[Song recommendation: Mia Rodriguez - Psycho, slowed ver.]
"After that day, my family was in shambles. My brothers and I had to help our Mom to do odd jobs and part times to earn money and survive," Diamond continued. "I had to stop thinking like a teenager. I buried my dream to go to university and become a part-time model since I was fifteen."
"I'm not as smart as the oldest of my brothers, Desmond. He got a scholarship and achieved what he wanted by going to law school. But that also meant he couldn't help us to earn money, because he was busy studying and working part-time to support himself in a new city."
"So the responsibility fell to my Mom, and naturally me as well. I didn't want to see my Mom getting too exhausted, so I worked hard to do casting as a young model. Did you know what kind of harsh world I have to enter just to earn money?" Diamond paused for a moment.
The topic was too upsetting for her because she had to dig up all the painful memories she had working as a teenage model. Knowing how cutthroat the industry was was especially painful for a poor black girl like her.
"Did you know all the sleepless nights I have to endure because of depression? I hated working as a model, but I had to do it because I need money," Diamond said. "It was thanks to my boss who took me in when I was twenty-- five years into the modeling industry-- he noticed my talent of reading people's intentions and hired me as a secretary."
"Because of that one person-- Carter Fallingham-- I have lost my innocence, my childhood, my teenage years, and also lost my dream to go to university," Diamond said. "Now you know how much I hate a bastard like him, right? Those bastards who would use someone's vulnerability for their own gain."
"Carter knew that Derik was too young and mentally unstable to understand most of his actions, so he influenced him to earn as much profit as possible. That man was really sick in the head, and I can't wait to kill someone just like him."
Shailene was instantly reminded of Chloe. That woman was the kind of woman Diamond would hate the most since she was manipulative to young Vernon.
'This woman is undoubtedly dangerous. I need to make her my friend, no matter how messed up she is,' Shailene thought. 'She will hate Chloe for what she did, and she might channel her hatred by killing that manipulative bitch instead.'
Shailene was still scared that someone might send Diamond to attack her. But Shailene could tell that Diamond was messed up in her head, so Shailene could use this to her advantage and gain more allies.
"It's Chloe!" Shailene suddenly mentioned.
Diamond frowned, "Huh?"
"Yes! Chloe Gray! She is the one behind everything in the Gray family! She is a bitch who manipulated young Vernon to submit to her. He was a mentally unstable kid with a lot of trauma in his head, and Chloe used the chance to groom him!" Shailene yelled as she continued slandering Chloe. "She is the worst kind of woman on earth! If you want to hurt someone real bad, then you should attack her instead!"
...
There was a silence from Diamond, and Shailene thought it meant Diamond was contemplating whether she should believe it.
"You don't believe me? Then you should ask Madam Gray about this! Look at her current mental condition, she is in a deep depression! You can also look at Mr. Vincent Gray, he got messed up in the head! Now the most obvious one, Vernon. If Madam Gray hasn't told you yet, he got together with Chloe and became her love slave. She manipulated that poor young man by grooming him! I bet she also molested him when he was young!"
Diamond's eyes turned frigid as she continued listening to Shailene's words. Not because she believed her but because she was full of bullcrap.
This woman was exactly the type of person that Diamond hated. She was no different than Carter Fallingham.
Shailene was convinced that Diamond's silence meant she was contemplating, probably forming a scenario about Chloe's sin inside her head. Shailene felt a triumph in her heart, 'As expected, I still have the touch. It's not hard to influence a mentally unstable woman like this one.'
"Y--You see, all I want to do is to free the Gray family from that woman's clutch, especially Vernon. He has been abused, and groomed since he was a child, don't you think that he deserves a better person by his side rather than Chloe?"
"And that better person is you?" Diamond asked.
Shailene choked on air as Diamond suddenly asked something she tried to conceal as much as possible. She tried to stay silent, but Diamond pulled her hair harder. "Ouch--Ouch, stop pulling my hair!"
"ANSWER!" Diamond snapped.
"Y--Yes! I admit, that's me! I am a better person than Chloe. I love Vernon much more than she could ever have, and I'm not a manipulative bitch like she is!" Shailene admitted. "Besides, I work to help people! Don't you see that I'm a renowned psychologist? Everyone wants to go to me because they know that I'm a good person!"
"I see," Diamond finally released Shailene's hair, and Shailene's upper body fell to the front. She hit the ground face-first and grimaced in pain for a while.
Diamond circled around Shailene, who was still trying to recover until she stood right before her, with her stiletto tapping the floor.
"I never knew that you had that kind of opinion about Chloe Gray," Diamond said. "It's never been on my mind before."
Shailene propped herself with her arms and lifted her head to look up at the crazy black lady in front of her. She believed she had convinced Diamond, "I know you don't like a manipulative bitch like Chloe, and so do I! Let's join forces and we can kick that toxic woman away!"
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