In the pitch-black room, I lost all sense of time. I didn’t know how many days had passed. All I knew was that I kept waking up crying, then fainting again over and over. In fact, I might have fainted ten times in total.
Just when I thought I might die in there, the door creaked open. I instinctively closed my eyes.
“You look awful! James said he’d cut off your electricity, not your water. Why can’t you clean yourself up? Go wash and make yourself presentable before you come out!” a voice shouted in disgust.
The moment I looked up, I could see my mother, Margaret Llewelyn, standing in the doorway. As always, she looked graceful and elegant. But her eyes were filled with disdain.
She would only care whether I’ve exceeded her expectation as a good daughter or not. She had never cared about my claustrophobia.
I stared at her blankly. I knew what would happen if I didn’t obey. If I refused, she’d have people drag me out and force me to do what she said. It wasn’t the first time.
After I washed and changed, my mother gave me a quick judging look. Then, she ordered her bodyguards to carry me to the living room.
The living room was wide and bright, but the first thing I saw made my stomach twist. A dog’s corpse was in the middle of the floor. It was Celine’s dog, Bella.
Next to the body, a maid was kneeling on the ground. I frowned, recognizing her. She had always been kind to me.
My mother glared at the servant as she angrily asked the maid, “Tell me, who ordered you to do this?”
Celine sat beside her, crying pitifully. Manwhile, James held her gently. He was comforting her as if she were the only one who mattered.
The maid’s frightened eyes flicked to me. I saw guilt flash in them. Under my mother’s threatening gaze, she finally pointed a shaking finger my way.
“It was … it was Mrs. Goldwyn who told me to do it. She said the dog broke something important and wanted it dead. Please, don’t blame me … I was just following orders! I didn’t want to kill the dog.”
The maid desperately explained, practically begging James and his bodyguards to forgive her.
Celine let out a loud sob as she talked, “Adrianne, you could have come to me if you were angry! Why did you hurt my dog?”
“I know Bella was wrong, but I already said sorry. If that wasn’t enough, you could’ve punished me instead. Why did you take it out on her?”
After she said that, tears streamed down her cheeks. James’ and my mother’s eyes turned cold as they looked at me. After he finished comforting Celine, he turned to me with a hard expression.
“Adrianne, I thought locking you in your room would help you reflect on your behavior. I didn’t expect you to go this far. You even dared to get someone to harm a dog?”
James looked at me with disappointment as if he pitied me before saying, “I’m your husband. I can’t watch you keep making mistakes. Please make up for this. Kneel to Celine’s dog and apologize.”
My mother’s face twisted with disgust.
She told me, “I knew you’d turn out rotten. You’ve always been jealous of Celine. And now you’ve gone after her dog! I agree with James. If we don’t punish you, who knows what you’ll do next?”
Their words hit me like knives. My chest tightened so much that I could barely breathe.
I forced a smile and said, “You’re saying that while I was locked in my room, without my phone, suffering from claustrophobia … but I somehow ordered her to kill Celine’s puppy?”
“I’ll say this once more. I didn’t do it. And I won’t kneel to a dog. It wasn’t the dog’s fault at all. It was someone else’s. James, you can check the CCTV if you don’t believe me.”
I didn’t even look at my mother. I knew that even if she saw the truth, she’d ignore it. My mother would always side with Celine.
I already experienced it first-hand for too many times. And by now, I had stopped expecting hope for her.
