Chapter 4 - Who Has Slept With You?

"You're still not going to talk, huh?"

An old man's booming voice echoed through the Lysander family's living room. Amora was kneeling on the floor, her head bowed low.

Amora stared at the feet of the old man standing before her, holding a cane. He was Charlie Lysander, her grandfather.

Slap!

Suddenly, a harsh slap from the old man landed on Amora's cheek. The force of the slap knocked her to the floor.

Amora's eyes widened in shock. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched her burning cheek. She hadn't expected her grandfather to slap her for her silence.

"Enough, Charlie! Do you have to hit her like this?"

An elderly woman in a wheelchair quickly interrupted Charlie as he prepared to slap Amora again. The woman was Gilda Orlena, Amora's grandmother, and Charlie's wife.

Slowly, Charlie lowered his hand and snorted in frustration.

"A slap isn't enough for her!" He snapped.

Charlie’s face was furious. He was enraged by the foolish thing his granddaughter had done the night before.

Amora got up slowly but remained kneeling in front of her grandfather. She kept her head bowed, unable to meet the eyes of the people gathered in the Lysander living room.

Amora didn’t understand why everyone had suddenly gathered at her house. When Chris brought her home, she found everyone already there, as if they were waiting to see her disgrace.

"She has brought shame to the Lysander name! Do you think I shouldn't slap her? It's all because you’ve spoiled her too much, Gilda!" Charlie shouted angrily at his wife.

Amora sobbed quietly. She realized that her acts, however unintended, had humiliated the Lysanders. She couldn't deny her grandfather's words. But she couldn't stay silent while her grandmother was being scolded and everyone else was present.

"Grandpa, don't blame Grandma. This has nothing to do with her," Amora bravely interjected.

Throughout her time in the Lysander family, only Gilda had always loved her and treated her like family. Amora’s presence in the Lysander family was not as ideal as outsiders might think.

"You still dare to argue, huh?" Charlie lifted his cane and swung it forcefully toward his granddaughter.

Amora squeezed her eyes shut, shrinking her body, and crossed her arms in front of her face, expecting the cane to strike her hard. However, it didn't happen because Chris had caught the cane with one hand before it could hit her.

"Mr. Lysander, forgive my impertinence. But hitting and slapping is not a proper solution," Chris reminded the old man firmly.

Charlie's face turned red, and he slowly lowered his cane, clearing his throat to mask his embarrassment.

A sigh of relief escaped Gilda's lips. Her heart had nearly stopped at her husband's previous action.

Gilda’s gaze shifted to her esteemed guests, the Walden couple, who were also shocked by Chris's action of stopping the Lysander patriarch's cane.

Cassandra Winston─Chris Walden's mother, rushed over in a panic, checking if her son had been hurt by Amora’s grandfather’s cane.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt, Dear?" Cassandra asked anxiously.

Chris just shook his head slightly and patted his mother’s shoulder to reassure her. "I'm fine, Mom."

"Please forgive my husband, Mrs. Walden. And forgive us for not raising Amora properly," Gilda apologized with deep regret.

Amora's face mirrored the guilt she felt. She hated seeing her grandmother bow her head to Cassandra.

"She's just like her mother," Cassandra sneered.

Mrs. Walden snorted cynically. She glanced at Amora with disdain before turning to her son, who stood silent with a blank expression. Cassandra felt a sense of satisfaction seeing her son's indifferent demeanor towards Amora.

Amora's chest tightened at Chris’s cold demeanor toward her. She knew her regret couldn't replace his disappointment and anger.

"I warned you, Chris. But you didn’t listen to me. Now you see what kind of woman you chose?" Cassandra continued, directly attacking Amora in front of her son.

Chris didn't respond. His hands clenched tightly as he looked at his girlfriend, still crying silently at Charlie’s feet. He then stepped forward slowly, extending his hand to her.

Amora was startled. She hadn’t expected Chris to still offer his hand to her. Slowly, she lifted her tear-streaked face. His extended hand seemed to give her a glimmer of hope.

However, before she could take it, Cassandra quickly pulled Chris’s hand away from Amora.

"Chris, are you crazy? Do you still want to take her as your wife? She's filthy!"

Cassandra's words cut Amora deeply, but she couldn't deny them because they were true.

"Wake up, Chris. Open your eyes. What's so good about her? I will never agree to your marriage. If you still want to accept her, you'll have to step over my dead body first!" Cassandra declared fiercely to her son.

Chris was stunned. He felt powerless to defy his mother’s decision. Yet, he couldn’t deny his strong feelings for Amora.

Even though she had betrayed their love, Chris couldn’t simply erase his feelings for her. He believed there was a significant reason behind Amora’s actions.

Cassandra’s hatred for Amora didn’t surprise Chris. From the beginning of their relationship, his mother had disliked Amora.

Cassandra had warned Chris that Amora Lysander was the daughter of a woman who had been expelled from the Lysander family. But Chris insisted on their relationship, arguing that Amora should not be judged by her deceased mother’s actions.

Patricia Lysander—Amora’s mother—was the youngest daughter of the Lysander family. She was expelled from the family for getting pregnant out of wedlock. To this day, Amora doesn’t know her biological father’s identity, as only her mother knew.

When her pregnancy was discovered, Patricia told her family that the man would never take responsibility. At that time, Charlie Lysander was just as furious with his daughter and demanded she terminate the pregnancy.

However, Patricia stubbornly refused, so Charlie expelled her from the house and erased her name from the family records.

After giving birth to Amora, Patricia died from severe blood loss. As a woman, Gilda Orlena couldn’t bear to see her newborn granddaughter sent to an orphanage, so she begged her husband to accept the innocent baby into their family.

‘Oh God… What sin have I committed in the past that my daughter and now my granddaughter has to suffer the same fate?’ Gilda thought sorrowfully. She never imagined that the disgraceful tragedy would repeat itself with her beloved granddaughter, Amora.

"How long are you going to keep your mouth shut, Amora? Aren't you going to tell us who the man is that slept with you?"

Charlie’s voice snapped Gilda out of her thoughts. Her husband was shouting at Amora again. Before she could respond, Charlie threw a stack of photos he had taken from the table at Amora’s face.

"Tell us! Who is this bastard?" Charlie shouted again.

Amora was stunned. Her tear-filled eyes looked at the photos scattered on the floor in confusion. In the photos, it was clear that Amora was being carried by a man into a hotel elevator.

Although the man's face was not visible, the photos clearly suggested that something had happened between them overnight. Amora realized that someone had deliberately set her up to destroy her. Otherwise, these photos would not have ended up in her grandfather's hands.

"Who gave you these photos?" Amora asked, her voice filled with suspicion.

"Is it necessary to find out who gave them now?"

Kelvin Walden, Chris's father, who had been sitting silently, finally spoke up. His face was filled with anger, and he felt that any involvement in Charlie Lysander's punishment of Amora would only lead to more harsh words from him.

This morning, he and his wife had come to discuss the wedding planned for the following week. However, they were confronted with these disgraceful photos instead. He demanded accountability from Charlie Lysander for Amora's actions.

"I don't want to waste time watching your family drama. Regardless of the reason, I cannot accept Amora as the Walden family's daughter-in-law!"