Chapter 3 Deception's Desire: A Tale of Seduction and Betrayal

"Where have you been?" asked a middle-aged woman who still looked beautiful, blocking Monica's path as she was about to enter her house.

Monica abruptly halted her steps, the woman looked at the middle-aged woman who blocked her path with disapproval.

"That's none of your business!" Monica replied firmly and bravely. The woman completely ignored the response of the woman in front of her, as it was completely irrelevant to her.

"Monica! Watch your mouth! I'm still your mother! How disrespectful!" snapped the middle-aged woman who blocked Monica's path. The woman referred to herself as Monica's mother.

Monica's response, however, seemed relaxed. The woman laughed disdainfully at what the woman in front of her said.

"Mother? So you still acknowledge yourself as my mother?" Monica asked with a laughter that still sounded annoying to the woman in front of her.

Miranda Miller, that's the name of the woman who now showed a facial expression full of emotions with both hands clenched to control her emotions due to Monica's words. The middle-aged woman who still looked beautiful and youthful was indeed Monica's biological mother, and Monica despised her own biological mother.

Monica's disdain wasn't without reason, she behaved as she pleased towards Miranda because of Miranda's own habit of cheating. And to make matters worse, Monica's father had already passed away, and his death was caused by a heart attack due to finding out the fact that Miranda had cheated on him.

But instead of repentance and stopping her bad habits, Miranda became even worse after Monica's father's departure.

Monica was an only child, so she embraced her own wounds, she often behaved antagonistically and cunningly just to cover up her wounds.

"Monica! How dare you speak like that!" Miranda snapped again with a face full of anger.

Monica chuckled sardonically. "Why wouldn't I dare?" she said casually before she quickly passed Miranda and left.

"Monica! Stop! I'm not done talking to you!" shouted Miranda with full of emotions until she shouted calling Monica who didn't care and continued walking towards the upstairs to her room.

"Damn it! The ungrateful child!" cursed Miranda harshly, even uttering curses that should not be uttered by a mother.

With emotions, the woman stepped out of the house with a neat and glamorous appearance, her steps audible because she was wearing quite high heels.

Outside the house, Miranda entered the car that had just arrived in her housing area. The woman's face instantly changed when she faced a man younger than her.

"Why did it take so long, darling?" asked the man sitting in the driver's seat.

"Just usual, honey, I was dealing with my increasingly disrespectful daughter," replied Miranda with a sweet smile mixed with a glance that still implied emotions.

The man sitting next to Miranda looked calm as he smiled, gently stroking Miranda's hair. "Relax, honey, don't always let your emotions get the better of you when dealing with your daughter."

Miranda nodded and smiled sweetly. "Yes, dear."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Monica was now standing on her balcony, her eyes still staring at the car that her mother had entered until the car disappeared from her housing area.

"Ugh! Such trash!" Monica scoffed cynically. She didn't hesitate to curse her own mother, whether directly in front of her or without her mother's knowledge.

Monica was truly fed up with her own mother who had become exactly like a cheap woman. In fact, in one month Monica could see three different men who were always brought home by her mother.

Several times Monica had admonished her, but Miranda remained the same, which made Monica tired of admonishing her own mother.

"Ugh!" Monica groaned roughly as she wiped her face before leaving her balcony and going inside.

She decided to lie down on the bed, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling with meaningful eyes. Her head was filled with various problems she was facing.

"I miss Daddy," murmured Monica, her eyes slowly filling with tears as if wanting to cry.

In this solitude, Monica always remembered all the problems she faced, whether it was her increasingly unclear family problems or her love life problems. Monica truly loved Kendrick, but unfortunately, she was too obsessed with having the man she loved and her ways were wrong.

Monica's defenses crumbled, and she instantly burst into tears because she couldn't hold back her tears anymore when she was alone without any friends or companions. Mother? Monica no longer expected love from her own mother.

Even if Monica had enough savings, she planned to leave this house full of memories.

*Ding dong*

Just as Monica wanted to continue her crying for a moment, but as if God didn't allow it because Monica had to reluctantly leave her room due to the sound of the doorbell pressed by someone who was surely a guest.

But before opening the door for the guest, Monica tried to remove the traces of tears that filled her face as much as possible. Fortunately, she had only cried for a short while, so it didn't make her face puffy.

"Huff!" Monica took a rough breath before roughly wiping her tear-stained face. She did that as she walked away from her room and descended the stairs.

"Ugh! It's you!" Monica grunted as she opened her door and immediately saw a woman who was not unfamiliar to her.

"Hehe, who were you expecting? Kendrick?" asked the guest, who turned out to be Zara.

Monica snorted harshly when she saw Zara's smile, as if mocking her. "Stop smiling like that or I'll kick you out of here!" she replied firmly, mixed with annoyance.

"And who would even expect Kendrick to come?" Monica continued casually.

"Sorry, Monica, hehe, who knows, maybe you were hoping for that," replied Zara with a mischievous smile.

Monica snorted again, shaking her head. "Whatever! Come in!" As usual, Monica ushered her friend in with a commanding tone like that.

"Just sit there for a moment, I'll get you a drink," Monica said after Zara sat down on the living room sofa.

Zara just nodded. "No need to bother, Monica, I'm used to not being treated to anything by you," replied the woman jokingly.

Monica didn't respond to her crazy friend's words, she just rolled her eyes lazily before leaving Zara alone in the living room.

Shortly after, Monica returned from the kitchen with drinks and snacks. The woman sat beside Zara with a sour face, apparently Monica couldn't shake off the problems filling her mind.

"Thank you, my dear," Zara replied with a grin, taking the glass of drink.

Monica responded only with a grunt before Zara spoke up to start the conversation.

After drinking, Zara tapped Monica's thigh twice to fully draw Monica's attention to her. "By the way, how was last night? I asked you via message but you haven't replied yet. Were you so busy with Kendrick that you forgot about me?" said Zara, who couldn't be controlled and was blunt in saying that.

Hearing Zara's question related to Kendrick made Monica's sour face turn enthusiastic in an instant.