A Mother's Wrath

Roman ordered, his voice dangerously low. He ended the call and pivoted toward the door.

"Wait!" Sienna jumped to her feet. The mere mention of Hazel sent a jolt of pure adrenaline through her veins. "What happened to Hazel?"

Roman paused, his hand tightening on the cold brass doorknob. He turned his head slowly, his dark, calculating eyes sweeping over her openly panicked face.

Meeting his suspicious gaze, Sienna forced herself to suck in a sharp breath. She had to play her part perfectly. "I am Hazel's personal caretaker now. Ensuring her safety and well-being is my job."

Roman pushed the heavy door open and strode into the dim hallway. "Let's go."

They rushed down to the building's underground parking garage. Sienna barely waited for Roman to unlock the sleek black car before she yanked the passenger door open and slid inside. Roman got behind the wheel, the powerful engine roaring to life with a ferocious growl.

As the car sped out onto the neon-lit streets toward Onyx Bay Villa, the silence inside the cabin felt suffocating. Sienna gripped the leather edge of her seat, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. The butler’s frantic words echoed mercilessly in her mind. *She barged in. Dragged her out.*

Why would Blair go out of her way to look for Hazel?

Sienna knew her sister better than anyone. Blair was ruthless, selfish, and notoriously cruel. And Hazel… Hazel was so incredibly small. Back when they were still growing in Sienna’s womb, the two boys had absorbed the vast majority of the nutrients, leaving Hazel weak and fragile from the moment she was born. Her tiny lungs had struggled in those first few weeks. She was Sienna's absolute treasure. And this was the very first time the little girl had ever been away from her mother's protective shadow in six years.

Sienna shifted continuously in her seat, the leather squeaking beneath her as her anxiety spiked with every passing second. She ground her teeth together, staring out the windshield at the blur of traffic.

"Can you drive faster?" she blurted out, unable to hide the raw desperation bleeding into her tone.

Roman did not adjust his speed. Instead, he shot a sideways glance at her. His gaze darkened, sharp and piercing. "Ms. Sienna, you seem to care for that child even more than I do. And I am her father."

Sienna stiffened. Her blood ran instantly cold.

She realized her mistake the moment the words hung in the air. Her overwhelming, maternal panic far exceeded the normal boundaries of a newly hired servant. She had to reign it in immediately to protect her secret identity.

She forced her trembling hands to relax, resting them flat on her lap. "We just signed the contract," she said, keeping her voice as steady as possible. "From this moment forward, Hazel is my primary source of income. It is only natural that I care deeply about her. If she gets hurt, it reflects poorly on me."

Roman’s lips curved into a vague, unreadable half-smile as he eyed her profile. "Is that all?"

His ambiguous attitude made the hairs on her arms prickle. She nodded firmly, staring straight ahead. "Yes."

He did not press the issue further.

Minutes later, the tires screeched loudly as the luxury car swerved into the grand circular driveway of Onyx Bay Villa and slammed to a violent halt.

"Sir, finally you are home!" The elderly butler rushed down the front stone steps before the engine even cut off.

"What is the situation inside?" Roman demanded, a deep frown carving into his forehead.

"They—"

Before the butler could finish his frantic sentence, the passenger door flew open. Sienna bolted past the two men like a fired bullet. She dashed up the marble steps and shoved the heavy double front doors open, practically launching herself into the sprawling villa.

The massive, high-ceilinged living room felt heavy. The air itself seemed charged with a sick, metallic tension. Sienna’s frantic gaze swept the luxurious space and immediately landed on the far corner of the plush leather sofa.

Hazel was huddled there. The tiny girl had her knees pulled tightly up to her chest, her little head dropping forward. She looked completely lifeless, like a discarded, broken doll.

Sitting directly opposite her on a velvet armchair was Blair. Her legs were crossed arrogantly, her chest heaving slightly, and her eyes were wide with a lingering, malicious rage.

"Hazel!"

Every excuse, every ounce of caution vanished from Sienna’s mind. She sprinted across the expansive Persian rug and dropped to her knees beside the sofa, pulling the trembling little girl fiercely into her arms.

"Are you okay?" Sienna asked. Her voice shook uncontrollably. She pressed her hands gently against Hazel’s small, fragile shoulders. "Are you okay, baby?"

Hazel slowly lifted her head. She reached out a tiny, pale hand and gripped Sienna’s sleeve in complete silence. "I am okay."

From the velvet armchair, Blair let out a sharp, mocking laugh. She raked her cold eyes over Sienna, her lips curling in sheer disgust. "Who are you?" Blair sneered. "A new servant? You look like such a cheap siren. Who exactly are you trying to seduce dressing like that?"

Sienna pressed her lips tightly together. She heard the familiar venom in her sister’s voice, but she had absolutely no time or energy to argue with her right now. Her sole focus was the vulnerable child in her arms.

She gently lowered her head and cupped Hazel’s chin. "Let me take a look at you."

"I am fine." The little girl stubbornly tucked her chin against her chest, refusing to look up, desperately not wanting Sienna to see the damage.

A sickening, terrifying premonition twisted violently in Sienna’s gut. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the child’s resistance, and firmly lifted Hazel’s face toward the chandelier light.

Her breath hitched in her throat.

Right there, spanning across the little girl’s fair, tender cheek, was a massive, swollen red handprint. The skin was blistering hot. The slap had been delivered with such vicious, unforgiving force that the distinct creases of the abuser's fingers were physically imprinted deep into Hazel’s delicate flesh.

It was undeniably the strike of a full-grown adult.

Sienna stared at the welt, a wave of agonizing distress washing over her. She almost shed tears of pure heartbreak right there on the floor.

"I am okay," Hazel whispered softly, trying to comfort the devastated woman holding her. "The butler just made me ice cubes, and it does not hurt anymore."

Hearing her sweet daughter act so incredibly sensible in the face of such senseless violence felt like a jagged knife twisting directly into Sienna’s heart.

She gently set Hazel down against the cushions. Slowly, Sienna rose to her feet. Her hands fell to her sides, her fingers curling inward until her nails bit deeply into her own palms. She lifted her head and locked her blazing eyes directly on Blair.

"I hit her," Blair announced with sickening pride. She leaned back and crossed her arms casually over her chest. "What about it? Do you want to take revenge for this little brat?"

"Who are you calling a brat?" Sienna’s voice dropped to a lethal whisper.

She took a step forward. Then another. She closed the distance between them, stepping right up to Blair’s chair. "She is just a child. How could you possibly raise your hand against her?! An adult bullying a defenseless five-year-old girl like this... do you have absolutely no conscience at all?"

Blair scoffed, rolling her eyes coldly. "I cannot hit her just because she is young? The little imp completely deserved it for running around calling random men her father. Someone needed to teach her a lesson."

The absolute second the final word left Blair’s smug mouth, Sienna lunged.

She swung her arm with every single ounce of strength she possessed in her body.

*Smack!*

A crisp, thunderous crack echoed throughout the cavernous living room. The sheer impact of the violent slap threw Blair entirely off balance. She tumbled sideways out of the armchair, crashing hard onto the sofa cushions before sliding to the floor. Her ears rang violently. She laid there in a daze, struggling to push herself up for quite a while.

Sienna stood over her, biting the inside of her lip, her chest heaving as she stared down at the woman with eyes as cold as ice.

Once upon a time, she had loved Blair the most. Blair was her little sister. Sienna had given her everything, sacrificing her own comfort to ensure Blair had a good life. Even after getting married, when Blair could not find decent employment, Sienna had personally pulled strings to get her a lucrative position at Roman’s company.

And how did Blair repay her? She became Roman’s personal secretary, wormed her way into his inner circle, and conspired with him to push Sienna into a bottomless abyss.

Now, this very same woman dared to lay her manicured hands on Hazel. One slap across the face could not even begin to resolve the roaring, deeply entrenched hatred burning in Sienna’s heart!

"You dare hit me?!" Blair finally shrieked, the shock wearing off. She scrambled up from the floor, her face twisted in an ugly snarl, and rushed wildly at Sienna. "Do you have any idea who I am? I am Roman’s fiancée! I am the future lady of this family! Do you seriously want to continue working in this house in the future?! Come, throw her out!"

A few servants watched nervously from a distance, but no one dared approach the violent scene.

Blair cursed them inwardly as useless trash before she threw herself forward, raising her hands to fight Sienna herself.

"Don't fight..." Hazel’s frightened whimper pierced through the chaos.

The little girl scrambled up from the sofa and rushed forward to stop the violence. But in her frantic panic, her foot caught on the edge of the thick carpet, and she tumbled hard to the floor.

"Hazel!" The sickening sound of her daughter falling shattered Sienna’s focus entirely.

When she instinctively whipped her head around to check the child's situation, Blair seized the opening. She grabbed Sienna's wrist tightly and swung her other hand.

*Smack!*

The heavy blow landed squarely on Sienna’s cheek. A high-pitched ringing exploded in Sienna’s ears, and the sweet, pungent, metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth instantly.

Blair laughed triumphantly and raised her hand high into the air, fully intending to deliver another punishing slap. But Blair had lived a life of absolute luxury. Her reflexes were severely lacking, and she was definitively nowhere near as strong as Sienna.

Sienna ducked under the descending hand, gaining the immediate initiative. She drove her shoulder forward, tackling the other woman with brutal force and pressing Blair firmly into the ground.

Sienna turned her head and spat, licking the blood that oozed from the corner of her swollen lip. "Still want more?"

She raised her hand high, curling her fingers tightly, ready to swing directly into Blair’s face again.

Suddenly, a large, powerful hand clamped down on her wrist mid-air like a steel vise.

Roman.

He loomed over them, his jaw clenched, his expression absolute ice. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Roman, your crazy servant dared to hit me!"

Taking full advantage of Sienna’s indisposed position, Blair hurriedly scrambled up from the floor. With a vicious, unhinged snarl, she kicked Sienna squarely in the back with all her remaining strength. "How dare you touch me! Who do you think you are?!"

The sharp, pointed tip of Blair’s designer shoe dug deeply into Sienna’s spine, striking a spot that still carried lingering trauma from a horrific accident six years ago. Sienna violently scrunched her eyebrows together, a sharp gasp of agonizing pain escaping her lips as her back arched uncontrollably. She almost collapsed entirely against the rug.

"Auntie!" Hazel crawled up from the floor and ran to her worriedly, completely shaking off Roman’s outstretched hand. "Auntie, are you okay?"

Roman turned his head, his lips parting to reprimand the servant, but his words died abruptly in his throat. His eyes locked onto Hazel’s face.

There, stark and undeniable against the child's pale, tear-stained skin, was a clear, massive adult palm print imprinted on her cheek.

The temperature in the room plummeted to freezing. Radiating a dark, terrifying, and utterly unapproachable aura, Roman reached down and pulled Hazel firmly into his broad arms.

"Who hit you?"