Chemical Poison . Howard Stark

Chapter 28

It took Anneliese over an hour to pick up the dress, another twenty to put it on. The dress felt expensive. Fabric sliding through her fingers as she slowly brushed herself down, getting rid of the imaginary dust. Just from staring down, she knew the dress flattered her body. With the middle of the dress pulled sharply by a thin piece of red fabric around the waist. The neckline dropped dangerously low, showing more cleavage than Anneliese - or any respectful woman would show. And the dress hung tight at the top and draped much like curtains on the bottom.

The dress itself was exquisite, if only she could ignore the colour.

She didn't need to find a mirror, as Howard's bedroom was decked in far too many. Only needing to glance up, and she found herself staring back at her, the same beady eyes that cultivated her hatred for such a colour. The deep red no longer comforting, but a damning punishment for the sins of everyone but her. To be thrown into hellfire for actions of another.

Red was a domineering colour. It required a skill to pull off. Anneliese's mother was too pale to wear such a dark colour, and her father too stern to offer any entertainment for red. But Anneliese, she was raised to wear the colour. It was the colour of power, the colour of success and the colour of control.

It was Johann Schmidt's colour, and she was damned to have the same fate.

Never did she expect a colour to have such a chokehold on her, to leave her completely helpless to such a sight. Yet, Anneliese struggled to breath as she continued to stare at herself.

Dressed in the red of roses.

Roses she used to grow in Germany.

Anneliese believed herself dramatic for her fears for such a colour, considering she hadn't seen her garden for so long. She barely remembers the birthday's of those she is close too, and yet she remembers the exact shade.

With her eyes closed, her heart thumping in her ears - she did not hear the squeak of the door as Howard opened it. Nor did she hear the whistle or the insult that it took her over an hour just to get a dress on - that he could remove that very dress in a manner of minutes if she allowed it.

However, she did hear his suggestion to skip the entire event in favour of creating a scandal in the sheets. 

Snapping her eyes open, she only glared as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror. Having to repeat to herself far too many times that Alexander could not have known the connotation this colour was. That it was a promise of a future she did not want, a future where she meets family once more.

"I'm changing the clothes requirements at Stark Industrials," Howard said slyly. He was leaning against the door, and Anneliese could feel his gaze wonder over the dress. She could only assume he was fantasising what lived under... that thought enough was to rid all previous fears and recollections of the roses in the her old garden.

With an arch of her eyebrow, she prompted him to continue. Knowing he needed no such confirmation for him to speak, as Howard Stark spoke when he wanted to.

"All secretaries to the CEO is now required to either wear the dress they have on currently, or nothing at all."

Mouth gaping; closed and then open. It took all her willpower to even comprehend what Howard had exactly said. In his defence, she thought, she should have expected him to say such a thing. Minutes passed and so did Howard's growing smile. He remained standing at the door, but his eyes remained on hers. Blazing with what she assumed was want.

Want that she refused to give.

Coming to her senses, Anneliese sharply turned around to the small make-shift counter Howard had sourced for her to do her makeup. Deciding that she'd do very little to change her usual make-up, as she didn't want to attend the event - nearly as much as Howard.