Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
The maid spoke so quickly that Rhea wouldn’t have caught most of the details if she hadn’t been paying attention, “Madam and sir fought after Miss Costanza was taken away and they decided to divorce. Then miss Costanza returned by luck last night and madam took her away to live on their own,”
Rhea’s head swarmed from so much information. Wait, Costanza was taken away by who? Also, her uncle and wife were divorcing? What the hell was going on?
Karma.
That was the only thing Rhea could think of.
Rhea stepped towards her and saw the maid shivering in fear so badly she feared she would break if she continued.
“Please, don’t kill me,” She begged, cowering from her.
So she has a guilty conscience, Rhea was amused. If the maid had been good to her, she wouldn’t have feared her with a gun. But now, all her mind probably told her was that she – Rhea – was here for revenge.
“Of course, I wouldn’t,” Rhea smiled, “I don’t want to go to prison yet,”
Rhea felt the moment the tension left her body; the maid relaxed.
“Thanks for the information,”
And then, without a heads-up, hit her in the head with the butt of the gun. The maid was rendered unconscious.
Rhea took a deep breath, admiring her handwork. That should leave a nasty bruise and teach her never to bully for another’s entertainment. Then she left for her uncle’s living quarters.
Unlike Costanza and her mother, Rhea had mixed feelings about her uncle. She couldn’t exactly say her uncle had been good or bad to her. The man treated her well when he could yet never defend her against her family and acted indifferent to their maltreatment of her. Nonetheless, that made him guilty as well.
So when she stepped into his room, she was satisfied to see his things were intact yet no sign of him. He couldn’t be away on a business trip else the chatty unconscious maid would have told her, moreover, with the crisis in his family, he wouldn’t have the time for that.
“Hello uncle,” Rhea made herself comfortable on the seat across from him, the round table the only thing separating them.
She found him in the verandah, going through the morning papers and one should see the shock on his face. She could make a meme out of it.
Her uncle took off his reading glasses, his mouth agape while his hands holding the papers shook greatly until they slipped.
“I thought with me gone, you’d live a better life but you aged so greatly I almost mistook you for my grandfather,” And yes, her uncle did take after his father in resemblance.
“Rhea…”
His voice was emotional and he attempted to stand only for Rhea to drop the gun she was holding on the table and he realized she wasn’t here for a family reunion.
He gulped and sat back down.
Rhea crossed her leg over the other, “So how does it feel selling me off?”
“Rhea, I -“
“Shut up!”
He obeyed that single command and that was only because she had the power now. Now, she could understand why Lukas was quite cocky. The feeling was a bit addictive.
“Whose idea was it selling me off?” She rephrased her question.
This time, her uncle was silent which meant it was a difficult question . In one word, it was either his wife or daughter, or both of them – the two people he loved.
“Uncle, come on, I don’t have much time and you’d be surprised to know how much I’ve changed in such a short while,” she threatened him.
Her Mother Was Alive
“Was it Costanza?” Rhea already had a feeling she was the person with such a creative mind. Not to mention that she was up for anything that would torment her life.
At once, her uncle dropped to the ground while rubbing his palms together in a pleading manner.
“Please, Rhea,”
However, she didn’t respond to his pathetic cry and went on with her speculation, “So Costanza came up with the idea and went up to her mother who added the finishing touch and of course, had the power to convince you….”Rhea clicked her tongue,” Your family is extraordinary, I’m proud of them. ” there was deep sarcasm in her words.
“Please forgive us, it was the devil’s handwork,” The man said.
At once, Rhea threw her head back and burst into hysterical laughter that scared her uncle. She laughed so hard that tears escaped her eyes and finally gurgled to a halt, her expression losing all kind of warmth. It was chilling.
Rhea stood up so abruptly, pushing her seat back with a squeak and grabbing her gun. Her uncle, seeing her aggressiveness, instantly cowered away, crawling back on all fours until he came to a dead end.
Terror filled him as Rhea backed him into the corner and then squatted right in front of him till their eyes were of the same level.
“Devil’s handwork, huh?” Rhea drawled, “I guess I’m possessed by the devil right now because I’m feeling the urge to squelch the little light in you,” She made her point by pressing the gun’s nuzzle beneath his jaw.
…..
Her uncle gulped, shaking like a withering leaf in autumn. He went on to beg her,” Spare me, Rhea! Please spare me! I’ve always looked out for you, remember? I always made sure you were well fed and looked after. It’s just that devil of my wife that ruined everything,” He pushed the blame on her aunt.
However, when her uncle saw that Rhea was not even moved by his confession, he tried another alternative, “Fine! Do you want the company? Take it! I will happily step down and you will take over. It was your father’s company anyway – you’re the rightful heir. You can just think of it as me taking care of it till you were old enough to take over,” He tried to appease her.
Rhea didn’t react, she just gave her uncle a blank stare. Human nature was indeed weak, evil, and pathetic. She had lived with her uncle’s family all these years and they constantly reminded her that everything she enjoyed so far was a result of their hard work and magnanimous heart. But now in the face of dagger, he acknowledges her as the rightful heir.
She leaned closer to his face and sneered, “You think I have the need for that? Thanks to you, I’m on the run from some bad guys which is as a result of you selling me off to those loan sharks, do you think I have the time to run a company?!” Rhea found it laughable.
Even if she wanted to, that company was already rotting thanks to her uncle’s greed, incompetence, and negligence. It would need a lot of work to bring it to its former glory.
Rhea breathed deeply, “Let’s just get this over with, I don’t have much time left,”
She pressed the gun further into her uncle’s jaw and the man shouted immediately, “I have something that you need,”
Rhea rolled her eyes, knowing that he was just prolonging the inevitable, “There’s nothing you have that can possibly interest -“
“Your mother is alive!”
Bam!
It seemed a bomb went off in Rhea’s head and thankfully, she was squatting down else her legs would have caved in already. What was he saying? Her mother was alive? How was that possible?