Chapter 1
“Rhea? “ A voice called anxiously
“Rhea?” a voice called again, at the loudest.
Tumbling over the bunch of clothes she was busy folding, Rhea threw them all on a chair and ran in the direction of the voice. She entered the room breathless, gasping for air, her chest heaving, she looked about her trying to find the all too familiar voice calling her
“Rhea?” the voice called again, it was her stepbrother, Jeremy Campbell, Rhea hesitated. Jeremy was not on the list of people Rhea wanted to be with, not that she knew so many people. He was a total jerk.
“Rhea, are you there? “ he called again, his voice was coming from the bathroom and she knew what that meant. Nothing good ever came out of being alone with Jeremy Campbell, he was the worst bully ever.
“Yes” Rhea answered timidly,
“Get me, my bath towel please, I left it on the bed, please hand it over” he pleaded, his honey voice sounded desperate, only she knew too well her stepbrother’s sweet creamed black heart.
Turning to look at his bed, Rhea spied the white towel, peeking out from underneath the layers of clothes he had used to decorate his bed, she sighed and went forward to pick it up, making a mental note to arrange the room once he was done, she would never dare to step into the room willingly while he was in it, she might as well as say goodbye to her innocence. He never hid it, he made it plain that he wanted her. A thing Rhea hated.
She pulled the towel free from the nest of clothes on the bed and made her way to the bathing room. She knocked twice, looking sideways out of panic, while she was looking at the door, a hand opened the door quickly and dragged her into the bathroom.
Startled, Rhea screamed out in fright as she came face to face with her step brother’s naked body, Rhea shut her eyes close.
“Jeremy, what are you doing? Let me go this instant” Rhea cried
Jeremy laughed in response to her behavior” what a baby” he muttered, snatching his towel from her hands, he pushed her out of the bathroom roughly, she fell just outside the door, Rhea doubled on the floor, crying.
“Rhea Campbell?” her step mother’s voice sounded from the hallway
Standing up in a hurry, she fled Jeremy’s room, only one person could call her name that way and that was her stepmother. She found her in the kitchen, going through the pots of food Rhea had struggled to cook, they were fast running out of groceries, she had made the complaint, but Emily ignored her every word.
“Rhea, why is this food looking tacky?” At forty-seven, Emily Campbell still had her hour glass figure, her dyed, red hair was glowing as the curls tumbled in waves after the other, her eyelashes were covered in thick layers of eyeshadow. A thing that disgusted Rhea. She never failed to coat her lips with thick red lipstick, giving her the perfect witchy outlook.
Today, her lips were once again dipped in red blood, a faint hue of blush spread on her cheeks, her square ridged nose the only misguided feature on her perfect face. She had on a pink sweater and a plaid black skirt that stopped short at her knees. For a tall woman, Rhea felt like an ant when standing next to her stepmother
Trying to sidestepped the question, Rhea asked ”You called me mother?” she was still breathless from the encounter with Jeremy in the bathroom. She had been lucky he pushed her out, she might not be lucky the next time.
“Rhea”
“Rhea?” Emily snapped her fingers in front of her face, “I asked you a question, Rhea? What happened to the food?”
“There are no groceries in the house mother,” Rhea said as quietly as possible.
Hearing that, Emily’s face began turning ugly, Rhea began stepping back in fear, hugging her small body tighter, she ran into something soft and she was suddenly pushed forward towards Emily, who pushed her with disgust towards the kitchen counter, she hit the surface hard, Rhea grabbed her waist in pain.
Looking up, she whimpered as she saw it was her stepsister Marione Campbell that had pushed her, The blond beauty was the evilest person she had ever met in comparison to her mother. Marione had the body of a model and she knew it. She was beautifully gorgeous, a head-turner. Her soft-spoken beauty commanded attention wherever she went, She had an innocent face to compliment it all. Her face and her behavior were opposites. The perfect hypocrite.
Looking at her from down up, Marione was dressed in a royal blue lacy net one-shoulder dress, one could see her whole body underneath the dress, the dress only served little modesty in having extra material coverings around her nether regions. Yet her step sister carried the dress with all sense of a superstar. Which she wanted to become. It had always been her dream to be an actress. She was currently attending an acting school.
Rhea stayed where she was on the floor, her step Mom and step-sister stared at her hatefully
“If there were no groceries, why did you not get some?” Marione queried
“You reduced my spending fee last week to 20 dollars, the last time you gave me that was on Friday. I bought the groceries. But Marione had a party for two days in a row since then, so our food stock ran out” Rhea explained
Marione would have none of it. “Mom, take a look at her, she is trying to shift her fault to me. She could have bought more, she probably used the money for herself” she accused, coming forward to slap Rhea
Emily reach out stopping her in time. “No need for violence, Mari dear. We will just deal with her some other way”
Taking her daughter hand in hand they both left the kitchen, leaving Rhea crying on the kitchen floors. Living a life of servanthood in royalty was not a coveted lifestyle at all. If only her father had not disappeared, then she would not be living in the shadow of her stepmother. But what could she do, she had been condemned to this fate as long as it was her stepmother and step-siblings who were in charge of her life.
More tears slipped out of her face, as she reminisced on old times with her father and mother, her mother had been a broadway actress, she was always glowing and was so alluring. Not that she remembered much, she had been four when she died of cancer. Her memories were all in flashes now. Her father had been depressed after that, he had married Emily because he thought Rhea needed someone to take care of her, and for her not to feel lonely, he had married Emily with her two children. It had only taken her two days after her father’s disappearance for her to show her real claws. And they had been ugly.
Bringing out her mother’s jade pendant, she kissed it as more tears slipped from her face to the floor.
“Rhea” her stepmother bellowed from the living room
Cleaning her face in a hurry, Rhea moved her battered body to the living room.
She stopped short when she saw her Stepmother was with some visitors, three men sat with her and Marione discussing some paperwork, she was penning down some kind of signatures with them she stopped talking as Rhea entered the room. She hated to introduce Rhea as her relation
“Yes, mother you called me” Rhea answered, seeing she was not going to be introduced. Her voice was free of her cries from earlier.
Eyeing Rhea, at having addressed as mother” Rhea darling, Serve breakfast, this gentlemen would be dining with us” She said smiling sweetly at Rhea,
“Yes mother.” She said and walked back into the kitchen
“Who is that?” one of the men asked,
“That is my stepdaughter, Rhea she is such a lovely girl. She likes to take over the household chores. It is her dream to be a chef, that is why she has taken the house care upon herself. I am so grateful to her. She is so sweet” Emily sang praises of Rhea
Rhea heard some part of it as she came back to lay the table with the dishes she had managed to fix, her stepmother had described it as tacky but it seemed it had not been tacky after all. The hateful woman.
Rhea became self-conscious as she saw the new look the men were giving her, with renewed vigor, but they said nothing.
After signing the papers, Marione led them to the dining table, they all sat including Jeremy who kept on giving her lewd faces, she avoided his side of the table as much as possible, as she went around them serving each person.
One of the men after eating his fill gave her quizzical glances, he turned his gaze to her stepmother
“You have really taught your stepdaughter well. Women like you are rare Emily, You are the perfect symbol of a true mother.” He commended as Emily flushed under his praises of her.
Marione chuckled, hiding an unladylike snort in her laughter. Emily pinched her underneath the table, Marione squirmed then glared at Rhea as she met her gaze
“I have to try my best. She is like a daughter to me after all. I look after her the same way I look after my own children. “ Emily said smiling brilliantly
“I will like to further help you achieve that goal” The man declared
Emily stopped smiling instantly, Marione stilled, while Jeremy had a smirk on. Rhea paused her serving, she was at Emily’s side, she began giving her indications with her hands which were by her side, she switched them towards the kitchen clearly telling Rhea to leave the room
The man seeing the silent communication between them spoke up on his intentions.”Since we allowed Marione to join the theatre as an actress, don’t you think, your other stepdaughter deserves a position as well like you said she is quite talented in her cooking and the chef was asking for an assistant just last week, so if she does not mind, she can join? ’’ he said, looking at the family
Rhea feeling her step mother’s hot gaze on her to decline the offer, moved several steps away from her towards the men” I accept. When am I to start?” she said quietly, happy she had stood up for herself
Marione laughed cruelly” Just like that, don’t you have to do an auditioning first? At least they have to check your cooking as well,” she said nonchalantly,
The men declined” There is no need for that, did your Mom not say we should take her word for it as a testimony for you, that you can act well. Never mind, we will believe in her also for Rhea. And there is no need for auditioning by the way. I have tested her cooking today and I can see that it was perfectly made. She is such a rare talent“ He said sweetly
Emily forced herself to smile as well, clearly biting her mouth together” You are right. When will she start?”
“She can start anytime she wants”
“Then she will start next mo..”
“I will start right away” Rhea cut in. This was a golden opportunity for her to escape this hell hole and she would grasp it not minding the punishment that might come out of it later
“Alright then no problem, You can come in tomorrow and tell them you want to see Mr fatszer. That’s me, I will take you to the kitchen myself, alright?”
“Yes sir. “
With that Rhea dashed into the kitchen, hurrying up with her chores so she could retire to her quarter of the house before her stepmother finished her now turn sour meeting.
Thinking of the cloth she would wear on her first day, she kissed her mother's pendant, she smiled, Her mother must really be looking after her.
