Chapter 33 Chapter 0033
•NARRA•
“Oh, Judith. Thank you for calling to check on me. The death of my dearest Aneira has been so heavy on my heart. My life has no meaning anymore, and as if the world couldn’t be cruel enough, they took my only daughter, Narra, and married her off to that beastly man, Rafael Sterling.” My mother sobbed over the phone, and I rolled my eyes as I sat beside her on the couch.
“Good heavens,” Judith gasped on the other end of the line. “Rafael would tear her apart. He won’t let her go until she’s dead. You should get your daughter back, Emma. What about your husband? Is he well? I noticed you haven’t been home for two weeks now. Your house is as quiet as a grave.”
I saw my mother roll her eyes before she continued her performance. “My poor husband is late, Judith. Rafael has refused to give me his body, and I’ll never know where he was buried. So, I ran away before I became the next victim."
“Don’t worry, Emma. God will see you through and will bring your daughter back to safety. George and I will visit when he’s back from Indonesia. Oh, my dearest husband,” Judith swooned, and my mother’s brow knitted as she looked at me, desperate for an escape since Judith was doing what Judith had always done.
Judith always boasted about her husband to my mother when she knew my father had given himself to alcohol and did nothing about improving our lives.
“Such a kind man. Thank you, Judith, for the call, but I must bathe. I haven’t done so since I received the news of my husband’s death. Sometimes death comes when you least expect it. Once, I thought I would never lose my dear Ethan, but look now. Anyway, take care and greet the kids.” With that said, she hung up the call and exhaled deeply.
“I thought she would never hang up,” she groaned. “Judith is really a pain in the ass. Imagine her boasting about her husband, who everyone knows is a womanizer and has been with half the women in the country,” she exaggerated. “She can’t compare her husband to half the man that your own father was. Though Ethan was a bore, he was a good man.”
“That’s not how I remember it, Mother.” I sighed as I placed my hand on her thigh. “My father wasn’t a good husband to you, and you know it. He made your life hell, and it’s okay to wish him dead. You’re free now.”
Her lips twitched, and though she smiled, her eyes looked sad. “Oh, Narra.” She cupped my cheek. “I am so blessed to have a daughter like you. You’re the only one who saw through your father and never stuck to him like glue. Aneira regrets it now. Just as she should,” she sneered as she leaned back on the couch.
“About that bitch.” I stood up and started pacing. “She’s pregnant with Rafael’s child, Mom. Aneira has been opening her legs to my husband. How could she do this to me? She’s been lying to you, saying Rafael is making her life hell when she’s actually being taken care of. I won’t allow this to carry on more than it has.”
“She’s what?” She gasped, standing and facing me.
“She’s pregnant with my husband’s child, and I won’t allow it. I’ll take what’s mine. Nothing would stop me. Are you with me on that?” I stopped and looked at her.
Rafael wanted me and not her, and I refused to let her have him when he could’ve cared for and loved me.
For the first time in my life, I would have a real man who would love me fiercely and unconditionally. Aneira had Chris while I had no one.
“You know I’m with you in everything,” she smiled as she leaned closer and grabbed my hands. “You are my daughter, and I’ll give you whatever you want. If you want Rafael back, then you will have him. What I don’t understand is why Aneira would lie about her relationship with Rafael. She had no reason to do that if no one was threatening her position.”
“She probably complained because she wanted to be with Chris, but didn’t want to tell Rafael. But now that she’s pregnant with his child and Chris is dead, she will obviously stay with him, and that’s not good.” I slipped her hand from mine and sat on the couch, releasing a deep breath.
“We won’t let it happen, but—” My mother turned and looked at me. “How are you going to get Rafael back when you don’t know how Aneira is behaving in Rafael’s house? Or what if he wants her to bear him a child before he kills her? Your father killed his parents, and she must be paying daily for it.”
"I don't care about that, Mom," I scoffed. "But Rafael is mine."
"Who told you Aneira is pregnant with his child?"
I looked at her. "Rafael’s bodyguard. He and I have—" I cleared my throat. "An arrangement."