Chapter one

"Where did that lowly animal go again?" Alisa's shrill voice echoed through the quiet mansion. Ethan sighed deeply. He slowly came into her view and bowed deeply at her. As he raised his head, Alisa slapped him hard across the face, causing his head to turn to the other side. Her gaze was hard and she scowled very terribly at him.

"Don't you dare to bow at me, you lowly scum." She cursed. "Where did you scurry off to?"

Ethan stared at her, wondering what he had done wrong. "I... I simply went to water the garden as you requested."

"It takes you three hours to simply water a garden?" Alisa mocked. "Do you realize what time it is? I'm yet to go for my shopping, because you haven't come out yet."

"I apologize, ma'am." Ethan bowed. "Cara also asked me to accompany her shopping."

"And so?" Alisa demanded. Was this fool about to refuse her over Cara?

"I assumed that I would rather follow her." Ethan stated.

"Why?"

"Cara is my wife." Ethan said pointedly.

Alisa bursted into laughter. "Cara is your wife, but she is my daughter, and I gave her permission to marry you. I pay your bills, you live in my house. Without me, you would have nothing of what you have now, except the miserable life you were used to living."

"Daddy..." Ashley's soft voice sounded from behind Ethan. Ethan turned a little to the side and caught sight of his daughter. He sighed deeply. Forcing his scowl to turn to a happy smile, he turned to the little girl.

"Hey there, princess," he crouched down with a smile and stared at her. "What are you doing outside? Shouldn't you be dressing up already?"

Ashley's big round eyes moved from her father's face to her grandmother's. She placed her palm on his face. "Daddy, is grandma bullying you again? I heard the servants say that grandma always bully you."

Ethan chuckled. "Grandma is just trying to make sure I can fulfill all my promises to you, darling. She couldn't bully me."

Ashley smiled brightly. "Oh well, mom said I should come and call you to take her to the mall." Ethan lowered his gaze and sighed. "Tell mom that grandma wants me to take her to the mall, she should be a little patient with me."

"That's what you always say, daddy. You don't like to hang out with mommy and me, you only like grandma, and she bullies you." Ashley whined. Before Ethan could correct the impression, Ashley stomped her foot and stormed back into the mansion. Ethan was devastated, but the mocking chuckle that sounded from behind him reminded him of how right his daughter was.

"C'mon, fool. Let's get going already. You'll need to come back in time to appease your princess." Alisa said, her voice was dipped in mockery and sarcasm, and it didn't skip Ethan's hearing.

Still, he had no choice but to follow her, he quickly dusted himself and hurried after her. 

"Ethan, where the hell were you?" Cara demanded. "You ditched our daughter and me just to go out with my mother? You haven't told me what you have to do with my mother," Cara yelled.

Ethan looked around him at the servants, they all had pitiful gazes. "Cara, let's have this discussion in the room."

"In the room?" Cara scoffed. "Who do you think you are, to tell me where to talk to you? Oh, you can't even talk to my mother but you want to talk back at me?" It was obvious that she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Ethan sighed. "Cara, it's the way you talk to me and address me that makes your mother talk to me in the way she does. Can you at least give me some respect before the servants?"

"What makes you think you deserve any form of respect?" Cara fired back. "Who do you think you are?"

"Your husband, Cara," Ethan replied softly. "The same man you took wedding vows with."

"I know what a husband is, Ethan," Cara stated. "and I also know what a husband should be for him to be addressed as a husband. Ethan, you have failed to provide as a husband should-"

"Should that even be an issue? Your father owns a multimillion dollar company, he's famous for enriching people. Your parents have many houses in the city and yet, helping your husband stand is an issue? Your father couldn't employ me, and you couldn't make him employ me either."

"Then your mother won't ever let me have time to go out and search for a job myself. How do you all expect me to meet up?"

Cara was stunned. Did Ethan just blame her for his misfortune? "Or maybe your life is so miserable and you've failed to see how well they even made your life, ingrate."

After speaking, Cara didn't give Ethan a chance to respond and she walked away. Ethan sighed and shook his head, what annoyed him was the fact that Cara and her mother always humiliated him before the other servants.

"Ethan..." A maid called. "I understand what you're going through, let me give you a piece of advice. If you want to succeed in this marriage, you need to leave the house."

"Thank you, but I can't leave. In case you haven't noticed, I barely have any jobs to fend for myself with. I'm married to the princess of this house, but I'm still working as a servant here." Ethan said, shaking his head. "I have plans though, I have been trying to reach out to some clients and once I made enough money to rent an apartment, I'll move out with my family."

The maid nodded. "That's good then, be strong. All will be well."

Alisa came out at the moment and glared at him. "Now you dare to insult my daughter by messing around with a maid?"

Ethan's gaze widened. "No ma'am, I just tried to -"

"You just tried to..." Alisa mimicked. "Honey, look at Ethan, trying to make fun of us in this house, he was about having an affair with this lowly maid. The poor girl didn't even want it but he kept cajoling her..."

"Mr Wilson, that's not true," Ethan defended, "I was only discussing a few plans I had with her."

"Plans? What plans?" Alisa demanded fiercely. "You're planning to leave my daughter for a maid? Is this what my princess gains for giving her body to you?"

"Mr Wilson, I know you're not an unreasonable man, I -"

"So I'm an unreasonable woman?" Alisa continued. "Go on, your punishment keeps increasing."

"What, wait, punishment?" Ethan repeated. "What kind of punishment? Mr Wilson, I didn't do it, I swear."

Ben glared at him. "You're calling my wife a liar? And you expect me to believe you over her?" Turning to the maid, he said in a gentler voice, "you may leave, dear. Let's teach this no goody son in-law of mine a lesson."

The maid scurried away, leaving Ethan to face the wrath of his in-laws alone. Ethan shook his head, he assumed it would just be a few words of insult and a not so subtle reminder of how miserable his life was and will be without them. He was surprised when four bodyguards approached him and jacked him up. Ethan tried to struggle but one of them slapped him hard across the cheek and he passed out.

Alisa's smile was so wide that her husband shook his head. "You trouble maker, allow the boy some breathing space, we don't want him to begin to suspect anything," Ben said.

Alisa waved her hand in the air, "he could never suspect a thing. The boy is so stupid, ugh. I just need to find a way to finally end him and free my daughter from this stupid marriage."

"What about their daughter?" Ben asked gently. Although he was somewhat fond of the girl, but Alisa strictly warned him to never show any affection to her since she was a product of Ethan.

"We can easily get rid of her, or for the sake of conscience, send her to an orphanage." Alisa said. "But let's not plan for now, let's see to it that that asshole gets his due punishment."

"Mm, you go see to that, I will just grab my documents and return to the company." Ben said. Alisa nodded and watched him leave. She smirked as she made her way to the backyard where Ethan was being tied to a tennis table. After tying him securely, one of the guards came out with four whips and handed one each to the other three.

"How many, ma'am?" Their leader asked, turning to Alisa. By now, Ethan could already tell what was going to befall him and he could only anticipate the end of it. His eyes had begun to water since he knew he was innocent. He remembered how he started working for the Wilsons.

-

Ethan was a fine young man, but he was an orphan, with no family and no link to his past whatsoever. But he tried his possible best to create a wonderful life for himself. Ethan worked day and night to be able to afford a single room apartment, so that he could move out of the orphanage. The day his first rent was to expire, he ran into Mrs Wilson.

The woman seemed to have known his parents and that was what lured him into their house. After being served, Ethan was too reluctant to leave. He remembered how he begged her to offer him a job, even if it was the position of a servant in her house.

Mrs Wilson agreed and offered him the job, Ethan began to work there. Every month, he was able to save up something for himself. But soon, the princess of the mansion began to take interest in him, and he soon began to love her too. Ethan had spent all of his savings on the girl, trying to prove that he was a worthy partner for her.

He assumed that marrying her would be a jackpot and would bring untold wealth into his life. The other servants envied him, especially because Cara seemed to love him so much. Never would Ethan have suspected that his love story was merely a fairytale. After being together for a year and a few months, Alisa finally consented to their being married.

Ethan got married to Cara and he thought he had won, but it was only the start of a miserable life. Yes, he stopped being a servant to the entire house, only now a servant to Alisa. Cara kept having affairs with other men, although she tried to hide it from him, but he knew. 

It was in the second year of their marriage, that she finally let Ethan touch her as his wife. She fell pregnant and bore Ashley. Ethan's only bundle of joy, his daughter was the only thing he felt he had gained from life. But seeing her, and being unable to cater for her made him feel even worse about his situation.

So when his work stopped, he returned to his evil mother in-law to resume being her servant, just so that he could make ends meet, and once again, save up to take care of his daughter. Ethan never knew that he was only signing a death warrant.

-

The first whip tore through his shirt and he grunted in pain. He hadn't heard how many strokes Alisa ordered them to flog him, but he knew he was going to be there for a long time. With every whip that landed on his back, his shirt tore and soon, his skin began to tear too, mixing the torn fabric with his torn skin and his blood stained the fabric.

Alisa smirked as she watched the scene, this was more satisfying than all her soap operas. She heard footsteps approaching and she ordered them to stop. The footsteps paused behind her and she scowled a little at the intrusion. A soft gasp was all she needed to know who had seen it.

Ethan turned his hea

d slowly, his hair stuck to his face because of sweat, and his eyes were bloodshot red, but he couldn't help the feeling that squeezed his heart, as he noticed the intruder.