The Unwanted Daughter: When Love Comes Too Late Chapter 76: What a Fool

"First she staged her own kidnapping, and now she's putting on the helpless act again. Her schemes just keep getting sharper," Liam said, his voice tight with anger. "I'm going to expose her right now."

He had already taken a step forward when Erin caught his arm and held him back. "Liam, don't do it. That's just reckless. If you go charging in, she'll just deny every word you say.

"She's got Walter backing her now, and the truth is she really has been working. What if we've been wrong about her?" Erin lowered her head, her voice softer. "Maybe I've been thinking too much into it. Maybe she's not like that at all. I shouldn't have judged her so quickly."

Her eyes grew red and glassy, and her voice trembled. "Liam, maybe I should be the one to apologize to her. If my accusations turned out to be wrong, it's going to keep me up at night."

Liam exhaled and looked at her with helplessness. "Erin, you're far too kind. The one who ought to be losing sleep is that calculating woman, not you."

His eyes darkened with a deep, simmering resentment. "If she enjoys pretending to struggle at work, then let's make sure she understands what real struggle feels like."

Erin kept her expression soft and uncertain, but her hand at her side clenched so tightly her nails nearly broke her skin.

She could feel it—the Jackmans were beginning to shift their opinion of Tracy.

...

Since Walter already knew about her job, Tracy no longer worried about Franklin finding out.

Without Chris in the picture, her days fell into a rhythm of working her shifts, visiting Franklin at the hospital, and returning to her small rented apartment.

Whether she came home or didn't, Ronald always had a meal ready for her. After dinner, he stayed to paint alongside her and helped her edit and post her videos online.

His presence gave the shabby little apartment a kind of warmth it had never known. Sometimes, she felt like she belonged.

She still kept her guard up around him, yet she couldn't deny that this was the first time she had ever felt like someone was actually waiting for her to come home every day.

It let her believe, for just a fleeting moment, that she hadn't been abandoned by the world completely.

But that peace didn't last long.

Fate had other plans for her.

Trouble reached the shop where she worked. First came a report about fire safety violations. Then one about food hygiene. Soon after, an accusation of unpaid taxes.

The shop was run clean and legal, yet constant inspections made it impossible to keep the doors open.

It was too pointed to be coincidence, but the owner couldn't think of a single person he had crossed that had this level of power.

Then the message arrived.

He was told to fire Tracy and refuse her wages, or his family would be driven out of Cloudville.

The owner was a man with principles, and he couldn't bring himself to let her go without a reason.

He valued his dignity more than money. Even if he had to close the shop, he would not stand by while a young woman was singled out and pushed around.

But fear eventually found its way in.

His wife's job came under threat. His child was facing expulsion from school. His in-laws were being warned and threatened again and again.

No matter how good a man he was, he could not gamble his family's future.

At last, with guilt heavy in his voice, he called Tracy into the kitchen and told her everything.

Tracy had already suspected that she was the real target. The owner's nature was too kind for anyone to have such a vendetta against him, and the fact that his family was involved meant the one behind it had power in Cloudville.

Her first thought was Winona, but Winona would never spend this much time and effort just to have her fired.

If not Winona, then who?

Before the thought could settle, the owner pressed a thick roll of cash into her hand.

When she looked at him in surprise, he said quietly, "Two months' pay. He told me not to give you a cent, but I'm paying you anyway."

Tracy froze before quickly pushing the money back. "This is too much. I haven't even worked through the month yet."

"Take it," he said firmly. "Terminating you without a reason is already shameful enough. Take it, so I can feel at ease."

Gratitude swelled in her chest, though guilt followed close behind.

If not for her, his family would not be in this mess.

Her voice trembled.

"Thank you ... and I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, so don't apologize," he said gruffly. "The one who should be apologizing is the person behind all this.

"Anyone who hides in the dark to go after a young woman is probably worth as much as untreated sewage, and I'm not too sure if that's not an insult to sewage."

Tracy stared at him in silence.

Since the day she turned 18, she had been told over and over to apologize for things she didn't do, even by those who had lived with her for 18 years.

This was the first time someone had told her she didn't owe an apology. And it came from a man she had only known for two months.