From Vengeance To Forgiveness (Revenge)

Loss of Control

Grayson Manor, Hamptons

Unprompted by Victoria, Conrad entered her bedroom and stared in disgust to the rumpled bed clothes. "Here you have spent your free time in the last few days," he hissed scornfully. "Once a slut, always a slut!"

She raised her head a little higher to demonstrate that his words left her unmoved, but her lips quivered slightly. "You of all people must give me a moralizing lecture!" She snapped at him. "You had an affair with Lydia behind my back for years! If there was such a thing as a male whore, then you would be one!"

"I was at least discreet. You haven't known for a long time about my relationship to Lydia," he retorted, knitting his eyebrows. "What one can't say about you. Congratulations Victoria!" He clapped his hands in a sarcastic gesture. "You even succeeded in bringing our daughter into this mess."

"Charlotte is not your daughter!" She fired back. "She merely has your name.

"What was very convenient for you back then, because that way you could smother the fact that she was a bastard!"

Victoria had enough of his insults, she took a step towards him and slapped his face. "You're sickening me!" She yelled at him.

He grabbed her arms and steered her to the bed. "Tell me what characteristic he possesses, that I don't have!" He tossed her on the bed and knelt over her while he held her arms above her head in a firm grip.

"Please Conrad... you... you're hurting me!" She tried desperately to free herself from his grip, but he still held her tightly and slowly lowered his head. She knew what would happen next, but she was too shocked to act on it. When he pressed his lips to hers and then released a hand and pulled her skirt up, she was paralyzed for a moment.

"I'll take what I'm entitled to as a husband by law," he said in a dangerously calm voice after he had broke the kiss. "I've waited far too long."

Victoria knew she was in an inferior position. And yet she hoped that he would come to his senses and would abandon his plan of demanding his conjugal right against her will. But she soon realized that he had lost control of his actions and was only thinking of one thing; to punish her physically. She began to punch her fists against his chest, but the more she tried to defend herself against his brute treatment, the more brutal and firm his grip became, his lips on her mouth unyielding and demanding. She heard a sound when her clothes ripped to pieces and wriggled under him.

"Stay still!"

Frightened, she did what he had told her when she felt a burning sensation on her cheek. She couldn't believe that he had slapped her! With wide eyes she stared into his, and was surprised to see there the same emotions she felt; shock, confusion and pain. He had interrupted the kiss and she took the chance to defend herself again. "Please... don't!" She pleaded. "Let me go!" Tears of despair rolled over her cheeks when she closed her eyes, humiliated. She suddenly felt the pressure that had forced her down on the sheets gone and she could breathe freely again.

She opened her eyes and realized she was alone in bed. Conrad had left the bedroom. Still shaken she curled up almost naked on her bed. She didn't know how long she had been laying there when she suddenly felt a hand touching her slightly. Frightened, she recoiled.

"Mom, it's me, Charlotte."

She sat up and tried to hold her tattered clothes as best she could before her naked body.

"Oh my God! Did Dad do that?" Charlotte pointed to the bruises that were visible on Victoria's arms and shoulders.

"Charlotte, go to your room..." She knew how weak and shaky her voice sounded and little authority emanated at that moment.

"No!" Charlotte shook her head defiantly. "First, you tell me what happened!"

Victoria cleared her throat. "We... had a little... disagreement... your father and I," she said softly.

"That's what you call a little 'disagreement'?" Charlotte asked incredulously, shaking her head. "To me it looks like rape!"

"Charlotte please..." With a shaky hand, Victoria ran through her disheveled hair. "You keep what you've seen to yourself!" She said urgently, looking at her daughter with a pleading look. "No one must know." She rose and reached for her dressing gown. "Nothing happened," she said, grateful that she didn't have to lie this time.

"As you say," Charlotte said stiffly and rose from the bed. "But if I were you, I wouldn't take what he did to you."

Victoria turned to her daughter. "Promise me not to tell anyone!" She pleaded. "When David learns what your father did I don't know what he will do!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "First Emily, now you." She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth as she realized what she had just said. "I promise," she said quickly afterwards.

"Do you know where he went?"

Charlotte looked at her mother questioningly. "David or Dad?"

Victoria let out a frustrated sigh. "Both of them. I don't have a good feeling that both are out there now and meet up."

"No," Charlotte said. "Neither do I."

Victoria looked at her daughter. "What do you mean by that?" When she saw Charlotte's guilty face, she recognized the truth. "You overheard our conversation!"

Charlotte lowered her head embarrassed. "Not deliberately," she lied. "You've just been very loud, so I could understand every word."

"You heard everything?" Victoria probed.

Charlotte nodded. "He just uses you," she said quietly. "David Clarke is not the person who he pretends to be."

"What are you talking about?" Victoria frowned. "Just because he wants justice doesn't mean he has dishonest intentions."

"He doesn't want justice." Charlotte knew how dangerous her accusation was but she couldn't keep it to herself any longer. "He wants revenge!"

"You don't understand that, Charlotte!" Victoria started to pace back and forth. "Conrad took everything from him. He was innocent in jail. Of course he was furious. He only said these things because he wanted to intimidate and unsettle him. He would never be capable of reporting him to the police. He knows he'd bring harm to me too."

Charlotte could only shake her head at the words of her mother. Emily was right. David used her mother and she didn't even notice it! How naive could someone be who was in love? "I've given Emily my word to take care of Julian," she lied, trying to find a reason to return to the beach house. She had to tell Emily what had just happened. The situation was more complicated than expected.

"Yes, just go." Victoria made a parting gesture and then, as soon as Charlotte had left the house, she stripped the bed clothing. Nothing should remind her of this terrible moment she'd had to endure in that bed! She took the bed sheets, carried them down and after she had made sure she had no witnesses, she stuffed them into the garbage can and closed the lid.