Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 56: Escape and Demands

I scrolled through his social media account again. The account was an official one run by his team posting everything notable about his day which was jammed pack with public events. Scrolling through the various posts, I could tell that he was living his productive life like normal. He attended public events related to his work and opening ceremonies of a couple of luxury brands as well.

Since deciding to leave the past behind me, I never checked or followed his social media accounts again. In addition, I also stopped using my personal social media accounts because I planned to start a fresh new life. Just because I could find Anthony on social media didn’t mean that I could directly contact him. If only I could meet Anthony, then he might help solve all of my problems.

“Oh...why is this so hard?” I muttered as I felt a frown forming in between my brows.

I got up from the bed and approached the large window in my bedroom. After pulling the curtain to the side, I could tell from the orange ray of sunlight that the sun had already started to descend and that soon it would be dark. Looking down, I could see the garden below the window of my bedroom which was located on the second floor of the mansion.

If I jumped down there, would I break my leg?

“Nope. I’m never doing that...” I mumbled to myself as I immediately killed that thought.

I had to find a way out of the mansion even if it meant taking extreme measures. However, extreme measures weren’t equivalent to stupid ones. Another loud sigh left my lips as I stared out of the window. The sun was setting and that marked the approaching end of another day of my life completely wasted. The best thing about fighting with Bradon was that he never attempted to make up with me. Ever since running out of the dining room that day, I have never laid eyes on him. That was partly because I never left my bedroom; however, that was also because Bradon never came to see me.

I shrugged my shoulder carelessly at the thought because it didn’t bother me. In fact, it was better for me this way because it meant that there was less for me to handle and more time for me to formulate my plan of escape. Making my escape during the night and when Bradon wasn’t in the house would be the most ideal. Luckily for me, Bradon was hardly in the mansion anyways.

So...how am I supposed to climb down there?

Suddenly, my phone started vibrating on the bed. My heart raced when I thought that it might be Bradon who was calling me. It hit me a few seconds later that he wouldn’t do something like that, and he probably didn’t have my number just like I didn’t have his. The name displayed on my phone screen turned out to be my father’s.

“What do you want?” I asked when I picked up the call.

“Have you seen the news? Have you been paying any attention at all to how your family is faring in the news?” my father asked with clear dissatisfaction and sarcasm in his tone.

“No, am I supposed to do that?” I replied without a care. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Just like any noble who wanted to maintain their place in society, my parents were strict about monitoring and maintaining the public image of the family and all family members. Screening news and paying news outlets from publishing anything that would damage the family’s reputation was business as usual. That worked very well in the past when news and gossip were centralized in a few larger news agencies and publishing houses; however, the mass adoption of the internet gave rise to many online channels that could basically do whatever that they wanted. That meant that it became increasingly difficult for the Alnault family to control what was written and published about them in the press.

“Listen, stupid girl. I’m not asking you to check up on anything about yourself. I’m talking about checking up on news and everything out there about your sister...” my father snapped.

“Why? They always have good things to say about Diana no matter what she does,” I replied with a carefree attitude.

That was pretty much true when the family had a tight hold on the press; however, things have changed especially over the past few years.

“Let me remind you that you’re living as your sister right now. That means that you better start caring what people are writing about her,” my father warned.

I hated to admit it, but he did have a point. It was the unfortunate truth that the wedding and the marriage overall drew so much attention from the public. I guessed that it was to be expected of the union of the two most powerful families in the kingdom, without counting in the royal family. On top of the romance and dramatic side of things that people loved to feed off of, there were also really high expectations on the business side of things that were supposed to help fuel economic growth in the country. Businesses were supposed to expand for the Vulkans and tourism was expected to boom. For the Alnault side, the people expected better public infrastructure and policies that would help stimulate the economy and create jobs.

“I don’t browse social media. So? What are they saying about my sister?” I asked.

That was quite true up until a few days ago when I began stalking Anthony’s social media accounts. It slipped my mind to take a look at the news regarding the supposed wedding between Anthony and my sister. As Diana had been missing, I doubted that she had been updating her social media account. That alone could have posed a problem, now that I had time to think about it.

“Her social media account has been pretty much dead since she disappeared. On top of that, since the wedding is supposed to be a big deal, people are surprised that she isn’t sharing anything about it to her followers like she always does. They’re expecting something big and entertaining that would show them the perfect wedding and marriage,” my father explained sternly.

Bingo.

--To be continued...