This Time Hi Be the Villain’s Favorite Daughter novel Chapter 145

Chapter 145 What the Lamb Already Did

Because in the kind of life they’d lived, claiming things had been fine was the real lie. Silence stretched between them.

Maya reached out, her voice going gentle. “Hey, come on. I didn’t come here to go after you. Everything that happened before was literally a different lifetime for both of us.

“Don’t overthink it. I never look back.

“Want a hug?”

Lawrence didn’t hesitate. He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight.

He was still in a complete daze, his heart knotted up, fighting the urge to shake apart.

He wanted to say something. Anything. In a moment like this, anything would do.

“The people who hurt us back then…”

He seemed steadier now. His voice was a little more grounded than before. “Do you still hate them?”

If she was being honest?

“Yeah.”

Maya didn’t hesitate.

She’d hated most people. There’d been a stretch of time where she didn’t love anyone at all. Just pure, clean hatred.

The first thing she noticed about a person was whether they were a threat. For a long time, socializing wasn’t about making connections. It was about assessing risk.

She’d resented almost everyone, including this bargain-bin little brother of hers.

If anyone wanted something from her, they’d better give her something first. Otherwise, she’d drop them without blinking.

She genuinely didn’t spend much time thinking about the past. Good people, bad people, none of it mattered. In this new life, all of it was behind her.

“I hate them too.” Lawrence’s thoughts finally seemed to settle. “But you’ve got a new life now. Holding onto hate just makes you miserable. So leave all that to me.”

Maya reached over and pinched his cheek.

Not chubby at all. Bony. Dry.

What a waste. All that soft baby fat from when he was little, completely gone.

“You’re right,” Maya said. “Hate is pointless. But if I run into any of those people, I’m not letting it go.”

She was still the grudge-holding type, deep down.

“That’s my business, though. What about you? Can you honestly tell me you’re okay right now?” She studied him, calm and steady.

She couldn’t leave him with Thomas any longer.

“What?” He blinked, then realized what she meant and shook his head fast. “No. I don’t need that. I’m not like you. I don’t need a family.”

Unlike Maya, he’d actually had parents who loved him once. Which was exactly why he couldn’t throw himself into a new family the way she had.

Maya was different. She had nothing tying her down. She was completely free.

And that was good.

“Really?” Maya thought about it. He had a point. Without her in the picture, Lawrence would’ve gone on being a carefree, clueless little sweetheart. He’d never craved a home the way she had.

“Okay then. But if that’s how it is, stop worrying about me. What happens to me has nothing to do with you. And I barely ever think about the past.”

Maya pinched his cheek again, serious now, trying to talk some calm into that fragile head of his. “Don’t do anything crazy. I’ll handle my own problems. Yeah, some of those people were awful. If I cross paths with them, I can get my own payback.”

She wasn’t some pushover. The only reason there’d been peace was that she’d never run into any of them.

Lawrence lowered his head and said nothing.

The one who’d hurt them the worst in their last life? He’d already taken care of that.

“Alright, yeah, I know.” His answer came out vague and mumbled. “But, um, you probably won’t see them anyway. They might’ve gone abroad to study or something. Could be long gone by now… you know…”

Maya thought that sounded weird, but before she could pick it apart, Lawrence had already moved on, asking her about life with the Clarks.