Chapter 0006

Ophelia sat on the bed, staring at the picture of a ten-year-old girl, her eyes mixed with sadness and regret.

Julio entered the room and said, "We should find a way to help our son. The rumors won’t stop going viral."

"What son are you talking about? Is Richard our son?"

"Not again, Ophelia," Julio said with a tired voice, and Ophelia threw the picture of the ten-year-old girl at him.

"She is our daughter, not Richard! After you adopted that Richard twenty years ago, you have completely forgotten our daughter! The heirless of the Hernandez family!" Ophelia shouted.

"It’s high time you accept that we can never find our daughter!"

"And whose fault was it? If you weren’t so careless and left our daughter alone in that mall, she would still be here with us! Instead of searching endlessly for our daughter, you adopted a devil!"

"Richard isn’t a devil, and you know that!"

"Easy for you to say because you weren’t the one who gave birth to Adriana! From the very first day Richard set foot in our house, I have always hated him because you adopted him as a replacement for our daughter! He has always had that cold attitude, and yet you brought him into our house!"

"I’m sure there’s a reason for it. Even if it’s been more than twenty years, I’m sure there’s something behind his cold attitude. Richard works his butt off day and night to make our company a success, you should be thankful, rather than living in the past and longing for our lost daughter who can never be found! It’s been more than twenty years already just accept our fate and accept Richard as your son!"

"Over my dead body, Julio!" Ophelia snapped.

"You are not in your right mind, you should sleep it off."

"There’s nothing to sleep over! I’m going to destroy Richard!"

"You already know what Richard is capable of doing. We might have adopted him twenty years ago, but he’s more powerful and influential than us. If he does anything to you, I won’t be there to save you! One more thing: you better not be the one who started the anonymous rumors about Richard, or else you’d dance to the beat of your own music." Julio walked out of the room.

Ophelia screamed in anger, taking down everything on her dressing table, her eyes igniting with fury.

"I’m going to completely destroy you, Richard! Spreading the rumor about you being gay is just the starting point. I’m going to destroy you completely, including those around you!" Ophelia spat the words with venom in her voice.

---

Arriving at the humble abode of Richard, Kristin was stunned by the beauty and structure of the mansion.

The mansion was huge and beautiful, with a big garden full of trees and flowers.

The driveway was long and curved, leading up to the big front door. The garden was very neat and well-kept, and the trees swayed gently in the breeze.

The space left on the premises was enough to start at least three buildings. The mansion looked very grand and impressive.

There were no such beautiful houses in the small town of Glenwood, so this was the first time Kristin would see a beautiful mansion that was worth billions to make it stand out.

If the outside looked extraordinarily beautiful, then the inside would be like paradise. Kristin thought to herself, her eyes moving around the premises, smiling at every single thing she saw until her head landed on Richard’s hardened chest.

She stepped back immediately.

"I’m sorry, I was drawn by the beauty of your mansion," Kristin said, her bubbly smile coming into view.

She expected a thank you from Richard, but he ignored her and faced Luke.

"I will take it from here, you should go home. Take one of the cars with you," Richard said, walking toward the entrance of the building.

"Aren’t you coming?" His voice asked Kristin, who was still admiring the premises of the mansion.

Kristin nodded and quickly followed Richard. Meanwhile, Luke smiled, before leaving with one of Richard’s cars.

There were countless cars of different colors, sizes, and shapes parked neatly in his garage.

Kristin almost fainted when she entered the house with Richard.

Just the living room was bigger than the entire houses in her neighborhood back in Glenwood.

Every corner of the house was painted white and made of glass. It was just screaming, "I’m rich!"

Seeing the kind of luxurious mansion Richard was living in made her curse herself inwardly for mistaking him for a thief.

The thought that she would get to live in a beautiful mansion made her smile, but her delusion was cut short when Richard snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her blink.

"Are you done fictionalizing?" he asked, and Kristin nodded with a nervous smile.

"Follow me," he ordered.

Kristin was about to follow him upstairs when she remembered she wasn’t with her luggage.

"My luggage!" she exclaimed.

Richard only looked at her, with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"Can you please take me back to one of the streets in Vegas? I left my luggage there."

"Why would you need your luggage?" he asked.

"My clothes are in that luggage! I need to get my luggage," Kristin rushly said, turning to leave, but Richard caught her by the hood of her hoodie, just like he did before.

She was fairly tall, but her small size made her look petite, and that’s why Richard calls her Peanut.

"You’re not going anywhere, Peanut," he said, letting go of her hood.

"Why?"

"You won’t be needing those clothes of yours. You’re my wife, and from now on, the way you dress and eat is going to change completely." he stated and she swallowed.

---

The following morning, the ray of sun shoned on Kristin's face, indicating it was to time to wake up, but she wasn't ready to get up from bed.

Richard gave her a room in his mansion, and this would be the first time she’d be sleeping in a soft bed, without mosquitoes or heat interrupting her like she always encountered in Glenwood.

She was even smiling in her sleep, unaware that Richard was standing close to the bed watching her.

She kept turning left and right until she opened her eyes and saw Richard standing close to the bed with his hardened face.

Kristin screamed and sprang up from the bed.

"What… what are you doing here?" she stuttered.

"Where should I be, if not in my house?" he replied.

"I know it’s your house, but seeing your cold face early in the morning is enough to give me a heart attack," Kristin said, touching her chest.

"Fix yourself up, we are going out."

"Where are we going?"

"To change everything about you. The way you dress irritates me, we are going to change it before I finally announce to the public that you’re my wife. Make it snappy, I will be back." He left.

"Make it snappy, I will be back," Kristin mimicked Richard and scoffed.

She saw a beautiful dress and lingeries lying on the couch for her. she picked the dress up, and grins.

"It’s so beautiful. Who would have thought Mr. Grouchy knows how to pick a dress?" she chuckled.

She quickly entered the bathroom, but she spent minutes playing in the bathtub and singing with the hand shower.

Kristin also danced under the shower, forgetting Richard was waiting for her. You wouldn’t blame her, it was her first time using, a bathtub, and a hand shower.

When she was done playing to her heart's satisfaction, she came out of the bathroom.

Kristin had just put on her undies and was about to put on her bra when Richard stormed into the room without knocking.

He had been waiting for her, with no sign of her coming out.

Kristin screamed and quickly covered her breasts with her hands, on seeing him.

"You should have knocked! You’ve seen my breasts!" she spat.

Richard knitted his eyebrows and asked, "You call those small buttons on your chest breasts?"