Chapter 49 Chapter Forty-eight
ARA
Saying that Nadia was a thorn in my flesh was the understatement of the year. It barely scratched the surface.
She wasn't just a troublemaker on a mission, she was the devil's spawn hellbent on destroying the sliver of peace of mind I had left.
It had been a few weeks since she arrived, but it felt like it'd been a year. The days dragged on slowly, and Nadia seemed to enjoy causing trouble every single minute.
Twice, she slapped the doorman for staring at her with his ‘disgusting ogly’ eyes as she'd put it.
After that, she slapped and fired Tana for ‘waking her up’. It had taken me all my wits not to shake her shoulders until the missing bolts in her head rolled back into place.
She'd slept all through that morning and into the afternoon. Tana had merely come to change the bedsheets.
The day after that, she attacked three of the kitchen staff and threatened to stab the head chef with her sharp artificial nails when he tried to get her off the poor girl she'd been hitting.
Every single day with her in the penthouse was like living with a she-Devil. You never knew the day she would decide it was you she wanted to drag to hell.
Thayne's travels became even more frequent, and I was starting to believe he was deliberately avoiding me.
He hardly sought me out, and since that day Nadia arrived with her many bags, he never step foot in our bedroom again. It had become my bedroom.
A loud scream jolted me from my thoughts, and I sat up straighter in my chair, flinging away the book I was reading like. I listened carefully in concentration, wondering if I'd imagined it.
I picked up the book and flipped open the page I was reading. Just when I regained my concentration, I heard a loud smack and Nadia cursing vulgarly.
Somebody was sobbing, and I flew out of my chair at once as I recognized the sound of Mollie's voice.
I walked briskly down the hallway and into the game room where Nadia stood over my sisters, looming over them as they crouched in a corner.
Mollie was cradling her face, whimpering, while Millie held her shoulders as if to protect her from Nadia.
What the hell?
“Nadia!" I called out, barely restraining the wrath simmering in my veins.
How dare she touch my sisters? How dare she slap Mollie?
Nadia turned around slowly, as if I was a disturbance she didn't like.
“You're interrupting, slumgirl." She said harshly.
That did it. I strode over to her and leveled her with a withering glare.
"You slapped Mollie?” I asked her.
She rolled her eyes. "I merely disciplined her. She was laughing like a hyena on crack during my beauty sleep. I woke up because of her cackling. Do you know how much it affects the baby if I don't get enough sleep?”
“You slapped her because she was laughing? How dare you, Nadia? This is not your house, just in case you need a reminder. This place belongs to Thayne. Until the name on the property changes, they can laugh all they want. Do not push the boundaries of my self-control, Nadia.” I'd never gotten this pissed before.
It showed in my voice, in the way it thickened and rose in pitch.
“Or what, slumgirl? I'm going to be Thayne's wife-to-be soon. I have at least a quarter of control over what goes on in the penthouse." She clicked her tongue in the end, and I couldn't help but laugh.
“Wife-to-be? Did you eat mushrooms? Is the pregnancy affecting your brain, too?"
“Oh, not at all. You see, Sasha was here last night. Thayne needs an upper hand over his father desperately, especially as we heard rumors that his father will be wedding Madison in two weeks time. A baby on the way means Thayne's legitimacy will be unquestioned once I become his wife.” Nadia's voice was dreamy and chirpy, like that of a cheerleader.
It nauseated me, but I was too overcome with shock and confusion to feel the nausea.
Wife-to-be? No. Thayne wouldn't do something like that. I was wearing his ring. He wouldn't give in to the pressure just because Nadia was pregnant with his child.
But that was where I got it wrong. His child. Of course, he was going to pick her over me. She was his ticket. And it would sell fast.
Nadia noticed when the realization sunk in and she gave me a lazy smile.
“If I were you, I would start counting my days here. I'll make sure to send you and your sisters back to the hole you crawled out from. You have no place here. You are poor, you have no business mixing your blood with that of Thayne's. You are a whore, and that's -”
My arm sliced through the air and my palm connected with her botoxed cheeks. Her face twisted to the side, spittle flying from her mouth.
For a second, nobody muttered a word. Even Mollie stopped whimpering, shocked that her big sister had done such a thing.
Nadia turned her face slowly, as if she feared her neck might snap if she moved it too fast.
“You raised your hand on me?" She asked, her eyes red with bitterness and revenge.
“I won't hesitate to do it again if you ever open that pit of a mouth to insult me again." I said, lifting my chin to accentuate the threat.
“I will teach you a lesson you will carry all the way to your grave, slumgirl." She threatened, her eyes flickering to the door behind me.
“Uncle Thayne is here!" Millie whispered.
The door opened, and just as I turned to confirm who it was, Nadia doubled over, gave a wheeze and slumped backwards.
“She pushed me! Help!" She yelled, clutching her baby bump as if she'd landed on it and not her back.
“What? No, I didn't -"
Thayne's lips tightened as he rushed over to where she lay on the floor like a ragdoll.
“Nadia, what happened? Talk to me." He told her, trying to get her to explain.
Nadia's lips trembled, and she shut her eyes, gasping as if she was running out of air.
“We were arguing.. We were…. Arg….Ing… And she threw herself at me and pushed me.”
Okay, what the fuck?
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but the look in Thayne's eyes when he raised his head caused the words to dry up in my throat.
He'd never looked at me that way before. Disappointment. Anger. That was all I saw in his gaze.
It wounded me to the bones to be on the receiving end of that look, especially when I didn't deserve it.
“You pushed her? Over an argument?" He thundered.
"My waist. I can't move my waist,” Nadia cried, as if to fan the flames of the crime she claimed I committed.
Thayne would never believe me. Not even if my sisters tried to explain on my behalf.
“I need her away from Nadia for the main time. She's not to leave her room until I say otherwise." He said to his escorts who immediately went into action.
“Thayne, I-"
He interrupted me without even sparing me a glance.
“I don't want to hear it."
It was clear now. He was always going to choose her from now on. I would be relegated to the corner like the slumgirl I truly was while he married Nadia.