HE RUINED ME AND I BECAME HIS STEPMOTHER のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Mia's POVI woke up at seven the next morning wanting to catch Tom before he left for work. We needed to talk about last night, about his disappearing acts, and also thank him.I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen expecting to find him making coffee like usual. But the penthouse was silent.I went to his bedroom door and when I looked inside his bed was made perfectly, like no one had slept in it.Had he left early? Or had he not slept at home?I made my own coffee and sat at the counter staring at my phone that was still turned off.I thought about turning it on but the idea of seeing what people were saying about me made me change my mind.Instead I spent the day reading and trying not to think about where Tom was or what he was doing or why he hadn't come home. Trying not to care about answers to questions I had no right to ask.By evening I'd given up on the book I was reading and was just pacing around the penthouse feeling restless and trapped. I heard the elevator around

Mia's POVI spent all of Friday shopping for something to wear to the gala.Tom's driver took me to stores I'd never been able to afford before and I used the black credit card without looking at price tags.It felt strange and wrong but somehow satisfying all at the same time.That I realized I don't know exactly what the card is for.By evening I had a dress that cost more than three months of my old rent, shoes that made my legs look longer. I had spent too much and decided that I'd use the necklace Tom got for me.***I looked at myself in the mirror before we left and barely recognized the woman staring back.The car picked us up at 6:30PM like Tom said.He wore a black suit. When he saw me his eyes moved over the dress slowly before meeting my gaze."You look good," he said."Thanks. So do you."We rode to the venue in silence…I felt completely helpless as we drove on.Tom noticed and put his hand over mine without saying anything. And surprisingly, I stopped shaking after a fe

Mia's POVI'd been living in the penthouse for two weeks now and I was starting to lose my mind. Every morning Tom left for work and every evening he came back and in between I had nothing to do except read books, watch TV, wander around a space that felt more like a luxury prison than a home, and check updates on Chris's life.So…On Tuesday morning I caught Tom before he could get in the elevator."Wait," I said. "I need to talk to you about something."He paused with his hand on his briefcase. "What's up?""The race. Chris's race. The one that was supposed to happen this month.""They postponed it till February because of all the media attention after the wedding." Tom checked his watch. "Why?""Because February doesn't make sense strategically. The racing season has a rhythm and if they push this event to February it messes up the entire schedule for the first quarter. Plus all the sponsors and media commitments are built around the original date. Moving it creates chaos for every

Mia's POVI barely slept after the fight with Tom and kept replaying his words about how this wasn't an arrangement anymore and how he was trying to protect me. Part of me wanted to go to his room and continue the conversation but the stubborn part won and I stayed in bed staring at the ceiling until morning.When I got up Tom had already left for work and there was fresh coffee in the pot but no note or message. Fine by me since I was still mad at him for trying to tell me what to do.Joel drove me to the office and the second day was slightly less awkward than the first but not by much. People still whispered and still treated me differently and David avoided eye contact when we passed in the hallway.I had a campaign proposal that needed finishing before the end of the week so I focused on that instead of the uncomfortable atmosphere. By six most people had gone home but I was still at my desk working.The office got quiet in that eerie way buildings do when they're mostly empty wi

Mia's POVA black SUV pulled into the parking garage and three men got out wearing suits that looked expensive but also somehow threatening in a way I couldn't quite articulate. They walked over to where the attackers were lying on the ground and started checking them without saying anything to me or Tom.Tom put his hand on my back and started guiding me toward the elevator. "Come on, we're leaving.""What about my car?""Someone will bring it to the penthouse tomorrow, right now we're taking my car and going home."I didn't argue because I was too exhausted and shaken to fight about it. We got in the elevator and Tom pressed the button for the ground floor then turned to look at me properly for the first time since the fight had ended."Are you really okay?" His voice had softened considerably from the anger of a few minutes ago. "Did he hurt you when he hit you?""My stomach hurts but I don't think anything is broken." I wrapped my arms around myself because I was suddenly freezing