Chapter 11

When Gloria woke up, she found herself lying on the metal bed in her dorm room.

Elodie was beside her, mixing some medicine.

"Thanks." Gloria slowly sat up, thanked her, and then remembered something, her face full of guilt. "Elodie, I'm sorry. I got scared and almost got you in trouble. Felix didn't do anything to you, did he?"

She had been taken upstairs so quickly that she hadn't had time to worry about Elodie's situation.

Now that she thought about it, she felt a lingering fear.

Elodie handed her the prepared medicine. "Forget it. In our line of work, we're used to it. But you're so small and thin. I didn't expect you to be such a good dancer. Did you take lessons?"

Gloria smiled. "It was a long time ago. I only know a little."

Elodie looked a bit envious. "You must have had a good childhood if your parents let you take dance lessons."

Realizing she might have said something wrong, Elodie quickly tried to apologize.

If her parents were still around, they wouldn't have let their daughter end up like this.

Gloria nodded and then shook her head. "They were good to me. It's me who let them down."

Seeing her heavy expression, Elodie didn't press further and changed the subject. "What happened to you? Did a customer give you trouble again?"

Gloria lowered her eyes. "Didn't you just say it? This is how our job is."

Thinking of her own past experiences, Elodie hugged her sympathetically.

After Gloria finished her medicine, Elodie got to the point. "You dance really well. Felix wants to know if you'd consider doing it long-term."

She took out five hundred dollars. "This is your pay for today. If you had danced on stage, you could have hidden some tips. Today was an exception."

Little did she know, five hundred dollars was a lot for Gloria.

Gloria carefully put the money away. Adding it to the money those rich kids had thrown at her to humiliate her, she now had almost five thousand dollars.

She could consider buying a phone.

Thinking of this, a rare smile appeared on Gloria's face. "Elodie, are you free tomorrow? I'd like to treat you to a meal."

Elodie, infected by her smile, agreed.

The next day, they didn't leave until almost noon.

After a simple lunch, Gloria eagerly bought the cheapest smartphone and saved Elodie's number.

They chatted and laughed all the way, their mood light and happy.

As they left the mall, Gloria suddenly saw a familiar figure, and her smile vanished.

"What's wrong? Did you see someone you know?" Elodie noticed Gloria's sudden change in expression and followed her gaze.

She only saw a luxury car parked by the road.

Next to the car, a girl dressed in high-end fashion was chatting happily with someone inside.

Whatever they were talking about, the girl pouted playfully and then quickly smiled again.

Elodie looked at the girl, then at Gloria, feeling that there was something similar about them, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"I'm a bit tired. Let's go back." Before Elodie could ask more, Gloria turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Elodie hurried to catch up. "Gloria, wait for me!"

Elodie's voice was just loud enough to reach the people by the car.

Amara's smile faded slightly, and she glanced in their direction.

Gloria had already blended into the crowd, and Amara only saw Elodie's anxious back.

"I've got a court session this afternoon. Gotta go. When's your therapy next week? I need to block out the time." In the car, Sebastian's expression was indifferent, his tone formal.

Amara snapped back to reality and smiled. "I'm still working it out with the doctor. I'll let you know once it's set."

Sebastian nodded slightly, said a quick goodbye, and signaled the driver to leave.

Amara stood by the road, watching the car disappear from sight, then glanced back in the direction she had heard the name Gloria.

She was sure she had heard someone call Gloria.

Was she overthinking it? Gloria should still be in prison.

Besides, if it really was Gloria, seeing her with Sebastian, she would have definitely come over.

With these thoughts, Amara dismissed her suspicions.

When they returned to the dorm, it was still afternoon.

"Gloria, what's wrong? You seem upset." Elodie was concerned.

But Gloria's mind was filled with Amara's smiling face.

In that moment, she had wanted to rush over and ask Amara if she had really heard those people call her name during the crime.

She also wanted to ask, before she was convicted three years ago, how severe Amara's depression had been to make Sebastian disregard justice and rush to send her to prison!

Thinking back to three years ago felt like a lifetime ago.

Gloria shook her head lightly, trying to stop thinking about it.

The truth from back then didn't matter anymore. Whether it was true or not, she had already been tormented to this point.

All she wanted now was to live well and find her family.

"Nothing, I'm just suddenly tired." Gloria pushed her thoughts aside, smiled reassuringly at Elodie, and then fiddled with her new phone.

After inserting the SIM card, she immediately searched for information about the Russell family.

The results were sparse, and all the information was already known.

The Russell family's empire was vast, and the crimes they were involved in were classified.

Not to mention their whereabouts, even the list of crimes wasn't publicly available.

Gloria tried calling the numbers she remembered, but unsurprisingly, they were either disconnected or had new owners.

Her good mood from earlier in the day was completely gone.

After all this, it was time to head to work at the bar.

They quickly got ready and rushed over.

As they approached the bar, they noticed something was off.

At this time, there were usually many people waiting to get in, but today there was no one.

Getting closer, they saw that the bar's door had been sealed!

"What's going on? It's been running fine for years." Elodie was in disbelief.

This bar had nearly a decade of history and had gradually built connections with high society.

Plus, there were no shady dealings in the bar, so why was it suddenly shut down?

Elodie took out her phone to call the boss.

"Elodie, I'm sorry..." Gloria suddenly remembered what Sebastian had said before he left last night and guiltily stopped Elodie.

It was her fault, first implicating the Russell family, and now causing the bar to be shut down.

She was about to explain to Elodie when a few burly men appeared behind them. "Which one of you is Gloria?"

After three years of being bullied in prison, Gloria immediately sensed danger.

She turned to run, but their escape route was completely blocked.