Chapter 134 Fundraiser

Chapter 134 Fundraiser
NANCY’S POV
I found out the event in question was some type of fundraiser hosted in the city’s largest hall. It was filled with people laughing, talking, and making underground deals that were masked as casual conversation in a place so vibrant.

One would ask how I knew the latter bit, but it was pretty much obvious if you ask me.

Why else would a man like Hudson be at a charity fundraiser?

Because he was feeling charitable?

Obviously not.

I couldn’t even imagine that a man with a heart as black as his was capable of doing good.

That left me with the only logical reason for his actions-that this fundraiser was actually a gathering of the influential, dealers, and basically people from the walks of life that couldn’t be spoken aloud, who pretended to be men of integrity to the masses.

The instant I stepped into the hall, I knew I’d walked into a completely different world, a world I didn’t belong in but had somehow been dragged into because some old withering man was desperate to have me be his wife.

Up until the moment we got here, while in the car, the one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was why Hudson just wouldn’t give me up.

Was I so important to him because you couldn’t make me believe he was actually in love with me?

The thought alone was disgusting.

Or was it his ego that made him unwilling to give me up?

I already ran away once, proving that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. A normal man would just give up, but it was clear that Hudson was nothing but an obsessive psychopath.

He was right next to me as I walked into the hall, with his hands resting firmly on my waist. I couldn’t tell yet if it was to keep up appearances or to make sure I couldn’t run, but I detested his hold either way and had tried to wriggle free more than once.

“Smile.” he leaned in close as we crossed the threshold. There was a woman approaching us, all smiles, whom I assumed was the reason he’d told me to smile.

I didn’t.

Not even when the woman flashed her set of teeth in my face flatteringly.

“Welcome, Mr Hudson; it’s a pleasure to have you tonight.”

She switched her gaze to me, then plastered a hand over her lips in shock. “Oh my, this must be your daughter. She’s so pretty.”

I snorted at that. I really couldn’t help it because someone had finally said what I was thinking out loud.

At least, unlike my parents and the man himself, others weren’t blind to the mismatch in our ages and appearance.

Hudson glared at me first, then sent the woman a bone-chilling stare.

Her jaw slackened in confusion for a minute before it finally clicked.

“Oh my goodness,” she held her hand over her mouth, showing a better expression of shock this time. “I’m so sorry, Mr Hudson.”

“That was so ignorant of me.”

She followed it up with a dry laughter that she cut short when his stare deepened.

In my opinion, she acted smartly enough to save her ass because she cleared her throat right after and gave him the most fawning smile.

“Apologies once again. If you’ll just come with me, I’ll lead you right to your designated seats.”

Hudson finally retracted his gaze, but only because he wanted to glare at me again.

I didn’t even mind that he was; I was thoroughly amused.

Even when he glared at me, all I did was shrug nonchalantly. “It’s not my fault the public isn’t blind.”

“Shut up,” he muttered under his breath, then yanked me closer to him.

His nails dug into my sides, making me clench my teeth hard. I didn’t cry out, though, because I knew he’d done that intentionally. Maybe as a way of punishing me for the humiliation that was lined across his forehead.

The encounter with the woman made me quite pleased, enough to curl my lips. It just wasn’t the kind of smile he wanted. This one was purely ridiculing.

‘Maybe tonight won’t be so bad after all,’ I thought to myself, hoping more chances would crop up to humiliate him like that again.

Anything to make him regret ever asking me to come with him. Except in his case, he didn’t ask. He’d demanded and threatened instead.

The woman led us deeper into the hall, where Hudson began to greet, shake hands, and smile at men who looked exactly like himself.

Old, grubby palms, pot-bellies with shining eyes. I couldn’t tell if the glint in their eyes was for money or if it was raw, unadulterated lust at seeing a beautiful, young woman.

“Fresh Lily.” That was what one of them had called me, and I nearly retched in his face.

The tightening of Hudson’s grip on my waist was what had stopped me.

“Careful,” he muttered under his breath.

I ignored him and leaned as far away from him as I could instead.

A chance I never imagined would present itself finally showed up. It wasn’t even something I was supposed to be relieved about, but I immensely was.

Hudson had finally let me have a moment to myself. It had taken some threats to cause a scene on my part, but he had finally let me move away from him.

I wasn’t allowed to leave the room, though; his guards, keeping watch in every corner of the room, ensured I didn’t, but I was glad enough to be able to get away from that group of nasty men.

Finding a quiet corner for myself, I grabbed a glass of wine and headed there. Luckily, there was a cushioned sofa there that people didn’t seem inclined to use.

Exhaling heavily, I sank into the sofa and downed a big gulp of the wine in my hold, relishing the taste.

“At least something here isn’t disgusting,” I muttered to myself.

My gaze scanned the room for a minute, and the realization that I didn’t fit here settled once more.

“I wish I were at a party with Diana, instead of the atrocity this is. I wish…”

My mind stopped me dead. I stilled when I finally realised the words that were making their way out of my mouth.

A party with Diana?

How could I forget so easily what had happened over the past few days?

In actuality, it wasn’t that I forgot but that my mind had chosen to repress those feelings so I could focus on being mad at my parents and Hudson.

Now that the anger blinding my eyes had receded a bit, the feeling I’d shoved deep inside finally resurfaced.

A wave of melancholy hit me, and the room suddenly felt too cold.

I unwrapped my shawl and pulled it tighter around myself, trying to ward off some of the cold that enveloped me, but the sinking feeling in my chest grew by the second.

It intensified until my chest felt hollow. 

Just as the feeling began to overwhelm me, an uncertain, masculine voice reached my ears.

“Nancy?”