609 Confession – Raymond was struck dumb. He stood frozen like a statue, unable to say a word, not to talk of defending himself as his wife pushed all of the blame on him. He always knew that his wife was fickle and had no sense of royalty, but to think that his wife would betray him like this made him weak.
Even Claudia could not stand it anymore and cried out, “Mom!” tears gleamed in her eyes. How could she throw her father under the bus like that? If there was anyone to blame, it was the both of them!
Claudia had only pointed out Kenith’s interest in Arianna when her mother came up with the brilliant idea of offering her to Big Joe and solving their money problems. Her poor father was innocent.
“Would you close your mouth?!” Her mother shut her up, her eyes bloodshot while the tears continued to spill from her eyes, “Your father is the one at fault here. If he had been able to provide for his family, none of this would have happened.” She claimed.
“But still... how could you...?”
Meanwhile, while the family was busy pushing the blame on one another, Natalie stood there motionless, a lone tear slipped from her eye, drawing everyone’s attention and the argument quieted down.
It was obvious from Natalie’s expression that she was in pain and they all started feeling guilty. However, it was too late for such emotion, the deed had already been done and she was not in the mood for their pathetic apologies.
“So you sold my daughter?!” Natalie screeched like a banshee and lurched herself at Claudia’s mother whose eyes widened in fear instantly. It was not her?! Didn’t she hear?
Natalie threw her entire weight on Claudia’s mother, knocking into her hard while Claudia screamed and her husband jumped off from the conch, giving space for both women to fight it off.
.....
Claudia’s mother was no match for Natalie who was fit and had the upper hand and threw punches at her face continuously.
But then, even if Claudia’s mother was a bitch, she was still his wife and Raymond couldn’t stay still and watch that woman murder her in front of him. So he interfered by pulling Natalie off his wife, the gun slipping from her hand in the process.
However, Natalie butted her head into him from behind and he yelped, letting go of her to grab his nose and Natalie quickly stood to her feet. She watched as Claudia was trying to help her battered mother up and growled, they were not going anywhere.
They say hell has no fury like a woman scorned, but Natalie begs to differ because hell has no fury like a woman who just lost her child. She quickly grabbed into the woman’s hair from behind and she screamed like a pig being butchered.
Claudia tried to pull her away but Natalie grabbed into her mother’s hair tightly as if it was her lifeline – or maybe it was.
They can’t just tell her that her Arianna was gone like that? Why hadn’t they sold off her own daughter? Why did it have to be Arianna?
Seeing that Natalie wasn’t going to let go of her mother in their tug of war and her mother was going to suffer massive hair loss soon enough, Claudia moved her mother to the side and kicked Natalie right in the stomach pushing her back to the couch.
Unfortunately, Claudia didn’t know she ended up doing Natalie a favor because her hand touched the gun and she picked it up at once, aiming it at Claudia who saw her life flash before her eyes.
“I know where your daughter is!” Claudia’s mother shouted a second before Natalie could pull the trigger.
However, the hardened expression on Natalie’s face said she doesn’t believe her one bit and her finger was temptingly close to the trigger. She told her lies before, what were the chances she wasn’t lying again.
Sweat coated the woman’s forehead while her heart began to thud loudly in her ears as she decided to take her chances.
“Something happened and your daughter Arianna managed to escape the loan sharks. We know that because the gang has been harassing her for her whereabouts ever since.” said Claudia’s mother.
“So where is she?!” Natalie demanded, the gun tightening in her grip. Natalie has lost all rational thought in the course of finding her daughter. She doesn’t want their story, she wants her daughter.
“I don’t know,” Claudia’s mother cried out, knowing that she was going to die soon.
“Well, that didn’t answer my question,” She said coldly, about to pull the trigger when Claudia shouted.
“Arianna got involved with another gang. A man to be precise. They call him Marcel, he’s the boss and I can assure you that your daughter is living fine there because she had me kidnapped as her vengeance for a week. So whatever punishment you think is sufficient for me for what I did, I can assure you that I have pretty much paid for it, ” Claudia said firmly.
Natalie lifted her head, ” You paid no shit,” She disagreed, her eyes cold and hard, “Your family changed my daughter’s life forever, and stole her bright future! What was the use of me leaving her behind if she ended up in a gang then!” She yelled at them furiously.
Claudia clung to her mother’s side, the both of them holding onto each other just as Natalie asked, “Who is this Marcel? ”
But before Claudia could answer, Natalie’s phone began to ring and all of their attention moved toward her bag. Claudia silently prayed that she would answer it so they could take advantage of the distraction to escape.
It was probably Jason calling to check up on her, Natalie reasoned – she had spent enough time here already. But she is busy right now and cannot afford distraction. Natalie didn’t answer.
She turned to Claudia, “You are going to take me to that Marcel,”
“What?” The blood drained from Claudia’s face. She shook her head, “No, no, you don’t know about Marcel. He’s a dangerous man! We can’t go there!”
“I don’t fucking care about him if he’s dangerous or not! I am getting my daughter out of there and you are taking me there or I’ll blow your brains -”
Bam!
Natalie felt something hard shatter on her head and her vision swarmed.
Claudia screamed when she saw Natalie fall on the ground only to find out that her father hit her in the back of the head with a flower case.
Natalie groaned on the floor meaning that she was alive just as Raymond shouted, “Quick! Get the hell out of there!”