Vengence's Odyssey

Chapter three

Stephanie  panicked as she saw the angry face of her parents. Her father was reddening with anger and her mother looked ready to kill. She regretted having to confront Christian after his loss and she wished she didn't have to do it but her parents were there and they had no intentions of going easy on him. 

  "Where have you been, boy! For three days?" Mr. Rolando asked, his face mad. Then he realized Christian was neither intimidated nor affected by his query, instead he was wearing a piercing look that scared them both. 

   "Who do you think you are, Christian? Neglecting our daughter and going off to nowhere for three whole days, you disgust me! " Stephanie's mother snapped and then moved into the room, going to stand beside her daughter, one hand on her shoulder and her glare directed at Christian.

   "What's this fiasco?" Christian asked, his voice as icy as when they'd first arrived, clearly unruffled by their outburst. This only scared the Rolando's who went ahead to bark at Christian and accuse him of being incapable of love or loving their daughter. 

   Soon enough, just as Christian was about trying to grasp what exactly his in-laws were going there unannounced, the door opened again and in came Demon Andrew. Christian could clearly recognize him from the photograph on the news blog. It was the same man who Stephanie was with at the fancy restaurant. He wore a finely tailored suit and a maroon tie, his hair styled in a way that would make the bald jealous. He was a handsome fellow and even Christian had to admit that. 

   Stephanie moved to stand beside Demon Andrew as he walked in and took in the scene, she did not want things to escalate, she almost wished they all hadn't showed up at such a sensitive moment. But to Christian, it didn't seem to matter, he stood there, clearly undisturbed by all that was unfolding. 

   Mr Rolando smiled as Demon came in and took the young man's hand, pulling him to his daughter and linking their palms together. Christian's face was an  ugly frown but he didn't react to any of their taunts. "Guess what? We've finally found a man fit to be called a part of the Rolando family, this is Demon Andrew," he said and stared at Christian with disgust. 

   "He is certainly not in your pauper league, he's the only son to the Andrew Group, he's the heir to the entire empire of one of this city's best construction companies, I can't say the same for you, Christian, you had no claims, no right, you just got lucky, you don't deserve my daughter." He said with a firm shake of his head. 

   "I guess he's out of luck now." Mrs Rolando said with a mocking laugh as she smiled at Demon. 

   "We're not here to negotiate with you, Christian. You've wasted enough years as it is, just sign the papers and let go of my daughter, you don't deserve her, you never have." He stated firmly and looked at Christian with a disgusted frown. 

   Christian remained calm, simply glaring at the couple who went ahead to eulogize their daughter and mock him, calling him names he'd never heard off anyone. "And make no mistake, we will not tolerate you trying to weasel your way into our family's wealth, once this divorce is over, you leave with nothing, do you hear me?! Nothing! I will make sure the finest of lawyers are on this case, so don't get any funny ideas about alimony." Mr Rolando barked with a daring frown. 

   Stephanie  tried to calm her father down and tell him that Christian had already signed the divorce papers before they arrived and it was clearly stated in the agreement that Christian was not entitled to any settlement whatsoever, she believed it was because Christian was so furious that he didn't read through everything. 

   Mr Rolando stared at Stephanie uncertainly and then asked for the agreement to confirm, when he truly saw Christian's signature, he was shocked, he knew Christian needed the money, he was not doing well at all and he should have put up a fight for some money before agreeing to the divorce. 

   "And don't you come back for anything, you are off our record for good, my daughter wants absolutely nothing to do with you." He stated firmly and Christian  sneered at him threateningly, his tone cold. 

   "You must think everyone wants to identify with the Rolando's, what a pathetic belief." He retorted with a sarcastic laugh, his voice deep and menacing. 

  "The Rolando's are a name you would never be able to build in your entire life, boy!" Mrs Rolando said and glared at him in disdain. 

   "You've forgotten rather quickly that the Rolando's had nothing to their name when I married Stephanie, you were on the verge of bankruptcy, the company was barely able to keep running, you had nothing," he pointed out, his voice steady and his tone low and scornful. 

  "And what did you do to help? Nothing!" Stephanie interrupted, no longer hesitant to stand up for her family. She hated that Christian dared to insult her parents or talk down on her effort. 

  "I single handedly kept this company afloat and took it to where we are today, I signed deals, I got offers I worked hard for and I made our name relevant again, you, are were useless all these years, you did nothing for the betterment of my family's company, do don't you dare insult us." Stephanie responded angrily, pissed at his statement. 

  "Look, boy, go lick your wounds elsewhere, my daughter has been the brain behind the growth and survival of our company, she made our company grow rapidly after the financial crisis, you didn't help, no, you have made no progress at all for your own self, talk more of helping others, you're worthless and you aren't fit to be a part of this family," Mr Rolando said condescendingly. 

   Christian stared at the faces of the people he once called friends, family even. His wife, her new man and her parents were ready to discard him, he felt cold inside, it was the life he was quite used to, he had no regrets and he wore a blank expression as he walked out, pausing by the door to say, "We will see