Chapter 43
Jennifer was about to marry Jason Reed, President of the Reed Group. She was in the prime of her life, and there was no reason for her to commit suicide by crashing her car.
"Grace, do you want to appeal the case?" Jay asked.
"Somehow, I don't think that will do much good," Grace laughed self-deprecatingly. "I just feel a little unreconciled. I know I'm innocent, so it's hard to let it go."
Jason grunted.
"Besides," Grace said, closing the folder, "it's not easy to overturn a case. I'm out now. I should be thankful for that and just look forward. No one ever said life would be fair, right? Well, let's not talk about this anymore. I'll blow-dry your hair."
She put away the documents and used a hairdryer to dry his wet hair. Jason's eyes gradually deepened… and a plan took form.
The next day, Terrence noticed the dramatic change in Mr. Reed's hairstyle. Gone was the drawn-back ponytail; in its place were layers that, while maintaining some length, framed his face. He didn't remember scheduling a hairstylist appointment, and he knew Mr. Reed's schedule intimately.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked, perhaps because Terrence had been staring at him for a long time.
Terrence tilted his head. "It seems you haven't had a haircut in a long time. Do you want me to arrange an appointment with a stylist?"
"There's no need. Grace helped me trim my hair last night."
So it had been Grace! What surprised Terrence even more was that Mr. Reed had actually allowed Grace to cut his hair. Mr. Reed wasn't vain, but he insisted on the highest-quality products for everything in his life, including his hair, which was always maintained by a top-tier stylist. Grace was… a street sweeper. Even in the past, she had been a lawyer, not a hairdresser.
"The trim isn't too bad, huh?" Jason fiddled with his bangs, seeming quite satisfied.
The corner of Terrence's mouth twitched. "I like it." Mr. Reed had always been very picky. If the top-tier stylists he employed found out they couldn't compare to a street sweeper, what would they think?
At noon, Lina took time off to meet Grace. They found a small restaurant near the Sanitation Service Center.
"Lily made things difficult for you that day and made you go through the garbage for a long time. Why didn't you tell me?" Lina complained. As a good friend, she had only learned about this through the news.
"It's not a big deal," Grace said with a faint smile.
Looking at her friend, Lina's heart ached. "It is. It's not fair to you, Grace. You've been through enough!"
Earlier in their friendship, Grace seemed blessed by luck. She excelled in her studies, always topping her classes. After graduating, she joined the city's best law firm and began a relationship with Sean, the most eligible bachelor. Almost everyone envied her, including Lina, who, while happy for her friend, sometimes wished for similar good fortune. After everything Grace had endured, Lina felt extra guilty about those feelings.
They never expected Grace would be falsely convicted, subjected to horrors in prison, and forced to take a job as a street sweeper. The final insult from Lily—hours spent digging through garbage—was too much!
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Grace sighed as Lina shook her head and frowned. "Hey, I'm fine. Really. It's just some garbage." A small smile played on Grace's lips. "Besides, if social media is anything to go by, Lily is the one paying the price. People hate her for what she's done. It seems an affront to common decency."
"It's not enough, Grace. Lily has gone overboard. It's one thing for her family to find someone to deal with you in prison, but they continue to create difficulties even after your release." Lina huffed indignantly.
Grace remained silent. She had suffered greatly in prison, partly from those trying to please Reed Corporation, and partly from those bribed by the Atkinson family. She bore scars, some that would never heal.
My Gorgeous Wife is an Ex-Convict!