Several bodyguards emerge from the front door of the house, carrying two large suitcases. Unceremoniously, they dump the luggage onto the ground. Leonie follows her luggage, crying pitifully. When she sees Waylen, she kneels on the ground in front of him.
“Waylen, why did you throw my luggage out?” Leonie asks.
After Waylen kicked her out of the car she caught a cab back to the Bamford mansion. She immediately went to find Mrs. Florence Bamford to win her pity but found that she’d left the house to play cards with her friends. Leonie went to sulk in her room but was interrupted by several rude bodyguards who began packing her things for her.
“Why did you lock Leilani in the dressing room?” Waylen snaps.
“What? Leilani was locked in the dressing room? When? How?” Leonie asks.
“Don’t play innocent,” Waylen says disgustedly, “You and Leilani were the only people in the room. I can check the security footage and show you.”
“Please Waylen, I don’t know what the footage shows, but I swear I didn’t do anything,” Leonie begs, “You have to believe me: I was looking for Leilani, but I couldn’t find her in the dressing room.”
“Leilani didn’t send me any message, and yet I got a text from her,” Waylen scowls, “You were the only person who had access to her phone. How do you explain that?”
“I don’t know about any text,” Leonie whimpers, “Maybe she’s lying to you.”
“You’re the one who’s lying, Leonie,” Waylen raises his chin and calls an order over his shoulder, “Whip her and see if it makes her tell the truth!”
A bodyguard quickly appears with a whip in hand.
“Please, please, brother Waylen. I didn’t do anything—-ahhh” Leonie screams as the whip descends on her back. The bodyguard is strong and the single stroke tears through her clothes and leaves a red welt on her back.
The whip descends again with a brutal crack and Leonie screams.
“You were waiting just outside the dressing room,” Leonie whimpers, “Why would I do something so stupid when it would be so easy to catch me?”
The guard raises the whip to hit her again.
“Stop it,” a dignified voice rings out across the yard.
“Grandma, please, I’m innocent,” Leonie begs, “I swear I didn’t lock Leilani up in the hotel dressing room. Oh, it hurts so badly”
Leonie writhes on the ground and m.o.a.ns, there are two visible marks on her back.
“Waylen, Leonie is our guest. How dare you have her beaten with a whip?” Florence Bamford scolds, “If the Summers saw her like this, how could you possibly explain yourself?”
“I don’t need to explain myself to anyone,” Waylen responds.
“Waylen, Grandma, I didn’t do it, really,” Leonie m.o.a.ns.
“Leonie is a good, honorable young woman and she never lies,” Florence Bamford says, “If she says she didn’t do, that’s the truth. Waylen, I forbid you from having her whipped again.”
Waylen folds his hands behind his back and nods at the bodyguard to continue. As the bodyguard raises his arm, Florence Bamford runs and covers Leonie’s body with her own.
“Waylen, if you want to hit Leonie, you have to hit me first.”
Waylen frowns slightly, “Pull my grandmother away.”
Florence Bamford grips Leonie tightly and prepares to resist the bodyguard. “Waylen, if you hate Leonie, it means you hate me,” she says with a tremble in her voice, “If you want to hit Leonie, you’ll have to hit me first.”
The bodyguard doesn’t dare risk accidentally whipping Florence Bamford, but he can’t defy Waylen’s request either. He hesitates, unsure of what to do.
Leonie seizes the opportunity, “Please Waylen,” she pleads and wipes tears from her cheek.
“Waylen, Leonie is still young,” Florence Bamford says, “Even if she did something wrong, you should forgive her. The whip beats so painfully on such a young back.”
Waylen glares at his grandmother. In three years, she’s had Leilani whipped many times. Is Leilani’s back not as sensitive as Leonie’s?
“Leonie dear, tell me what happened,” Florence Bamford says, examining the welts on Leonie’s back.
“Grandma, in the afternoon, Leilani and I went to the hotel dressing room together. I couldn’t find her after my shower so I thought she’d left. I told Waylen she was gone. Somehow Waylen got the idea that I looked her in the dressing room, but I swear I didn’t do it,” Leonie starts to cry as if her life depends on it.
Robert approaches Waylen and whispers, “Mr. Bamford, there may have been a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding?” Waylen asks, raising his eyebrows.
“I’ve just received information that suggests it was Michelle Cindy who locked Leilani in the dressing room,” Robert explains, “I have already asked others to punish her.”
Florence Bamford overheard Robert and she becomes bolder.
“I’m right. Leonie would never do such a thing,” she said smugly, “Waylen, your wife is a strange and rude woman. She probably offended someone.”
“Grandma, Waylen is just anxious,” Leonie says artfully, “But I do feel rather uncomfortable about the misunderstanding. I think I’d like to move back to my family.”
As she speaks, her hand unconsciously forms into a fist. She blames Leilani for her whipping and she vows to see Leilani punished in the same way.
“Leonie please, you can’t go anywhere dear,” Florence Bamford cajoles, “Waylen whipped you and accused you of something you didn’t do, but that’s his fault, not yours. You can live here as long as you want and as long as you live.”
She turns to her grandson, “Waylen, say something.”
“No matter how long you live?” Waylen says in a strange tone, “Fine, take Miss Summers’ luggage to my grandmother’s rooms.”
The bodyguards immediately begin to work.
Leilani is lying on the sofa and checking her emails on her phone. Ever since she sent the email to Diana, she can’t help but check her emails every few minutes. She sighs—there still isn’t a reply.
She looks across the room and sees that Lucky hasn’t moved an inch since Waylen ordered him to stay, but he’s gazing at her with friendly intensity.
“Lucky, come here,” she calls.
Lucky barks and wags his tail in response, but he doesn’t move.
“God, he’s a monster,” Leilani says aloud, “Even his dog is terrified of him.”
Suddenly a maid rushes into the room in a panic.
“Yes?” Leilani asks.
The maid stumbles over her words, “I thought you’d want to know that Miss Summers is being punished.”
“What? Why?” Leilani asks.
“Mr. Bamford accused her of locking you in the dressing room and causing you to get hurt. He’s furious.”
“Oh,” Leilani finally manages to say.
“Leonie has bullied and tortured me for years and Waylen has never intervened,” Leonie thinks, “Now suddenly, he’s having her punished?”
She can’t help but recall what the clerk said in the pharmacy. She struggles to her feet and winces with pain in her waist.
“Mrs. Bamford, what are you trying to do?” the maid asks with sudden concern, “Mr. Bamford made it very clear to us that we weren’t supposed to let you leave this sofa. He’d very concerned about your injury.”
“I want to see her punishment for myself,” Leilani says.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply