“I’m telling you, if Paige wants something, even if it belonged to Lila’s own mother, she’d still have to move aside!”
I turned to leave, but Max’s lazy voice stopped me.
“Did I say you could go? Is that how you run a business?”
“Isn’t one million enough to make you apologize to Paige Vargas? Kneel and bark twice, and I’ll let you go.”
My hands curled into fists.
The waiter froze, shocked by what he had just seen. He had never witnessed something so humiliating before and tried to help me remove the mask.
“Mr. Kennedy, this isn’t right, she really is your…”
Before he could finish, Paige quickly wrapped her arm around Max’s and gave me a mocking look.
“Forget it, Max. Is she even worth a million? Let’s just go get something to eat.”
“Only a lonely old woman would come here at this hour to drown her misery. That private room is dirty anyway.”
Max’s face finally relaxed a little. “All right, do as you please.”
“Tell your boss to throw this woman out. Kennedy Corporation will pay the penalty. If not, this bar won’t open again.”
Without looking back, he left with Paige.
I looked at Max and Paige holding hands tightly as they leaned against each other, and my heart went completely cold.
The bar owner came running after hearing the noise. She was an old friend of mine and started cursing Max angrily, calling him a monster.
She couldn’t understand why I didn’t just take off my mask and make those two lose face.
“What difference would it make if I did or didn’t?”
She stayed quiet for a moment before sighing. “A man who won’t even let you touch him, what did you ever see in marrying him?”
I gently swirled my glass, watching the red wine shimmer under the light. It looked just like the blood Max had once shed for me when he was still a boy.
After his parents went bankrupt, they had no choice but to end their lives.
The old butler, driven by greed, sold Max like a toy. I was the little slave bought by that rich man.
To avoid being poisoned mute, I pretended to be unable to speak and only used sign language. Max stabbed the rich man in defiance and was beaten again and again, left to starve over and over.
I couldn’t stand to watch such a beautiful boy die so miserably, so I shared my food with him every day. He was the only one who knew I could speak.