Chapter 5: He Was My Brother-In-Law
I dodged, but he still managed to land a blow on my shoulder blade. Pain rippled through me.
Though my father was not exactly young, he was still well-built and strong. He had not held back with that blow, and it eradicated the remaining shreds of hope I still had for him.
"Don't you have any respect for your elders? I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"
As he spoke, he swung the mop at me again. This second blow broke the handle in half.
I almost passed out from this, but I continued to run my mouth. "Beat me to death right here and now if you dare. What right does a man who abandoned his wife and child have to teach me a lesson?"
This enraged him even more. He stalked towards me, wanting to give me another blow, but Aunt Nancy stopped him.
"Queena, run, hurry up and run..." she shouted at me as she held my father back.
If I were to stay here, he probably would actually beat me to death.
I could not let them off the hook so easily by dying just like that. My mother had died cowardly, and I could not allow myself to end up like her.
Aunt Nancy held on to my father desperately to stop him from pouncing on me. I suppressed the pain in my back and took the opportunity to dart out the door.
I almost ran right into Phoebe the moment I was out of the villa. I looked up at her, looking completely dishevelled.
She was wearing a long, white dress with a floral print. Her curls fell over her shoulders, and she was exquisitely made-up. She looked as pure and innocent as she always pretended to be. "Oh, Queena, what's wrong?" she said in faux surprise.
I ignored her, trying to sidestep her and continue running. At this moment, however, my father and Gail caught up with me.
He grabbed my hair from behind and raised a fist, ready to swing it at me. Suddenly, someone grabbed my wrist.
I was stunned to see the tall, handsome man standing in front of me. What was he doing here?
"Leonard, what are you doing? I have to teach this b*stard a lesson, don't even try to stop me!" Bell said fiercely.
Leonard looked at him coldly. I could not discern the change in his emotion, and I was confused. What was he doing here? Why had he helped me?
At this moment, Phoebe quickly tried to smooth things over and said, "Dad, you invited Leonard over to settle on a date for our wedding, right? It wouldn't be nice to cause a scene at a time like this, would it?" At her words, Bell calmed down a little. He lowered his fist and let go of my hair while Gail glared at me viciously.
"B*tch, you got off easy today!"
It finally dawned on me. Phoebe's fiancé was Leonard, which meant that my former friend with benefits was my future brother-in-law.
Life had really pulled a fast one on me.
I could not help feeling depressed. It was bad enough that I had lost, but losing to Phoebe just made it that much worse.
Gail had taken my father away from my mother, and Phoebe was taking a man away from me as well.
Perhaps Phoebe wanted to show her fiancé how kind and understanding she was, for she quickly put on a smile and said to me, "Queena, you have to attend our wedding!"
"No, there's no need for that! The best blessing that I can give you is my absence!" As I said this, I glanced at Leonard.00000