Chapter 4

The Hayes family dinner was held in the grand, old-world mansion.

The long mahogany dining table was filled with Hayes relatives.

Every single one of them eyed me with scrutiny and disdain.

I stood there in an ill-fitting dress, feeling like nothing more than a grotesque clown.

Adrian, seated beside me, slipped a tiny earpiece into my hand.

"Put it on," he commanded. "You'll do and say exactly as I tell you. One wrong word, and your entire family will vanish from this city, understand?"

My heart leaped into my throat.

The dinner began.

Relatives took turns verbally attacking me.

"So you're the second Miss Hayes? Funny, I've never heard of you before."

"Your sister ran away, and you just stepped in? Your family's etiquette is certainly… unique."

I was about to speak when Adrian's voice came through the earpiece.

"Smile. Tell them I fell in love with you at first sight and insisted on marrying no one else."

I forced a stiff smile and repeated his words.

The relatives burst into laughter, their disdain growing even deeper.

Next, an elder instructed me to serve Dante some food.

As I picked up my forks, the command came through the earpiece: "Shake your hand. Drop the food onto his trousers."

My body went rigid.

Dante, with his notorious obsession with cleanliness, would be furious.

"Hurry up!" Adrian's voice was laced with menace.

I had no choice. My hand 'trembled,' and a greasy, sauce-covered piece of roasted meat tumbled onto Dante's pristine white trousers.

The air instantly froze.

Dante's face turned as dark as a storm cloud.

I was terrified, quickly apologizing. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Through the earpiece, I heard Adrian's satisfied chuckle.

"Now, stand up. Proclaim loudly that you're madly in love with my brother and would do anything for him."

The humiliation was a crushing wave, threatening to drown me.

I stood up, and under everyone's watchful eyes, like a puppet, I recited those mortifying lines word for word.

The mocking laughter and whispers pierced me like needles.

I caught a glimpse of his eyes—a flash of cold, undeniable disgust.

Just as I felt myself about to crumble under the weight of this endless degradation, Adrian's most vicious command came through the earpiece.

"Excellent. Now, walk up to my brother and tell everyone."

His voice vibrated with a cruel, undeniable glee.

"Tell them that the man in the wheelchair is nothing but a useless cripple. Tell them you truly want me, his strong, healthy brother. Beg me to replace him."

My mind went completely blank.

This command was beyond outrageous.

Make me trample Dante's last shred of dignity in front of everyone?

That would be worse than killing me.

I froze, my blood turning to ice.

All eyes in the room were on me, filled with eager anticipation for the show.

Adrian whispered beside me, his voice only audible to us, "Say it! What, are you scared?"

I looked up at Dante, who was still seated at the head of the table.

He had kept his head down, his expression unreadable, but his tightly clenched hands, knuckles white against the armrests of his wheelchair, betrayed his turmoil.

A surge of courage, unlike anything I'd ever felt, rose from deep within me.

To hell with the Hayes, to hell with Adrian! I was done playing their game.

I took a deep breath, and made a decision that stunned everyone. (Paywall)

I abruptly reached up and ripped the tiny earpiece from my ear.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, I slammed it onto the floor and crushed it to pieces with the heel of my shoe.

"So annoying," I uttered, my voice icy.

A deathly silence fell over the entire dining hall.

Adrian's smile completely froze, replaced by shock and fury.

"Skylar, you have a death wish!" he roared in a low voice.

I ignored him, turned, and walked, step by step, towards Dante at the head of the table.

Everyone held their breath.

I walked up to Dante, and under his intensely cold gaze, I slowly knelt down.

I didn't say the vicious words from the earpiece.