Chapter 14

Chapter14

"Isabella!" Margaret rushed up to Eleanor and grabbed her hand. "Eleanor, are you mad at me? I meant well. It was my fault for accidentally hurting myself. Don't worry. I'll move out of your house. I won't be a bother to you and Nathaniel."

"Great," Eleanor agreed without hesitation.

Margaret frowned at her response while Isabella looked surprised.

"I'll leave now." Without a care, Eleanor removed her hand from Isabella's grip to leave.

Isabella's tearful voice could be heard from behind. "Mom, what do I do? Eleanor probably hates me now..."

For a moment, Eleanor had the urge to turn around and admit that she indeed hated Isabella, but she quickly struck down the thought. She didn't want to be slapped by Margaret again.

At first, Eleanor could not believe that her parents would play favorites against their biological daughter. She soon realized that they felt ashamed of her past in the countryside. They refused to accept the rural mindset of their daughter. Isabella was closer to the image of their ideal daughter—highly educated, demure, and lovable. Eleanor was nothing but a failure in the eyes of her parents.

When Eleanor reached home, she saw that the Carter family had sent some staff over to pack up Isabella's belongings before she even had the chance to get Grace to do so. Eleanor allowed them to proceed.

Grace was the one who cried, "What's going on? Why is Ms. Isabella moving out after she's settled down here?"

The movers did not answer her questions, so she helplessly turned to Eleanor for an explanation, but Eleanor had retired to her bedroom.

As Eleanor had missed the draft deadline by a few days, she had no choice but to lock herself in her room for the entire afternoon to work on it. It was past dinner time when she emailed out the draft.

Nathaniel had not come home for dinner, but she wasn't surprised. She was about to have dinner alone when he called.

He announced, "I'll send someone to pick you up."

Confused, she asked, "Where to?"

"We're going to your parents'."

A bad feeling arose within her. She blurted out, "I'm not going."

After a pause, Nathaniel hung up without another word. Clearly, he was giving out an order to Eleanor instead of asking for her opinion.

Eleanor held her fist. She decided against going downstairs for dinner and returned to her bedroom. She stayed there and refused to open up when Nathaniel's assistant, Lucas Grant, arrived.

Lucas could not break down the door. He had no choice but to ask for Nathaniel's instructions.

Eleanor wondered what Nathaniel had said to Lucas, as Lucas left the villa immediately.

She sat in front of her computer. Though she acted tough just now, she could not help but let out a sigh of relief when Lucas's footsteps faded.

Nathaniel came home an hour later, just when Eleanor was ready to wash up and go to bed.

She belatedly realized she had red marks and bruises around her waist when she removed her clothes.

They probably happened during her fight with Olivia earlier that day.

The bedroom door flung open without warning when she was observing the marks across her waist.",