My rsentful husband

Chapter 3

I held my steps and looked to my left. “Brother?!” My gaze immediately fell on the man beside Andre. “...and Mr. Leonard Kingston.”

“Oh, Vivian. What’s with this formality? I am just like your brother; call me Leo. You are acting like we are strangers." He walked towards me, taking my hands and pressing his lips on my hand.

His lips linger longer than necessary. I pulled my hands away, looking uncomfortable, gazing away from his sight.

“I heard Father has planned to marry you off to Kyle.”

“Y-Yeah, it is just a plan; it isn’t confirmed yet,” I stuttered meekly.

Andre pushed forward and grabbed my face. He traces the area where it stings; I wince in pain. But he didn’t say or ask anything. His expression remains unreadable.

“So, that’s all. Father’s plan.”

I nodded.

He let go of me, stepping aside. “Now go to your room and don’t come out.”

I obeyed him and continued to walk in the hallway.

The last time I heard a maid call me filthy was when my father wasn’t present. I knew I wasn’t welcomed. Or appropriate to be a Lotus?

Mrs. Lotus, my father’s only wife, died of miscarriage when she found out my father was having an affair with my mother. After that she went into shock and she had gone crazy.

Mrs. Lotus didn’t die alone but with a daughter, whom everyone mourns to this day.

And I?

I was the illegitimate child born out of an affair. My mother died in the hospital giving birth to me due to excessive blood loss.

Everyone called me cursed to the Lotus lineage.

When my grandparents were alive, they refused to acknowledge me as their granddaughter. My two half brothers. Andre, the eldest, and Kian, the second, never loved me.

My father?! He saw me as a tool. To this family, I was just a mere asset, a tool for alliances; that is what I have always been, a mere commodity to this family.

And I had never expected more.

I yelp at the sudden jerk. My back slammed on the wall before I could process that Leonard had smashed his lips against mine.

The bile churns in my belly as tears threaten to fall. I squirm under his weight.

His hands roamed around my body, freely reaching for the zip in my dress.

My eyes widened from shock. Just as he pushed his tongue inside me. I bit him.

He had to pull away in pain, glaring at me. “You b***h!!” He hissed.

But he refused to let go of me, pressing himself even more. “You are going to marry that penniless Vespertine,” he spat. “To him, you are nothing but money; that dog is bankrupt with a pile of debt. You should have chosen me, but you didn’t.”

He twisted my wrist tight. “But my dear Vivian…” he pulled my wrist, planting a kiss on my pulses, "...even if you come back divorced from Vespertine. I will still accept you as my wife. You are too beautiful even as damaged goods; I am being generous by lowering my standards.”

“And…” he smiled smugly, leaning to my ears. “I doubt he will ever touch the daughter of a man who massacred his family. So maybe you’ll return as a virgin. Then I will take you to my bed and show you how real men worship the woman they love.”

Just as his grip loosened. I pushed him away with whatever force I had and dashed through the hallway.

Once I reached my room. I locked the door, still panting from the run. I rest my back against the door, trying to calm myself.

My legs give out, and slowly I slide down the floor. The orange and red evening hue scattered across my room, hugging the quietness.

I pulled my legs to my chest, feeling utterly pathetic and vulnerable.

“When will I ever escape this hell?” A sob choked through me.