Page 329 of A University of Betrayal

Behind Mum, who looked like she was about to tear me apart, I saw Amara and Amanda exchanging suspicious glances and then Gloria asking Amanda something.

“I’m talking to you!” my mother hissed, blocking my view of what was happening behind her.

I looked at her guiltily.

“I... I...”

Nothing more came except my embarrassed stammer.

“Don’t tell me you were there again without my permission!”

There. She was referring to Alice’s room.

“How dare you touch my old clothes?”

This lie was so bold that anger flared up inside me.

“Ms. Adams. I’m sure it wasn’t her intention to upset you, and...”

“No,Julian, stop defending my daughter when she’sobviouslydone something wrong,” Mum interrupted him without even looking at him and Julian fell silent.

“Ms. Adams, nice to see you here... without a gun. Don’t you think your daughter is wearing a stunning dress?”

I felt Larissa’s arms at my side as she suddenly appeared beside me. She was wearing a burgundy satin evening dress that was tight yet loose, and I was amazed to see how well it looked on her. Especially with her blonde hair open and wavy.

Then I realized what she had said and looked to my mother in alarm.

“I told you to stay away from my daughter!” Then she looked back at me, her finger raised. “And you,young lady,go home now and change your clothes, or I’ll see myself exploding here.”

“She couldn’t have found a better dress,” Larissa waved it off, apparently not understanding the seriousness of the situation.

When my mother wasthatangry, it was usually already too late.

“But this dress isn’t hers,” said Amanda, who suddenly appeared next to my mother and eyed Larissa with suspicion.

She was wearing a crème-colored business dress studded with sharp pearls of the same color, and I knew immediately that she recognized the dress I was wearing.

“This dress belongs to a dead woman. What do you expect Alice to do? She’s no longer alive!”

False Impression

Brand X Music

Larissa’s words had been like a lit match in a hall full of dynamite.

My mother’s face turned white as a sheet, just like Alarik’s earlier, and Amanda seemed to have lost her tongue too.

How could Larissa have said that?

I couldn’t turn to her and confront her because I was too focused on how Mum and Amanda would react. I wasn’t expecting what happened next.

Amara joined us and looked at my mother reproachfully.

“How could you tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her anything!” my mother gritted out, and then looked at me again.

I no longer understoodanything.

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