Welcome To Hell, Dear Wife-Chapter 24: The Announcement

Chapter 24: The Announcement
Everyone froze at the sudden and familiar voice they all heard.
Even the music seemed to hold for a while. The guard’s hand, which had been inches from grabbing Mira’s arm, dropped to his side immediately.
Then the crowd of angry, whispering guests parted like the sea.
And there he was.
Lucas Atkins.
He hadn’t even shouted, yet his voice had carried properly across the room.
His expression was unreadable, but his eyes had some sort of silent warning in them.
Without looking at anyone else, he walked straight to Mira. He didn’t ask if she was okay, neither did he smile at her.
Instead, he simply slid his arm around her waist and pulled her firmly to his side. It wasn’t much like a hug but more like a claim. It was like a deliberate public show of possession.
At least, that was how it made Mira feel.
His voice was lower this time, but everyone was sure to hear it enough.
"If anyone says shit about her again," he started as his gaze went over the stunned faces of the crowd, "they’ll all have to answer to me."
The silence only lasted for a second as the room exploded with more whispers.
"Wife?"
"Did he just say... wife?"
"Lucas Atkins married Lorena Sanders?"
"Is this some sort of prank? When did this even happen?"
"What the hell?"
Camera flashes had started to go off like lightning that Mira had to look down and away from them. The ers, who had only been covering the stuffy business event, were now happy for tea as they suddenly scrambled forward, shouting questions over each other in a chaotic manner.
Mira could do nothing but stand beside Lucas too, even though her mind was completely blank at this point.
Then, to her utter shock, Lucas finally let her go as he turned and walked over to Naomi, who was still dramatically on the floor and still pretending to cry, even though she was having her own share of shock at this news.
Lucas leaned down and offered her his hand, helping her up like the perfect gentleman.
And then, in a very smooth, polite, and even apologetic voice, he started.
"I’m sorry for my wife’s... attitude," he said, his tone making it sound like Mira was a misbehaving pet. "She overreacts sometimes, and that’s a flaw we are working on."
He pulled out a crisp white business card from his inside pocket and then pressed it into Naomi’s stunned hand.
"Let me apologize on her behalf properly. Reach out to me as soon as you can, I’ll make sure that you’re very much compensated for your trouble."
He was apologizing right in front of everyone, thus making Mira the crazy one.
Mira’s mouth opened to immediately protest that this woman was the one at fault, but Lucas was already turning back to the crowd.
"I’m sure everyone is surprised," he announced, as if he were giving a business presentation. "But yes. Lorena Sanders and I are married. In fact, we’ve been married for a month now. We just decided to keep it quiet for a while."
The crowd erupted in more whispers again, and this time louder. They had been overwhelmingly shocked because this wasn’t just a fling or a relationship. It was practically a done deal.
"How can this be?"
"I thought for sure that he’d marry Callis Grace."
"A whole month? And nobody knew about it?"
As if hearing her name, Callis suddenly stepped forward. She looked a bit annoyed, but she was able to hide it behind a perfect and poised smile as usual. She moved closer to Mira and placed a gentle hand on her arm.
"I know Lorena overreacted," Callis said in a soft voice, "but perhaps we’re being too harsh on her. Anyone who gets pushed to the wall would surely react, and that goes for all of us."
People gasped.
Why on earth was Callis Grace defending the fallen bitch? Was the world truly coming to an end?
A particular murmur was loud enough to reach Lucas’ ears.
"I never pegged Lucas Atkins as a man to tolerate someone like Lorena, much more marry her."
A faint smirk touched his lips as he moved back to Mira’s side. He snaked his arm around her waist again with a tighter grip this time.
"I know, right?" he said, addressing the comment like it was a joke they were all in on. "But I think I have a thing for badly behaved women. I think I can’t help but be attracted to the mean ones. You can’t help what you like, right?" He then gave a shrug, causing a few people in the crowd to laugh nervously.
He pulled Mira even closer than was possible.
"What you should all know and accept is that Lorena Sanders is now Lorena Atkins."
He looked down at her with eyes holding a fake warmth that almost made Mira’s skin crawl. "And she loves me dearly."
Someone close to the back, one no one could tell if it was a er or not, dared to shout the question that was probably on a lot of people’s minds.
"Does she have something over you, Lucas? Maybe blackmail? Is that it?"
Mira stiffened beside him because she was expecting some sort of humiliation right now, but Lucas didn’t even flinch. His smile even got sharper.
"Well, she does have something over my head," he said, causing Mira to sigh in a way that meant she expected this.
Even the murmurs had intensified to curse her out again.
But then his voice dropped into a mock romantic tone as he continued. "The thing she has over me is my heart, because she has it in her hands now. You all just have to beg her to cherish it."
A wave of disappointed sighs filled the crowd. They had expected something scandalous, but they had gotten nothing.
Mira, on the other hand, was starting to feel dizzy due to this act. The way Lucas was so perfect at this was making her stomach coil. He was playing everyone so easily while using her as a prop.
He then raised his champagne glass. "Thank you all for coming to the company’s anniversary gala. I hope you’ll all treat my wife with more respect moving forward." He paused for a while before adding, "Or else, you’ll make me very angry."
He chuckled afterwards like he was just joking, but nobody else laughed along with him.
Mira felt a little thankful that he had said that. Only a little, though.
After downing his cup, he grabbed Mira’s hand and led her out of the staring and murmuring crowd and into a waiting car.
The car ride back home was as silent as when they were coming too. Lucas was, as usual, staring out the window while Mira stared at her hands in her lap.
Her own thoughts were spinning in chaotic, painful circles.
She kept going from Naomi’s cruel words about her as Mira and to her as Lorena, then to her stupid fake tears, and then the slap.
One thing hung on her mind though, the fact that Naomi said she had been with Travis way before Mira met him.
Does that mean that it was all a lie from the very beginning? Was I just a joke to them? A bank account they were using?
She felt like she was going to cry. She couldn’t believe that she had been that stupid.
The car pulling into the dark and silent mansion was what cut her internal turmoil short as they both walked inside together.
Instead of Lucas going elsewhere, he followed Mira right into her bedroom without saying anything. Mira was about to yell at him to leave, as expected, but a tiny, very confused part of her remembered that he had at least stood up for her today somehow.
She was so down already that she decided to just force the words out.
"...Thank you," she whispered without looking at him. "For whatever."
He didn’t bother looking at her as he went over to the window instead and looked out at the dark gardens.
The reply that came from him wasn’t what Mira had expected.
"Don’t thank me," he said. "I don’t do anything I do for you."
He finally turned to look at her with empty eyes. "And next time, try to keep your bitchy attitude contained for at least two hours. It’s not that hard."
Mira almost choked on... nothing. She regretted the tiny gratitude she had rendered immediately as she felt anger now instead.
"I didn’t start that! She—"
"I don’t want to hear more of your screeching voice again tonight, please." He cut her off and then took a step towards her. "Let’s get this over with already. Take off your clothes.
Now