Chapter 100 Bingo
CHAPTER 100: Bingo
Vera
I killed the engine and stepped out of the car, my pulse racing frantically. What looked like an old abandoned townhouse loomed in front of me. The gravel crunched under my heels like breaking bones as I approached the desolate, gray structure.
Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to turn back, to get back into the car and run back to the safety of the mansion, but Damien’s threat over the phone was one I couldn't afford to underestimate.
I pushed open the heavy front door, the hinges groaning in a slow, mournful protest as I stepped into the dim, stale air of the foyer.
“I knew you'd come running as soon as I whistled, cosa mia.”
His voice, a smooth oily caress, made my skin crawl.
Damien.
He was seated casually in a high-backed chair, legs crossed, a glass of amber liquid in his hand, looking as though he hadn't upturned my life with a single phone call.
A slow, predatory smirk spread across his face as he watched me tremble in the doorway.
“Why… why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Well I can't give you an answer from the door, amour,” he gestured me to step fully into the foyer.
I did and he smiled, satisfied.
“You always were so wonderfully predictable. A little pressure in the right spot, and you fold.”
Something white and hot washed over me, and burned in my eyes. He was treating my life like it was a game for his amusement.
“You are a monster, Damien,” I lashed out, my voice shaking with a volatile mix of fear and pure, unadulterated loathing.
He scoffed, lifting the glass to his lips. “Am I?”
“You have no conscience, and you definitely have no heart.”
He remained entirely unaffected by my outburst. He leaned back and slowly dragged his gaze over me, a slow, insulting once-over.
His gaze lingered on the soft, unmistakable curve of my midsection, and his lip curled in a visible sneer of revulsion.
“You look well, Vera. Despite the fact that you’re still carrying that... thing inside you. It’s a bit of a tragedy, isn’t it?” he smirked wickedly, “ruining such a perfect canvas with a mistake.”
I took a single step forward. “Don't you dare,” I snapped, my protective instincts flaring with a heat that surprised even me.
He lowered the glass and leaned forward, a warning in his eyes. “Go ahead, Vera.”
Not deterred, I stepped forward, my eyes burning with a warning that felt like liquid fire in my veins. “Don't you ever call my child names, Damien. Not now. Not ever. Do you understand me?”
I would fight for this child no matter. It didn't matter about its origin. He was mine and I'd never allow anyone to hurt him. I would protect him just like I do Lily.
For a fleeting second, the monster looked genuinely surprised, his brow arching in dark amusement.
In the past, I always did what he wanted, never going against him just to avoid his anger. But now I was a mother protecting her child. The stakes were different now.
“Well, look at you. You’ve actually grown a spine since I last saw you. Is that what being a Rutherford does? Gives you the delusion of power?”
“I don't care what you say,” I shook my head. “It doesn't matter to me. I would fight anyone for this baby,” I declared, my voice dropping into a hard, cold register. “Even you. Especially you.”
“Is that so?” He let out a sharp, mocking laughter, the sound echoing harshly off the cracked, peeling walls. “Fight me? You?” He stood slowly. “Tell me, Vera, are you going to fight the only person who knows the other secret you’re still keeping?”
My mouth went dry and my palms turned clammy. “You—
“I know what you'd give your very life to see that it never comes to life,” he taunted. “I know the filth beneath that expensive perfume.”
He knew the other secret that I'd never let Silas find out. The one thing that I'd give my own life to keep.
“What did I ever do to you?” I asked. “Why do you like to see me in pain… ruined and broken?”
He adjusted his cuffs, unfazed. “Don't be so dramatic now, darling. You owe me big time.”
“No,” I shook my head slowly. “The worst mistake I ever made was trusting a word that came out of your mouth,” I spat.
He snickered, but there was no mirth in his eyes. “Is that right?”
Hot tears burned the back of my eyes. “You told me you destroyed those surveillance tapes,” my voice cracked.
He shrugged carelessly. “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't.”
“You swore they were gone,” I yelled at him. “But you kept them. You kept them just so you could use them as leverage to destroy my life. You gave that video clip to Silas. You gave it to my husband.”
For a second, there was a flash of rage in his eyes, then it vanished, followed by cackling laughter.
“Gave them to him?” he repeated with a sarcastic, jagged laugh. “Amour, don't insult me. I didn't give it to him for free.”
It dawned on me. “Of course. You sold it to him,” I whispered.
He clicked his tongue. “Bingo! Now you're finally using that brain of yours. I sold them to him for a very handsome price.”
“Why?” I whispered, close to tears. “I already gave you everything I had. I paid you all that money to keep you away from us.”
“Well, Silas Rutherford was never part of the bargain,” he shot back. “You wanted me to keep my mouth shut and stay away from you and that bratty sister of yours.”
“But you still broke our agreement!”
“I didn't. I never told him anything. I just sold him a file. Besides, you could never pay me enough to cover all that I've done for you and your sister,” he snapped, his voice rising in anger.
“I think I've paid enough.”
All the horrible things he put me through was enough to pay for whatever he did for Lily and I.
“Really?” He huffed. “In any case, you really shouldn't cry over him seeing that clip, though. It clearly ended well for you. Silas didn't end up hating you nearly as much as I anticipated he would.”
“Of course that was what you wanted,” I whispered, disgusted.
“Yes. But he’s quite the forgiving savior, isn't he? Or maybe he just likes the taste of my leftovers.”
I didn't expect anything less, but hearing it directly from him made the world tilt beneath my feet, the breath leaving my lungs in a painful rush. He had cost me so much pain in the past, but he still won't let me be.
“You animal,” I whispered, the word broken and jagged. “You absolute animal.”
Damien’s expression shifted instantly, the playfulness vanishing into a dark, simmering rage. He advanced on me like a predator cornering its prey. A feeling of fear began to creep in. I remembered how I used to end up bruised, broken and in pain whenever he got like this.
“Animal,” he repeated with a sneer. “Which one of us is the animal, Vera? Me? Or you? The woman who is shamelessly fucking the same man whose life she destroyed?”
My breath caught as I took backward steps.
“You can't even deny it, can you?” He sneered. His gaze trailed back to my stomach, his face twisting into a scoff. “Well, I suppose that’s nothing new for you. One man, another... it isn't like it's a new thing.”
“Don't you dare,” I shot back, not knowing where I got the courage. “You know that this wouldn't have happened if you didn't take away my choice that night.”
He halted, and looked at me for a while, then a smirk appeared on his face.
“Maybe I did. But that doesn't change the fact that you’re screwing the man despite knowing the whole truth that he doesn't. You’re lying to him, Vera,” he smirked, enjoying my discomfort.
He started advancing toward me again.
“It was you. You sent that fraud to the ball!” I yelled, the tears finally breaking over my lashes as I backed away from him. “You sent him there to pretend to be the father of my baby!”
He nodded. “Bingo,” he admitted shamelessly.