\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 9\u00a0<\/p>\n
These days, nobody stayed hidden for long.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The police found Ruby in under a day. She hadn\u2019t gone anywhere. She\u2019d just played poker all night and passed out at the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My parents went to prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah got two years for child abuse and neglect. When she heard it, she took it calmly. She made one\u00a0<\/p>\n
request: to see Ruby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ruby looked more relaxed than Sarah. She knew she wasn\u2019t really in trouble. She even smiled at Sarah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took my money to go gamble? I paid you good money! All you had to do was watch her! Why couldn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
you even do that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah lunged at her. An officer shoved her back into her chair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ruby\u2019s mouth curled in a lazy smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get the itch, you gotta scratch it. Besides, I left her enough food and water. Who told her to\u00a0<\/p>\n
wander off? If her own mother didn\u2019t care, why should I?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was seven! You monster! I hope you suffer! You bitch! I hope you rot in hell!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah screamed and cursed her out. It just made Ruby smile wider. She didn\u2019t care at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCursing me won\u2019t help. They couldn\u2019t make the charges stick. It was an accident, remember?. Besides, the kid was better off dead. You treated her badly anyway, like she wasn\u2019t even yours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah\u2019s eyes went red. They took her back to her cell before she could say anything else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David hadn\u2019t been as involved in the abuse, so he got six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Word got around quick. They were both fired immediately. It\u2019d be hard for them to find work when they got\u00a0<\/p>\n
out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mason and Chloe were taken in by other relatives. Before they left, those relatives told them to cut Mom and\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dad off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When David got out six months later, he tried to see Mason. The relatives ran him off. He could only scrape by on odd jobs. But after Sarah was released, she went looking for Ruby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She grabbed a rock and smashed every one of Ruby\u2019s fingers. Then she climbed to the top of the abandoned building and jumped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if she chose my death to atone for her sins. But it didn\u2019t matter anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched Mason and Chole go back to normal. They weren\u2019t afraid to spend money anymore. They weren\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 9\u00a0<\/p>\n
100.00%\u00a0<\/p>\n
scared to go out alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was ready to move on. This time, I hoped I\u2019d have parents who would love me. Just me,<\/p>\n
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella\u2019s storytelling style is immersive and addictive\u2014perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.<\/p>\n
Mom, I don\u2019t want to be stuck in the middle anymore by Mark Twain 9 \u00a0 Chapter 9\u00a0 These days, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sweet-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}