Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, West Hollywood ~

In Ben's and Penny's Spanish mansion…

Sunday

11:24 AM

Penny and Ben returned from their first wedding night and currently they are in the basement, waiting for Mrs. Morgan to stop shouting.

"How dare you lock us in? What kind of a daughter are you? Do you know how hungry I am? Dogs get a better treatment!...", Mrs. Morgan's hoarse voice filled the basement of the villa which Penny and Ben call home.

Penny sighed and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?", Mrs. Morgan asked Penny in a panic.

"I came to say something, and you are not letting me talk. So… I will be back later."

Mrs. Morgan's eyes darted aimlessly in disbelief. "Later? How much later?"

Penny shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe a few hours, days? It depends on my mood and since I'm pregnant, my mood is changing often."

"Please, don't go. Tell us what you wanted...", Mr. Morgan pleaded. "She will be quiet."

"I want to tell you that I was thinking about what to do with you. After all, you are my parents. I want to give you one option and I hope that you can listen carefully without interrupting me. If you promise not to bother us again, I will give you a property in South Dakota. You get to live there on a farm. Seventy acres of prairie with a single-story, three-bedroom home. It has a barn and horse stables, equipment, and everything else you need to live comfortably. We will give you the money needed to hire workers. The only thing we ask is that you don't leave South Dakota and don't contact us."

"South Dakota?", Mrs. Morgan frowned.

Penny was not interested in talking further.

The bodyguard next to Penny stepped closer to the door of Mr. Morgan's room and pushed folded papers though the opening on the door.

"These are the details on the property. Think about it, talk about it, and let me know about your decision.", Penny said and walked away with Ben.

As soon as Mr. Morgan took the papers from the bodyguard, the opening on the door was closed.

Ben and Penny went to the living room and got cozy on the sofa.

Penny leaned on the soft pillow at her back and Ben lifted Penny's feet in his lap.

On the television in front of them, they could see the live feed from the basement, showing Mr. and Mrs. Morgan.

"She wants us to be isolated.", Mrs. Morgan hissed.

"It's better than this.", Mr. Morgan stated the fact.

"You agree to it?"

Mr. Morgan sighed. "I don't like it, but what other option we have? She can kill us, and no one will ask for our whereabouts. No one."

"I see. Are you afraid of dying, or you believe that Harriet actually has it in her to kill us?", Mrs. Morgan paused and her face lit up. "You want us to take the deal in order to get out of here, and then when we find our freedom we can do as we please."

"Is that what you are thinking?"

"Don't tell me that you are OK with Harriet treating us like this."

"I don't know what to think.", Mr. Morgan admitted.

Of course, he is not OK. But what can he do about it? Considering how they treated their daughter, Mr. Morgan knows that Penny will not let them go easily. If she does that, then he would be a fool.

Mrs. Morgan sneered. "You don't know what to think, but I do. So here is how it will go: we agree, go to South Dakota, sell some things as soon as we get a chance, and go back to Texas. It seems that Harriet cares about those hotels. Or even better, we come to Los Angeles! Soon she will give birth and we can use that. As loving grandparents, she will not kick us out or treat us badly. Are you listening? …"

In the living room...

"Turn it off.", Penny told Ben icily. "I can't…" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Ben turned off the television and started kneading Penny's feet. "How I see it, your mother is not changing at all."

Penny noticed that Ben mentioned only her mother. "What about my dad?"

"He looks defeated."

Penny agreed with this. "He was a successful businessman who over time made several bad decisions. The worst one was to go against Jeff."

Penny sank in the pillows behind her and drifted off in her memories. "My parents didn't treat me badly all of my life. Since I remember, they would get me into different classes and courses for young ladies, preparing me to be the next Madam of the influential family. Dad was busy with work, and mom was managing me and my activities. She was strict, harsh, but she didn't punish me severely when I was very young. Things changed when I was a teenager."

Penny paused and noticed that she has Ben's attention.

Ben was listening without blinking. Penny told him bits and pieces from her past, but it was never in a story form, like this. And he does not want to miss a thing, no matter how painful it is to listen because this is Penny's story and he needs to know in order to understand her better.

Penny showed a small smile, as if to comfort Ben before continuing: "At that time, Jeff's parents announced that Jeffrey White is going to be the next heir. As the oldest son, he is the logical choice, but he was also focused on his studies, never caused problems, a perfect young master. And my mother got the idea that I am the perfect Mrs. Jeffrey White. We started attending events where Whites were invited and on a few rare occasions when Jeff made his appearance, my mom would push me to approach him. He was always cold and indifferent, not just to me, but to all the women who dared to talk to him, however, my mom saw that as my personal failure. I think that she hated me. No matter what I did, it was not enough, it was wrong, and I was punished because I was unable to get the attention of Jeffrey White."

Ben's uneasiness grew. "Are you blaming Jeff for how your parents treated you?"

"At first, I did.", Penny admitted. "I saw Jeff as the source of all my problems because if he would smile at me, talk to me, my parents would put me on a pedestal and treat me like a princess. The fact that I'm not the only one in a similar situation only made my hatred toward him stronger up to the point when I became almost indifferent. I was a robot on a mission to get his attention while shielding my emotions from his rejection and from my parent's punishment. Unsatisfied ladies started gossiping that he is gay or crazy, and I believed it until I saw him with Anna. In a way, Jeff showed me that you can blindly follow the rules until you find someone who makes you wish to break them. And when my parents switched their target to Lukas White I realized one more thing: there is no such thing as satisfying my parents. Even if I've got Jeff's attention, they would ask for more. And even if I ended up marrying Jeff, they would ask for more. No matter what I do, it will not be good enough, because they always want more."

"Does this include your father?"

Penny nodded in confirmation. "Even if he is not the one pulling the trigger, he is standing silently next to my mother while she is holding the gun."

"What if we separate them?"

Penny observed Ben. "You pity him?"

"I see that your mother is full of hatred while your father is regretting his actions. Maybe.", Ben voiced his thoughts.

It's not that Penny does not agree with Ben, but... "What if the only thing he is regretting is that he got caught? But let's assume that he changed. Do you think that if he says: 'I'm sorry', I will forget twenty years of them mistreating me? Ben, I don't have happy memories which include any of my parents."

Ben wanted to say that in his opinion, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan don't deserve the same punishment, but he was not the one who was locked up in the basement and starved for failing to fulfill someone else's desires.

Ben held Penny's hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You are the one who went through that, and they are your parents, so you decide how to deal with them. Keep in mind Mrs. Casano that whatever you decide, I will support you."

Penny looked at Ben and smiled gratefully but her expression showed that she is troubled. The truth is that she does not know how to deal with her parents.

Penny hoped that after a few days of being stuck in the basement, her parents will realize how she can easily hurt them, and even kill them. Penny knew that her parents will not leave her alone out of the goodness of their heart, so she decided to show them that she can be merciless and that fear will force them into obedience. But after hearing their conversation about how they will accept whatever she wants only until the next chance they get... she is back to not having a plan.

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