Regina, Pearl and Gwen were seated beside each other in a semicircular pattern on the bed, speaking in low voices when someone rudely barged into her room, like the Lord of the mansion.
"How dare....oh, it's you. Sorry." Regina swallowed her saliva while cursing her brother-in-law in her heart, wishing he could drop dead.
"You better be." Matt spat out, enraged by her betrayal, as he slammed the door shut. He shifted his nasty glare to Gwen.
"Any word from that bastard you call a husband?"
Gwen clenched her fist, her nose crinkled and her eyes shot flares at her so-called father.
"Don't call me that!" Matt snapped angrily. "Greg remain your father until the deal is completed and that wretch taken care of. Understood?"
"Yes, Dad," Gwen replied between clenched jaws, daring Matt to do his worst.
"Gwen, don't provoke your uncle any further." Regina patted her on the shoulder, giving her a nonverbal signal that Matt didn't get. "Why don't you go to your room and allow us to talk in private."
"Okay, mum." Gwen's reddened eyes welled up with tears as she climbed down from the bed. She walked up to her so-called dad, sizing him up from head to toe.
"Get out of my face." Matt snarled, angered by his greedy daughter's selfishness and foolishness.
"If you hurt my mom, you will have me to contend with." Gwen threatened between clenched teeth, roughly brushing her shoulder past him as she exited the room, slamming the door shot.
Outside the room, tears of anguish and heartbreak flowed down Gwen's eyes as she lifted her phone and tried Jerry's number for the umpteenth time. She moved further away towards the stairs hoping that changing her position could help the line connect.
Sadly, it was the same infuriating electronic voice message saying the number was unreachable.
"Where the f*ck are you, Jerry? How could you do this to me...." She placed her hands on her flat stomach. "...to us. I trusted you. I gave you everything." Gwen leaned her back on the wall, staring hopelessly at her phone screen, tears droplets falling on the screen and soaking her loose-fitting blouse.
The fact that her mother has been lying to her about her paternity all these years felt like a virus eating Gwen up from the inside. It made her feel worthless and useless knowing that her mother wasn't even sure of who her real father was even though she pinned it on Matt.
Although she had made her peace with her mom after listening to the latter's pathetic story of growing up in one of the cheapest brothels in the country, she couldn't get off that sickening feeling growing at the pit of her stomach.
So many 'what if' crept up her thoughts, crippling her heart by the second. Her only hope of getting out of this hell hole was Jerry and he was nowhere to be found. Even his family claimed that they hadn't heard a word from him. But Gwen knew that they were lying.
Gwen angrily wiped her flowing tears as she saw one of the mansion servants approaching her, holding a tray containing a glass of orange juice. She knew she had become the centre of attraction for all those gossiping jobless servants staring at her from below the stairwell. She flared her nostrils and clenched her fist as the maid spoke in a subtle tone, head slightly lowered.
"Madam Gwen, please, do not cry anymore. The senator will be alright. Here, I brought you your favourite orange juice." The slightly chubby maid in her mid-twenties offered the glass of juice with a polite smile.
Gwen collected the glass of juice and hurled the entire content on the maid's face, causing a terrified gasp to escape the unfortunate maid's mouth.
"Get the f*ck out of my face, you bloody fat pig," Gwen yelled at the maid, smashing the empty glass on the floor.
The maid jerked, her hand trembling as you wiped the stinging juice out of her partially blinded eyes, the orange-yellow liquid ruining her uniform.
"Get out!" Gwen screamed at the top of her voice attracting more gossiping maids to the living room.
"Sorry, ma'am." The innocent maid turned around and hurried down the stairs crying.
Gwen hissed as she marched angrily to her bedroom and slammed the door shot.
Meanwhile, inside Regina's bedroom, Matt continued to exercise his dominance over Regina. Now that he had her at his mercy, he had no plans of letting her off the hook until he had sapped everything worth anything out of her.
"I saw the transfer of fifty billion dollars yesterday and the last time I checked, you were supposed to send a total amount of approximately four hundred billion dollars to the account I sent you and Gwen."
"We are still working on it but you need to know that Amelia falsified the..."
"Does it look like I give a f*ck what Amelia did?" Matt barked at Regina, slowly approaching her bed.
"I think I should take my leave," Pearl forced a smile, climbing down from the bed.
"Sit the f*ck down, b*tch!" Matt barked at her.
"Excuse me!" Pearl scrunched her face offended by Matt's choice of words.
"Pearl, just do what he said." Regina pleaded knowing how rough and dangerous Matt could be when angry. She could already see the bulge in his pants and she knew this wasn't good for either her or her sister who had been dragged into the mess.
"But Gina, how do you expect me to stand here and watch him ridicule me like..."
The rest of the words were slapped out of Pearl's mouth, forcing her to fall back on the bed.
"Matt, please." Tears gathered in Regina's eyes, as memories of how abusive Matt could get when high on testosterone mixed with anger, flashed across her mind.
"Shut the f**k up and sit down," Matt growled, pointing dangerously at her.
Regina did as instructed feeling powerless in her own home. She could hear her daughter screaming from outside her bedroom but she couldn't stand up to find out what the matter was. Not with Matt about to rain hails on her.
"After everything I gave to you, after all the sacrifices I made to bring you out of that hell hole you once called home, after the millions I spent on your plastic surgery changing your entire identity, after giving you a life none of your worthless friends could dream of, and after permitting you to take out my niece, you dare betray me? Do you think for a second that I'm stupid because I have been playing nice?" Matt's voice was low, dangerous and cold, making both women tremble under his ominous glare.
"No one..." Matt said taking off his belt.
Panicked, Pearl scurried away from Matt's fury, hiding behind her elder sister.
"Absolutely no one crosses me and lives to tell the tale. Or do you think one of those of your many boyfriends, who you have been f**king behind my back can save you from me?"
Regina's eyes widened in shock. She has been discreet about her movement.
"Yes Gina, I know all your dirty little business. The only reason I turn a blind eye is because they pay me heavily to keep their dicks in their pants. You will continue to f**k them while they pay me and you will introduce Pearl into your dirty business.
"No...". Regina whispered, trembling. "Please Matt, do whatever you want with me but leave my sister out of this. I will have Gwen transfer the remaining money in her account first thing Monday morning."
"Fifty-five billion dollars."
Matt scoffed. "That doesn't settle your debt, Gina."
"That is all we have." Regina pleaded.
Matt grinned wickedly as he signalled Regina to come forward.
Regina eyed the belt he was holding afraid he'll flog her with it.
"I said come forward dammit!" Marr barked, flinging the belt in her direction, the iron head missing her round face by a whiskers. Regina nodded, trembling as she climb down from the bed. She slowly approached him cautiously, her twitching eyes still pleading.
When she was within arms reach, Matt roughly grabbed her by the hair and forced her to her knees.
"You think this is a f**king game, Gina?" Matt roared in a suppressed voice.
Regina winced in pain while holding Matt's hands, whimpering.
"Please let her go?" Pearl pleaded, clasping her hands together. But her earnest pleas fell on deaf ears.
Matt tightened his grip on Regina's hair pulling her face up to look at his dangerous eyes.
"I own you, Gina. I alone get to decide whether you live or die. In the next twenty-four hours, if my complete money is not paid into my account, you will lose every ounce of freedom you have left as my brother's wife. You and Pearl will become my permanent bimbo until your last breath."
"No!" Pearl shook her head.
"I have already taken care of my brother and I will take care of Amelia my own way. Now it's time to put you where you belong."
Matt released her hair, pushing her roughly on the ground. He took off his pants and said in a demeaning tone.
"Give me a satisfying blow job, Raquel Torres." He called her by her former prostitute name.
Regina's reddened eyes widened in horror as no one had ever called her by that name for decades. She would rather die a thousand times than allow her dark secret exposed by Matt.
It has been more than four days since anyone heard anything from Tina. It seemed as if after her ugly confrontation with Amelia at the coffee shop, she had suddenly disappeared from the city. But that was far from the truth.
Rather, strategies were been changed and new paths of victory explored.
After encountering Blaze that night outside the coffee shop, Tina promised to stay away from Amelia and respect her as his wife as long as they remain friends.
Although Blaze agreed to this new proposition, Tina had no plans of sticking to the deal. She decided that if she couldn't get Blaze by destroying Amelia's marriage directly, she would use other subtler methods to ruin her.