POV: Victoria
“Austin, please!
Don’t do this, please, not here, not now,” Mom sobbed, begging him, feeding his ego. He beamed with joy, enjoying every moment of it.
“You should have thought about it before you brought her here.” Vera lets out rudely.
“Tell her dad, tell her she is a bastard!” Cindy let out once more, smirking evilly as she did. I could sense that there was something mom was hiding from me that they knew about. But that notwithstanding, my mother does not deserve this treatment. I don’t care what she has done wrong, she just doesn’t deserve this.
“You are all cowards!
Cowards!” I screamed in their faces, glaring at them.
“I don’t care what she has done, there is nothing you would tell me that would make me hate my mother. She doesn’t deserve this!” I yelled once more. Dad frowned deeply when I said that. I guess he is just realizing that I would never fall for their tricks. They are trying to put enmity between me and my mom, but I won’t let that happen.
“You foolish child!
I suggest you ask your precious mother some vital questions and find a way to trace back your…”
“Austin!” Mom yelled at him, glaring daggers at him. She had yelled so hard that she had to take a moment to catch her breath. I was defending her earlier, but it seems she has had enough because she is glaring at Dad as if she wants to strangle the life out of him.
“The secret is mine, Austin!
I will tell her the truth when I’m ready, you have no right to interfere in my affairs with my daughter. I gave you all the jewelry I could find as you instructed. There is enough gold in that bag to satisfy your greed and buy back my daughter. Bring my daughter to me and let me go!” she told him angrily, glaring furiously at him with her hands supporting her abdomen.
That is not enough!
You know how bad the company is, you know how I’m struggling to keep it running smoothly. Convince your daughter to hand those diamonds to me, else I’ll take her back to where you got her, and I’ll sell off the company and every other property in my possession.” He threatened.
“Get me the diamonds and I will put a call across to my boys and have your second bastard daughter released. Or wait, are you still pretending that she is mine?” he asked her in a mocking tone, laughing at his own joke. He made her to believe that he could help her get Claire back if she got him the diamonds.
I’m not surprised that Dad would lie to her this way, he has always been a liar and a bully. My problem is the fact that Mom refused to listen to anything I said about Claire. She believes that he could get her back with just a phone call. I don’t know what he said to her, but he has succeeded in convincing her that he could help and she is not ready to listen to me.
Why does she keep falling for his tricks, why does she let him treat her this way always?
“Fine, I’ll give you the diamonds, Dad. But first, you have to make the call in front of Mom and I. From what we heard, she is being held by the Mafia lord, Dominic. I know this because my fiance and I met him in town while we were searching for Claire today. I spoke to him and he promised to get back to me soon. So why don’t you call him and let me have a word with him. I’m sure he would remember our conversation this afternoon.” I told him, my face lighting up with a bright smile.
“How do you know Dominic?” he asked in shock, his face filled with fear. He quickly hid his fears away and stared at me sternly, looking past me and turning to Carl who had been on his phone for a while now. Carl felt his hard stare and turned to him, glaring daggers at him.
“Is it true what she just said, is my daughter with that monster?” he asked Carl furiously.
“Hmmmm, your daughter huh?
One minute you call her yours and the next minute she is a bastard. Why don’t you pick a side and stick to it?” Carl retorted furiously, his gaze fixed on my father.
“I’ll call you back in a minute, boss. There is something I need to handle.” He told the person on the other end of the phone before hanging up the call. Then he took some steps towards Dad and stood in front of him, glaring back at Dad. They were engaged in a staring contest, Carl refusing to back down.
“What is going on here, what did your boss do with my daughter?” He asked Carl.
“If this is a business deal, I want a share. It’s my daughter that we are talking about, I want to know what is going on and why she is with Dominic. Did Raphael sell her to his friend?
Wait, are they friends again, how did he pull that off, how did it happen?” Dad asked curiously, letting his jealousy come into play and forgetting that he was standing in the midst of his family. He doesn’t care about Claire’s life and safety. The minute he discovers that Dominic is involved in her disappearance. He immediately thought that Raphael had sold her to him. And even if that happens to be the case, he wasn’t willing to fight for her release. He only wants a share of the money.
“She is my daughter, mine!
I can see through your boss, I know that he used her to mend his relationship with Dominic. If he thinks I will let him get away with anything he wants to do with my family. Then he needs to think again. I will not give up on this issue, I want my daughter back!
Give back my daughter else I’m getting the cops involved.” He kept yelling and threatening nonstop. I scoffed at his overdramatic attitude as he tried to pretend to be a perfect father to Claire.
“Let’s mom, I’m don’t with this charlatan!” I told Mom angrily, yanking her and pulling her towards the exit. But she pulled her hand away and glared at me with hatred and anger,
“Is he saying the truth, Victoria?
Where is your sister, what did you and your boyfriend do to my daughter?!” Mom asked angrily, glaring at me as if I was the enemy now.
“Why would you accuse Raphael and I of such a thing. Is it not obvious that Dad is just trying to get into your head and turn us against each other?
First, he made you believe that he has Claire, and now he wants to make money out of here. Why can’t you see through his act, why do you keep falling for his lies?
I expected you to ask him why he lied about her location. But, no. You choose to ask me if Raphael stole your daughter. You believe every word from his mouth, even if it sounds ridiculous and stupid. At this point, I think it’s time I all you that I know you have a secret that they are holding against you. Sometimes I feel you are just being calm to keep your secret, but other times I’m forced to believe that you are just too weak to face Dad because you are still in love with him.
Do you still love Dad, is that why you should run to answer him whenever he calls?
What is the secret they are talking about, why are you finding it hard to tell me, why can’t you share your secret with me?” I asked her.