Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Esther screamed and came to an abrupt stop at the doorway of her bathroom. Her bathroom, which was crawling with huge rats, and they were all over. The sink, the shower, the windows, the tub—-
She slammed the door shut, this time her entire body shaking with disgust, but not before a single black rat managed to escape the bathroom and head straight for her. She screamed again, and the sound frightened the rat enough to jump, causing its wriggling body to brush against her leg.
Esther screamed bloody murder and ran towards her bed – until she saw that the rat was doing the same in its confusion. Screaming again, she ran in the opposite direction, bursting out of her room and screaming for her maids. What the hell were their names again? All she could remember was Nadine’s.
“SOMEBODY answer, dammit,” she screamed as she ran down the stairs.
But soon, she realized the house was completely empty. Where had they all gone? How could they even think of contemplating such a thing?
Instantly, only one name came to mind.
Damen.
As soon as she thought of her son, Esther knew it was the only possible answer. The only one powerful enough, the only one who would hate her enough to do something like this to her.
Her entire face tightened in distaste. Such childish antics, Esther thought. She had expected more from him. She thought of changing her clothes then decided against it. She would rather walk naked than go back to her room right now.
Barefoot, Esther walked to her garage, intending to drive herself out.
But again, another surprise awaited her.
A second later, she screamed.
And screamed and screamed until she was hoarse.
He had even dared take all her cars!
All of them!
Stalking out of the garage, she went back to the house, and throwing the front door open, Esther found herself face to face with Damen’s secretary, Bart.
“Good morning, Mrs. Leventis,” Bart greeted politely. “Would you need a ride, madam?”
She stared coldly at him. “I’m sure you already know the answer to that.” Sweeping past him, she headed towards the limousine she found waiting by the curb.
Bart hurried after her.
When they reached the limousine, Esther demanded, “Well?”
“I’m afraid you misunderstood, Mrs. Leventis. This is my ride. That is your ride.”
Esther turned around, following his gaze, and screamed, “You want me to take a cab?”
“Unless you’d like to walk barefoot, madam?” The livid look on the woman’s face had Bart desperately doing his best not to laugh. He must remain calm. He must. Or he would lose his bet.
In the end, Esther Leventis did exactly what his employer, her son, had expected. With curtains of nearby mansions twitching all around them, the servants gossiping by the gates, Esther didn’t really have a choice.
“I don’t think I’ll go anywhere,” Esther started.
“By this time, Mrs. Leventis, it is possible your home may be overrun by rats.” It was a bluff, but the woman also bought it.
“You are going to pay for this,” she hissed in his face.
He carefully sidestepped her and headed to the cab, opening the door for her. “Your ride, madam.” Must. Not. Laugh.
Esther could barely breathe as she got inside the cab, slamming the door shut as hard as she could. It backfired, unfortunately, causing the window to roll down and remain stuck, halfway open.
“Could you please close this?” she screeched.
“Your fault,” the driver answered indifferently. He was a slob in every sense of the word, and the way he was licking his fingers clean after tossing the chicken bone he had eaten at the passenger seat made Esther want to run away.
Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! She reached for the lock, but it was too late.
The cab suddenly shot off, its speed almost causing her to tumble out of the seat.
“Will you slow down?” she screeched, hurriedly grabbing the seatbelt to strap herself into place.
“Sorry, madam,” the driver answered. “I was promised a thousand euros if I got you to the airport in under an hour.”
Airport? She didn’t want to go there, especially if Damen had one of his nasty surprises waiting for her at the place. “I’ll pay you twice that if you take me somewhere else!”
“I was told you would say that, but I will not believe you. They told me you are no longer rich.”
“I am rich, you bastard!”
He shook his head stubbornly. “If you are, give the money to me now.”
“I don’t have it—-”
He smirked at her through the rearview mirror. “Not rich.”
She screamed. She kept screaming, hoping to make his ears bleed until she realized that they were stuck in traffic, and the people inside the other cars were busy taking photos and videos of her.
Esther abruptly shut up.
Slowly, she leaned back against the cab’s dirty old seat, doing her best to regain her dignity. He will pay for this, she thought in feverish rage. She would not rest until he did.