Welcome To Hell, Dear Wife-Chapter 19: Rotten Kingdom.

Chapter 19: Rotten Kingdom.
Mira felt like a bucket of cold water...
no, iced water
had been poured over her head as she stared at Lucas right in the face.
What on earth does this bastard mean by do we?
Lucas simply stood there, making Mira and everyone else wait on him to continue.
"And what exactly is it that you think needs discussing, wife?"
Mira flinched, not just at the word but the way he made it sound like an insult.
Evelyn stood up as if sensing that things might be getting ruined if it continued this way.
"Uhm, Lu... Mr. Atkins. Please, she’s just been emotional right now. You know how everything has been upside down for her these weeks."
She then moved toward him. "It’s been a long day for you. How about we just have the lawyers draw up the more detailed—"
"No." Mira interrupted in a stronger voice she didn’t even know she had.
She was tired of being talked over and being some sort of bargaining chip all because Lorena ruined her own life with her attitudes.
She kept her eyes locked on Lucas while ignoring her mother.
"You do not get to come in here, act like I’m invisible, and walk out just like that. No."
A faint, annoying smirk graced Lucas’ lips as he took a few steps forward. His arms were in his pockets like he was on some casual stroll.
"Is that it? But I don’t think I just did that."
He spoke with feigned naivety that got on Mira’s last nerves while his eyes flicked to the people in the room. "But by all means, I don’t mind you entertaining me right now. I’m down with us having our very first marital spat in front of an audience. After all, you’re someone who’s known to be very uncouth anyways."
Damian rushed to his feet as his chair screeched against the floor. "You don’t get to talk to her like that, Atkins!"
Lucas’ eyes went to him in a dismissive and cold manner. "I’ll talk to her in any manner I see fit. So you can either sit down and watch or you can leave. But it’s none of your business!"
The dominance in his tone was like a shock to everyone. Even Susanne, who had been enjoying the show, couldn’t control the way her eyes went wide.
Mira found her voice as the memory of being abandoned to the mob and getting arrested overrode whatever else she might be feeling. "Those people... the police... you zoomed off and left me to death practically! And now you sit here so casually, talking about weddings and shit like this is all some sort of a joke?"
Lucas didn’t bother denying anything. He had put on his bored look yet again. "Well, you’re here right now, aren’t you? Not in a cell nor splashed across the front page about being arrested. Do you know the exorbitant fees my lawyers are making just to untangle a lot of mess that you’ve made? So by my calculation, I saved you. You’re welcome."
The audacity he embodied made Mira yell, "I don’t need your kind of saving! My brother helped, not you! You need to learn to stop taking the glory that belongs to other people!"
"Oh really?" His eyes cut back to Damian. "Did he tell you that or did you just assume it ’cause he’s a lawyer?"
"Stop acting like you did anything behind the scenes, Atkins!" Damian snapped.
Mira couldn’t care less. "I don’t care anything you did but stop it! I do not need your condescending help!"
"Oh, but you clearly do," he shot back at her as his voice finally lost that bored pretense and turned sharp. "Because you’re definitely not sensible enough to help yourself."
His eyes then went to Evelyn as a smile spread across his lips. "Neither is your family. Are we going to pretend like this charade is only to help her back on her feet, Evelyn? Or did you not tell your daughter the full terms of our arrangement?"
Evelyn’s face looked like one who had been caught stealing. "Lucas, that’s hardly necessary right now—"
"Why isn’t it?" Lucas interrupted. "Is transparency not important in a family like yours?"
He turned his gaze back to Mira before continuing. "While my lawyers are cleaning up your stupid messes, they’re also quietly halting my corporate takeover of Sanders Media. A takeover that would have left you all with no company anymore."
Mira’s eyes widened and so did Susanne’s and Damian’s.
She knew of
Sanders Media
, one that belonged to Lorena’s father. And even though it had been rocky since Lorena’s father died, Mira didn’t think it was to the extent of almost being taken over by someone like Lucas.
None of this made any sense!
"This marriage," Lucas continued, "isn’t just for you. Your entire family’s survival is now a result of my generosity. So you need to get your head straight on, because the only thing I asked for in return is you."
Mira was starting to get dizzy with confusion. She couldn’t get it, no matter how hard she tried to piece things together.
"Now, Lorena. You will move into my home tomorrow. You will smile and look pretty while acting like the perfectly reformed person. And in return, I won’t reduce your father’s name to trash. Those are my terms."
Mira looked around as if expecting someone to tell her that this bastard was making things up. But not even Evelyn would meet her eyes while Damian looked like he’d been physically struck.
Mira finally understood that her mother wasn’t in fact trying to help just her, but was also trying to save the company along with her.
Evelyn tried to speak again. "Mr. Atkins, we need to calm down and I know she won’t speak to press, not without you at least, but we still need to make a public statement—"
"The only statement that will be made will come from me." He didn’t even look at her because his icy gaze was still on Mira. "Only when she’s allowed to speak will she do that."
The sudden iciness was terrifying, and not even in the romantic way but in the claim of a man who had just acquired a troublesome property.
"You do know that I’m not a doll nor your puppet, right?" Mira asked rhetorically.
Lucas closed the final distance between them. He didn’t touch her, but he leaned in as his voice dropped to a whisper that was somehow more threatening than a shout.
"You’re my puppet. Just not in the way you think. And you’ll see."
He straightened up and just when he turned to leave, a desperate and furious panic rose through Mira’s voice.
"Why?" she blurted out. "Why would you even want to marry me when you clearly hate me? It makes no sense!"
Lucas stopped and then turned back.
The look on his face was more chilling than any Mira had seen on him. He looked at her like she was a fascinating bug under his microscope.
And then he stepped toward her again, invading her space even more than before. "Because," he started with a whisper so quiet that even Mira had to strain to hear it, "The quickest way to burn down a rotten kingdom is to become its king."
Mira was confused even more.
Was he calling her a rotten kingdom?
What the hell was it with that man using parables!
She had no time to even ask further questions because Lucas was already walking out of the room and out of the mansion.