bellowed.

“And you are the reason she is in this position!” Yada snapped, her professional veneer finally cracking. “If you push this to trial, you won’t just be fighting Williams. You’ll be airing every piece of filth this family has hidden for a decade. It will blow up in your face.”

“I want to see Esther right now.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“Listen to me, little lawyer. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. But you will. Now leave.”

Yada turned to Esther’s mother. “She’s your daughter. You know what’s happening. You won’t get her back this way.”

“Get out,” Mr. Dara hissed, his eyes narrowing into slits of pure, calculated malice. “You have no idea who I am. I have agents. I have power. If she won’t press charges, I will pull the strings until there is nothing left of those peasants.”

Yada looked at the mother one last time, searching for a spark of humanity, but found only the hollow silence of a woman who had long ago traded her soul for a seat at the table.

As the security guards escorted her out, Yada felt the first chill of a war that had been brewing for years. This was not about justice anymore. This was about a king refusing to let the truth tarnish his crown.

Even if Esther didn’t press charges, even as a legal adult, it no longer mattered.

Mr. Dara intended to pull every string.

Yada left knowing one thing with chilling clarity. War was inevitable. And Esther had to be warned before her family destroyed everything in their path.

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