?Chapter 1748:


    The officer hesitated before answering. “She fought off two men, ended up injuring them in the scuffle.”


    Colleen’s breath caught. That fragile-looking young woman injured two men on her own? It seemed unthinkable.<fn685e> This content belongs to find[?]ovel</fn685e>


    Yet the truth soon crystallized.


    That night, the local news broadcasted the story.


    Hadley, a restaurant worker, had been harassed by two men and had defended herself fiercely, leaving them wounded.


    At the hospital, the nurses on duty buzzed with chatter upon seeing the news.


    “She looks so delicate, but she has got fire in her!” one remarked.


    Another sighed, her voice heavy with empathy, “Poor thing. Raising a daughter alone, working long hours at a restaurant, and still dealing with men like that…”


    “A daughter?”


    Colleen’s head snapped up, startled. “She has a child?”


    “Yes, it was mentioned in the news,” a nurse confirmed.


    A daughter. The word echoed in Colleen’s mind, stirring a memory she couldn’t quite ce.


    The next morning, after her grueling night shift, Colleen returned home and immediately dialed her cousin, Zane.


    “Hey, it’s me,” she said when he picked up.


    “Colleen? What’s going on?” Zane’s voice was warm but curious.


    “I need a favor,” Colleen said, cutting straight to the chase. “You have ssmates fromw school in the, don’t you?”


    Zane, a graduate of a prestigiousw school in the, paused.


    “Yeah, I do. What is this about? Are you in trouble?”


    Keep reading at gαlηovels?c〇m


    “I need awyer,” Colleen replied, her tone urgent. “Zane, please, it’s about saving someone’s life. You’ll be doing a world of good—I promise!”


    When Colleenid eyes on Hadley again, her heart sank at the sight.


    In mere days, Hadley’s frail frame had withered further, her once delicate features now gaunt and hollow. Her pallor was ghostly, devoid of any warmth, with dark shadows pooling beneath her bloodshot eyes, as though sleep had eluded her for days.


    “She has been like this since she got here,” an officer remarked, casting a skeptical nce at thewyer beside him. “You’re taking her case? Good luck. She doesn’t even talk.”


    Thewyer turned to Colleen, his brow raised. “What is your take?”


    “Give me a moment,” Colleen replied, her lips pressing into a determined line. She stepped closer to the cell, her knuckles rapping softly against the cold iron bars. “Hadley, it’s…”


    Me “Do you remember me?”


    Inside, Hadley remained still, her gaze fixed on some distant point, unresponsive.


    Colleen slipped her phone from her pocket, opened a video, and held it up to the bars. “Look here, Hadley. Is this your daughter? Is this Joy?”


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