22.

Iris saw a flash of surprise pass through Luca’s eyes, followed by anger. She may have tried to defend herself before but never had she raised her voice at him like she did just now. She had told herself countless times that she deserved all he told her but she was tired.

She couldn’t do it anymore. The abuse, neglect, insults. She was done. She had gotten to her breaking point. She had let Vera and Helen abuse her for years because of the circumstances of her birth but why should she let Luca continue to treat her like this when she didn’t do anything wrong?

She had to stand up for herself because no one would do it for her. If she didn’t speak up now, Luca would only continue to treat her worse every day. Today he was doing this in front of their staff, maybe next time it would be in front of thousands of people.

“Just stop it” She said again, this time her voice was quieter, tired just as she was. Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

Luca did not