Five Years Later
Sophia’s POV
Jerry pulled off my night dress, his blue eyes twinkling as he looked at me with unrestrained awe.
“My God, you are exquisite.” He breathed softly then he kissed me for the first time in five years.
Once if anyone had told me this was going to be it for us, I would have thought them mad.
The day started out fairly normal with me in the kitchen doing the dishes because Malia and Dalia, Jerry’s little sisters, had ‘mistakenly’ sent too many staff on holiday.
It clearly wasn’t a mistake but I didn’t dare complain.
“Be quick with the dishes, the guests will be here soon.” Dalia snapped as she inspected her newly manicured nails.
Malia tsked, spinning around in her chair.
“She always takes so long to do the smallest tasks.”
Welcome to another day in the life of the Modern day Cinderella. Or so the press affectionately dubbed me.
I was the girl that had risen from nothing to be the daughter in law of the Baxters, loved by my rich, handsome husband and adored by my extended family.
In reality, if not for the late Mark Baxter had asked Jerry to marry me, the Baxters would never have let a maid, their maid, marry into their family.
By the time I was done cleaning the kitchen with the helpful commentary of the Baxter sisters, I was bone tired and ready to climb my bed and skip the welcome party for delegates to hold this evening at the mansion.
Whatever hopes I might have had were dashed the moment I stepped into my room.
My husband was waiting.
Although calling him that might have been a stretch since we had no such relationship.
Sculpted in a navy blue suit, Jerry stood with his back against the wall, his blond hair swept back and his pale blue eyes as cold as glaciers.
I fought the urge to cringe away from him and hide myself. In our five years together, Jerry had taught me to fear him.
After I threatened to castrate him on our wedding night, Jerry got his walk-in closet cleaned out and a small air mattress installed in there for me. That closet became my room.
Initially, I didn’t mind though as his closet was larger than my room combined with my parent’s room in my father’s house but Jerry made sure to punish me for rejecting him that night.
He didn’t hit me like Father did Mom but he broke me in numerous ways with his daily torments, taunts and humiliation.
Day after day he treated me like trash in front of his family and the staff but in the five years we had been married, Jerry had never come into my room.
Stepping away from the wall Jerry held out a bunch of papers and a pen to me.
“Sign these papers.”
I looked from Jerry to the papers warily.
“What are ‘these papers’ about?”
Jerry raised an impeccable eyebrow and that was all the warning I got before he grabbed my wrist, slamming me hard against the wall of the closet.
Jerry stared me down, his voice clipped and cold.
“Just because Grandfather made you a cosignatory to the company you dare question me?”
I looked up into my husband’s blue eyes. How could someone so handsome and charming in public be so volatile in private?
Jerry’s tightening grip on my wrist had me gasping in pain.
“Fine, let go of me. I’ll sign it.”
Jerry held on for a few more seconds before letting go just because he could. Then he handed over the papers to me.
I placed them on the pearl-white centerpiece and took a cursory look at the letterhead before I began to sign the papers.
It was as he said. Something about the company.
Not that it mattered. Regardless of what I signed, I knew I had exactly zero chances of inheriting anything from the Baxters.
Jerry snatched the papers out of my hands the moment I was done signing and stormed out of my room without bothering to even close the door.
Asshole.
“Your mother has sent a dress up for her.” I heard a soft feminine voice say from Jerry’s room barely a few seconds after he stepped out.
I heard the crinkling of a wrapper before I heard a disgusted sigh from Jerry.
“I don’t know why Mother tries so hard. A pig dressed up is still a pig.”
After everything I had gone through in five years, I would have thought myself immune to Jerry’s jibes. Surprise, I wasn’t.
“All the same. If you will excuse me, sir.” She responded evenly.
“Suit yourself.” Jerry said then I heard the door close as he left the room.
I cradled my wrist which still hurt where Jerry had held me.
There was no possibility of me providing an heir to the Baxter family regardless of what Anastasia wanted.
“You still aren’t pregnant.” Anastasia Baxter, Jerry’s mother, had questioned me a few days ago.
Her words seemed to echo throughout the empty tea room in the mansion.
I’d been stunned speechless. How could I tell her that Jerry and I weren’t sharing a bed much less having sex?
So instead, I ducked my head.
“I apologize, Mother.”
She was silent for a moment before speaking, her voice ice cold.
“Are you aware of how much we have spent on you and your ever demanding family?”
I wasn’t. But I could only imagine how much Father was milking them dry for him to now own a vacation home in Hawaii.
Anastasia gripped my chin roughly, her sharp nails digging into my skin as she pulled my face up so that I could look into cold dead blue eyes that eerily reminded me of her son.
“Look at me, Sophia. If you can’t give my son an heir before this year is out, you will find that wives have all sorts of accidents all the time.”
She released my chin and reached out to take her tea cup and saucer as though she hadn’t just threatened my life.