"Justina, please, give me back my necklace. I'll pay you whatever you want. It was my grandmother's keepsake..."
I thought, "Keepsake? This whole house is filled with keepsakes my parents left behind.
But Crowley didn't hesitate at all when he smashed through my parents' belongings."
"Megan, you're just too kind, too naive."
Crowley looked at me with disdain. "She was a woman who would kill her parents just to marry into a wealthy family. What kind of child could she raise?"
I was stunned by his words.
In the seven years of our marriage, I had given everything to Crowley.
And yet, this is what he thought of me.
"Crowley, what are you saying? I saved your life! After all these years, don't you know what kind of people Avalynn and I are? This bitch set me up, and you still refuse to believe me?"
Hearing me call Megan a bitch, Crowley slapped me hard across the face.
My cheeks soon swallowed, and blood seeped from the corners of my mouth.
"Are you expecting me to thank you? If it weren't for your schemes, Megan and I would have been married by now, and that child would never have been born," Crowley lashed out.
"That day, Megan kindly made Chili con Carne for her, but Avalynn refused to eat it and instead set her sights on Megan's necklace. When Megan wouldn't give it to her, she stole it while Megan left it in the bathroom. She's a disgrace to the Baldwin family, just like you!" he continued to accuse.
I fought back through my tears, "Avalynn would never do such a thing. Besides, who would take off their necklace just to go to the bathroom? Do you have any proof that it was Avalynn who stole it?"
Over the years, whenever it came to anything related to Megan, Crowley would lose all sense of reason.
No matter what I said or did, the moment Megan shed a tear, Crowley would immediately take her side.
Whenever Megan cried, Crowley would heap all the blame onto Avalynn and me.
"Search the place! If that necklace turns up, I swear I won't let you off!" Crowley ordered.
At his command, the bodyguards began tearing through my home even more fiercely.
When they finished, not a single piece of my stuff remained intact.
Finally, someone found a necklace in Megan's pencil case.
Crowley held it up in front of me. "What do you have to say now?"
I couldn't help but laugh.
When I left the Baldwin family, the only thing I took was Avalynn's ashes. I didn't take a single other thing.