Chapter 174 - Paranoia

"Breaking news! The social media pages for the heir to the Cortez Empire Dean Cortez and the heiress to the D'Angelo Empire Celeste D'Angelo have confirmed their relationship to one another. This comes as a shock to many as in our country's history neither family has ever been involved with one another in addition to a rumored ban of either family merging via marriage. This comes a few days after a photo of the two in a vacation to Paris, France was leaked by an unknown individual. This has sent shockwaves in the media as well as in wall street. Paul what is the latest on the stock market and what impact could we expect?"

"Thank you Jan. Wall street has woken up to an incredibly busy morning with the market becoming volatile within minutes. So far it seems many of the major public stock values have not plummeted as anticipated but seem to be holding steady. There is however a large increase in trading and purchasing which may be the reason it is holding steady for now."

"Jan in terms of implications we suspect that for at least now the market will be quite active as people change their investments but I argue that unless we hear wedding bells, this will not have any major conflicts. Especially considering that each noted in their confirmation that there is no change in ownership for the foreseeable future."

Bzzt. 

"Welcome back to the pink table where we discuss the latest hot gossip and fresh of the press did everyone see the announcement. I don't think I even have to say who it is with how much buzz this has caused but Mr. Wild child Dean Cortez is off the market. Pricilla what are your thoughts?"

"Thank you Nova this has been the shock of the century. Miss D'Angelo has always been known as a quiet and reserved type that their relationship is textbook opposites attract. I have to say however in that blurry photo we saw a few days ago I genuinely thought to myself that they match in an odd way."

Bzzt.

"Welcome to Friday Morning Live the best comedy show to wake up too. Lets introduce our guest hosts for this morning actress Wilma Stone and singer Grant Post."

"We are so honored to be here. Honestly Grant I thought we would be the only odd couple that would be trending but I guess the rich wigs beat us too it. Eh?"

Bzzt.

I shut off the television in anger. I have been flipping through the channels all morning hoping to find some escape from them but every channel somehow brought them up. I wanted to find comfort in my friend but Frankie has not spoken to me since she sent me the photo of Celeste and Dean. My husband has been a nutcase working non-stop and I am too anrgy at him for what happened at our wedding to even want to break down to him.

Knowing how obsessive he got about the culprit being Dean I knew he probably has heard the news but the fact that he has not come in to check on me meant he did not care. In fact nobody in this dreaded house cared about me.

The days following my wedding have been hell. Felix has been a stranger to me. He refused to share the room with me and has been sleeping in a guest room. He is cold and I could see the resentment and regret in his eyes. He apparently hated how his life led to this.

My monster-in-law has been blaming me non-stop for how things went. The only person who has shown me any kindness has been Felix's father. Though he too has not said a word to me he has been keeping his wife at bay. Which is more than I could ask for.

But what stung the most is the possibly infidelity. Felix cheated on that stupid girl with me. I thought I was special and that I can have crumbs like Felix since she had the whole cake open to her. What did it matter if the poor girl got the rich man. It was only fair. But what I never considered was whether he was capable of doing it to me as well. Even though we are married I have not yet been granted access to any money so I am unable to verify how true the woman's words were. 

Especially now that she has gone missing.

I bit my nails as I tried to calm myself down but when I felt something slightly wet on my fingertips, I saw I had bitten down to the skin and I was bleeding. "This is not fair." I mumbled to myself when the door opened suddenly.

"Pardon the intrusion young miss your lunch is served." One of the maids who worked in the house brought me food which was a warm soup and some bread and water. I did not get up from the bed to get the tray so the woman began to approach me.

"It is not fair. It is not fair." I continued talking to myself feeling any sense of sanity slipping away. "What was that young miss?" She turned so suddenly and came so close that I snapped. "IT IS NOT FAIR!" The tray she held was pushed out of her hands and the soup spilled all over her uniform. The bread hitting her head and leaving crumbs all over her hair.

We both sat in stunned silence before she slowly got down to her knees to clean up the tray and bread. "My apologies. I will be back with a new plate and another servant will clean the stain." She quickly left and I was left stunned.

I have read about people in power abusing their subordinates and whenever I have dreamt of what I could be like as a high class lady I thought I would be different. 

'I would treat my employees with kindness after all I was once one of them and would never want to be treated as such.' And yet I did that. I humiliated that poor woman and she could not even fight back. She just left without as so much rebuking me.

The initial sadness I felt was washed away with paranoia. "What if she tells Toni?"