Chapter 8 The Devilish Father
Bella’s POV:
+8 Pearls
The Leone residence was like a huge cage to me. When I pushed open its gates, the brilliant sunlight seemed to pierce right into the depths of my soul, like a long–lost friend embracing me without a word.
I took a deep breath, the usually unnoticed scents of earth and grass now strikingly intense. They mixed together, forming the long–awaited aroma of freedom.
Eagerly, I grabbed my suitcase and stepped forward, each step feeling as light as if I were walking on clouds, filled with an unreal sensation.
Looking back at the massive cage that was the Leone residence, I felt a surge of relief. Thankfully, I was only confined there for three years, not a lifetime.
I wanted to laugh out loud, to release the emotions suppressed for so long, but remembering Madam Carmela and those disdainful servants still inside, I chuckled softly instead.
I had left the Leone family. I was finally free from the Leone family! My life, my dreams, here I
come!
I hailed a taxi back to my university apartment. I was about to graduate, and the apartment was quiet with only me in it, which felt very comfortable.
As I lazily lounged on the sofa for a nap, the phone on the coffee table rang.
I opened my eyes and looked. It was a call from my
father.
I didn’t want to answer because I knew he must have learned about my divorce from the godfather.
But the phone kept ringing persistently,
“Hello, I finally gave in, frowning and reluctantly picking up. I knew that if I didn’t answer, my father might take his anger out on my mother, effectively putting her in danger.
“Where are you? Get back here now!” Father’s roaring voice came through the receiver.
I didn’t need to see him to imagine him raging like a storm.
To me, my father was nothing short of a demon. He and my stepmother had conspired to sell me to Madam Carmela, yet I couldn’t cut ties with him.
I pulled the phone slightly away and asked coldly, “What is it?”
“What is it? You have the nerve to ask? Don’t you know what you’ve done?”
Roberto’s voice was niercing “You have one hour to get back here!”
12:58 PM dd.
Chapter 8 The Devilish Father
+8 Pearls
Look at that, my father, a real demon. He treated me like an enemy, and often I doubted if he was really my biological father, why else would he despise me so, without ever considering my feelings?
If this had happened before, his treatment might have made me cry, but ever since he sold me to Madam Carmela and forced me into marriage, I felt nothing but deep disgust for him.
So this time, I chose to respond indifferently, “I need to do volunteer work at the community center this afternoon.”
I wasn’t lying; because I had been living at the Leone residence, I had missed the community service required by the school, and I needed to complete it soon.
“If you care at all about your mother, stop with the excuses!” Father was furious, resorting to his most effective and favored tactic against me, and without letting me say another word, he hung
- up.
Staring at the dark screen of my phone, I cursed out loud. My father only knew this one way to manipulate me.
But I had no choice; this tactic was indeed a fatal blow to me.
My mother was my weakness; I couldn’t ignore her well–being.
To truly be free. I needed to take my mother and leave the Rizzo family, leave this city.
My mother, Layla, was never a strong person. In my memories, she had given everything for the Rizzo family, but when my father succeeded, he cheated!
When I was five, my father brought home his mistress, Vivian, along with their child, a three- year–old girl named Susan.
My mother was heartbroken by my father’s betrayal, and sensing that I would soon lose his favor, she chose to marry him, taking only some cash sufficient to sustain her instead of demanding an equal split of the assets.
But her concessions and kindness did not earn her any better treatment, instead, it led to repeated schemes from Roberto and his mistress.
Three years ago, when my mother fell ill and was admitted to the ICU needing expensive
treatments,
They manipulated me, selling me to Madam Carmela for 7 million to save the Rizzo family business.
Thinking of this, I clenched my fists in anger!
A husband who betrays his wife, a father who sells his daughter! Roberto was truly unworthy of being my father.
