Baton Rouge.

Chapter 32 - !!!!!!

"It doesn't look damaged or anything." Rosa murmured as she looked at the bracelet. "It's fine, sweetie."

Melissa felt guilty and sorry for her grandmother. She gave her a sad look, placing her hand onto her shoulder.

"Grandma, I'm so sorr-"

"Melissa, you owe this entire family an apology." Rodrigo said as he walked back in front of her door.

"Really, Rodrigo?" Rosa snarled. "Let's not do this at a New Year party-"

"She let this thief into my house and continued to see him after I've repeatedly warned her about him. He could've stole anything here that had more value." Rodrigo snapped, looking back at Melissa. "You get downstairs and you apologize to this family right now."

Melissa and Rosa walked down the stairs as Louis walked up to her.

"Melissa, did he really still from grandma!?" Louis scowled lowly.

Melissa looked up at Louis, then brushed past him as she walked into the living room.

"Everyone, Everyone!" Rodrigo said loudly as he walked in the middle of the room. "Melissa would like to say something."

Melissa walked into the middle of the room, looking at everyone as Maria folded her arms and glanced at her. The room became silent as Melissa looked down.

"I uh......the boy that I hung around with wasn't what I thought he was. He was a thief and he stole my grandmothers bracelet that she received from my grandfather.." Melissa murmured, looking down and trying not to cry. "I now realize that he could've stole something of more value, and for that I wanted to apologize. Especially to my family because....."

Tears ran down Melissa's eyes as she ran up the stairs. Rosa gazed at her, turning to Rodrigo as everyone in the house started to chat lowly to themselves.

"The boy was only trying to find some money for his mother, Rodrigo!" Rosa snapped.

"I don't care WHO he was trying to find money for!" Rodrigo barked at her. "He stole it from here and he stole from a girl he claimed he was supposed to like. No type of reason would make his behavior excusable and you should know considering the fact that he stole from YOU!"

Rosa shook her head, slamming her paper plate down as she walked back upstairs.

"I'm not in the mood to party anymore.."

During the whole entire New Years party, Melissa sat in her room with the TV on mute. She did nothing but stare at the wall, trying to piece together everything that'd just happened in the last hour. While everyone downstairs celebrated the holiday, Maria came upstairs and peeked inside of her room.

"Knock knock." Maria smiled. "Are you coming downstairs, sweetie?"

Melissa didn't answer. She kept the same blank expression on her face, not moving and barely breathing as she stared at her wall. Maria sighed, sitting beside her on her bed.

"Listen Melissa, I'm not gonna rub in your face and tell you that we told you so, but this is what me and your father saw coming from a mile away." Maria said in a low tone. "When we're hard on you, you have to understand that we do this because of situations like that. We knew that that boy was bad news from the beginning."

Melissa remained silent for a few more minutes before she slowly opened her mouth.

"I can't believe that I actually believed everything he said..." Melissa murmured in a dazed tone as she continued to stare at the wall, almost as if she wasn't there.

Maria turned around, looking down.

"Well you won't have to worry about him anymore."

Meanwhile at the police station...