Secretly Mine
Chapter 42: Anger, Sadness, and Hatred

Chapter 42: Anger, Sadness, and Hatred

As soon as I got home, my father called me into his study. I stared at the double doors that I’ve longed to enter majority of my life. But now, I felt a gnawing pit in my stomach every time I was called in here.

"What did you learn today?" my father asked directly, without greeting me first.

I took a deep breath, "Christian will be leaving the country next week to meet with the Amato family. It sounds like it will be a week-long trip."

After relaying Christian’s message, I looked up to see my father’s reaction.

"WHAT? The Amato family? First, the Lombardis and now the Amatos! Is he trying to make a fool out of me?" my father yelled angrily.

He slammed his fists on the desk, causing papers to fly off.

"I won’t let anyone get in the way. Tomorrow, you and your sister will be attending the dinner event. Make sure the Lombardis don’t get what they want! Understand?"

"Yes, Father."

After hearing this outcome, my mind began to race.

Is this another one of Christian’s schemes so that he could spend more time with me?

"I will tell your mother to prepare appropriate dresses for you both. While Morgan takes the opportunity to show off her relationship with Christian, you need to watch the Lombardis closely."

I quietly nodded.

"Leave."

His cold tone stung. While I had gotten used to his cold and distant demeanor, the blatant disregard still hurt me.

-

I expected to see Morgan on my way back to my room. She always had a knack for stealthily popping out of nowhere to either threaten or lecture me, but this time she was nowhere to be seen.

As soon as I arrived, I sat down on the corner of my bed and pulled out Christian’s gold chain from my pocket.

Our conversation from last night played in my mind. I tried to picture how I would feel if my mother or father were murdered, but to my surprise, I realized that I didn’t feel any overly strong emotions like Christian had.

He must have been really close to his mother. I wonder what that feels like.

While I was lost in thought, I heard a knock on my door.

"Second Miss, Madame sent over a dress for tonight’s dinner," a maid said from the hallway.

Mother sent over a dress for dinner? Is there an event? I wasn’t aware that there was something special going on tonight.

I opened the door and accepted the dress.

"You said it was for tonight’s dinner? Not for tomorrow, correct?" I asked to make sure.

I know Father said that he will ask Mother to prepare a dress for me and Morgan for tomorrow. Maybe there was a mistake.

"That is correct, Second Miss. Madame placed a special, rushed order for the two evening gowns for tomorrow’s event, however, we won’t receive them until tomorrow," she explained.

I opened my mouth to ask what was special about tonight’s dinner, but the maid excused herself, saying she had to help with the preparations.

After staring at the box for a few moments, I walked over and placed it on my bed.

"Let’s see what Mother chose for me this time."

The moment I opened the box, my face paled. Inside was a long, sheer, nude gown that perfectly matched my skin tone.

It had a corset bodice and a long skirt, but none of that mattered since the material it was made from was nearly see-through.

My hands began to shake as I held the dress up. There was only one reason why my mother would make me wear something so indecent-- Karl.

Every part of me wanted to grab a pair of scissors and tear the dress to shreds. It would be very easy due to the ultra-thin fabric, but I knew that if I did that, something even worse would be given to me.

Please, God, don’t let it be Karl.

I hated how he began to visit more and more often. For someone who was just a subordinate to my father, I didn’t see how he qualified to visit us so often.

It took me a long time to convince myself to put the dress on, and when I did, I couldn’t believe my mother would have me wear something like this.

The reflection in the mirror showed me just how perfectly the color matched my skin tone. From a distance, it looked like I wasn’t wearing anything unless you took a closer look.

It was tight, form-fitting, and left little to the imagination.

After taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I finally stepped out of my room to head to dinner.

"Wow! Mother really outdid herself, dear sister."

Morgan met me in the hallway, glancing up and down my figure. While she wore an amused expression, I could see the fires of jealousy in her eyes.

"I think you’re smart enough to realize who our special guest is today. I hope you enjoy his company," she smiled and walked forward.

I had nothing to say to her. I knew that she was trying to get under my skin, and it wouldn’t be worth wasting my breath on her.

As soon as I made it to the dining room, I felt a pair of lecherous eyes on me.

"My my, the dress I picked out is indeed beautiful," said Karl, walking over to take a closer look.

I instantly felt sick as my stomach twisted into knots.

"It suits her very well," Morgan chimed in, holding back a laugh.

The disgust welled up inside me. I couldn’t believe I was actually wearing a dress picked out by him.

Both Father and Mother simply smiled at me, ignoring the pleading looks I was sending them.

I took my usual seat at the table, doing my best to keep it together.

It’ll be an hour tops. I can do this.

"Leslie, today, why don’t you sit next to Karl?" my mother said in a somewhat threatening tone.

Before I had a chance to back away, Karl grabbed me by the hand and forcefully pulled me over to the opposite side of the table to sit beside him.

As soon as I sat down, my mother called the servants in to serve the food.

I sat like a statue, doing my best to ignore everything that was happening around me. Karl didn’t take his beady eyes off of me for a single moment, even licking his lips as his eyes traveled down my body.

My plate didn’t see a single crumb of food the entire evening, yet nobody seemed to care.

I remembered how Christian brought food for me last night. It was so touching that I felt like crying just thinking about it now.

-

"Leslie, go walk Karl to his car," my father ordered after dinner.

Karl didn’t even wait for me to stand up before he walked over and pulled me out of my chair.

I subtly tried pulling my hand back, but he was a lot stronger than it looked.

His fingers gripped my wrist, cutting off my circulation.

"Come on, you pretty thing. Let’s have a nice chat on the way," he said, swallowing the drool in his mouth.

Morgan flashed me an amused smile as I was dragged into the hallway.

In the hallway, Karl took the liberty of placing his arm around my waist as we walked towards the entrance.

The entire time, I kept praying that we could teleport to the door so that I could get away from him.

"I have a few more dresses for you to wear for me in the future. I like the way this one hugs your ass," he said, lowering his hand from my waist to feel me up.

"Please, sir. Show some respect!" I said furiously, taking a step back.

His frightening face turned even scarier as he flared up in anger. "Listen, doll. I suggest you keep your mouth shut. I don’t like bitches when they speak. You just need to sit pretty and let me have my way with you!"

His hand gripped my neck forcefully, causing me to gasp for air.

"Remember what I said for next time. Your father wouldn’t be able to do even half of the amount of business that he does without me. So it’s in your best interests to please me."

His grip finally loosened, allowing me to finally take a deep breath.

Anger, sadness, and hatred welled up inside of me. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I glared at his disappearing figure as he walked outside.

I hope you die!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.