Chapter 408
Chapter 408
Her face remained grim as she seethed inwardly. When the third insistent knock sounded, she roughly wiped her face, scrubbing away every trace of displeasure, then plastered on a bright smile before opening the door. “Who’s there?”
The door swung open, and Peter raised his hand, ready to slap her across the face. “Are you deaf? Took you long enough to open the damn door!”
“Hey now, honey, calm down. Let’s talk this through. I know Maddie will listen if we explain nicely,” Grace said quickly, clutching his arm and shooting him frantic warning glances.
Madeline watched with a smirk, thinking, ‘Here they go again, with those two bloodsuckers playing the family card. Do they take me for a fool? After all these years, do they think I can’t see straight through them?‘
Under Grace’s relentless coaxing, Peter finally lowered his hand, though he let out a cold snort before barking at her. “Get dressed. You’re coming with us to Magnolia House. Miguel’s girlfriend wants to meet you.”
Grace immediately chimed in, “Yeah, Candice said she really wants to meet her future big sister.
give you a little more time to scrape
“Maddie, your father and I understand times are hard for you right now, so together that three million dollars, but you have to be considerate toward your father too.
“Take some time to get yourself ready and come with us to meet Candice. When we get there, you really need to make a good impression.”
With that, Grace started pushing Madeline back inside, fussing loudly about how she’d do her makeup herself.
‘So that’s it. No wonder Mom stopped him from hitting me. She was just afraid he’d mess up my face and ruin their perfect image in front of their future daughter–in–law. Figures. How thoughtful of them.‘ Madeline realized.
But she had no intention of warning Candice, the girl her mother kept going on about. She thought coldly, ‘Why the hell should I warn her?
‘Just because she was stupid enough to date my darling brother, I’ve had to endure so many beatings from our parents lately. Honestly, I’m already being generous by not sowing discord between them.
Madeline said, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll get myself all dolled up. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you or Dad.”
Madeline dutifully sat at the vanity and meticulous/ mother had picked out for her.
applied a flawless layer of makeup, then accepted the outfit her
She took a closer look and, to her shock, realized that Grace had actually picked out a skimpy minidress. It had a low–cut in the front, backless, with a dangerously short hemline.
Madeline frowned. “Aren’t we meeting/Miguel’s girlfriend? Don’t you think this outfit is a bit much for that?”
She thought, ‘It’s not that I can’t pull it off, but this dress is just way too revealing.
‘I actually bought this dress to seduce Brian back then. Before I ever got the chance to wear it, I was kicked out of Atkinson Group, so it ended up shoved in the back of my closet. How on earth did she even dig this out?”
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Chapter 408
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Miguel said Candice loves this style, and she wants us to be more open–minded. He specifically told us not to object to anything,” Grace waved dismissively.
‘So I’m just your prop to show off how ‘modern‘ and ‘open–minded‘ you are?‘ Madeline thought bitterly, but didn’t object to that. After all, it was just dinner, and she didn’t see a point in pissing them off over this.
After changing into the minidress, her mother fussed again, saying her makeup was too plain, and forcefully applied an extra coat of bright red lipstick.
Madeline glared at her reflection–she had bright red lips, her skirt was scandalously short, and she looked dangerously seductive. She felt a vein throb at her temple in sheer frustration, but she told herself she’d endure this.
Peter sized up her as she walked out and nodded, clearly pleased. “Perfect. With you dressing up like this, Candice will surely be impressed.”
Madeline couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about Peter’s tone, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. In the end, she decided to keep quiet.
‘Forget it. Better not make trouble over nothing,‘ she thought, choosing to swallow her suspicions and follow her parents to the restaurant.
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