But before I could get closer, their mother appeared, wary and protective. She pushed me away, shielding her children.
I stumbled and fell into the snow, hearing her faint voice as if through a fog.
“I’m so sorry, Miss. The children didn’t mean it. Please don’t be mad at them.”
She tossed a ten dollar bill at my feet and hurried off with her kids, casting anxious glances back at me.
I understood her fear. To her, I was nothing more than a homeless, broken stranger—someone who might lash out in vengeance against her children.
The woman's apology was not for me; it was for her children. She was protecting them.
Would my mother have done the same for me if she were still here?
Thinking of my mother, I instinctively reached for the jade pendant around my neck. It was the only thing she had left me—a small reminder of her love.
However, there was nothing around my neck.
Panic surged through me. My body went numb as I realized the pendant must have fallen when I was shoved out of the Hall family villa earlier, my clothes in disarray.
If Yvette got her hands on it...
The thought sent me into a frenzy. Without hesitation, I turned back and sprinted toward the Hall family house.