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"Mike, chill out. Don't push her," Alex put his hand on his friend's shoulder in a soothing gesture.
"I want a drink," Norton breathed, kneeling down. "But not there," he said as he pointed his head in the house's direction. "Otherwise, I'll kill that scum."
"Let's go to a bar..."
"No," Mike interrupted Alex and got to his feet. "I want to be alone."
Watching Norton's car, the guys didn't know where to put themselves. And Alex's idea of visiting the nearest bar didn't seem so bad. They needed a drink. Urgently.
"Did you see her eyes?" Jessica sat perched on a bar stool. "I've never seen so much anger and despair in one person."
"I'm more interested in what was she doing there at all?" Alex turned the glass of amber liquid thoughtfully in his hands.
"Wood will stop at nothing to get Alana back... I think this is another setup on his part."
"I agree. Besides, this Miranda appeared out of nowhere and hung on Mike like a monkey on a branch as soon as we entered that apartment. Apparently, for greater effect."
"I can't sit here and do nothing. Alex, we need to find out what happened there and why Alana hates the whole world. I will not lose a friend because of some freak," Jess said as she slid off her chair and headed for the exit.
Entering the apartment without warning, the couple overheard a very disturbing conversation, which shocked them to their cores. The corridor from the living room was blocked by a wall, so the newcomers were not visible.
"What did you like more, Mark? The violence in the school toilet, or your BDSM marathon?" a voice on the other side of the wall asked.
"Shut up!" Wood hissed. "That's none of your business, okay?" Mark glowered at his friends and continued: "Don't any of you even think of mentioning her name."
Jessica's eyes widened. She had to cover her mouth with her hand so as not to give herself away accidentally.
"Are you still counting on her returning? That's funny, Wood. Hilarious, especially after the shit you've heaped onto her," another participant chimed in.
"Do you think she'll go back to Norton? Lana can forgive physical pain, but the emotional... Who would enjoy knowing their feelings are being played with and, having achieved love for the sake of an argument, will be thrown overboard like a black sheep?"
"How did you do that? What did you tell her?" a third voice asked.
"In the summer, I was at the resort and wanted to congratulate my beloved on her birthday. There was this asshole constantly hanging around her, so I just sent over some flowers. How they met in the first place remains a mystery to me..." Mark grumbled with a note of contempt. "I knew she enrolled at Harvard, but Norton went there too. Therefore, taking advantage of Farrell's absence, my man installed a wiretap in their room. I needed to know that, other than a fleeting romance, Mike would not go any further. However, when he returned to campus, I recorded a very interesting dialogue, one I used to my advantage."
"What facts do you have against his oath? You're losing, Mark," the second guy continued.
"I doubt she'll even let him open his mouth to defend himself. Alana is a real cat." Wood was lounging on the couch and sipping a beer. "You forgot about my bonus! Moore is pregnant, and there's a good chance I'm the father. When this is confirmed, she'll never get rid of me..."
Alex and Jess seemed to have stopped breathing. Pregnant? Why didn't anyone know about this?
"Mike will kill you," Miranda said nervously. "You shouldn't have started all this. Honestly, I don't know why I let you talk me into this. You shouldn't have interfered with their relationship at all."
The brother cast a mocking glance at his sister, but did not have time to answer. Unable to stand it any longer, Jessica came out of the shadows. Her gaze was filled with incredible pain and hatred.
"What a bastard you are, Mark. I've known people with disgusting souls, but yours is even blacker and stinks of rot from a mile away! I would strangle you with my own hands, but I'm sure Mike will object..."
"Jess," Miranda cautiously stood up, realizing that she already smelled fried.
"Shut your mouth!" the blonde said through clenched teeth, barely holding back tears. "And you're a bitch... To achieve your goal, you destroyed the life of an innocent person? How do you feel now? Is it easy on your soul?"
Without saying a word to anyone else, she turned on her heel and left the apartment in search of Alex, who went to call a friend.
Mike
When I got to the car, there were several moments I considered going to Alana's place and smashing the front door to hell if no one opened it. However, my friend's plea to 'give her time' stopped me. What did Wood say to Alana? There was so much contempt in her gaze. It made me want to die.
Driving through the intersection two blocks further, I noticed a lot of cars with flashing lights. Cops, an ambulance, a wrecked car on the sidewalk and a crowd of people. Someone was obviously unlucky today. I averted my eyes and drove on, but somewhere deep inside, a bad feeling stirred.
I went home, not to the apartment, hoping my father would not mind if I drank something from his private collection. I wanted to forget myself...
The house was dark and quiet. My parents were resting or absent. It was for the best. I took out a bottle of whiskey from my father's bar and, unscrewing the top, took a few sips of the amber liquid.
"There must be a good reason for a solitary binge." Grandma's voice cut through the silence, and I turned around. "Anything about Alana?"
"I ran after her like a pet dog," I growled back. "And today I was sent to all four sides after she met that bastard Wood... May they all burn in hell! I'll survive."
"Sit down." Amanda's authoritative voice brought me to my senses a little. "Don't look at me like that. I asked you to sit down."
"So, what's next?" I collapsed into a chair in despair.
"I'll tell you something about this girl. I hope Alana can forgive me. And you decide what to do. I won't stop you." Hmm, but it was interesting. "She shared her story, and now it's clear to me why she has such an attitude towards the upper class."
***
Alana (her frank conversation with Amanda)
"I, like any girl in love, dreamed of a beautiful romance, but got only a cold shoulder, acute pain, and humiliation that made me want to die. He raped me on the floor in the men's room, tearing my innocence apart in the most brutal way... But the bullying didn't end there. The moral destruction of all life in me had merely begun..."
"I'm done. Get dressed and get out of my sight. I need to take a leak."
"Mark, it hurts a lot... What have you done?"
"I fucked you, you fool! Did you really think I loved you? Come down to earth, you are just part of a bet, nothing more. It was the easiest thing to do because it wasn't difficult to play with your feelings. But now I've won an expensive car. While I fucked you, I thought I was going to throw up. Either I drank a lot, or from the thought there was a beggar under me. You are nothing but the dust is under my feet, and people like you have no place in our world. Wipe away your tears and go collect crumbs... Let this be a lesson..."
"The teacher on duty found me in the corridors of the school and took me to the principal's office, and soon an ambulance took me to the hospital. What happened after that doesn't bother me anymore."
After catching my breath, I continued:
"I didn't want to live. The thought of throwing myself under a car seemed to be the only way out... The stigma that has been hanging on me since school. My parents barely pulled me out of my apathetic state. We wanted to prosecute this bastard, but his rich family covered him from all sides. At first, they tried paying us off." I smiled sadly, and Amanda realized how stupid they had behaved at the resort. "A month of rehabilitation at a psychiatric hospital. Operations and exercises to restore my reproductive organs. Regular sessions with a psychologist. Life on sedatives against panic attacks. All this was not enough for the prosecution. The trial took place, but Wood received only a suspended sentence."
"At the end of the trial, the judge sentenced him to a five-year suspended sentence, and ordered his family to pay damages and for my medical care, until I completed my rehabilitation. In effect, he was free to go. To me, these words were worse than a death sentence.
"You won't see us again; we're moving to another city. Twice a month, we'll transfer money for the poor girl's recovery," Mrs. Wood said in a trembling whisper. "I hope she will cope with all this, despite my son's unforgivable mistake..."
I sat in a complete stupor after my grandmother finished her story. To say that I was shocked is to say nothing. Only God knows what my girl went through. I was shaking. My body was wound up tense, like a piano string. I wanted to kill this pathetic sack of shit, whoever the hell he was. I wanted to stick him into the ground.
"Who?" I asked, hissing viciously through my teeth. "Did she say?"
"Mark Wood."
The ground opened up under my feet. As if in slow motion, I shifted my gaze to Amanda to see if I had misheard. But her determined look told me all I needed to know. His time number was up.
In a daze, I got up from the chair with glassy eyes, left the house, and stormed to my car. As I drove, my mobile phone rang. It was Alex. After hearing what he had to say, the oxygen fled from my lungs. My temples throbbed, and I felt my eyes fill with blood.
"You don't understand... Everything has a reason and mine is far from groundless, believe me." That was what she meant...
"Don't you dare. Touch. Me..." Only an idiot would not have noticed her reaction!
"I loved you, Mark! Only you! We could have just walked away and nothing would have happened!" She loved him... I could not believe it.
I did not remember flying halfway across the city, I did not remember how I ended up in that apartment, but I clearly remember inhaling the intoxicating sweet aroma of blood, and someone's screams in the background, as if screaming behind ta glass wall.
Someone dragged me aside, and I came back to my senses a bit. I saw Wood sprawled on the floor, his face a bloody pulp. But that was not enough for me. Without hesitation, I reached behind me for the weapon I had brought with, and the sound of a gunshot cut through the air, drowning out the hysterical female screams.