Polly's POV
The next morning, I began packing my things.
Everything I couldn’t take with me, I tossed straight into storage boxes or the trash with no hesitation.
I also took down the only family photo hanging in the living room, where I was the only one smiling.
Funny, isn’t it? Five years together, and this was the only photo we ever took as a family, one Sebastian only agreed to because my parents pressured him into it.
My mind drifted back to when it all began.
Back then, I had just been forced to give up on my dream. I figured if that was how life was going to be, I’d at least commit to the family. I had hope for the future.
“Polly, you're such a kind girl. I’m relieved knowing Christian has you to care for him.”
“Once I finish this race, I’ll give you the wedding of your dreams.”
I believed we could be happy, that I could be a good wife, a good mother. But looking at it now, I was just fooling myself.
“Where’s my warm milk?! Are you just going to stand there staring at that again? I told you I need hot milk every morning!”
Christian’s angry voice rang out behind me.
The maid tried to calm him gently, “Christian, please don’t be upset. Here’s your milk.”
But he shoved her aside and stormed over, snatching the family photo from my hands and smashing it onto the floor.
Glass shattered everywhere. The only family photo we had was now gone, just like this so-called family.
Even so, Christian didn’t care in the slightest. Instead, he glared at me and pointed his finger.
“I want you to make it! Why are you still mooching off my dad in this house, eating and sleeping here while doing absolutely nothing? That’s your job!”
I stared at him silently for a few seconds, then turned and walked into the kitchen.
I warmed the milk and handed it to him. He barely took a sip before he threw it on the floor.
Warm milk splashed all over my shoes, and shards of glass nicked my leg.
“It’s too hot!Do you want to burn me to death? You vicious woman” he snapped.
I knew he did it on purpose. He always did. For years, he never once accepted me. He never saw me as anything more than the help.
For five years, I treated him like he was my own. No matter how cruel he was, I never brought myself to hate him. But all I got in return was escalating abuse.
“What are you staring at? Don’t just stand there, clean it up!”
My fists clenched at my sides. I glanced at him but said nothing, turning to leave.
“Are you deaf?! I told you to clean it up!” he again shouted.
Before I could respond, Sebastian’s voice came from the front door. “What’s going on in here?”
I looked up and saw that he wasn’t alone.
He brought Adele back with him.
I quickly looked away, pretending I didn’t notice her, but Sebastian clearly wasn’t happy with my cold reaction.
He stepped in front of me, frowning. “There’s glass all over the floor. What if Christian steps on it and gets hurt?”
I let out a short, bitter laugh. “What now? Do you really think I’m the maid in this house?”
His face stiffened for a second. Then he frowned deeper. “All I asked was for you to clean the floor. Do you really need to act like this? You’re the only one in this house who does nothing all day. If you’re not cleaning it, should I be doing it?”
From behind him, Adele peeked her head out and knelt down playfully to pick up a shard.
“Let me, Sebastian,” she said sweetly. “Polly is your wife, after all. She may think of herself as an elegant lady.She’s far too refined for chores like this—oh!”
She yelped mid-sentence.
Her finger had been pricked by the glass. A tiny drop of blood welled up, very little, and it disappeared in an instant.
But Sebastian was very worried, rushed to her side, immediately grabbed her hand and placing it in his mouth, panicked.
“Polly should be doing this kind of work. Your hands are meant for racing, not cleaning the floor. If you get hurt, it will break my heart.”
His words stabbed into me like knives.
All my effort, everything I had done over the past five years, now looked like the biggest joke of all.
He didn’t even glance my way again. Instead, he held Adele’s hand as they walked to the master bedroom. Then he ordered the maid to bring her luggage upstairs.
“Adele has an important race coming up. She needs to rest well. Move out of the master bedroom and let her stay there. And make sure her meals are different every day—nutritious and well-balanced.”
It was like he was issuing orders to a servant. Like, I didn’t even have the right to say no.
As soon as Sebastian spoke, Christian ran over and wrapped his arms around Adele.
“Aunt, are you really going to stay with us for a few days? That’s awesome! I wish you were my mom. You could even teach me racing!”
The three of them, standing together like the perfect little family, made my chest ache.
Without a word, I turned and left the room. I hadn’t even made it far when there was a knock on my door.
Suppressing the irritation building inside me, I opened it.
“What do you want?”
My cold tone made Sebastian pause.
“I just want you to understand that Adele and I are just teacher and student. She has a rare talent for racing. I can’t just let that go to waste. I mean, I can’t exactly take you to the racetrack, can I? You don’t know the first thing about it. You’d just embarrass me.”
I didn’t expect him to come and explain himself. But I’d heard all of this before.
The very first time we argued about Adele, he said the same thing.
“You’re just a housewife. You wouldn’t understand the thrill of the race. Don’t twist our relationship with your dirty imagination.”
The memories hit like a thousand tiny bites, each one a sharp sting.
His words echoed in my mind like a broken record.
He reached for my hand, opened his mouth as if to say something.
But before he could speak, Adele’s voice rang out from the other room.
“Sebastian, this wedding dress is gorgeous! Can I have it? I want to wear it too!”
