Elisa’s entire body trembled with cold. She leaned against the wall just to stand still.
She had guessed that her father’s death was related to Hamish, but she didn’t know the truth was so cruel. The sacrifice, the price was too great. She had gambled on the unknown and sacrificed everything she had.
Lila gloated and continued to mock, “Elisa, tell me, aren’t you trash? You deserve it! Now without the Powell family you’re not even a beggar, you’re just a stray dog!”
Elisa ignored her haughty face, raised her hand and slapped her. The slap echoed loudly in the spacious living room. She used all her strength. Lila was caught off guard and fell straight to the ground.
She covered her face, incredulous, “You hit me, do you believe I’ll tell-”
Before she could finish speaking, the other half of her face was slapped hard again.
Elisa hit very hard, even her own hand turned red. Her eyes were icy cold, looking poisonous, “What about hitting you? I should have slapped you yesterday, falsely accusing me.”
Lila’s tears flowed as she lay on the ground cursing, “Elisa, you bitch!”
With Lila’s tear stained face she looked extremely pitiful. Elisa stared at the tears on her chin, smiling coldly, “Lila, put away your crocodile tears. Hamish may fall for it but I don’t!”
Lila was furious and threw herself at Elisa to fight, but before she could even touch her, Elisa kicked her aside.
“Good dogs don’t block the road, delaying her from getting takeout,” Elisa ridiculed Lila as she left. “Who do you think you are? A mistress.”
Even in her current state, Elisa would not be bossed around by Lila. She only had two years left to live anyway, they might as well go down in flames if it came to that.
Lila gritted her teeth, chest aching from Elisa’s ridicule.
As Elisa went to get takeout, she thought Lila’s weak and fragile body would probably be beaten to death by Hamish in just a few hits. The thought made Elisa laugh. Lila was the apple of Hamish’s eye, he probably wouldn’t even touch a hair on her head.
Elisa had ordered preserved egg and pork congee. Carrying the takeout box inside, Lila was already gone. Elisa was happy to be alone, but thinking of what she just said, her chest felt depressed and she lost her appetite even with the congee right in front of her mouth.
After slapping Lila twice, she definitely wouldn’t let it go. Sure enough, as soon as Elisa finished her congee, Hamish called.
As soon as she answered, Hamish’s cold voice came through, “You hit her?”
A call out of nowhere, not to ask about her well-being but to condemn her actions. Elisa smiled sadly.
“She was asking for it.”
“Elisa, it seems I didn’t punish you enough yesterday! You know about her hemophilia condition-”
“Is she dead?” Elisa interrupted. “Hamish, you know about my condition too. You treated me like that yesterday and I’m fine. I just slapped her twice and she’s crying murder?”
Hamish suppressed his anger, “Is that your justification for hitting people?”
“My reason for hitting her is because she deserved it, provoking me. If not for the fact that she’s your mistress, she wouldn’t even have the strength to call you and tattle now.”
Hamish was furious, “You still dare to talk back? Have you forgotten how your father died?!”
He didn’t have to mention it. As soon as he did, Elisa thought of Lila’s words and her father’s tragic suicide. Her eyes brimmed red, her mouth open but unable to breathe, tears streaming down her cheeks. She took a shuddered breath.
“Thank you for the reminder, I haven’t forgotten how my father died, or how you drove him to it!”
The phone went silent. Elisa waited quietly for his reply, only to hear coldly, “We’ll talk when I get back.”
“Scumbag!” Elisa hung up directly.
What could Hamish say? Would he explain for the sake of a sacrifice? No. Arrogant and unscrupulous as he was, he did as he pleased without remorse or explanation.
Besides, what use was an explanation?
Elisa sat in the living room for a while before she couldn’t stand the silence anymore. She turned on the TV full volume, flipping to a silly comedy show where everyone was acting the clown. A movie she used to laugh through every time, now she couldn’t even smile. She touched her cold face, wondering when did she become so humorless?