“Don’t use trafficking as an excuse every time something happens. How can you prove it’s real? There are always people who despise poverty and crave wealth, twisting their stories just to gain sympathy.”
Then, the man from my nightmares appeared.
He clutched the children, his face streaked with snot and tears, and fell to his knees before me.
“Wife, come home with me. The children need you, too.”
Instinctively, I turned to Luka for help, praying he would prove the truth for me. “He can prove what I said is true.”
Following my gaze, countless eyes shifted toward Luka.
“Talia, since you already have children, you must take responsibility. The children are innocent.”
In his eyes, Quincy wasn’t wrong, and the children weren’t wrong. No one was wrong, except me. Even you, Luka, chose to stand against me.
In an instant, I became the woman who abandoned her husband and children, the one who despised poverty and chased after wealth.
When the crowd saw the pitiful children, their contempt only grew stronger.
“I’ve seen plenty of women like this.”
“The most poisonous thing in the world is a woman’s heart; she doesn’t even want her own children.”
“Truly disgusting.”