Chapter 2
730 Words
Everyone knew Quinn was the considerate one.
She never asked for anything, never fought for anything.
When offered the master bedroom, she'd say she was embarrassed, but she'd take it in the end.
When I hired a nanny for her, she'd insist it wasn't necessary, but she'd still enjoy being waited on.
When I gave her my Maybach, she'd say it was too much trouble, but she'd end up sitting in the car, refusing to get out.
She truly didn't need to fight for anything.
Whatever she wanted, all she had to do was say she wasn't worthy, and someone would naturally help her take it from me.
But I was burning up, completely drained. I didn't have the energy to keep playing along with her act.
I looked at Emily.
"Help her pack her bags."
Everyone in the room froze.
Quinn jerked her head up. "Briar?"
"Didn't you want to move out?" I asked, dead serious.
"You can leave now. It's not even dark yet, and you don't have much stuff. Get a cab and you'll be there in forty minutes."
Reign stepped forward. "Where are you telling her to move?"
I replied, "Doesn't your company have an apartment in the west of the city? Let her stay there for now. Tomorrow I'll have someone clean it and get her a cook. I'll still cover her medical bills. No one's wronging her."
Reign said, "That area is remote. How can a young woman live there alone?"
I pointed outside and said, "Then you move over there to keep her company. You can leave right now."
Reign looked at the doorway but didn't respond.
In the middle of the standoff, Reign's mother, Magnolia, walked in.
She held a cross, wearing a long face.
Magnolia said, "You're going to kick out Reign's savior over a piece of clothing? Is that how this family raised you?"
I asked, "So Magnolia also thinks she can't leave?"
Magnolia replied, "Of course not!"
I nodded and said, "Fine. Then from now on, you buy her clothes, your son provides the car, and you give her money for daily expenses. I'll manage the household's normal expenses, but for anything extra, whoever cares so much can foot the bill."
The living room suddenly went quiet.
Magnolia's grip on the cross tightened even more.
Reign stared at his phone screen, not knowing what he was looking at.
The nanny who had just been speaking up for Quinn quietly stepped back half a step.
I waited a while. No one pulled out their wallet.
So it wasn't that they couldn't bear to see Quinn wronged. They just couldn't bear to spend their own money.
Finally, Reign pulled five hundred dollars in cash from his wallet and slapped it onto the table.
"I'll pay, alright?"
When he took clothes from my wardrobe, he hadn't been this careful.
"Why are you asking me?" I glanced at Quinn. "She wears the clothes, you play the good guy, so you should pay the money. That's only fair."
Reign stormed upstairs.
Quinn followed him. Neither of them looked back.
When she reached the staircase, she paused and glanced back at me.
I ignored her.
Three days later, my fever broke.
Before I could even get out of bed, Emily handed me an invitation.
It was for the christening dinner of Reign's cousin's baby.
Emily said with a strained expression, "Magnolia said that since Quinn is living here, she's a guest of the Voss family, and as Mrs. Voss, you should prepare some decent clothes for her."
I asked, "Doesn't she have her own clothes?"
Emily said, "She does, but they're all cheap. Your mother-in-law is afraid of embarrassing the Voss family."
There it is again, that family reputation.
This thing is quite abstract in our family.
Usually invisible and intangible, but the moment I need to pay up, it rears its head.
I looked at Emily and said, "Fine. I'll take her to the mall and put it on the family card."
Emily's face grew even more troubled.
"That's not what Magnolia meant," she said.
Emily added, "She means your Chanel haute couture gown is going to Miss Quinn."
I laughed.
"So the clothes have already been picked out, and all that's left is my go-ahead, right?"
Emily nodded grimly.
"Madam, they're bullying you too much! You can't agree!"
I gave a slight nod.
- Writer
