Chapter 93: Was that all a lie?
"Mom... why would you bring me something like this?" Anna’s voice pitched higher, freaked by her mother’s absurd behavior. She darted her eyes around nervously before shoving the small bottle back into Roseline’s hand.
"Oho! Why give it back?" Roseline clutched it protectively, furrowing her brows. "I brought it for you, Anna. So you and your husband can enjoy an adventurous marital life and soon enough, welcome me a grandchild."
Anna’s stomach dropped. Heat flushed her face as she grabbed her mother’s arm and all but dragged her upstairs.
From the corner of the hallway, Kira peeked, her sharp eyes flickering knowingly as she watched them disappear.
Thud! Anna slammed her bedroom door shut and turned on her mother, exasperation bubbling over.
"Mom, you cannot keep talking like this! And what’s with that potion? Who even gave you the idea to bring something like that to me?" Anna’s tone cracked between frustration and disbelief.
She already knew Roseline had her odd ways of pushing for a grandchild, but a stamina potion? God, what does her old mind even come up with?
Roseline sneered, glaring as though Anna were the ungrateful one. She shoved the bottle back into Anna’s hand with force.
"Don’t you dare give it back. You’ll be needing this, whether you accept it or not." Her words rang sharp, leaving no room for argument.
Her gaze then swept the room, and she nodded to herself. "Oh... so this is your bedroom."
She clicked her tongue, her eyes sparkling as they landed on the large bed. "Ah~ and what a big bed it is."
Anna blinked at her mother’s shameless remark, then scoffed. "Yes, Mom. This is my room. Alone."
She stressed the last word with enough bite to kill Roseline’s excitement.
Roseline froze. Then her face hardened. "What do you mean alone? Anna... are you and Daniel staying in separate rooms?"
Anna stiffened. Her lips parted, but no words came out. The silence was answer enough.
Roseline’s face reddened with fury. "But didn’t you say things were better between you two? That he even fed you the other day? And now you tell me you sleep apart?" Her voice rose with disbelief, her eyes narrowing. "Was that all a lie?"
Anna exhaled, her jaw tightening. She didn’t want her mother to know anything about her complicated marriage with Daniel, least of all the truth that their relationship was fragile at best. But now, with Roseline glaring at her in righteous disappointment, there was no way to skirt around it.
"Mom," Anna muttered, forcing calm into her voice, but Roseline cut her off coldly.
"Whether you get along or not, there is no way you’re thinking of divorcing Daniel. Dismiss that thought Anna before I let your father know about your little acting venture."
Anna’s expression hardened, her jaw clenching. Her mother’s words struck like a lash, grounding her in place.
Roseline’s disappointment was evident, her eyes sharp with both anger and determination. She had been fooled by the façade Anna and Daniel put up, but still her solution was simple that is Anna needed to fix her marriage, even if she had to be threatened into it.
Slowly, deliberately, Roseline closed the distance between them. Anna braced herself for another scolding, but instead, her mother’s hand reached out, caressing her hair with a chilling gentleness.
"There is no way you’re getting out of this," Roseline whispered, her tone final, brutal.
The softness of the touch clashed violently with the cruelty of the words, and Anna’s eyes burned, moisture threatening to spill. No matter how much she tried to break free, no matter how desperately she longed to escape this marriage, Roseline made sure she remembered why she was tied to Daniel in the first place.
The reminder cut deeper than any scolding could.
Anna didn’t say a word. Her lips pressed together, her silence the only defense she had left. Inside, her heart churned with rage, shame, and a crushing helplessness.
"I hope my words are clear to you," Roseline said firmly.
Anna forced herself to nod, masking the seething rage in her eyes.
"Good. Don’t forget what I said." With that, Roseline turned on her heels and left the room, her perfume lingering long after her footsteps faded.
By the time she reached her car, she halted briefly, pulling out her phone.
"Are you sure it will work? I don’t want the potion you gave me to fail." Her sharp tone made the person on the other end flinch. But once reassured, Roseline’s lips curved in satisfaction. She ended the call, slid into the car, and drove out through the mansion gates.
Meanwhile, Anna stood rooted in place, her fingers still curled around the small bottle before she tossed it onto the bed with a scoff.
"Ha! Does she really think I’ll listen to her?"
Her voice cracked faintly, but her eyes burned, tears threatening to fall. She quickly wiped them away, refusing to let them spill. Crying wasn’t an option, not anymore. Her tears had been wasted too many times, especially for the sake of people who used her weaknesses against her.
Her mother’s words echoed, suffocating, but Anna exhaled sharply.
Not this time.
Roseline might think she still had the reins of her life, but that control belonged to the past. Anna was no longer the naïve girl who mistook her mother’s manipulations for kindness, who blindly believed that everything she said was "for her happiness."
Now she knew better. Roseline never cared about her happiness, she only cared about keeping Daniel placated and keeping the Bennett family safe from his wrath. Anna was merely the sacrifice, the convenient pawn.
And she had played that role once before. But not again.
Her fists clenched. "You can scheme all you want, Mom. But this time... I won’t dance to your tune."
She turned toward the bottle lying on the bed, its dark liquid gleaming through the glass, mocking her.
"I can’t keep it here," Anna muttered under her breath.
Without hesitation, she snatched the bottle from the bed and marched across the room. Her fingers tightened once before she tossed it into the trash bin, the dull clink of glass against metal ringing in the silence.
"That’s its place."
Her gaze lingered on the bottle for a long second, a mix of disgust and resolve flashing in her eyes. Then, with a sharp exhale, she turned away storming into the bathroom.