Total pages in book: 189
Estimated words: 178200 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178200 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
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.
Chapter 12
When they arrived at the airport, the scene that awaited her sent Esther in a murderous frenzy. He even had the entire press waiting for her. Bastard.
And then she saw that woman.
The one who had caused all of this to happen.
She was the one to blame.
Esther snapped.
The moment the door opened, Esther flew out and lunged at Mairi. “You bitch!” She tried to scratch the girl’s eyes out, but before she could even take another step, she was suddenly held back, one man holding each of her arms.
Camera bulbs started flashing, and she lost it again. “Why don’t you just die?” Esther shrieked at Mairi. “You ruined everything, everything!”
Mairi couldn’t even answer. She had never seen Esther like this, and she had never imagined she would. Her hair was a complete mess, and her nightgown, although not transparent, revealed the way her large bra-less breasts had already started to sag with age.
Suddenly, she couldn’t even make herself angry with the other woman. All she could feel was pity. She looked up at her husband. “Damen—-”
Esther couldn’t stand the pity she heard in Mairi’s voice. “Don’t you dare pity me, you slut!” Rage made her voice shriller. “And you,” she spat, looking at her son. “I wish I had you aborted the way I always wanted to!”
Damen didn’t even flinch.
When her son didn’t answer, she sneered, “You really are your father’s son. You’re as worthless as he is. And what you did to me this morning? I expected more from you—-”
“Then you know me better than you give me credit for,” he said coldly. “Because none of it was my doing. It was all your daughter’s plan.” At Esther’s shocked expression, he shook his head. “Did you really think she would remain loyal to you? Did you think she didn’t know about your plans to marry her off to Athanas?” His lips tightened. “I have to admit, Mother. I at least thought you wouldn’t go as far as whoring your own daughter—-”
“He comes from a good family—-”
“He’s close to eighty years old,” Damen roared.
“So?” she shouted back. “At least he’s not cheap and money-grubbing like that whore next to you!”
“ENOUGH.” It was quiet but deadly, and there was no doubting the murderous threat glinting in Damen’s eyes.
Even Esther daren’t say a word after that, and she fought hard not to step back when Damen closed the distance between them.
In a voice low enough for only his mother to hear, he said, “It’s over, Mother. If you hadn’t gone after my wife again, I would have let you live in peace. But after what you did – I realized I needed to take everything away from you.” His lips curved in a cold smile. “So I have. Everything you own has been transferred to my account. Everything. You make one move to take them, to go after my family, and I will present my evidence against you in court. You see, Mother, every illegal action you’ve performed in the past few years required you to step on a lot of people’s toes. Those people did not have a voice then, but I gave them the power to speak against you. And as for the ones you paid off? They sang like fucking canaries when faced with the threat of jail time.”