Saying this, Mia somehow found the strength to overcome her agonizing pain. She propped herself up on one shaking elbow. Biting down hard on her already bloodied lips, she stared unblinkingly at the doctor, desperately searching for a lifeline.
Barbara swallowed hard, feeling entirely helpless. In this particular legal nightmare, everything was completely out of her hands.
“I’ll try to find out everything I can,” she reassured the terrified girl. “And you tell me about yourself. I can clearly see that you’re not a hardened criminal. You’re just a girl in terrible trouble.”
“That’s right,” Mia cried, the dam finally breaking as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. “And I don’t know what to do. How to live on?”
And in the quiet shadows of the hospital room, the broken girl finally poured out her tragic story.
Barbara listened in stunned silence as Mia explained that, as a small child, she had lived abroad with her wealthy father and his new wife. She barely remembered her biological mother at all. Her father had coldly informed her that she had died. Her stepmother was a cruel woman who constantly hurled insults and treated her like a burden. Eventually, her father’s glittering overseas business empire began to spectacularly fall apart, forcing the bitter family to retreat to their homeland. But even here, things went incredibly poorly.
A few years after their return, both her father and stepmother were killed instantly in a horrific car accident. Because of massive debts, the bank ruthlessly seized every single asset, down to the property. At just fifteen years old, utterly alone in the world, Mia found herself thrown into a bleak state orphanage.
Those three years before graduation became a living hell. She was a perpetual outcast, considered a black sheep by her peers. She endured endless cruel jokes and relentless nagging, with absolutely no friends to turn to for comfort. Finishing school and walking out those doors felt like a miraculous salvation.
The young girl foolishly thought all the agonizing hardships in her life were over, but everything was only just beginning.
Mia had always possessed a profound talent for drawing and constantly dreamed of becoming a professional clothing designer. She managed to enroll in a local college, and thankfully, the state provided her with a tiny, modest apartment as part of an orphan-assistance program. To Mia, those four small walls were her ultimate sanctuary of comfort and peace.
After her daily classes, she would come back home and simply dream. Mia envisioned building her own bustling atelier. She fantasized about meeting her prince, building a fiercely strong family, and having at least three beautiful children. Having been deprived of affection her entire life, Mia desperately longed for a large family, absolutely certain she would make a wonderful mother. She promised herself she would be the most loving, the most tender parent on earth—just like her own biological mother, whom she could barely recall.
Only in her most fleeting dreams did Mia ever catch a hazy, fragmented glimpse of her mother’s image, or hear her forgotten voice, which was always so melodious and soft. Her father had stubbornly refused to ever speak about her, and he claimed that no physical photographs had survived. He insisted the family photo album had been lost during their frantic international move, and that all the digital versions were conveniently corrupted by a computer virus.
“Her mum’s name was like yours… Barbara,” Mia told the doctor, sharing her most guarded memories.
The young prisoner didn’t notice how all the color instantly drained from the doctor’s face. She didn’t see Barbara clasp her trembling hands so tightly her knuckles turned bone-white as she continued her story.
After successfully graduating from college, Mia secured a good position at a bustling sewing factory. She threw herself into her work, excelling at everything she touched and earning glowing praise from her strict supervisor. A lucrative promotion seemed entirely possible, and she even toyed with the idea of pursuing further education. But fate took a brutally sharp turn.
That was when she met Nigel.
He was a striking, handsome young man who drove an absurdly expensive car and relentlessly showered her with lavish gifts and massive bouquets of flowers. After years of sheer isolation, Mia’s starved heart completely melted. Her lifelong dreams suddenly seemed within arm’s reach, and she began happily imagining their grand wedding. Nigel constantly boasted about his highly influential parents—his father held a massive position in the city police force, and his mother was a high-ranking official in the city administration. The humble orphan girl nervously believed they would eventually like her, even though she didn’t have a single penny to her name. After all, Nigel swore he loved her.
She waited patiently for him to formally introduce her to his family, but he kept continuously postponing the meeting, always citing his incredibly busy work schedule. Mia could never quite understand his line of work. It was a shadowy blur of vague road trips, hushed meetings, and encrypted communications. Whenever she pressed him, Nigel just flashed a charming laugh, telling her it wasn’t time for her to know everything just yet.
Then, armed police violently raided her small, quiet apartment. Hidden deep inside her closets, they found a massive stash of illicit substances. Mia was absolutely stunned.
Where on earth had this contraband come from?