bChapter /bb408 /b

    Her face remained grim as she seethed inwardly. When the third insistent knock sounded, she roughly wiped bher /bbface/b, scrubbing away every trace of displeasure, then stered on a bright smile before opening the door. “Who’s thereb?/bb” /b

    The door swung open, and Peter raised his hand, ready to p her across the face. “Are iyou /ideafb? /bTook you long enough to open the damn door!”

    “Hey now, honey, calm down. Let’s talk this through. I know Maddie will listen if we exin nicely,” Grace said bquickly/b, clutching his arm and shooting him frantic warning nces.

    Madeline watched with a smirk, thinking, ‘Here they go again, with those two bloodsuckers ying the family cardb. /bbDo /bthey take me for a fool? After all these years, do they think I can’t see straight through them?‘

    Under Grace’s relentless coaxing, Peter finally lowered his hand, though he let out a cold snort before barking at her. “Get dressed. You’reing with us to Magnolia House. Miguel’s girlfriend wants to meet you.”

    Grace immediately chimed in, “Yeah, Candice said she really wants to meet her future big sister.

    give you a little more time to scrape

    “Maddie, your father and I understand times are hard for you right now, so together that three million dors, but you have to be considerate toward your father too.

    “Take some time to get yourself ready ande with us to meet Candice. When we get there, you really need to make a good impression.”

    With that, Grace started pushing Madeline back inside, fussing loudly about how she’d do her makeup herself.

    ‘So that’s it. No wonder Mom stopped him from hitting me. She was just afraid he’d mess up my face and ruin their perfect image in front of their future daughter–inw. Figures. How thoughtful of them.‘ Madeline realized.

    But she had no intention of warning Candice, the girl her mother kept going on about. She thought coldly, ‘Why the hell should I warn her?

    ‘Just because she was stupid enough to date my darling brother, I’ve had to endure so many beatings from our parentstely. Honestly, I’m already being generous by not sowing discord between them.

    Madeline said, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll get myself all dolled up. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you or Dad.”

    Madeline dutifully sat at the vanity and meticulous/ mother had picked out for her.

    applied a wlessyer of makeup, then epted the outfit her

    She took a closer look and, to her shock, realized that Grace had actually picked out a skimpy minidressb. /bIt had a lowb–/bbcut /bin the front, backless, with a dangerously short hemline.

    Madeline frowned. “Aren’t we meeting/Miguel’s girlfriend? Don’t you think this outfit is a bit much bfor /bthatb?/bb” /b

    She thought, ‘It’s not that I can’t pull it off, but this dress is just way too revealing.

    ‘I actually bought this dress to seduce Brian back then. Before I ever got the chance bto /bbwear /bbit/bb, /bbI /bbwas /bbkicked /bbout /bbof /bbAtkinson /bGroup, so it ended up shoved in the back of my closet. How on earth did she even dig bthis out/bb?/b”

    b1/2 /b

    “Oh, don’t worry about it. Miguel said Candice loves this style, and she wants us to be more bopen/bb–/bminded. bHe /bspecifically told us not to object to anything,” Grace waved dismissively.

    ‘So I’m just your prop to show off how ‘modern‘ and ‘open–minded‘ you are?‘ Madeline thought bbitterly/bb, /bbbut /bdidn’t object to that. After all, it was just dinner, and she didn’t see a point in pissing them ioff /iover this.

    After changing into the minidress, her mother fussed again, saying her makeup was too in, and forcefully bapplied /bban /bextra coat of bright red lipstick.

    Madeline red at her reflection–she had bright red lips, her skirt was scandalously short, and she looked dangerously seductive. She felt a vein throb at her temple in sheer frustration, but she told herself she’d endure this.

    Peter sized up her as she walked out and nodded, clearly pleased. “Perfect. With you dressing up like thisb, /bCandice will surely be impressed.”

    Madeline couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about Peter’s tone, but she couldn’t quite put her finger bon /bbit/bb. /bIn the end, she decided to keep quiet.

    ‘Forget it. Better not make trouble over nothing,‘ she thought, choosing to swallow her suspicions and follow her bparents /bto the restaurant.

    #