Trapped With My Cold Obssessed Boss

“Don't tell me you're moving out because of that little misunderstanding between us? You really have a problem with everything we do in this house. What exactly do you want from me? Should I get on my knees and beg? Is that it?" My mother said while she stood by the door and watched me pack my bags. I was moving out. "I've told you several times that I'm moving because I got a job that offered me accomodations, and no, I do not need you to get on your knees and beg me. I just want you to leave me alone.” I sighed and went back to packing when I heard my little sister's comment. “She's lying Mom, she wants to run away, she's never coming back." She murmured beside my Mom, they both stood by the door, watching me. Instead of reacting like I always did, I chose to ignore. I couldn't wait to finally leave this house. I would be far from here where they would no longer abuse me or use me. I continued packing and my eyes occasionally fell on the bruises on my wrist. A sign of the beatings I received yesterday for being too excited for getting a job. The acceptance email came yesterday and I excitedly showed my Mom and sister and what I got was beatings in return. This was what she referred to as the ‘little misunderstanding’ by the way. "Since your father died, we are all we've got in this family, yet look at you, trying to leave us to fend for ourselves all alone when you know how hard we struggle.” Of course I did, my poor father died and left nothing but debt behind. A huge debt I was forced to pay all by myself. I've had to drop out of college to work multiple jobs to slowly pay off the debt because the loan sharks were already on our neck. The debt, however, wasn't finishing at all. The more debt I cleared, the more loan sharks showed up with proof of my father's debt. Which was why I got this new job that paid better than the minor jobs I did here. Although, the payment wasn't the only reason I took it. The accomodations it offered was why I took it. I wanted to be gone and far away from these people's lives. As someone who shouldered the family's financial burden alone, the least I could get in return was respect. Instead, they made me miserable, ridiculed me, insulted me, beat me up and even manipulate me whenever I tried to fight back, just like she's doing now. “I'm only but a widow, the farm is barely yielding anything and the cows are going missing, if you leave us here alone, we may die of hunger! Lena, please listen to me and stay back!" I could hear the tears in her voice but I refused to look at her or even acknowledge her. My late father had left behind a huge farm with cows in it and currently, only two malnourished cows was left. I knew my Mom had been secretly selling the cows and keeping the money to herself but I pretended not to know. Almost thirty minutes went by and I was finally done packing, within those times, my Mom and sister were still trying to manipulate me into staying back but I turned a deaf ear. I was leaving. I grabbed my small suitcase with just my clothes and important things in it and stood in the middle of my small bedroom. I grew up here and had created lots of memories here, the good times and the bad times. I was finally leaving with no plans of ever coming back. I walked towards the small broken mirror on the wall and stared at my own reflection. Brown long disheveled hair, pale face, small nose, a red lip and big brown eyes that stared back. My gaze moved and they landed on the scar near my jaw, a part of me I never knew where it came from, something I was insanely insecure about. I hated the scar. I turned to walked towards my mother who still stood by the door with my little sister. She looked really angry but I ignored it. I dipped my hand into my old tote bag and pulled out a brown envelope, I walked towards them and gave it to her. “What's that?" She hissed as she stared at the envelope before looking back at me. “It's the money I've been able to save up, I'm giving it to you." I said and couldn't wait for this to be over. “What's this supposed to mean? Does this mean you are cutting yourself out of our lives for good? You can't do that Lena, you can't! You'll never be able to run away from your responsibilities! We are your responsibilities! No matter where you go or who you become, you will never escape it. Now let me make this clear, you must continue paying off that debt, you will not stop paying your sister's college fee because that's your responsibility!" She snapped, snatched the money out of my hand and walked away with my sister following behind her. I didn't miss the look my little sister gave me, a not so pleasant one. For ten minutes straight, I remained where I stood with my still outstretched hand now empty. The words my mother said to me kept replaying repeatedly in my head. I could feel the tears building up, I swallowed the lump in my throat and finally drop my hand to my sides. How could she say that to me? I thought and blinked my eyes repeatedly to stop the tears from flowing freely. Her words broke me in ways I could never imagine. For the first time in a really long time, I felt lonely, I felt used, I felt stupid, I felt broken. I took an extra three minutes to regulate my emotions before stepping out. However, I couldn't fight the tears when I kept thinking about everything inside the taxi that took me from the town where I've lived my whole life to the city where I would soon start a new life. My face was red and wet from crying, I thought I had calmed my emotions but I was so wrong. I couldn't stop thinking about the past events that had happened where I questioned my existence and wondered if I was truly my mother's child, but I was because I was the perfect photocopy of her whole face. I had my mother's face entirely, every feature a copy of hers, and she still hated me. While my sister on the other hand had her features from my Dad. But she still hated me. My mother hated me. I cried even more and the only thing that stopped my tears was when we finally arrived at the destination. The driver drove into a huge compound that had an equally huge mansion in it. As a village girl, I had never seen anything like this before. I gaped in awe as I stepped out of the taxi. Words alone would never be enough for me to describe the magnificence of this mansion before me, I could perform a whole opera to express my feelings. I sniffed and wiped my wet nose with the back of my sleeves when my eyes fell on a slim looking man dressed corporately standing by the huge double doors of the mansion. The taxi drove off after dropping me, I picked up my small suitcase and walked towards the entrance. “Welcome Madame, this way please." The slim man said with an accent I couldn't quite place. French, maybe. The double doors opened and we walked into the mansion, the inside looked even better than the outside. I couldn't hide my admiration as I looked around and for a moment, it felt like I wasn't on earth anymore, maybe heaven. The house was beautifully decorated in a cream and gold interior with lights shinning so brightly everywhere. “The young madame has arrived, Sir." The slim man said with a small bow and I frowned wondering who he was speaking to because I stood behind him and couldn't see. Curious, I stepped to the side and that was when my eyes fell on a very handsome man. He looked even beautiful, like a god. He sat with his back relaxed on a couch, his long and powerful legs were spread out. My eyes moved up and they fell on his dark eyes, he wasn't staring at me at first. “Thank you, Stephen. You may leave.” I heard him say while he gave a dismissive wave at his butler, his voice was deep and pleasing to the ears, I could listen to him talk all day. As soon as the butler walked away, his eyes finally fell on me and I thought I imagined the electric feeling that filled my body. With my hands clutching my suitcase, I stared back. However, he wasn't just staring. I could see his eyes, fixated on the scar on my jaw. I shifted uncomfortably as I fidgeted with my suitcase. I hated this. Few minutes went by with the both of us staring at each other when he finally broke the silence. “Are you dumb?" What?!