Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 209

When Brenda finished speaking, every pair of eyes in the room zeroed in on Mara.

Mara knew instantly that if she dared defy Brenda's subtle demand, the entire cell would turn on her like a pack of wolves.

Sure, the police had warned them, so they wouldn't beat her again. But relentless psychological torment and verbal abuse were hardly a step up from a physical beating.

Staring at her rapidly dwindling stash of snacks, Mara forced a pained smile. "Alright, I'll share a bit more.

But you all know I can't stomach the prison food. If I don't have these, I'll literally starve."

"Great, just a little more. We promise we won't ask again."

It was in that moment Mara truly realized the inmates were absolute predators, far more difficult to manipulate than anyone on the outside.

For the days that followed, Mara endured the misery, biting her tongue and playing their exhausting psychological games.

She prayed every single day that her family would magically pull strings and get her out early.

But one day bled into two, and still, nothing.

Had her powerful family truly failed to find a loophole?

She refused to believe a massive corporate empire lacked the resources to free her.

They just didn't want to waste their leverage or sacrifice valuable assets for her sake.

Clearly, she didn't mean as much to them as she thought.

If Ethan had been locked up, her parents would have moved heaven and earth to get him out.

Thankfully, she had never truly cared about them either. This realization only cemented her ambitions. One day, she would hold the entire Mercer Group in the palm of her hand, and they would all be at her mercy.

In reality, no matter how much Adrian doted on her, he wasn't going to openly war with the legal system over a one-month misdemeanor sentence.

And Ethan would never make a mistake as phenomenally stupid as paying thugs to smash bicycles.

A week later, the guards informed her she had a visitor.

By this point, Mara had completely given up hope of an early release. She just prayed her family had brought more high-end snacks.

As long as she had a steady supply of food, she wouldn't starve, and the other inmates would keep sucking up to her.

But to her absolute shock, the visitor was Fiona Quinn.

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