Chapter 2
Before anyone could react, I’d already undone the clasp on my shawl.
It was the dead of winter, and the venue was well–heated.
But I was standing at the entrance where the cold wind rushed under my gown. The exposed skin on my arms and shoulders prickled with goosebumps.
I reached back and unfastened the hook on my evening gown. The thin fabric of the collar slipped down.
Half my shoulder and neckline became exposed.
“Oh my God!”
Several timid guests in the crowd covered their eyes, too scared to look.
The men, however, watched with obvious interest.
Only Adrian’s eyes darkened like ink. His thin lips pressed together, with just the slight trembling of fingers holding his cigarette betraying any
emotion.
As my gown slipped down, I was practically standing half naked in front of everyone.
Adrian’s cigarette burned his fingertips. He tossed it away, then took off his suit jacket and threw it over me.
“Sophia, you must have a death wish!
“Everyone, close your eyes. If anyone breathes a word about what
0.000
10.383
1
happened here tonight, you won’t live to see tomorrow!
“Now get out! All of you!”
Adrian rarely lost his temper, especially in settings like this.
Everyone present was an old acquaintance and knew better than to linger
Even the nine women Adrian had brought back went upstairs one by one. Only Violet remained standing there.
“Adrian, are you satisfied now? Can you let me go?”
I looked up at him defiantly.
Even with tears welling in my eyes, I refused to let them fall.
I’d cried over Adrian too many times already. I didn’t want to cry for him
anymore.
“Sophia, stop with these pathetic games of playing hard to get. It makes me sick just watching you.”
Adrian still didn’t believe me and warned me not to embarrass the Kensington family.
I took a deep breath and spoke again. “Adrian, I really want a divorce this time.”
Adrian looked like he’d heard the joke of the century. He grabbed the back of my neck and bent my waist forcefully.
“You think you can divorce me? Can you afford your father’s daily hospital bills? Can you pay for your mother’s shopping sprees?
“Sophia, your mother was the first one to kneel before me, begging me not to divorce you!”
12.91%
10.38 13
(Chapter2
11.201
Adrian’s contempt for my mother and me had reached a point where he couldn’t even hide it anymore.
He hated that my mother had drugged him. He hated that I did nothing
about it.
“Even if your mother hadn’t drugged me back then, I would have married you and helped you. But you used the very tactics I despise most!
“Sophia, you destroyed whatever feelings we had with your own hands!”
No matter how many times I tried to explain, Adrian would never believe
- me.
Seeing my silence, Adrian’s frown deepened.
He grabbed me and forced me to kneel in front of the young woman, pressing my neck down to make me put on her shoes.
“Put her shoes on. You’ve been doing this for ten years–you must be an expert by now!”
For ten years, I not only had to take care of Adrian but also serve those nine women.
Things I should and shouldn’t have done, forced and willing–I’d done so many things that made me lose respect for myself.
But now, I just wanted to end it all.
So once again, I obediently put the woman’s shoes on.
Perhaps I was too obedient, which ruined Adrian’s fun.
He dragged me angrily into his room and undressed Violet right in front of me.
40.40%
10:38
Chapter 2
200
I’d seen this scene many times before. Sometimes Adrian would even ask me to teach them what to do.
I tore open a condom package and handed it to him like always.
But this time, Adrian pushed it away.
“We won’t need that tonight.”
My hand trembled as I withdrew it.
Adrian continued what he was doing but unexpectedly looked up at me.
I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t be bothered anymore.
Adrian grew angry again and locked me in the bathroom.
That night, the snow and wind raged outside. The noises from the bedroom were just as intense. I sat there listening all night.
Half–asleep, I was startled awake by a shrill phone ring.
“Miss Rivera? Your mother has been in a car accident. She’s in emergency surgery now. Please come to the hospital right away.”
My heart immediately jumped into my throat.
“Adrian!”
I began banging on the door repeatedly, trying to interrupt the sounds from outside.
Adrian opened the door wearing a bathrobe, its loose collar revealing kiss marks. The woman in his arms clung to him like a second skin.
“What is it?”
“My mom’s been in a car accident. Can you take me to the hospital,
61.53%
10:38 1.0
Chapter 2
please?”
1129
I knelt before him, begging. Tears burst from my eyes, terrified he might refuse out of spite.
“Sophia, you don’t even try to make your lies believable. It’s 3 a.m. with a blizzard outside. Normal people are staying home, not driving. What, did a car crash into your mother’s house?”
Violet snickered, pointing at the pitch–black sky and the snowstorm outside.
Adrian laughed along, not even bothering to lock up. “Sophia, how could you tell such lies?
“What? Can’t stand hearing our sounds anymore?”
Adrian locked the door again.
The more I shouted, the louder they became.
Out of options, I grabbed a nearby stool and smashed the window, climbing out.
Sharp glass cut into my leg, instantly drawing blood.
It was too late at night and snowing too hard to find a taxi.
I could only run forward like a zombie. In the snow, trails of bright red blood formed a horrifying path.
A black Porsche Cayenne pulled up beside me with two short honks.
“Get in.”
62.15%
