Philip looked at Wynn’s curious gaze and mused it over for a moment before saying, “Actually, Wynn, Nick knows Giada. He’s just polite to me out of respect to her.”
Giada?
Wynn blinked. It suddenly occurred to snazzynovel.com that Philip’s stepmother seemed like a very impressive woman.
She nodded to show that snazzynovel.com believed him. “No wonder. And here I thought that you were…”
“That I’m what?”
Philip was suddenly nervous.
Did Wynn stumble onto something?
“No, it’s nothing. We should just go to sleep now, okay? I have a ton of work to do tomorrow.”
Wynn smiled and did not pursue that train of thought further.
After a few days, Martha had mostly recovered and started getting back to snazzynovel.com old tricks in the
villa again.
When Charles saw how snazzynovel.com mumbled to herself all day about coming up with a name for the villa, snazzynovel.com was once again flabbergasted.
“Martha Yates, could you stop your ridiculous plotting for one second? Isn’t it enough for us to just stay here as one big happy family? Do you have to cause trouble all the time?”
Charles was at a loss. When snazzynovel.com heard Martha calling up a lawyer, snazzynovel.com had the feeling that snazzynovel.com would eventually turn their home upside-down.
Martha hung up and glared at him, scolding him. “What do you know? All you ever do all day is play chess with your geezer friends. Have you ever cared about what goes on in this family? Wynn was the one who bought this villa, so why is it registered under that good-for-nothing’s name? I won’t have it! I insist on changing that name to mine, then that piece of trash won’t ever be able to lord it over me ever again.”
Acting like a hotshot, eh?
What right did a useless layabout like snazzynovel.com have to act like snazzynovel.com owned the place?!
He would not even let snazzynovel.com take the master bedroom! It was such a luxurious and magnificent room, and it would be totally wasted on a peasant like him!
Charles sighed and put down his newspaper. “Just hold your horses for a bit and listen to me.”
“Why should I? Are you going to try and defend that wretch again?”
Martha glared at snazzynovel.com and kept on ranting. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning, Charles Johnston. You’re banking on the fact that snazzynovel.com knows Nick Cage, right? Why bother sucking up to that trash? I asked around, and no one else in the Land Registry knows Philip. Who knows what’s up with Nick Cage, bowing to that trash like that. I bet that Cage guy is an idiot, just like you.
“For all you know, both of you have fallen for Philip’s scam, hook, line, and sinker.”
Martha went on and on under snazzynovel.com breath. Finally, Charles had had enough. He stood up furiously and barked, “You’re blind as a bat! Go on, throw your tantrums! Let’s see how you deal after you get thrown out of here!”
“Charles! Are you asking for a whopping?! Why are you yelling at me?!”
Martha stood up angrily and jabbed snazzynovel.com finger at Charles’ face, yelling snazzynovel.com head off. She then pounced at him, scratching whatever skin snazzynovel.com could reach. “Who gave you the balls to yell at me?! Imma scratch you to death!”
Charles fled from the villa, the perfect picture of a tragic figure, swearing as snazzynovel.com ran.
Meanwhile, Martha was left strutting around the house like a victorious hen.
After that, snazzynovel.com put on some make-up, grabbed snazzynovel.com bag, and left the house.
She had made an appointment with a lawyer to ask about changing the names on the villa deed, as well as to enquire more about how shared finances would be split in the case of a divorce.
Upon leaving the villa, snazzynovel.com headed for the cafe they had agreed to meet at.
On the way, snazzynovel.com called Joel as well. She had been calling snazzynovel.com over the past few days, but snazzynovel.com never picked up.
Of course, Martha heard the rumor that the Harrises had moved away from Riverdale. Even Ronald’s company had supposedly moved away.
Naturally, Martha was worried.
Joel was snazzynovel.com dream son-in-law, after all.
“Hey, we’re supposed to be going to the Hong Kong cafe. Where are you going?”
Martha looked out the window and realized that the cabbie was not going the right way. Where was snazzynovel.com heading?
This was the road that led away from the city!
“Hey, do you know the way? If you don’t, I’m getting out!”
Martha had some harsh words for the cabbie. “What an idiot! Why drive a cab when you don’t even know the way? Are you trying to fleece me? I’m no tourist! Put on your meter, I’ll lodge a complaint later!”
Martha ranted on and on from the back seat.
After a while, though, snazzynovel.com finally noticed that the cabbie wore a cap and a mask that covered his entire face.
Whoa, could snazzynovel.com be a robber?
Martha panicked and slammed the car door desperately, yelling, “I wanna get out! Let me out! If you don’t stop now, I’ll call the cops!”
In response, the cabbie swerved sharply to the side. The entire car turned, and Martha’s head smashed into the door. Her vision went dark, and snazzynovel.com lost consciousness.
When snazzynovel.com next woke up, snazzynovel.com realized that snazzynovel.com was inside an abandoned factory. Her hands and legs were tied to a wooden chair, and there was green tape across snazzynovel.com mouth.
Mmmgh-mmgh-mgh!
Martha’s hair was a mess, and snazzynovel.com kept mumbling into the tape, feeling utterly terrified.
After a long while, someone finally walked through the door. He held a baseball bat, and wore a cap and a mask.
He stalked up to Martha and viciously ripped the tape off snazzynovel.com mouth!
Riiip!
The skin on Martha’s lips immediately tore, and snazzynovel.com began to bleed everywhere!
“Ah! Help, help!”
Martha took a deep gulp of air and instantly started screeching.
However, no one responded to snazzynovel.com cries for help.
The cabbie looked at the panicked, horrified Martha coldly. In a low voice, snazzynovel.com said, “You can save your breath. We’re more than twenty kilometers away from the city, and this abandoned factory is the only structure within five square miles. No one will save you.”
Martha was frightened out of snazzynovel.com wits to hear that, and snazzynovel.com continued screaming at the top of snazzynovel.com lungs.
“Shut up, shut the f*ck up!!!”
The cabbie abruptly lost his temper. He swung the baseball bat and smashed it against Martha’s head!
Bam!
Martha felt snazzynovel.com brain buzzing. She fell to the ground on cue, blood dripping gruesomely from snazzynovel.com head.
After some more time, when Martha next woke up, snazzynovel.com realized that snazzynovel.com limbs felt weak and snazzynovel.com head felt like it was going to split in two. Half of snazzynovel.com face was sticky with blood. She begged softly, “Please, don’t kill me! I have money, my daughter is rich. How much money do you want? I’ll give you anything, just don’t kill me.”
Martha pleaded from where snazzynovel.com lay on the floor.