OWNED AT 18, CLAIMED BY 28 のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 5

ELARA“Do you take Vinicio Teo Rossini as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health?”I stared wordlessly at the priest, lost in thought. How did I get here?I felt my heart burst in pain when I found our belongings piled outside the doorpost; my mother clinging to my brother for warmth while her husband stood talking to the guard at the door. My palms were sweaty, stuck to the bag of groceries I had bought for my surprise visit.“What happened, Mom?”The silence that followed said enough.“Father is bankrupt, and he owes a lot of people who are after him now. The bank took the house and now we have nowhere to go.” My brother walked up to me, his blood-clotted eyes showing how he had tried to fight them off.I moved closer to comfort him, but instead handed him the bag of groceries.“My house… one of Father’s guesthouses is around the corner. You can move in.”I placed my mother’s hand in mine, but she removed hers. She dusted it off like a germ stai

VINICIO POVI knew striking a deal with this delicate young girl was a bad idea but she was fiery, as expected, as her father warned me two years back, in a party at her house, I guess she doesn’t recognize me. However, I was out of time and options; I needed to be able to access my inheritance and the family business but a wife was needed.Teresa wouldn’t let me rest, I wondered why she hand-picked Laurabeth, when she hated the family.That’s why she ensured Mr Voss was bankrupted before drawing my attention to him, and Laura, she's nothing but a child because who in the right mind seduces a man just to make sure the marriage is consummated on the wedding night, as seen in movies." I know what this is. You don’t need to deprive me of it." She snaps.I was so scared of hurting her, but I did, her body ached by the last round and I needed to carry her to the bathroom myself, since she couldn’t walk. I never meant to take her, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be like that. For a while sh

LAURABETH POVThe guesthouse smelled of fresh paint and loneliness. I pressed my back against the locked door, my palm still flat over my stomach as if I could shield the tiny life inside from the world. The pain in my abdomen had dulled to a deep, throbbing ache, but every breath reminded me of that boot slamming into me, mother’s “fake” attack, the blood on the pad and the lie I fed Vinicio about losing the baby.I slid down the wall until my knees hit the cool tile. “You’re still here,” I whispered to the secret growing inside me. “Don’t worry. We’re going to be okay. It's just us now.”A sharp knock rattled the door and I jerked upright, my heart slamming against my ribs.“Mrs. Rossini?” Mrs. Felicia’s voice sounded gentle but firm. “Sir insisted I bring dinner. Open up, dear.”I wiped my face quickly and cracked open the door. The head maid stood there with a silver tray, her eyes soft with worry. Behind her, two security men lingered in the hallway like shadows.“Thank you,” I murmur