Chapter 4 - The Cruel Fiancée
Vanessa was not a woman who understood love, loyalty, or basic human decency. She was a master manipulator, a deeply arrogant socialite who viewed her engagement to Vincent Moretti entirely as a lucrative, strategic corporate merger.
She cared absolutely nothing for Vincent’s heart, and she was intensely, deeply annoyed by Eleanor’s constant, depressing mourning for a daughter who had died two decades ago. Vanessa wanted to completely redesign the estate, erase the family's tragic history, and establish herself as the absolute, unquestioned queen of the Moretti empire.
The moment the massive diamond engagement ring was slipped onto her finger, Vanessa began a terrifying, psychological reign of terror over the household staff.
She regularly screamed at the chefs, fired gardeners for minor infractions, and demanded that the maids treat her like literal royalty. But Vanessa developed a specific, venomous, and intense hatred for Claire.
Despite wearing a humble black-and-white uniform, Claire possessed a quiet, inherent, and undeniable grace that infuriated the arrogant fiancée. Claire never cowered. She never begged. She performed her duties with a dignified resilience that Vanessa, deep down, knew she could never buy with all the money in the world.
Desperate to break the older maid's spirit, Vanessa intentionally assigned Claire the most grueling, humiliating tasks. She forced Claire to scrub the marble floors by hand, demanded she work eighteen-hour shifts, and constantly threatened to have her fired and thrown out onto the street without references.
Claire endured the abuse in absolute silence, desperate to keep her health insurance.
But Vanessa wasn't satisfied with private psychological torture. She wanted a public spectacle. She wanted to prove to the entire city's elite that she owned the people in this house.
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And the grand engagement gala provided the perfect, terrifying stage.
👉 Read Part 5 to return to the agonizing climax on the ballroom floor.
