Chapter 6: The sharp pain.

"I-i," Mabel stuttered as she didn't know what to say.

How was she supposed to help when the family didn't even include her in anything they did? She had no idea who this supposed family was and why they were her family's enemy.

All she knew about the Romeros was that they were her family's arch-enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Don't worry, I already have a task for her," Anthony responded to Kendra and Mabel knew she wasn't going to like the task as it would be close to impossible.

The rest of dinner went by silently for Mabel as the rest of the family talked while she just stared at her empty plate as she was unable to eat anything.

“Honey, aren’t you going to eat anything?” Claire asked after they were done having dinner.

“Mom, leave her alone, any more food and she’ll blow up like an inflated balloon,” Kendra mocked Mabel. “Just a few years apart from us and you have gained so much weight.”

“I’ll go get settled in,” Mabel said, immediately standing up from her seat. “Excuse me,” she took her leave.

As soon as she was out of her family's presence, she heaved a sigh of relief and blinked continuously to hold back the tears.

After she regained her composure, she went to her room which was a small storage room that was converted to hers. When she entered, she coughed from the dust that greeted her. ‘The hell?!’ She yelled in her mind when she saw the state of her room.

Various boxes as well as items had been disposed of in it and the dust she saw told her that the room hadn’t been cleaned for years.

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry, your return was so impromptu that I didn’t have the time to tell the helpers to clean your room,” she heard her stepmom’s voice from outside the room. “It doesn’t look that bad, you should be able to manage it.”

Saying those words, Claire left Mabel alone. She looked at the room wondering where she was going to start from. She then started kicking the boxes that were at her feet and walked into the small room.

Mabel knew she wouldn’t be assisted and so, she began to put the items in the empty boxes. This took her some time as some of the items were extremely heavy and by the time she was done, she was exhausted.

‘There’s no way I’m going to get this done tonight,’ she muttered to herself just as her stomach growled. She became distracted when her phone rang. When she checked it, she saw that she had received a message from Rufus.

“Check your bag,” was what the message read, after which it was deleted as soon as she read it. Her bags had been brought in earlier and so she went and opened them. To her surprise, she saw a take-out from a restaurant she liked, plus water.

Mabel immediately picked up her phone to thank him for getting her dinner, but she realized it could get him in trouble, and so she decided to do it personally. Not caring about the dust, she sat on her bed and started eating, as she was starving.

****

"Cancel the remaining meeting we have for today," Christian instructed his employee as soon as he got home, and before the employee could say anything in response, he disconnected the call.

Minutes after that woman left, a new car arrived for him. He was supposed to have a meeting with some investors who were in a different time zone but he wasn’t in the mood, especially as he was late for it all thanks to that woman puncturing his car.

Christian was fuming with anger as he walked up to his room. Never would he have imagined himself in that situation. He touched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes to calm himself down. For his strike to be lethal, he needed to be calm and level-headed

‘I don't know who you are, but I will make sure you never forget who I am.’

The door to his room suddenly flung open and Dorian walked in with a smile on his face. On seeing Christian in a bad mood, he grinned and spoke, "Wow, looks like someone's inflated ego has been busted. Why did you cancel the meeting?”

Christian opened his eyes and glared at him. “You really have some nerve showing yourself to me after abandoning me tonight,” he growled.

“Oh, you're a grown man. Don’t be so whiny about it,” Dorian dismissed Christian's words. "Why did you cancel the meeting?" He asked once again. “And what happened to your arm?”

"It's none of your business. Now get out!" Christian snapped in irritation.

"So who was the woman who messed with you?" Dorian continued to probe while ignoring Christian's words.

"There was no one, now, scram!" Christian answered. Dorian didn't need to know what had happened tonight, as he wouldn't let him hear the end of it.

"So who's the woman who hit you in between your legs and even had the guts to shoot the great Christian Romero?" Dorian inquired, and Christian's scowl deepened.

"Who told you?" He asked. "Was it the driver?"

"The champ is too scared to go against you. I have my ways," Dorian informed Christian.

"So it seems she isn't like your normal admirers. I mean, she potentially might have damaged your chances of having kids, plus, she almost unalived you," Dorian jested, holding in a laugh.

"Be very careful of your next words or I might forget who you are and put a bullet through your head."

"You even cancelled your meeting. This woman must have had a strong effect on you because you have never cancelled a meeting because of a woman". Dorian continued, still not paying heed to what Christian was saying.

Others might have been shaking in their boots over Christian's threats but he had been threatened far too many times to give a damn.

"Now that she has gotten your attention, do I finally have a sister-in-law to…"

Christian looked at Dorian sharply and Dorian finally stopped talking as he knew he had pushed far too many buttons. He knew Christian was already seething with rage, and he wasn't helping matters.

Before anyone could say anything else, Dorian's phone suddenly rang and his face became pale upon seeing the caller ID.

Christian instantly guessed it was his mother calling, as that was the only time he saw such an expression on Dorian's face.

"Answer the call and tell her that she should stop trying to set me up on dates with stupid bimbos as I'm not interested, or else I'll stop talking to her".

Dorian answered the call and gave Christian's message to Kate. After a series of back and forth, the call ended and Dorian turned to face Christian, who had now taken his seat on the bed.

"Mom is upset with you and she said the only way she will stop setting you up on dates is if you get married".

"She even went further to threaten to set me up on dates. So please, darling brother, do me the favour of finding a nice girl, so Mom can lay off my back." Dorian pleaded in a nice tone.

"Get out of my room now!" Christian commanded.

"Alright, Alright, I'm going. Asshole. Dorian muttered as he left Christian's room.

"I heard that, Dorian," Christian yelled after him.

"Well, I meant for you to hear it, Asshole," Dorian said louder this time.

"You know Dorian, one of these days, I'm going to kill you" Christian retorted.

"That is, if I don't kill you first, Asshole." Dorian clapped back as he walked away.

Just as Christian walked up to close the door, he was hit with a sharp pain in his head that made him drop to the floor due to how painful it was.

'Not again,' he growled as he was hit with the same haunting memories.