On the anniversary of my mom’s death, I was at the cemetery placing flowers on her grave when my husband’s newly hired housekeeper called me: “Ma’am, your mother is here. Sir isn’t home, so I’ve arranged for her to wait in the doghouse in the yard.” “Don’t worry, I fried her some of the premium Wagyu beef the dog usually eats—$800 a pound. It’s much more expensive than what she normally eats.” I snapped at her coldly: “You wouldn’t dare!” Then I heard the housekeeper slap my husband’s mother twice: “Shut up! I’m younger and prettier than you. Once I seduce Sir, you won’t even get dog food!” It turned out the housekeeper had mistaken my husband’s mother, Alice, for my mom. Didn’t she know my mom was already dead? The moment I burst through the villa gates, a wave of blood and the stench of dog food hit me. In the center of the yard, inside the luxury doghouse Xander had custom-built for his dog, a figure was curled up. Alice’s usually immaculately styled hair was now a tangled mess, dripping with oily soup. Two bright red handprints swelled on her face, shockingly vivid. “Xander! You bastard! Get out here!” My husband’s father, Thomas, was pinned to the ground by two burly men. His gold-rimmed glasses lay shattered on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His whole body trembled as he strained to lift his head and curse. “Xander, that bastard—who does he think got him where he is today? How dare he let some housekeeper humiliate us!” Vivian White stood on the steps in my silk robe, arms crossed, looking down at them imperiously. Hearing the cursing, she snorted contemptuously: “Go ahead and curse, you uncultured country trash.” “Coming into someone else’s home and making a scene—who do you think you are?” She kicked the dog chain at her feet and jerked her chin at the bodyguards. “Go on, put these two old dogs on leashes. Tie them to the utility pole outside so everyone in the neighborhood can see what happens to people with no class.” My mind exploded. I rushed over like a madwoman, shoved away the bodyguard reaching for the chain, and blocked Thomas. “Vivian! Are you insane? Open your damn eyes and look—these are Xander’s parents!” Vivian jumped at my shout, then covered her mouth and let out a shrill laugh. “I know you married Sir, so technically your parents could be considered his parents too.” “But don’t get too full of yourself.” “Look at how shabby your parents are—everything they’re wearing probably doesn’t add up to $200, right?” Thomas’s chest heaved violently with rage, his pointing finger trembling. He and Alice had worked their way up from poverty to wealth. They didn’t like extravagance, but now they were “shabby” in Vivian’s eyes. “Ignorant!” Thomas spat out the words through gritted teeth. Vivian’s expression changed. She raised her hand to strike. “Still got a mouth on you!” I grabbed her wrist and flung it aside. “I’m calling Xander right now. A housekeeper like you deserves to die a thousand times over!” I turned to unlock the electronic doghouse door. “Stop her!” Vivian shrieked. Two bodyguards immediately rushed forward, pinning my arms behind my back and pressing me to the ground. Vivian smugly pulled out her phone and shoved the screen in my face. “Look closely—Sir himself gave this order.” The screen clearly showed a message from Xander: [Deal with those trashy relatives at the house however you see fit. Don’t bother me.] Vivian pulled back her phone, saying triumphantly: “See? I’m just solving problems for Sir.” “If Sir found out these two old beggars dirtied his beloved dog’s house, he’d be even harsher than me.” Alice made a weak whimpering sound from inside the doghouse: “We really are…” “Shut up!” Vivian kicked the doghouse bars. “Since you insist you’re elders, then enjoy the meal properly.” Vivian picked up a plate of bloody raw beef from nearby. “This is imported Australian Wagyu. Only Duke gets to eat this normally. You should feel lucky.” Duke was our family dog. She glanced at the bodyguards. “Feed her.” 2 The bodyguard roughly grabbed Alice’s hair and forced her jaw open. The cold, slimy raw meat was crammed into Alice’s mouth. Alice instinctively gagged, her stomach churning. The meat she’d just been forced to swallow came back up mixed with bile, splattering on the ground. Vivian recoiled in disgust. “Refusing a gift, are you?” She grabbed a large bag of hard dog food from nearby. “Lowlife who’s never had anything good—today I’ll make sure you get your fill!” She aimed the bag’s opening at Alice’s open mouth and poured. The hard pellets went straight down her windpipe. Alice choked violently, her whole face turning the color of liver. Vivian didn’t stop, still pouring frantically. “Eat! Swallow it!” Thomas roared like a madman but couldn’t break free from the bodyguards’ hold. Alice’s coughing grew weaker, her eyes beginning to roll back. If this continued, she would die! In desperation, I suddenly lowered my head and bit down hard on the bodyguard’s arm. When he loosened his grip in pain, I rolled on the ground and grabbed the large iron shears used for trimming bushes from the flower bed. “Nobody move!” The bodyguards instinctively started forward. I didn’t point the scissors at them—I pressed the sharp point firmly against my own carotid artery. The tip punctured my skin, blood instantly streaming down my neck. “I’m Xander’s wife!” “If I die here, you’ll all be murderers! None of you will escape!” The bodyguards froze, exchanging glances. They were just doing a job—they didn’t want to face murder charges. Vivian panicked too: “Don’t listen to her! She wouldn’t dare…” “Try me!” I pressed harder, the blood flowing faster. The bodyguards finally backed off. Holding the scissors, I rushed to the doghouse and used all my strength to smash the electronic lock. Once. Twice. Sparks flew, my palm splitting open. With a click, the lock opened. I dropped the scissors, trembling as I pulled open the iron door and dragged Alice out. She slumped limply in my arms, her face a terrifying purple-blue, her chest completely still. In that moment, the whole world fell silent. I need to call for help! That was my first thought. The call had just connected, before I could get the words out, when someone snatched the phone from my hand. Vivian’s usually arrogant face immediately switched to a pitiful expression. Tears came on command, streaming down her cheeks. “Sir! Please save me! Your wife brought her crazy parents to attack me!” “They not only smashed things in the house, they hit me too!” “That old woman was obviously as strong as an ox, but as soon as she heard you were coming home, she lay on the ground playing dead, insisting I’d hurt her.” “I was kind enough to make them food, but instead of eating it, they threw it all over me…” “Sir, I’m so scared. Are they going to beat me to death before they’re satisfied?” Shaking with rage, I rushed forward to grab the phone back. “Vivian! Stop lying! That’s clearly not…” Vivian twisted away, hiding behind a bodyguard, crying even harder into the phone. “You hear that? Your wife is still yelling at me! Does she think that because I’m a servant, I deserve to be bullied by her family?” From the phone came Xander’s furious roar, loud enough for Thomas to hear from several meters away. “Parents? Nina, who did you bring home? Isn’t your mom dead?” Xander didn’t give me a chance to explain, launching into a tirade. “Oh, I get it. When your mom died, I said one word—disgusting!” “And you’re still holding a grudge?” “I already explained—I didn’t go to the funeral because I was afraid people would say you were marrying up.” “Such a small thing, and you’re still mad about it?” “My mom’s funeral is a small thing? Xander, do you have any conscience!” 3 “Conscience? Then you tell me who that old woman is first.” “Bringing all kinds of weird relatives home and letting them run wild in my house—you think you’re in the right?” “Let me tell you, Vivian has a PhD in management. I hired her specifically to run the household properly.” “Do you know how many people want to hire her and can’t? You couldn’t match her abilities in eight lifetimes!” “I think you’ve gone too long without looking in a mirror and forgotten who you are!” “I’ll have someone sign you up for etiquette classes so you can learn what it means to be refined! Otherwise I’ll be embarrassed taking you anywhere!” His absurd speech made me laugh through my tears. “Xander, listen carefully! The person lying on the ground is your mother! The one being beaten by bodyguards is your father!” “Do you have to wait until someone dies before you’ll believe me?” The phone went silent for half a second, then erupted in an even more piercing cold laugh. “Lie! Keep lying! You think I’m stupid?” “Two hours ago, I talked to my parents on the phone!” “They said they’re skiing in Switzerland and won’t be back for New Year! They even sent me photos of the snow!” “You’d stoop to such a clumsy excuse to cover your lies?” “Are you using my parents as an excuse thinking I won’t dare touch you?” Thomas listened nearby, tears streaming down his old face, his lips trembling as he tried to speak, but the bodyguard kept his mouth covered. How could Xander know that his parents had deliberately hidden the truth to surprise him, wanting to secretly come back and cook him a meal? This heavy parental love had now become a blade stabbing them. “Enough, I don’t have time to listen to your nonsense!” Xander’s impatience had reached its limit. Even through the screen, his disgust was palpable. “I’m heading back now. If you’re smart, take your ‘parents’ and get lost!” “If they’re still there when I get home, don’t blame me for being ruthless!” “I’ll break their legs and throw them out—you’ll have brought it on yourselves!” Click—he hung up mercilessly. Alice’s breathing grew weaker and weaker. Her face had turned from pale to purple-blue. Any more delay and she might really die. “Dad! Forget that crazy woman, we need to save Mom!” Gritting through the pain, Thomas and I lifted Alice together. Alice’s body was frighteningly heavy. Every step felt like dragging a thousand-pound weight. We stumbled getting Alice into the back seat. Thomas’s hands shook so badly he couldn’t get the key in the ignition. Just as we started the car, a black Range Rover suddenly came barreling over, blocking the gate exit. Vivian stood on the steps, toying with the phone she’d just used, wearing a victor’s smile. “Oh, trying to run already?” She jerked her chin at the bodyguards. The bodyguards exchanged glances, then surrounded us. Watching Alice convulsing in pain in the back seat, the last line of defense in my heart completely collapsed. The commotion at the gate was so loud that before long, it attracted neighbors. Vivian reacted quickly. Before I could speak, she started crying first.
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “354827”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn
Leave a Reply