Chapter 23: The Mistress's Provocation
“Come, let us go upstairs.” Damian’s voice was deliberately softened. “I will have them bring the wedding dress to your room now. You can alter it however you want.”
He embraced Sienna and walked toward the stairs without looking back.
Evelyn wanted to chase after them, to scream, but her legs felt paralyzed, and no sound would come from her throat. She could only watch helplessly as their figures disappeared around the corner of the staircase.
It was not long before two maids descended from upstairs, carrying a huge, white garment bag.
It was the wedding dress.
Even through the bag, Evelyn felt she could see the hand-stitched lace and pearls inside. It was the culmination of all her beautiful dreams from girlhood.
The maids walked past her without glancing, carrying her dream toward another woman’s room.
The living room door closed softly.
Evelyn slowly slid down to the floor, leaning her back against the cold wall.
A few moments later, the door was pushed open again. Sienna walked in. She had changed into comfortable loungewear, but she was holding the wedding dress.
On the skirt, a glaring, fresh red wine stain looked like an ugly puddle of blood.
“Oh, Evelyn, I am so sorry,” Sienna said. “I wanted to try it on so badly, and Damian agreed...”
“But I did not realize this dress was so fragile. I just wanted to wipe off the wine I accidentally spilled, and the dress... the dress tore.”
She pointed to a conspicuous slit in the lace near the chest. That was not a tear; it was a cut made by a sharp object.
Evelyn’s pupils suddenly contracted. She violently sprang up from the floor and lunged at Sienna.
“Give it back to me!” Her voice was hoarse. “Give it back to me!”
Sienna shrieked and retreated a step. The mask of pretense finally dropped from her face, replaced by a malicious sneer.
“It is just a piece of trash, why are you so agitated?”
She snapped her fingers dismissively. A maid, holding a pair of long-handled tailoring shears, quickly walked over with her head bowed.
“Cut this wedding dress,” Sienna commanded, her tone light and airy. “Cut it into pieces, then throw it in the trash. I do not want to see such bad luck again.”
“You dare!” Evelyn tried to rush forward to snatch it, but another maid held her tightly around the waist.
The cold scissors flashed under the light.
Snip!
The scissors bit into the smooth silk, the sound terrifyingly crisp.
“No!”
Snip! Snip! Snip!
The scissors moved rapidly in the maid’s trembling hands. The pearls that Professor Hays had personally sewn on scattered across the floor, the delicate lace was dismembered into rags. The wedding dress, which had embodied all her youth and love, was executed piece by piece right before her eyes.
Finally, the heap of once incomparably beautiful fragments was hastily stuffed into a black garbage bag by the maid.
“You bitch! You will burn in hell!” Evelyn cursed.
Just then, an icy voice came from the doorway.
“What is all the noise about?”
Damian, wearing a crisp suit, was ready to leave the house. He frowned, looking at the chaotic scene, his face etched with impatience.
Sienna immediately threw herself into his arms, her eyes instantly welling up. “Damian, I did not mean to... Evelyn, she... she called me names...”
Damian did not ask for any explanation. He simply raised his hand.
Smack!
A sharp, resounding slap landed fiercely on Evelyn’s face. The tremendous force sent her entire body reeling backward, her head striking the corner of the wall heavily. Her ears rang, and her cheek burned intensely.
But more violent than the pain was a sharp, twisting ache that suddenly flared up from deep within her lower abdomen.
Evelyn gasped sharply, instinctively curling her body. She bit down hard on her lip, daring not to make a sound, enduring the agonizing pain that threatened to tear her apart. She used all her strength to push herself up, little by little, from the cold floor.
“Have you finished your fit?”
Damian looked at Evelyn, who had been knocked down by his slap, his eyes filled only with bitter disgust.
She bit her lip until it bled, swallowing her whimpers, using all her might to support herself against the cold floor, slowly and humiliatingly climbing to her feet. She could not let him know; absolutely not.
Damian sneered, adjusted his cufflink, and did not bother to spare her another glance. He held the triumphant Sienna and walked straight out the door.
Night fell.
A sudden commotion erupted outside the mansion, followed by the panicked screams of maids.
“Gas leak! Quick! Get out!”
The entire household fell into chaos. Footsteps and shouts mingled together as everyone scrambled to run outside.
Evelyn, whose door was locked, sat numbly on the edge of the bed, stroking her still faintly aching abdomen, listening to the turmoil outside.
Just then, the lock on her door clicked softly, and the door was pushed open from the outside. A thin figure quickly slipped in and closed the door behind him.
“Evelyn?”
It was Ethan.
His face was etched with urgency. He rushed to her, and when he saw the clear five-finger marks on her face, his normally gentle eyes instantly turned cold and furious.
“He hit you?”
Without waiting for Evelyn’s answer, he thrust a paper bag into her hands.
“Eat something quickly. There is also medicine in here,” he whispered, pointing to a small white pill bottle. “The bottle says Vitamin C, but inside is medication to prevent miscarriage. You cannot stay here any longer. Come with me, Evelyn!”
The gas leak was a false alarm he had orchestrated to create this brief window of confusion.
Evelyn looked at his anxious face, then down at the bag in her hands. The warm aroma of food and Ethan’s concern, like a warm current, melted her long-frozen heart, and her eyes instantly filled with tears.
But she could not leave. She could not implicate anyone else. Professor Voss, and now Ethan... She knew Damian’s methods of revenge better than anyone.
“Ethan, I cannot...” she shook her head. “I cannot go with you. He will ruin you. I cannot...”
“I do not care!” Ethan grabbed her arm. “I only care about you! If you stay here any longer, he will kill you!”