“I’m not holding a grudge against Isabella Hughes—nor do I need to.”
“The truth is, my contract with the Hughes family has expired. I’ve fulfilled everything I promised you, and since Isabella despises me this much, staying here has no meaning at all…”
“How could it have no meaning?”
Margaret Hughes approached with her usual warm, practiced smile. She clasped my hand and said,
“Sophia, we know your greatest hope has always been to gain the Hughes family’s recognition, to truly become our daughter-in-law.”
“As long as you’re willing to stay, I promise you’ll be our only daughter-in-law. As long as you keep looking after Isabella, I’ll agree to anything you want as my daughter-in-law.”
“From now on, this household will be yours to command.”
Her voice was gentle, every word dripping with emotional manipulation.
She placed herself on a pedestal of virtue, stirring the crowd to criticize me in the name of morality.
It was what she did best.
I shook my head firmly.
“No, Mrs. Hughes. None of that is necessary. Fulfill the contract—let me go, as agreed.”
Her mask shattered instantly, her eyes turning cold as ice.
“The Hughes family is the city’s most powerful household. So many people beg to get in, yet you, ungrateful girl, don’t cherish it? Is it because I’ve spoiled you too much?”
Her words only made me laugh inside.
Their so-called kindness and indulgence had never been anything but using me as free labor.
So I ignored her and went upstairs to my room.
Closing the door behind me, I began packing.
All I could take away from this house fit into one small suitcase—mostly work documents and notes.
Copies of every contract I had negotiated for the Hughes family over three years, along with hundreds of pages of market analyses I’d written myself.
These should have been my achievements.
Now, they were just golden plaques the Hughes family flaunted as their own.
I heard soft footsteps outside the door.
Without looking back, I knew instantly it was Isabella.
She pushed the door open, that infuriating smile still plastered on her face.
Clicking her high heels, she walked straight up to me, arms folded as she looked down at me.
“You’re not seriously leaving, are you? Sophia, I thought you’d cry and beg to cling to our family.”
I lifted my gaze, meeting hers with my one uninjured eye.
“Don’t worry—I won’t cry.”
My tone was as calm as if I were commenting on the weather.
“I just want you to remember—every action you take will come with a price, sooner or later.”
Isabella sneered.
“Threatening me? Do you still think you’re Mrs. Hughes? Don’t forget—once you leave this family, you’ll be nothing.”
She ground out the last word through clenched teeth.
I didn’t argue, only placed the files neatly into my suitcase.
“Then wait and see.”
My composure seemed to rattle her. She stormed forward and kicked over a stack of documents at my feet.
Papers scattered across the floor, and she stomped down on them.
“You really want to take this garbage with you?”
I ignored her, calmly gathering the ones she hadn’t stepped on.
The more indifferent I was, the more agitated she became.
Whichever file I reached for, she deliberately stomped on.
But in switching feet, she lost her balance—
and fell hard to the floor.
