CHAPTER EIGHT
516 Words
The moment I stepped through the front door, the living room felt too quiet—too expectant.
Then a sharp slap cracked across my cheek.
My step mother—stood there with her hand still raised, chest heaving, eyes bright with humiliation and fury.
“You are trending!” she screamed. “Trending for disgrace! For shame! How dare you humiliate this family like that?! On camera!”
Before I could catch my breath, my stepsister, pearl, strutted forward with her phone in her hand.
“Honestly, Ella,” she sneered. “Did you think Rowan would ever choose someone like you? Look at you, Look at me,He has taste,Class.
You think crying in public makes you special?”
Wait till I become one of his models....
I blinked rapidly, refusing to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break again.
My stepmother added her voice, stepping closer to her father.
“This is what happens when a girl is not properly trained,” she said loudly. “No discipline! No home training! No shame! Say something, you're her father! Do something!”
He father just looked at her,Just looked
No anger,No defense,Nothing as usual.
Ella turned silently and went upstairs, pearl still talking behind her like a buzzing mosquito.
“Honestly, you should be grateful anyone even dated you at all—”
Her door clicked shut.
And then the tears came. Hard, hot, exhausting tears that soaked her pillow until she fell asleep without meaning to.
Night — Ethan’s POV
Ethan sat in his office, pretending to read an email. His eyes hadn’t focused on a single word for the last hour.
He checked his phone again nothing.
He drummed his fingers on the desk.
Why hasn’t she called? Did she hate the offer?
Was the contract too cold?
Should he have added more compensation?
More security? More protection?
He groaned softly,this was ridiculous.
He didn’t worry about people,People worried about him,but look at him
He needed her to sign it.
Not just because she was the perfect answer to his rivalry with Rowan…
But because something in him genuinely wanted to help her win.
He checked his phone again.
Still nothing.
“Should I rewrite it?” he muttered.
He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, waiting for a message that still hadn’t come.
Yet.
MORNING
Ella woke up with a pounding head and swollen eyes.
The contract lay where she had dropped it the night before—on her reading table, untouched.
She sat up, walked over, and turned on the lamp.
Then she read it carefully.
Every clause. Every benefit. Every purpose.
A partnership,a deal,a weapon,a way out.
She thought of Ethan’s calm, steady gaze…
Thought of her stepmother’s slap…
Pearl’s taunting…
Her father’s silence…
Why was she still enduring this?
Why was she still here, letting them crush her?
By the time she put the papers down, her fingers were no longer shaking.
“I can’t keep living like this,” she whispered.
And just like that, the decision formed quietly inside her chest.
She would sign,She had to sign.
- Writer
