Chapter 4

Lena's hypocrisy and playacting disgusted me, so I dropped all courtesy too.

"Shut your filthy mouth. Don't think I don't know what you're up to."

"You cling to Samuel like that—why don't you just marry him yourself?"

"And I'll say it one more time: the wedding is off, and I'm done with him. It's that simple."

"Pull a stunt like this again, and don't blame me for turning on you without mercy."

I made my voice as cold and level as I could, especially when I looked at my own mother.

I simply couldn't understand it—how a biological mother, however old-fashioned her thinking, could do something that dragged her own daughter's good name through the mud like this.

Even more shameless were Samuel and Lena.

A whore and a thief, in it together.

I said it flatly, without room for argument, but it clearly did little good.

"You wretched girl, think you've grown wings now? Who taught you to talk like that?"

"You say the wedding's off, so it's off? You say you're breaking up, so you are? Did I, your mother, ever agree to that?"

"Do you have any idea how good Samuel has been to you?"

My mother went on and on, throwing me a vicious glare every so often.

People say daughters are angels sent to repay their parents, but I felt it was exactly the opposite.

"Good to me? Ask him yourself—has he really been good to me?"

"Samuel, drop the act too. Let me tell you plainly: I, Willow Summers, will not marry you, because I have completely given up on you."

I said it with total conviction, and there was no longer the faintest trace of lingering feeling for Samuel in my eyes.

"Willow, stop talking nonsense. Haven't I been good enough to you?"

"This is just because Lena and I went out without you, isn't it? Lena wasn't feeling well, so what's wrong with me looking after her?"

Samuel was as disappointing as ever.

Nonsense?

Not bringing me along?

Having to look after a girlfriend because she's upset—where on earth is the sense in that?

"Heh. She wasn't feeling well—down there, maybe? And that's exactly where you were looking after her, was it?"

I watched him with a cold smile, no longer holding out any hope for this man.

Sure enough, the moment I said it, both Samuel and Lena wore an uneasy look.

But before I could go on and lay their scheme bare, my mother jumped back in.

"Enough! How did I ever give birth to a thing like you? What a disgrace!"

My own mother's tirade struck me as utterly absurd.

"A disgrace? You team up with outsiders to smear your own daughter as a prostitute, and that's not a disgrace?"

"I only learned it from you, didn't I?"

I shot straight back at her.

Years of my mother's overbearing ways had long left me unable to breathe, and now I'd had enough. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life living in that shadow.

Soon my mother and I were shouting at each other, and the older one really was craftier—it wasn't long before she started playing the shameless victim.

As the scene grew louder, plenty of people from the hotel were drawn over.

A mother bringing people along to report her own daughter for prostitution—if word of this got out, it would be an enormous joke.

And for me, it was no less so.

My words made my mother fall silent for a rare moment—but only a moment.

Because the next instant she raised her hand and swung it at me.

The sudden move startled me, and I had no time to dodge.

But at the critical moment, Samuel of all people stepped in front of me and took the slap.

Smack.

The blow landed, and both women moved at once.

My mother asked, all apology, "Oh no, Samuel, are you hurt? Does it sting?"

"Why would you block it for her? She's asking for a beating—otherwise she'll never fall in line."

She fawned over him with one breath and threatened me with the next.

Yes, I took it as a threat—at least in that moment, that's what it was.

Lena rushed forward, her face full of concern for him. That look was nothing like an ordinary relationship.

"Mom, I'm fine."

The way Samuel let that word slip made my scalp crawl. This guy really did have a thick skin.

Then again, given the things he'd done, it was only fitting that his skin was that thick.

"What a good, sensible boy. I'll take this wretched girl home and set her straight, and then the two of you can go register the marriage."

"The wedding and all that can come later."

In just a few words, my mother had once again decided my future for me.

Before, I'd have resisted and then been forced to give in—but not anymore.

"I already told you, I will not marry him."

"So you'd all better give up that idea."

I gave a cold snort and turned to head back to my room, but my mother blocked my way.

Just as another argument was about to break out, a familiar voice came from the corridor.

"Well, well—Celeste is here too."

"You really did make quite a production of it."

The newcomer was none other than Pamela.

She wasn't only seeing me off to the airport; she'd also had business here, which was why I'd chosen to stay the night at the hotel.

We'd already made plans to go out together today—I never expected all this to happen instead.

Pamela's arrival made my overbearing mother go quiet at once, as if she were both irritated and a little afraid of Pamela.

I'd noticed it ever since I was very small.

I never understood why someone as forceful as her would be afraid of Pamela.

"Celeste, Willow has already said she won't marry him, and they never even registered the marriage. Breaking up after dating is perfectly normal, isn't it? Keep pressuring her like this and you're breaking the law."

Pamela started lecturing them, and the scene took me quite by surprise.

And oddly enough, no one contradicted her—not my mother, not Samuel, not Lena.

Instead, all three turned and left, resentment written all over their faces.

Once they were gone, I let out a breath.

But in truth, I was even more worried.

After the way they'd acted today, I had no doubt they might pull something far worse one day.

"Pamela, thank goodness you came."

"Otherwise I really wouldn't have known what to do."

I could snap back, I could argue, but if it ever came to blows, between my mother's overbearing temper and those two fakes, I was no match at all.

Pamela stepped forward and gripped my hand tightly, and I quickly shut the door and locked it.

"They really did go too far, but this is your own family's business, after all. If your mother weren't mixed up in it, I could actually help you."

Family matters are the hardest to sort out, and outsiders least of all should meddle.

"Saddled with a mother like this, there's nothing I can do—it's not as if I can do anything to her."

I sighed helplessly.

Compared with knowing about Samuel and Lena's sordid dealings, it was facing my own mother that left me most powerless.

I had absolutely no idea what to do.