Leave Me If You Dare

In the hospital, Margaret woke up shouting in anger. She tried to open her heavy eyes and the white wall greeted her eyes. She frowned when she felt pain in her lower body. That was the only time she recalled the scene before she was rushed to the hospital. Clenching her fists tight, Margaret also regained her intense anger towards Arabella. Enduring the pain she felt, she staggered to get up. In her mind, Arabella should vanish in her world so Jayson would only love her. Even before, she knew Jayson loved Arabella, though they were already together. Without wasting any time, she tried to take out the injections on her wrist just when the door opened.

“Margaret! What are you doing?” Olive Windle, her mother, stopped her. She went out to get the help of her doctor when Margaret was screaming in her sleep.

“Don’t stop me, mom, I still have to kill someone!” Margaret didn’t have any plan to just lay in there and let Arabella and Jayson together.

“Are you crazy? You just lost your baby!” Her mother’s statement made her froze. Then her tears went out gushing as she clenched her hands into fists tempestuously.

“Ahhhh! Arabella!” Margaret shouted madly. She blamed Arabella for losing her baby.

“Margaret, please calm down.” The doctor was alerted when his patience was acting savagely. With an injection in his hand, the doctor gave Margaret a shot to calm her down.

“Mom, what’s happening to me? Mom, you can’t do this to me.” Margaret felt her losing her strength but her mind was covered by her revenge for Arabella.

“Rest my daughter. You need to gain your strength and come back stronger for your revenge. I will help you make that Arabella suffered, whoever she is.” With full of pity for her daughter, Olive had promised Margaret to revenge her daughter. When Margaret was lying unconsciously on the bed, she kept on mentioning the name, ‘Arabella’. Judging from her daughter’s tone, it was like she was cursing the name.

Being a single mother, Olive had a hard life working left and right just to give shelter and food to her daughter Margaret. They were times when they have to vacate their place because they couldn’t pay for the rent and she was hunt by those loan sharks because she couldn’t pay her debts. Those times, they kept on transferring from one place to another to avoid her debts.

Now that Margaret had brought her a good life and even prosperous if she could marry the CEO of Hansen Group, Olive would not allow Arabella to ruin her daughter’s relationship and she wouldn’t let her get away from what she did to her grandchild. ‘She should pay!’ Olive promised to stare at her daughter’s sorrowful face.

In a private room of a seven-star hotel, Bill sat on a center couch, crossing his long legs and arms while Arabella was standing at his side. She drove the car for him going to the venue now, she felt her legs had become numb. Observing the faces inside, they were all foreigners with only one woman in the group.

The girl was seductive and sexy in her black fitted short dress showing all her cleavage and long legs. No wonder, Bill, the womanizer had given her a bouquet and a necklace as a gift. ‘Such a playboy!’ Arabella on his side rolled her eyes annoyingly.

“So, Mr. Sky, my daughter is with me and she wants to mingle with you.” An old foreign man in his 60’s spoke up. “Shall we change partners now?” He added, raising his glass to Bill then he switched his stare to Arabella. He smiled at her full of desire.

“Of course, Mr. Kindler.” Without any hesitation, Bill answered. He then made a beckoning sign with his index finger at her.

Seeing Bill’s gesture, Arabella leaned over to him.

“Since you like men so much, consider that old man one of them. Do what you do best.” Bill whispered at her sarcastically.

Hearing him, she was like slapped a million times, but she tried to calm herself. She won’t let him bring her down.

“Right away, Mr. Sky.” Arabella refused to be bullied by him. She won’t give him the satisfaction to just insult her, but undeniably her heart was baffled by his arrogance and it hurt her. It seemed that Bill had planned it all along that’s why he made her dress sexy and approachable. He planned to use her tonight as an escort with an old dirty man.

With her rebellious intent, Arabella quickly sat beside Mr. Kindler she introduced herself to him.

The room was filled with foreign men, but only Mr. Kindler and Bill had partners. Hearing the old man’s surname, it had rung her a bell. The Kindler Group was the largest oil company in the whole world. It seemed Bill was trying to engage something in their company. How could he use her for such a purpose? Arabella was very irritated by the thought of entertaining an old man with lustful behavior.

“Cheers!” Mr. Kindler gave her a glass of wine and proposed a toast. His hand slowly grasping her hand. Arabella endured her disgust as she wanted to show her Boss that she could do better what he wanted her to do. Not only that, her annoyance at him had provoked and challenged her to exceed what he had been expecting of her.

Arabella took the glass of wine and smiled at Mr. Kindler. She had nailed it on faking her actions.

On the other side, Bill was looking at the girl who was very fond of entertaining an old man. He was right, Arabella was really good on men. Undeniably, he was also a victim. Seeing her in his office earlier with her red sexy dress, he was so aroused and wanted to take her right away in his office. Who could say no? It’s his territory. But he suppressed his feeling. For some reason, his ego wanted to get rid of her out of his life as she was the first woman who had dared to reject and neglect him for other men.

Since she really wanted to be his secretary, then getting rid of Arabella was very easy. All he needed to do was to give her difficult tasks for her to give up quickly. He planned to make her quit on her own.

The night was still young, Mr. Kindler and Bill were talking about some business dealings that would benefit both parties. After the deal was closed, the drinking continued.

“This is delicious, try this.” Mr. Kindler, shove an amuse-bouche directly to Arabella’s mouth. She was shocked, but she still let go of a smile.

“Thank you, Mr. Kindler. It’s really delicious.” Arabella won’t allow Bill to laugh at her. She had put up a sweet rapport for Mr. Kindler at the same time she was also sneaking at Bill.

He was with the only woman in the Kindler group. They were sweetly talking and whispering to each other and then, Bill suddenly stood up and put the necklace on her neck. Wow! She almost tripped on her way when she rushed to the store to buy the necklace. Though Arabella was putting a smile outside, deep down, her heart was clenched hard.

“Here, drink some more.” Mr. Kindler was offering her another drink.

“No. I can’t drink anymore. I am good with one glass Mr. Kindler.” Remembering the baby inside her stomach, she could not drink more than a glass, or else she would make her baby drowned with the alcohol. Though she’s in her 3+ months pregnancy, her stomach wasn’t still obvious that she could still wear fitted clothes.

“Mr. Sky, do you forbid your secretary to drink?” Mr. Kindler was already drunk. Aside from being talkative, he kept on holding Arabella’s hand and shoulder.

“Never. She’s actually a bibulous one.” Bill answered sipping his wine and smiled at her wickedly.

‘You monster!’ Arabella wanted to shout these words at him and let everybody hear it, but at this time, she couldn’t afford to ruin what she had already started. The night would be over soon, a simple sacrifice would lead to victory.

“Okay, Mr. Kindler. I will drink this one, but this would be the last one.” Arabella said just to give Mr. Kindler’s a face. She got the wine and just pretended to sip it little by little.

On the other side, Bill looked at her mockingly. Her drama might pass with the other people in the room but not him.

“To end this night,” Bill stood up and everyone followed. “May I call on Ms. Jones here, please.” He added.

Hearing her name, Arabella went to the center to comply with Bill’s request. When she reached his spot, “My secretary here would drink the whole bottle straight up on my behalf as an appreciation of all your effort and presence.” Bill then gave her a big bottle of wine with a smirk on his handsome face.

The crowd applauded and cheered for her. While Arabella was rooted to her spot. She was dumbfounded. She could feel her face turned pale and her heart was beating fast. Sudden anxiety knocked her out that she almost lost her balance. Her breathing was heavy and she was sweating all over her body, though the temperature inside the room was cold.

“Don’t embarrass me.” Bill then whispered to her.

With a shaky hand, she took the big bottle and looked at him in disdain.

‘Baby, your father wanted me to drink this bottle, please stay with me. Please forgive me.’

Arabella was already crying inside while her thoughts were with her baby. She had felt the bottle became so heavy and her hand was shaking that won’t even allow her to raise the bottle.

“What? You wanna quit now? Give me a good show.” Bill whispered at her provokingly. ‘Why this girl pretended to be a light drinker when she could drink with Jayson Hansen all night?’ That night when he saw her being intimate with Jayson Hansen kept on popping in his mind that made him irritated the whole day.

Hearing him, Arabella’s fake smile disappeared. She knew what Bill wanted and her ego refused to give in. He wanted her to quit so he could laugh at her, but she would not give him the satisfaction. Looking at the cheering audience, they were obviously waiting for her show while continuously clapping their hands. She felt like she was in a multi-layered limbo that she had to get out of it alive.

‘Baby, please hugged me tightly and do not let go. Please forgive mommy for doing this, and most of all, forgive your father. I love you so much.’

After talking to her baby, she gently closed her eyes and quickly drank the wine, aiming to finish it in one go. Tears went out from her closed eyes and nobody from the audience noticed it as they were busy cheering for her except Bill.

Standing quietly, Bill saw drops of tears rolling down from her closed eyes while trying to finish the wine. Her right hand was holding the bottle while her left hand was holding her stomach. He frowned, he saw her drinking capabilities many times and he knew she could drink all night long without getting drunk. ‘Why is she crying?’ Her tears made his heart ached.

“Gentlemen, let’s call it a night.” Bill announced and quickly strode out the room leaving Arabella and the other guests.

After Bill’s exit, Mr. Kindler and the group followed, leaving Arabella alone with still the half drank a bottle in her hand. She put the bottle down on the table and strode her way out, but she suddenly felt dizzy. The room was spinning around as she grasped the table to support her balance. Then in just a quick second, she felt an intense pain in her stomach.

‘My baby, please don’t leave me. I love you so much..’ Arabella’s last words before she fainted.