The next morning.Lola woke up at eight in the morning. The house looked very silent and dull. She could not hear the voices of her daughters, or the sounds of Jim working in the kitchen.She went downstairs. As expected, Marc seemed to have ordered food instead of cooking.“Did you bring food from Malcolm’s restaurant again?” Lola asked, a lot of disappointment flowing through her voice.“I’m too old to be cooking right now, Darling,” Marc spoke without a filter because no one else was in the house. “How about we hire a maid?”“There are chefs who stand for hours and cook in hotels even when they are in their seventies, so why are you saying that you’re old?” Lola blurted, trying to control herself from yelling at him. “There’s no need to waste money on a maid. You’ll be doing the housework.”“But I want to manage the restaurant you bought,” Marc expressed his interest plainly.“Why? So you can steal some money and renew your addictions?” Lola asked.“I will be careful from here on.
Later that night.Shiney came to the room with a bag full of junk food, only to see Rena and Jim sleeping on the same bed, with her laying her head on top of his chest and running her finger in circles around his chin. They were talking about something, but when Shiney entered, Rena quickly got up and went over to her bed.“W-We thought the door was closed,” Jim said.“It’s fine,” Shiney tossed the bag on her bed. “I’m being a nuisance to you both, but bear with me for a little while.”“You’re not a nuisance, Shiney,” Jim said.“Yeah, can my sister say the same?” Shiney asked, to which Rena had no answer. “See. I told you.”Jim took a deep breath. “Why don’t we go out on a trip? All three of us together?”Shiney was shaking her head.Rena also didn’t look okay with his idea. “We don’t have money with us, Jim. We should spend every penny carefully. Just staying at this hotel right now is already costing us a lot. Tomorrow, I have three interviews. Hopefully, I’ll get a job.” She then l
After Rena insisted that Marc stayed at the hotel for the night, Marc couldn’t refuse. He also didn’t want to leave both of his daughters only after staying with them for a few minutes, so he decided to stay there.Rena told Jim to order some food for her dad and gave him her debit card.Jim went out to withdraw money from the ATM and then buy some food.It turned out that Malcolm’s restaurant was nearby, so Marc told him to bring the food from there, hoping that the restaurant wasn’t closed because it was night time already.Even though Jim didn’t want to visit that place, he wasn’t going to live with Marc and Lola in the future anyway, so he wanted to listen to Marc for this once.In about ten minutes, he reached Malcolm’s restaurant.The last time he came here was more than a month earlier as he was looking for a job. He was even willing to work as an assistant chef, but Malcolm told him that only a janitor’s job was available. He even humiliated Jim by telling him that he might ha
Four men rushed into the restaurant, pushed Jim to the side, and forcibly dragged Malcolm out.“What do you want?” Malcolm asked them, but they didn’t answer him.They brought him to the car, and the rooftop opened. Jerkins stood and revealed himself, smoking from a pipe, and wearing an old fashioned hat. He had dog-tag earrings.“M-Mr. Jerkins! What do you want me for?” Malcolm asked.“You see… your brother has lost it and stole a bag full of drugs from my basement and ran away,” Jerkins said. “Now that’s a special drug. One gram costs over 100 dollars. And he stole 12.6 kilos of it. That adds up to 1.26 million dollars. I’m going to have you pay me that money.”“T-This is ridiculous,” Malcolm raised his voice, and he was punched in the gut by Jerkins’ underlings. Malcolm coughed blood. “I can’t give you that much money. I already lost my restaurant.”“I know, but you still have your precious house, don’t you?” Jerkins said. “It has a value of about 800,000 dollars. I’ll take that f
Jerkins and his men were leaving home.“You’re still sweating, sir,” one of the ladies wiped the sweat off his face. “I’ve seen you break men’s skulls with your bare fists. But I’ve never seen you put your hat down before another man. Just who was that handsome bloke that made you bow?”“Jim fucking Daddy, that’s who he is,” Jerkins lit up his cigar pipe. “There are some people who make you want to fight for their place, and then there are other you make you want to get the fuck away from them. He belongs to the second category. The less we interfere with his affairs, the more it’ll be profitable for my businesses and I can sleep peacefully at night. Anyway, don’t go telling others that I gave in to some man.”“How could we do that?”“Well, alcohol makes anybody say shit, so I’m warning you both just in case,” Jerkins stated. The serious tone of his voice scared the ladies a little bit.“More than 2 million dollars are gone, but it is what it is,” Jerkins looked up at the sky while bl
“She took the car?!” Marc’s mouth wide-opened. “Where?”Jim shrugged his shoulders.“What do you mean by that?” Marc tried to grab his shirt, but Jim held his wrist first. Marc frowned. “Why didn’t you stop her?”“I just didn’t want to see her suffer more,” Jim replied.Marc shook his hand free. “Arguing with you is useless. I’ll find her on my own.” He began to walk away but briefly stopped and glanced at Rena, “As a father, I’m telling you… you’ll only suffer if you stay with this man. You said a poor couple can be happier than a rich couple if they have understanding, but how can they be happy when one or both of them go to bed with empty stomachs? Forget about being peaceful, they’d quarrel every time they needed to buy something. They’d be waiting for the 1st of every month every other day of the month. Such a life doesn’t give you happiness. With Jim, you’ll lead exactly that kind of life because he’s the bringer of bad luck. So, come home as soon as you feel like it, even if yo
Three hours later.Jim and Rena came out of the hotel room, both of them rubbing and pushing each other by the shoulders. Jim was smiling, but Rena wasn’t smiling much.“You wasted three hours of time,” she mumbled. “I’m going to miss my first interview.”“Oh, I feel bad for that company,” Jim replied.“Huh,” Rena’s mouth twisted. “If I don’t get qualified today, I’m going to give it to you tonight.”“Give what?” he asked, intrigued.“The stick,” she said. “I’ll tie you up to the bed, and then beat your ass until you run out of tears.”“Scary, my lady! But it’s also arousing in its own way.”“Ah, shut up.” Rena blushed. Even though she looked angry, she was in a good mood. After all, both of them had a very good time just now. It made them forget all the pain and feel peaceful right now, even though their future seemed uncertain right now.Jim put his hand around her shoulder and said, “I wish you the best, Your Highness.”“Thanks, but stop touching my ear,” she pushed his hand away.
Austin called Rena’s mobile.Her mobile rang, but she didn’t answer.Austin forced out a smile and called her again.The result was the same the second time.“She must be busy right now. But I’ll call her just once more,” Austin said and called her.“Put it on speaker,” Steve stated.The call rang for a few seconds. Austin thought she wouldn’t answer this time as well, but she did. “Hello.”“Hello, Mrs. Rena. This is Austin.”“I know who you are. Why did you call me?” Rena spoke very informally.“I know I hurried, but I want you back in the project,” Austin said. “I’ll pay you more.”“You think money will make up for everything?” Rena angrily asked. “Even though you were a ladies’ man, I really respected you because you had the passion for work, but you showed me your real nature when I’m at my weakest. Besides, you found someone who you thought could replace me, didn’t you? That’s why I left your company. So, why do you want me back now? Is the project not coming out the way the clie