< Diane’s POV >

“You’re no different from your mother,” he growled as he grabbed my collar, forcing me to see him eye-to-eye. His grey eyes filled with fury and rage showed a reflection of myself, quivering with fear under his mercy.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, coldly, gripping my collar tighter. “You’re the vixen’s daughter. That vixen mother of yours ruined someone else’s family.”

I struggled to get away from him, my shaking hand held his grip but his glare caused my body to stiffen and my mouth unconsciously dropped, trying to muster words to reason with him.

But to no avail.

I was really scared and I felt my consciousness losing because of his intense eyes. It is as if he was ready to pounce.

In his eyes, he might see me as a deer caught in headlights. Any begging for mercy would just be futile especially when I was in front of a man who could only feel anger.

He suddenly pulled me closer to him and my body shivered instinctively, his mouth next to my ear as he spoke.

“Soiling the Leandre Estate with your mere presence puts me off in a sour mood. Why are you and your mother here in the house of the legal wife?”

I felt my eyes watered, seeing this tyrant man grasping me and making me feel trapped. I didn’t know what he would do next!

So, I mustered the courage to speak. “I...W-we were invited to be h-here,” I said, finally trusting my own words and praying that any reasoning could reach his ears. “Your m-mother, she invited us here.”

It’s the truth, after all.

Edina Leandre, his mother, personally invited us on her birthday. When we arrived, she welcomed us with an embrace and a smile.

The only one in the Leandre Estate who made us feel welcomed.

He chuckled, darkly. “My mother might have forgiven yours but I don’t. Just because you’re now good buddies with my mother doesn’t mean that everything is okay.”

“In fact, let’s go back to my question,” he said, coldly. “Why are you here in my room? Alone?”

I must not cry.

“I--,” gulping, I tried to be very careful with my words or else he could have hurt me. “I got lost. I was trying to find a place to get some a-air b-b-but I---”

As I told him the truth, it felt like a lame excuse. Sigh, why was I stupid enough to go out? I should have stayed in the dining room with my mom and listened to the grown-ups chatter away.

“And you think anyone would buy that crap?” He hissed.

I felt myself shaking really badly.

Was this the man I should get along with? His mother told me that he was a good man and that we could get along really well.

But before me, was a man with authority. A man in his early twenties who can throw me to the sharks if he wanted to. A man who probably owns a lot of enterprises.

A man whose parents were in the process of their divorce due to my mother.

The mistress.

“If you think that I am just like my father, think again. Also, I am not foolish enough to be easily swayed by a brat.”

And afterwards, he released me from his grip.

Next moment, I dropped down on my knees while I panted. My hand pressed my chest as my heart beat faster.

As I dared to look up, our eyes met once again and that look haunted me till this day.

Victor Leandre, son of the affluent family of Edina Leandre and Armando Gomez, looked down on me as if I was dirt.

And I, Diane Rosa, couldn’t blame him for it. I have no right to say anything knowing that we are to blame for his anger in the first place.

I didn’t know why but this was the first time I felt fear. Normally, I experienced other situations that caused fear but this man…

...I don’t want to see this man anymore.

And that’s how I met him. I was fourteen years old at that time and he was twenty-two. We met in his house in France during his mother’s birthday.

I never felt happier coming back home to my small town in the US just because he was all the way from France. And I made a mental note to never step in that country again if he was still there.

As years passed by, I almost forgot about that incident. Since he was never mentioned by my mom anymore and we were on different continents, I thought that was it.

However, as I reached my final year of highschool, little did I know that our first meeting wouldn’t be the last time.