"Dad, dad," Madeline screamed at the retreating car. How can a father do this to his own daughter? Marrying her out without her wish and now leaving her to the mysterious man. No, she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to cry because of her father anymore. She'll try and be happy. He left her, he always does. He abandoned her just like he did to her mum and this time, she wasn't going to forgive him. Yes, she had managed to stay with him for the whole 24 years of her life. She has managed to stay with the murderer of her mother. She had let it go but not anymore. She was going to stay strong and fight this battle with her hands.
Madeline turned to her back and her eyes met with a pair of blue eyes. They were staring back at her without any expression. She raised her head and straightened her face. She wasn't going to show any form of weakness to this mysterious man. Why isn't he saying anything? He was just staring at her with his hands folded under his chest."Get into the car," she heard him order."M..me?""Is there someone else here apart from the two of us? Get in quickly," he repeated as he turned around to enter the driver's seat. Elias got into his car and waited for her to come in. He obviously have no time to waste as he pressed on the horn harshly making her shake with shockHe should have done this with a smarter girl than her. He was doing all of this for himself and no one else. He should have done this years ago and completed his revenge mission but he had to postpone it to a better time. Well, not all delays are dangerous.Elias watched as Madeline walked around to the front seat and opened the door. He watched as she hesitantly entered the car and sat as if she was sitting with the messenger of death. He turned on the car and it accelerated like a bullet out of the civil affair bureau. In between the journey, Madeline felt the urge to ask him where they were going. They have been on this journey for quite some time now and she had no idea where they were going. Wait! What if he was kidnapping her or maybe he was going to do something bad to her? Her mind was filled with lots of thoughts right now and her heart was beating loudly that she feared that he was going to hear it.She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself and when she opened them again, she mustered the courage and asked."Wh...where are we going?" She received no reply from him. She asked again this time louder and clearer than the first."Where are we going?""Home."The only word that fell from his lips.Home. That name sounded so familiar in her ears yet so foreign. She has no home. No place to call home. She wasn't welcomed anymore in her father's mansion and who was this guy to her that she was going to call his home hers? Life has really shown her its true colors."Which home? We have been driving for almost two hours. Where on earth is your home?" She asked."Our home," Elias replied and she rolled her eyes."Your home, not ours. I have no home," Madeline mumbled."You have to get used to calling it your home, Madeline. You don't have any other home so get used to it," he said in a rough tone with the movement of his lips, hidden by the golden face mask.Elias drove into a lone street with lots of tall buildings and Madeline couldn't help and gawk at them until they got to an estate with a silver gate that automatically slid up. He drove in and the car stopped at the entrance of a big mansion. He climbed down from the car and headed into the mansion but stopped when he noticed she wasn't behind him. He turned only to still find her inside the car staring at her hands. He walked to her side of the car and opened the door for her to come out."Come out," he ordered and she moved her gaze toward him. Madeline climbed down from the car and stared around.As he said, she would have to accept this place and get used to calling it her home. If she steps foot into the mansion today, that only means a brand new life to her. A life of endurance and a life of loneliness.About four young maids were waiting for them inside the house and as soon as they gets to them, they quickly bowed their heads and greeted."Welcome master, welcome ma'am."Madeline only forced a smile at them for a second and brought her face back to normal. There's no use being nice here."Madeline," Elias called and she stared at him. "This is Kate and she's going to be your personal maid. Kate, show her to her bedroom and make sure there are no mistakes," he ordered turning to leave but before he could do that a loud voice was heard coming from the stairs."Brother Elias, brother Elias," an excited scream came from the stairs, and coming down from it was a beautiful girl of about 18 years old. She got down the stairs and ran into the arms of Elias."You're back, brother Elias. I was waiting for you. You should come to see my new drawing," she smiled as she held his hands in her little ones, ready to take him along with her, but her eyes trail to the lady in red standing close to her brother."Who are you and why are you here?" She asked. "Are you my brother's mistress? You're so shameless. Don't you feel ashamed coming to our home!?" She yelled at Madeline who was taken aback."And you, where do you think you're taking her to?" She looked at kate. "M-master asked me to show her to her bedroom,""What bedro..." "Claire!" A deep voice called sending shivers down their body. "Stop it. From today you shall call her sister-in-law, understood? I'll come to look at your drawing later. Now, go to your bedroom," he ordered before walking away. "Sister-in-law my ass. She's not even beautiful. Hmph!" She said and abruptly turned and walked away. Madeline stood still with her mouth agape. Did a little girl just call her shameless and a mistress? Goodness! Why was she finding all of this funny? Her whole life was funny. She has been facing all sorts of disrespect for the past week and the most painful part was the part of this little girl. Strange how much the maids were scared of her. She saw how Kate stuttered and shivered when she was answering her question. A little girl yield that much brattiness. Seems like someone needs to teach the spoiled girl some manners.
Elias stared coldly at her, how dare she take his mask off and she wasn't feeling remorseful about it. The only people he let see his full face were his family. His dad and his sister, then a few of his workers. No one else has ever seen his complete face ever since he took over his dad's company. And now, a stranger whom he only met today dares to take off his mask and looked at his face. He honestly felt like strangling her to death right now, but he wouldn't do that. If he makes any mistake now, it would ruin the whole of his plans and that would be so bad for him."Can't you hear me? I asked you a question," he heard her ask and his anger rose to the brim. He stretched his hand to the back of her head and clenched part of her hair in his hand, bringing her head closer to him, causing her to flinch in pain. "Don't you ever dare speak to me that way, understood?" He asked releasing her hair from his hold. "This is my room and you have no right to ask me why I'm here.""Y..you mean,
~At Claire's Room~Claire was lying on her bed and dialing a number on her phone and she put it close to her ears. "Come on, pick up your phone Lisa, damn it," she muttered as she sat up on the bed. The phone went through for some seconds before it went off, indicating that the person on the other line, failed to pick up the call. She dialed the number again, put it on speaker, and placed it on the bed. The phone ranged three times before the person on the other line answered."Claire... What the hell? Why are you disturbing me at this time of the night? *Yawn* I was actually having a good night's rest," the person on the other line said."Shut up, Lisa. Everything is a mess here and you're busy sleeping like a log while I'm trying to fix things," Claire scolded. "What's the mess that's making you call me at this time umm? You know how much I fancy my beauty sleep right?" "You just keep quiet before I get angry at you and say something wrong," Claire warned angrily, and Lisa gasp at
Madeline walked downstairs, heading towards the main door in hurry but she halted when she found Elias seated on the couch. She thought he had left the mansion and gone to his company or wherever he works. "Where do you think you're going?" She heard him ask."I thought you already left.""That's not what I asked. Was it?""I...I'm leaving for work. I'm late," Madeline answered. "I was never informed that you work. I thought only your sister works in your father's company. Tell me, where do you work?" He asked in confusion and Madeline narrowed her eyes. He wants to know everything about her which she doesn't feel like telling him."You don't have to care about where I work just like I don't care where you work. We should learn to respect each other's privacy." Elias stood up and walked closer to her. He bent until he was the same height as her and whispered coldly into her ears. "Only I am allowed to have privacy in this mansion. Nothing is private here. Now, tell me where you work
Madeline sighed as she fiercely swerved around to face him. What the hell? How did he know she was going to go out, that he had to lock the door? Wait! It wasn't locked from the inside, it was locked from the outside, which means..."What is this? How did the door got locked from the outside?""I told you before, right? Only my orders work here and no one else. If I ask anyone to dance, they will, and if I ask them to jump into the sea, they will. I believe you've gotten why it's locked from the outside. If you still don't get it, then forget it," Elias said and Madeline could only stare at him with hateful eyes. "Now, go into the room and come down to have breakfast whenever you feel like it. Everything you want would be given to you. So there's no use owning a little restaurant. Get it?" he asked and walked out of the mansion not forgetting to lock the door behind him. Madeline dropped her bag on the floor and looked up in defeat. She felt her tears flow freely from her eyes as she
Tina was happy that her boss has finally left her father's house where the mother and daughter duo are. It's a good thing she's married and that too to the son of the Johan family. That family was so powerful and influential that only the name Johan could make a grown man pee on himself. With this power and influence, she was sure no one would dare to bully Madeline, not her sister, not her mother, and not even her father. She was safe from those bullies. "I'm not interested and I don't want to know what men like. Thank you for taking care of the restaurant in my absence. I really appreciate it," Madeline appreciated."It's fine Mrs. Johan. It's my job and I'm being paid for it. B...but we have only one problem," Tina informed."What? What's the problem?""One of our workers stole money from the restaurant,""Omo. Really? Who did?" Madeline asked in shock. There has never been any case of stealing in her restaurant before. All her workers were always screened every day and she made s
Evelyn felt the air around her become tense and she spat out more words. "I...It's claire. She told me that you suddenly brought a woman home and you told her to call her sister-in-law. S...she also told me that you let her sleep in your room and then you al...""Stop it, now. I'm not interested in hearing all of those things," Elias snapped. "But why did you get married to someone else? What did she have that I don't? I'm more beautiful, we've known each other the longest, and I love you too. So much that I can do anything you say. If you ask me to jump down a five-floor, I...I might do it," Evelyn said in a sweet and sorrowful voice as she pushed herself closer to him, trying to touch his chest. Elias abruptly dragged himself away from her and he almost fell but managed to keep himself stable."What the fuck are you doing, Evelyn?" He asked. "I'm sorry I tried to touch you without permission, but you can't do this to me. Please, I love you so much.""You can keep dreaming. I'm ou
The early morning breeze blew strongly as Madeline's hair got romanced by the wind and a few strands covered part of her face. She suddenly regretted why she didn't tie it into a ponytail. She held the bedsheets in form of a rope tightly and her heartbeat accelerated with every passing minute. She was scared to her wits and her hands were shaking.She has never been this brave in her entire life and this was the first time she was pulling a stunt like this. Bending her head to look down, her hands almost let go of the rope bedsheets in fear and her whole body shook in the air. The rope bedsheet was now showing her a sign that it was not strong anymore. She was almost there. She was on the third floor and just two floors were remaining before she gets to the ground. She was terrified by all of this. What if the rope bedsheets suddenly cut and she fell? If she ever survives it would be a miracle and her well-shaped waist would be dislocated.Ring! Ring!Her phone rang loudly in her bag