Don't Mess with the Girl with Candy novel Chapter 1288

"Luella..."

"Shh!" She buttoned his jacket back up, her tone turning stern. "If you want to live to see tomorrow, just do exactly as I say."

"You have experience with this?"

"Of course." Mentioning her past, she puffed up with pride. "When I was really little, I got tossed into the deep mountains. It took me three days and three nights to crawl my way out. Later on, when Juniper was teaching me martial arts, we trained in the mountains all the time."

"When you were little?" Jimmie's dark eyes grew intense, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. "Aren't you the eldest son of Stellara's top family? Who would dare do that to you?"

"My dad." She let out a cold, bitter laugh. "Crazy, right? Just because I pissed him off, he decided to teach me a lesson."

"Pretty sure he wanted me dead. Too bad for him, I'm too stubborn to die!"

In the dim light, he couldn't see her face clearly, but the raw pain in her voice was completely at odds with her usual carefree, arrogant attitude.

Her mother was dead, and her father had abused her. Surviving to adulthood couldn't have been easy. No wonder she had been so ecstatic when his parents offered to treat her like family.

Thinking back to how mockingly he had treated her back then, a wave of guilt washed over him.

"It'll get better."

"?" She turned her head in surprise, locking eyes with him. Something unfamiliar and electric shot straight from her toes to her brain. Her heart gave a sudden, hard thump.

"Yeah," she nodded, forcing a smile. "Since I met Juniper, none of that stuff matters anymore."

"Besides Juniper, is there anyone else you care about?" Jimmie licked his pale, dry lips, swallowing hard.

Anyone she cared about?

Looking at his devastatingly handsome face, her pulse kicked into high gear. What was happening? He wasn't even shirtless anymore. Was she developing some twisted, love-hate crush on him?

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