“Don’t you dare!”
“Mr. Bamford, if you don’t divorce me immediately, I will cheat on you endlessly,” she threatens, “Aren’t I considerate to warn you, though?”
“I told you that you’d regret this, Waylen,” she adds coyly, “But enough talk, I want to go try one of these men now. See you later.”
She blows a kiss on the phone and hangs up.
Waylen throws his phone in a rage and presses his fingers into his temples. To get a divorce, she’s asked the press to Bamford’s house, arranged to send Leonie to his bed, and now she’s cheating on him. How dare this woman challenges his authority over and over again?
Damn it! She was leaning against another man so intimately in the video. It’s enough to make his blood boil.
A sudden, loud noise interrupts the pulsing dance music. Within moments, the music stops and the speakers go quiet. As if the sudden silence was a signal, the crowd quickly heads towards the door of the club. The club empties until only ten people remain, lounging on the sofa.
Waylen’s bodyguards begin to emerge from the dark corners of the club. The menacing men walk in perfect coordination; with their hands placed cooly in their pockets, they separate into two rows and surround the sofa. Waylen Bamford appears behind his bodyguards and assesses the scene. A well-dressed man with greasy hair holds a coquettish woman in his arms.
Leilani Peters is sitting on Thomas Rupert’s knees. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck in an embrace, and she’s gently swaying her long, elegant legs. She leans down seductively and whispers something to Thomas. He smiles and she begins to giggle. Waylen’s face is immediately filled with wrath.
Thomas begins to worry. He tries to push Leilani off of his lap, but she doesn’t budge.
“Leilani? Come on, baby, stand up,” he pleads, “Mr. Bamford is coming.”
Leilani turns away from him and smiles teasingly at Waylen.
“Mr. Bamford, what a coincidence seeing you here! Did you want to watch me cheat on you in person?”
Waylen knows that Leilani is teasing him, that she hasn’t really done anything with this man, but he’s furious nonetheless. He clenches his teeth and points a gun at Thomas.
“M-M-Mr. Bamford, did I offend you?” Thomas asks with a tremor in his voice.
Waylen points the gun at the hand embracing Leilani’s waist.
“Get away from her!” he commands.
Thomas’s face goes pale with fear and he puts his hands in the air. The atmosphere has become tense and still. Waylen looks as furious as if he’d caught his wife in the act of making love with another man. He stalks towards Thomas and roughly pulls Leilani from his lap.
Waylen kicks Thomas hard and he falls onto the floor. Thomas covers his crotch and groans miserably. Waylen’s bodyguards begin to beat the other men who admired and flirted with Leilani; some of them already have bloody noses and swollen, bruised faces.
Thomas is confused. He remembers that Leilani said she was married, but he can’t remember if she ever told him who her husband was. He looks at Leilani.
“Are you Mr. Bamford’s wife?” he asks fearfully.
Waylen Bamford stomps on the hand Thomas had wrapped around Leilani’s waist. The bones in his hand crack.
“Did you touch her with anything else?”
“Mr. Bamford, this is a big misunderstanding,” Thomas whimpers, “I didn’t know she was your wife. Besides, she told me she’s getting a divorce. Believe me, if I had any idea that she’s your wife, I never would have laid hands on her—divorced or not.”
Leilani grimaces scornfully at Thomas. The man had talked a big game, threatening to beat her husband to a pulp, but now he’s the one on the floor crying and m.o.a.ning.
“What a coward and a liar!” she thinks, “I never said anything to him about the divorce.”
As soon as Waylen hears the word “divorce” he becomes even more indignant. He looks like he might explode. Slowly he turns his back on Thomas.
“Leilani Bamford,” he hisses.
Waylen is so furious he can barely control himself. He throws the gun to the ground and glower at Leilani.
“Stop! No!” a terrible scream echoes through the club.
Leilani turns to see Waylen’s bodyguards bending over Thomas. Thomas’ pants are torn and his legs are covered in blood. The bodyguards have blood on their hands and they’re holding something that looks like human skin.
Leilani feels numb from her scalp to the soles of her feet. Have they peeled the skin off his legs? Just because she was sitting on his lap? She feels sick. What a terrible act! Trying not to vomit, she walks toward Waylen.
“Are you angry? It’s not healthy to get so upset,” she says, “If you die tonight, will I be a widow?”
She has to admit that becoming a widow would solve her problems just as easily as a divorce. Motionless, Waylen stares at her. He’s never looked so infuriated she thinks.
“I’m just showing you some of the disadvantages of refusing a divorce. This is just the first time I’ll cheat on you. If you’re this upset now, imagine how awful it would be to watch it happen again and again,” Leilani smiles gently and persuasively, “I suggest you change your mind. The divorce can make us both happy, but if you refuse—”
Waylen abruptly grabs Leilani and throws her onto the sofa. Understanding that Waylen wants to be alone with his wife, the bodyguards drag the bloodied suitors out of the club, shutting the door behind them. Only Waylen and Leilani remain in the huge club. The atmosphere is so tense, Leilani can barely breathe.
Ferocious and grim, Waylen walks towards Leilani. She knows that she’s provoked him and she’s scared that he’s going to attack her like he attacked Thomas. The door is close to the sofa. Instinctively, she gets up and grabs the doorknob, jerking the door ajar. But Waylen is faster than she is, and he slams the door shut with a thud.
“If I refuse the divorce, will you always betray me with other men?” he asks.
Though threatening, Waylen’s question emboldens her. He looks furious, betrayed, and humiliated.
“I will. I dream of making love with many men. Hundreds of men.”
“How dare you!” he hisses.
He grabs her chin with his large hand and presses her against the door.
“Were you satisfied with Thomas?” he asks, “Did you see what happened to him?”
Leilani can’t move, but she glares at him coldly.
Waylen smiles menacingly, “Who will be next? What about Charles Meyer? Or your nanny?”
Charles Meyer? Nanny? Leilani looks like she’s been hit. Nanny is her weakness.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she bluffs.
“Hmm, I guess your nanny will be next,” Waylen threatens.
“But she’s not even my biological mother,” Leilani protests, “She’s just my nanny.”
“Do you want to test me, you stubborn woman?” Waylen asks.
He takes out his phone and prepares to make a call. Killing her nanny is as easy as killing an ant. He only needs to give the orders. As for Charles Meyer…
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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