Chapter 35

Mary Redferne

I bit my nails nervously as I sat at the breakfast table, hoping I had taken Joseph’s advice on leaving my sister alone. He was right; she was blinded by love and didn’t really care about anything but him. She was so blinded that Joshua actually managed to convince her that I am the villain.

I couldn’t get over how she talked to me. I didn’t understand why money changed people so much. Clara, for the first time in her life, was being showered with money and expensive gifts, and she was equating that with love.

Joseph noticed my distress, his concerned gaze piercing into me as I looked up and offered him a weak smile. "Mary, what's wrong? You went to sleep as soon as you came home." he asked, his voice laced with worry, “you’ve barely eaten anything.”

I forced a smile, my heart pounding in my chest as I searched for an excuse to evade his questions. "Oh, it's nothing, just missing my family," I wasn’t exactly lying; I did miss my family. The family I had before we got i