"If it wasn't for my parents to do so, my fate would be unknown. It still won't be my parents' fault; they were raised like that. So even if I want to push all the blame on them, won't I be unreasonable?"
Of course, she was very unreasonable. Although they were raised like that, didn't other families start changing?
There were a few girls from the village who didn't forcefully get married, continued with their studies, and found work. When she was struggling to work in town, these girls would bring their families a lot of food and leave them money.
Didn't her parents even think for a second that she might end up like them as well if given a chance?
But they didn't. They would rather send the other two girls to school than her. What did she do wrong?
If it wasn't for them, if she wasn't forced to work, then that wouldn't have happened.
She wouldn't need to find a damn Pandora box and stash it far away where no one could reach it.
It was their fault, and she blamed them for it.
Logan couldn't read minds, so he was unaware of what was brewing in her mind. He could only sigh inwardly, thinking how she was a fool. No wonder why she diligently sent all her money back home.
With such a mind like that, it was by luck that she was able to reach twenty-five without getting fooled.
"Besides, madam has always been very good to me. Thanks to her, I got to live with people who loved me and treated me nicely. If it wasn't for her, I can't even imagine how my life would have turned out. So, I am forever grateful for her," Briar sincerely said.
Without Selena, how could she have met Logan, fallen for him, and stayed with his family?
Her love for Logan made her love his children like her own. Unlike those idiots who only think of taking advantage of the kids and then discarding them after they get what they want, Briar wasn't a fool.
Like she said before, she wanted the man and his whole family. It wasn't just about him anymore.
Logan, unaware of what kind of crazy thoughts his new wife was thinking about, couldn't help but feel that he had never really cared to look into this matter.
To think that it had been like that, he couldn't help but feel complicated.
From what he was hearing, Briar's life at home wasn't good. That family not only sold her over a decade ago, but they were still using her until this very date. What kind of family was this?
He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. To think that at her age and after experiencing everything she did, she still held hope for that family. Was she dreaming?
However, that was also good. He found a way to deal with her in the future.
As for what his deceased wife did, it seems that it was time to look into her past activities.
He had a feeling that there was more that Briar wasn't sharing, and it bothered him. He couldn't ask her to spill the beans. Selena was someone that Briar respected. She was like her angel, and there was no way that Briar would speak ill of Selena.
Even when she was explaining, he could hear her effort to try to make everything sound more pleasing, though she was bad at it.
How did she survive all these years?
"It's a good thing that you came into our lives. We don't know how we would have done without you!" after all that confession, Logan spoke as he ruffled her hair, feeling grateful towards her.
His family became brighter with her around. She took care of the kids wholeheartedly as well as everyone's health, without fail.
What he was most grateful for was how she raised Tiana, the youngest almost on her own.
His wife gave birth to Tiana, and while she was recuperating, it was around that time she started getting sick.
Most of Selena's time after giving birth to Tiana was spent in the hospital. And Briar not only needed to take care of three kids but Selena as well.
If it was someone else, she would have quit or tried to make a move. But the filial girl had never done something like that.
Thinking about it now, Logan felt that it was fortunate that Selena brought Briar from that trip of hers. Otherwise, his family would have never found someone loyal and good like her.
Briar wryly smiled at Logan, her eyes reddening and Logan, seeing that, simply felt that the girl was getting emotional about being recognized.
Too bad he couldn't hear her thoughts at this moment.
'Logan, I am very sorry, but I am very happy right now. Look at me with those eyes, and sooner I will enter your heart and dominate it. It doesn't matter if you take pity on me, as long as you know that there is me in your heart!'
Sympathy was another form of emotion, wasn't it?
A lot of relationships started on that. Some felt pity, guilt, hatred, and many others. Those emotions led to something else. In her case, she was going to force it to become love.
He was hers, whether he liked it or not, and she was going to use every trick she had been learning all these years to make this happen faster.
She still remembers that there was danger waiting for her in this relationship.
Before it arrived, she needed to make sure she would take Logan down. Otherwise, if the Pandora's Box gets opened before his heart; she would lose everything.
With what Mammy Adonai said at that time, she knew for certain that one day the truth was going to be revealed. And since she couldn't avoid that happening, she needed to make sure that great measures were taken to ensure she wouldn't suffer a major loss.
She must come out on top, no matter what.
The night was beautiful, and despite being the first night that the two were sharing the bed. It no longer felt that way.
Finding her pitiful, Logan wanted to comfort the girl for everything that she had gone through. Without a word, he pulled her closer to him.
Briar, who wasn't expecting such a move, was taken by surprise as a result, her body helplessly fell onto Logan without resistance.
When Briar's body touched his, Logan tensed for a second as it clicked in his mind that Briar was a young woman, an endowed one.
Despite the ugly nightgown that didn't divulge much, the body didn't lie.
It felt soft to the touch and with her chest plastered against his arms, his imagination couldn't help but run wild.
Meanwhile, Briar, who had been pulled for no apparent reason, smirked as she found this position very much to her liking. However, as a chaste maiden who had just entered a contract marriage with her boss and shared the room for the first time, being too eager can raise bells.
So, she struggled to pry herself from Logan as soon as it made sense of what had happened.
"Ah …. Logan, this …. I am sorry. I seem to have lost control. I didn't mean it!" she nervously apologized as she pried herself, however his hold on her was so strong so despite her eagerness to move away, his hand kept on pulling her back.
Logan's mind at this moment was filled with images, the kind that would make Selena roll out of her grave and chide him.
He didn't know how those images started popping into his mind, but he didn't seem to mind seeing them there. Actually, it made him curious to see what was hidden beneath this ugly nightgown.
And when he was thinking about that, Briar started apologizing, putting all the blame on her head while trying to pull away from his embrace.
Sensing a déjà vu moment, his eyes darkened as he looked at Briar, who was struggling to pry herself from him.
'Did she really dislike getting in contact with me that much that she can't even stand a single pull?' he furiously thought to himself, seeing her doing that.
Since when did he get this infuriated and rejected by a woman?
It was he who always rejected and not the other way around.
Briar sensing a dangerous gaze on her, stopped her movements as she looked at Logan, her eyes quivering in fear and yet inwardly she was dancing as if she was hosting an ancestral ceremony.
'Well, well, well! Did I hit the jackpot?'