But shecked the powerful connections to see it through, and Lionel had never been on her side. The evidence she had gathered was never enough. Over time, she had slowly given up on the idea of vengeance. Then Sandra had orchestrated that trip to the orphanage, reigniting a flicker of hope that Lionel might finally act.


    That hope had been extinguished almost immediately.


    But now, a new hope was burning brighter than ever.


    "Doesn''t he know about this?" Samuel asked, his voice shaking with disbelief.


    Lionel had followed them to the lounge. Just as he raised his hand to knock, he heard their voices from within. He hesitated, then let his hand fall to his side.


    "He knows," Hannah said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I told him everything. I even told him that when I was older, Jason and some of the other boys at the orphanage tried to rape me. But Lionel did nothing."


    Hannah had noticed the tips of a man''s shoes visible in the doorway. She recognized them as Lionel''s.


    "He also knew that Sandra was aware of my past, that she took us to the orphanage on purpose to torment me," she continued. "But back then, he was so infatuated with Sandra that he didn''t care. He never helped me."


    It had only happened a few weeks ago, but it felt like a lifetime. She had hoped and prayed for him to do something, anything, only to realize that he had never offered her even a shred of hope. It had all been her own wishful thinking, a desperate, one-sided fantasy.


    "Fuck! That man is not a man!" Samuel exploded, mming his fist on the table: "You''re his wife! Even if he doesn''t love you, what kind of man could hear about something like that and just stand by and do nothing?


    He shot up from his seat, pacing the room in a fury. "And you saved his life!"


    "He probably thinks I never should have," Hannah said with a bitterugh. "He thinks he could have handled it himself, that I just forced my way in at the wrong moment and trapped him. That he was forced to marry me."


    Samuel stopped pacing, his brow furrowed as he listened. "What the hell is so great about Sandra anyway? If he loves her so much, why didn''t he just marry her in the first ce?"


    "Because he thinks I drugged him.


    The night before their wedding, I ended up in his bed. His family found us, Sandra was heartbroken and called everything off, and he was forced to marry me. He''s med me for it ever since."


    The whole affair was still a mystery to her. She remembered feeling dizzy and unwell after dinner that night. She had stumbled back to her room and passed out, only to wake up the next morning in Li''s bed He had been drugged too. But the security footage from the hallway and his room only showed her entering and leaving, making her the prime suspect. The scandal had erupted, Sandra had fled in tears, and just like that, Hannah had inexplicably be Lionel''s wife.


    To this day, she still didn''t understand what had really happened or how it had all


    gone so wrong. But it didn''t matter anymore. Three years had passed.


    Investigating it now wouldn''t change a thing.


    Samuel sank back into his chair, rendered speechless by the story.


    "Forget it," he finally said, his voiceced with disgust. "You''re home now, Hannah. What Lionel won''t do, the Temple family will. We''ve got your back."