For five years, I treated him like he was my own. No matter how cruel he was, I never brought myself to hate him. But all I got in return was escalating abuse.
“What are you staring at? Don’t just stand there, clean it up!”
My fists clenched at my sides. I glanced at him but said nothing, turning to leave.
“Are you deaf?! I told you to clean it up!” he again shouted.
Before I could respond, Sebastian’s voice came from the front door. “What’s going on in here?”
I looked up and saw that he wasn’t alone.
He brought Adele back with him.
I quickly looked away, pretending I didn’t notice her, but Sebastian clearly wasn’t happy with my cold reaction.
He stepped in front of me, frowning. “There’s glass all over the floor. What if Christian steps on it and gets hurt?”
I let out a short, bitter laugh. “What now? Do you really think I’m the maid in this house?”
His face stiffened for a second. Then he frowned deeper. “All I asked was for you to clean the floor. Do you really need to act like this? You’re the only one in this house who does nothing all day. If you’re not cleaning it, should I be doing it?”
From behind him, Adele peeked her head out and knelt down playfully to pick up a shard.
“Let me, Sebastian,” she said sweetly. “Polly is your wife, after all. She may think of herself as an elegant lady.She’s far too refined for chores like this—oh!”
She yelped mid-sentence.
Her finger had been pricked by the glass. A tiny drop of blood welled up, very little, and it disappeared in an instant.
But Sebastian was very worried, rushed to her side, immediately grabbed her hand and placing it in his mouth, panicked.
“Polly should be doing this kind of work. Your hands are meant for racing, not cleaning the floor. If you get hurt, it will break my heart.”
His words stabbed into me like knives.
All my effort, everything I had done over the past five years, now looked like the biggest joke of all.
He didn’t even glance my way again. Instead, he held Adele’s hand as they walked to the master bedroom. Then he ordered the maid to bring her luggage upstairs.
“Adele has an important race coming up. She needs to rest well. Move out of the master bedroom and let her stay there. And make sure her meals are different every day—nutritious and well-balanced.”
It was like he was issuing orders to a servant. Like, I didn’t even have the right to say no.