Chapter 26 Take Off Your Shirt
Savannah sat on the edge of the bed and froze for a moment. What just happened? She was ready to make up excuses to stop him from touching her, but to her surprise, Emmett let her off easily tonight. Savannah froze right there and did not know what to do as she was not used to sleeping on a comfortable bed. Did he make me sleep on the bed because he felt bad for me?Really? Someone actually feels sorry for me? That’s new. She quietly turned off the lights in the room a
nd continuously sat on the bed. Once she noticed he had fallen asleep, she went up and gently adjusted his blanket to cover his body. Yet, the blanket was too short for his tall built. The couch, too, did not have enough space for him to extend his legs. He had no choice but to curl up and sleep in a fetal position. Savannah carefully adjusted his feet to a more comfortable position before returning to the bed. When she woke up the next morning, Emmett was not around anymore. A gentle autumn breeze swirled into the room through the opened window. Where did he go? She took a glance at the time and realized it was almost 9 a.m. Why didn’t he wake me up? Since young, Savannah had been an early riser. She would automatically wa
ke up even when she did not set an alarm. Perhaps, for the very first time in her life, she had a good night’s sleep yesterday. She immediately bounced out of bed, arranged the pillows, and folded the blanket before tidying up the couch. “Why are you tidying things up as though you’ve been in the army?” That voice gave Savannah the shock of her life. She hugged the blanket, turned around, and saw Emmett standing by the door with a large bag in his hand. Savannah answered, “I just love tidying.” I was not in the army, but it’s something I learned after spending three years in prison. At that point, Emmett was even more convinced that she was just a maid from the Avery family. He threw the bag on the bed and said, “Put it on. The ca
r is ready. I’ll wait for you downstairs.” Before she could say anything, Emmett left the room and shut the door. Savannah paused for a moment and opened the bag. There were quite a number of exquisite boxes that were all nicely wrapped with ribbon bows. The boxes were so pretty that she could not bring herself to untie the ribbon. She had always dreamt of receiving gifts like this, and her wish finally came true today. Though she was reluctant to unwrap the gifts, she still had to do it. Inside one of the boxes was a gorgeous sparkly branded dress. After putting it on, Savannah looked into the mirr
or. She could hardly recognize herself. Suddenly, she recalled her prom experience in college. At that time, Sydney promised to lend her a dress, but she never did. Savannah had no choice but to call Sydney and reminded her about it. Sydney told her she was still in school and gave Savannah permission to choose any dress she desired. Savannah still remembered how awestruck she was the first time she stepped in into Sydney’s room. It was a room fit for a princess. Her closet, too, was filled with the most beautiful dresses she had ever seen. In the end, she chose a peach chiffon gown. After putting it on, she felt as if she had become a real princess. But just when Savannah was about to contact Sydney and asked if she borrowed h
er shoes, her mother Nina and brother Ford barged into the room and shot daggers at her. “What are you doing?” Ford frowned and asked. She held the dress tight to her chest and explained, “I wanted to borrow Sydney’s dress to attend my college’s prom…” “Does Sydney even know about this? I bet you must have sneaked into her room without her permission! You should be ashamed of yourself for stealing her dress!” Ford gave her a disdainful look. “No, I didn’t steal anything. I’ve talked to Sydney, and she asked me to choose a dress from her closet.” “If you need a dress, you could have talked to me.
Why do you have to lie?” “Mom, I didn’t lie.” Savannah took out her phone and tried dialing Sydney’s number but to no avail. Ford gave her another sullen glare as he was certain Savannah was not only a liar but also a thief. “Take it off right now! Don’t you dare touch Sydney’s dress!” She looked at them and hoped they could believe her. “I’m sure Sydney is busy in school right now. You can check with her when she returns.” Ford refused to listen to her anymore. Before this, Sydney had complained to Ford that Savannah was a cunning and deceitful person who wanted to steal everything
she owned in the Avery family. And now, it seemed what Sydney said was true. Instead of giving her a chance to defend herself, he grabbed Savannah by her hair and unzipped the dress. “Take it off right now!” Savannah burst into tears while trying to cling on to the dress. “Please don’t touch me. I’ll remove it myself.” Nina got up and stopped Ford. “What are you doing? Let go. I’ll get her to remove the dress. You go out and wait.” It took Nina some time to get Ford out of the room. Tears welled up in Savannah’s eyes. She wrapped her hands around her head, feeling absolutely humi
liated. While her biological brother treated her like a stranger, Nina even thought of her as a beggar who tore the family apart. How Nina wished this disheveled and dishonest girl was not her biological daughter. If only the DNA reports she received were inaccurate, then at least she had an excuse to disown her. But the truth was Savannah was her biological daughter, who grew up in an uncultured environment. Nina was certain that the environme
nt she grew up in had corrupted Savannah throughout her formative years. She even believed that Savannah must have returned to the Avery family with an ulterior motive. Nina walked up to Savannah and wanted to comfort her with a tap on the shoulder. But she retracted her hand as she still could not accept Savannah as her daughter. “Please take off the dress. Ford bought this dress for Sydney with his own money during her sixteenth birthday, and t
his was why he was a little agitated. I’ll get you another dress.” Savannah wiped the tears off her cheeks, quickly removed the chiffon dress, and wore back her own clothes. Nina went back to her room and gave her a random dress. “Go and change this in your room. Do not simply enter Sydney’s room anymore.” Savannah grabbed the dress and ran away as fast as possible. To this day, Savanna could still remember how embarrassed she was when she wore the ugly and ill-fitting dress to prom. Throughout the night, she hid in a corner to avoid mingling with her schoolmates. “Are you ready? Mr. Quaker is waiting for you,” Mary gently knocked on the door.
