Chapter 250: The feigned sadness
Lorie walked back over, with a cup of coffee in her hand and forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. It looked more strained than sincere. She placed the cup on the table in front of Anne, then sat down across from her with a sigh.
"Robert is controlling," she said, voice low and bitter. "He treats me like a maid, not a wife. I can’t even leave the house without him knowing. He won’t let me work."
Anne raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Is that so? Then how come I heard you reached out to Megan about getting rehired at the company?"
Lorie froze, caught completely off guard. Anne’s question hit her hard. She hadn’t anticipated this. No one was supposed to know. Megan had promised to keep it between them, especially after the company turned her down outright. For a moment, a flicker of panic crossed her face, but she quickly masked it with a sorrowful expression.
"I only ran into Megan by chance," she said. "I was desperately trying to claw back some control from the mess my life has become with Robert. I thought maybe if I had a job, I could start over. So I asked her. She did try, but the company said no. And honestly, I get it. I did so many wrong things in the past."
She gave a weak, bitter laugh and looked away, as if ashamed. Then, with a smooth gesture, she slid the cup of coffee a little closer to Anne. "But you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll get by. Have some coffee."
Anne didn’t move. Her eyes stayed fixed on the cup, her gut still on edge. "So that’s why you called me? You want me to help you get a job?"
Lorie shook her head, wearing a mask of quiet pain. "Robert won’t let me have a job. He wouldn’t even let me visit my own parents. He kept me trapped in the house, forcing me to do everything— cooking, cleaning, like a maid. He said if I defied him, he’d kill me. You have no idea what it took to convince him to let me leave the house. In the end, he only agreed if I worked here and nowhere else."
Anne finally got the answer. She looked at Lorie, and for a brief moment, sadness touched her eyes.
Lorie, once the queen bee, always polished, proud, and perfectly styled, was now a shadow of the woman Anne remembered. Gone were the designer clothes, the flawless makeup, the arrogant air. She sat there in plain clothes, no makeup, her posture subdued, like someone used to being ignored or ordered around.
The contrast was jarring. The woman who used to walk like she owned every room now barely held eye contact.