Chapter 16 - Fury(2)

I woke up extremely tired. I had slept fitfully through the night, having nightmares that I was being suffocated to death. Brrr, what a bad omen.

Blearily looking at my phone, I realized it was only 6 am. 6 more hours to go before I could get out of this house. Resisting the urge to go back to sleep, I got up, quickly got dressed, and began to pack my necessities. I wasn't planning on taking much; just my laptop, some clothes, and a couple of other things. The main things I needed mover for was my stand desk and monitor, I had spent a lot of money on those items so they would be coming with me. Everything else could stay. It was bought by my parents anyways.

More or less done packing, I lounged on the bed and browsed what was trending on WeChat.

Most of the top results were about celebrities but one titled "Battle lines are drawn - Future sister-in-law abusing incoming fiancée" caught my attention.

Clicking into it, the article image was a fuzzy shot of my sister and Loretta standing off in the store." Thankfully I wasn't in the photo, but the article insinuated that Loretta was using her standing to oppress my sister as a show of her seniority in the family. Furthermore, the article insinuated that someone was jealous of my sister's engagement and was causing trouble between the soon to be joined family. Cleary, it could be no one else than me.

Snorting to myself at the clearly biased article, I bookmarked it and continued browsing.

Before I knew it, it was already 11:30. Thankful that my father hadn't called me into his office for another lecture, I double-checked to make sure that I had everything I wanted to take ready to go.

Brr~ Brr~ My phone began vibrating

Checking who was calling, I saw that it was Avery's assistant.

Quickly picking it up, I greeted "Hello"

"Good morning Miss Blackwell, it's Alyssa Avery's assistant. I hope you're doing well. I wanted to inform you that the movers would be arriving shortly so if you could please be ready to receive them, that would be great."

"Good morning and thank you. I'll keep an eye out."

"Good!" was her quick reply, "I'll send you the address of the residence you'll be staying in. Do you need me to send a car to take you there?"

"No thank you. I'll call a ride."

"Then I'll speak to you later Miss Blackwell. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or need any assistance."

After saying my goodbyes, I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs. I would have to confront the servants and my family at some point so I might as well get it done when outsiders were not here.

Bracing myself, I entered the informal dining room where the rest of my family was having Sunday brunch.

It was beautifully decorated of course with floor to ceiling windows letting in lots of natural light, a large but tasteful crystal chandelier, and dark furniture accented by gold. The centerpiece of the room was a large Mahogany table covered with a delicious spread of food.

Everyone was in casual home clothes happily eating and chattering about little things.

I could feel the happy mood quickly turn cold as ice as I entered. My stepmother turned to face me with a disgusted look on her face. My sister was the spitting image of her, tall lithe body, a pretty face if a bit narrow and not a wrinkle in sight despite her having two grown children and approaching forty.

"Why are you here Canary? I'm sure your father told you not to leave your room unless called for. If you were hungry you can call for the servants to bring you a meal." she stated, her tone cool and displeased.

I remember being intimidated by that voice when I was younger and doing everything I could to maybe bring a smile to her face. What a joke.

"I just came to inform you that I've secured a summer internship. Due to some changes, I'll need to move out early to begin work as soon as possible. The company sent movers and they'll be here in 30 minutes, so I just wanted to give you a heads up that I'll be out of your space. Sorry to interrupt your breakfast."

Done speaking, I turned to leave but was interrupted by my sister.

"You? Internship? Which trash company decided to hire you?" I could hear the derision in her voice.

Turning back to look at her, I smirked as I replied "Unlike someone, I actually have marketable skills and don't need to rely on my parent's connections to get work. As to where I'm working, no need for you to worry. I'm sure our paths wouldn't cross."

Watching her face sputter in indignation, I couldn't help but fully smile.

"Canary." My father's cold voice called, "Explain yourself. If I'm not going senile, I distinctly remember ordering you not to leave your room or this house until I allow you too. And this internship. I'll not have my daughter peddling herself and working for a second-rate company. I have my own plans for you and in time I'll let you know what they are."

Turning to face him, I resolved myself and replied. "I'm 17 almost 18 in a couple of days. At that, I am a fully legal adult. In the eyes of the law, I am able to make my own decisions without your knowledge or permission. I am just accelerating this process by a couple of days. As to peddling myself, I am doing no such thing. If you'll please excuse me, I'll be taking my leave. Thank you for finding it in your heart to take care of me for all these years. Goodbye."

Saying these words left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I said them anyway to preserve any form of goodwill that could be left. Never completely burn a bridge is the saying and no matter how badly I wanted to scream and shout my disgust at them, I wanted to leave on amicable terms.

"You ungrateful rat." My stepmother spat out, "You disobedient, un-filial bastard. After everything we've done for you and all the money, we've spent to raise you this is how you repay us. Good! Good good good!" she laughed sarcastically

"Someone, come and lock her in a room downstairs. Canary is feeling unwell and needs to rest. As for whatever mover or company, I'd like to see them violate the law to come into my property and take you out of this house."

"No! I'm not going anywhere!" I shouted. Immediately, I turned and ran out of the dining room headed towards the front door. I couldn't allow them to detain me here.

The distance to the door had never seemed longer. I swear the hallway had tripled in length.

As soon as I got to the door, I immediately scrambled to unlock it. For some reason, it was taking longer than usual to open. Then I felt an impact on the back of my neck and my vision went black.