Chapter 5: Center of attention.

“Ma’am, we have bigger things to worry about, like the one who just called,” Rufus said, referring to her father so she would come back to her senses.

It thankfully did the trick as Mabel slowly lowered her gun. Not wanting to delay anymore, she turned and faced Rufus. “Can you fix the tyre?” she asked him in a shaky voice.

“Yes, there’s a spare, but your father is not going to be happy about what happened,” Rufus replied in a whisper.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, please fix the car,” Mabel requested and Rufus immediately got to work.

Not wanting to give in to the urge to kill the crazy man, Mabel walked away from the car while waiting for Rufus to finish.

“I’ll call for another car, sir,” Christian’s driver said and he immediately brought out his phone.

Christian didn’t say anything, instead, he focused his attention on the woman who now stood at a distance from him. He saw her pacing around, and his eyes furrowed when he noticed that she was shaking.

He was no expert when it came to human emotion, especially when it concerned women but he was sure that was fear he saw in her eyes.

“Sir, I’ve called for another car,” he heard his driver say to him.

“Hmm,” Christian responded, not taking his eyes off of Mabel.

Mabel on the other hand couldn’t think straight as she watched Rufus change the tyre of the car. ‘I’m going to die today,’ she muttered to herself.

Lying to her father was even out of it as he would find out the truth and punish her more for lying but if she told him the truth, she didn’t want to imagine what would happen.

She felt a pair of eyes watching her and when she turned, she found the crazy man’s eyes on her. She immediately gave him the middle finger to express her anger.

In return to her action, Christian yelled, “I’m not interested.”

Understanding what he was implying, Mabel turned her attention elsewhere and decided to pay no attention to him until Rufus was done changing the tyre.

After what seemed like forever, Rufus finally finished and Mabel sighed as she walked over to the car. Before she however got in, she turned and took one last look at Christian.

“I swear, I’ll repay you for what you’ve done today,” she promised him before turning and getting into the car.

Christian watched her car drive away and he chuckled in amusement. He found it amusing that she thought she would actually be able to do anything to him. No problem, it would be fun to watch her try.

****

God, can you believe that bastard,” Mabel exhaled sharply after she had gotten into the car.

“This is why you should never try to help anyone. All I wanted to do was to help him and he got me in trouble with my father.”

‘I tried to tell you,’ Rufus coughed, but Mabel heard him regardless and she glared at him. She was in a life-threatening crisis. Now was not the time to blame her.

“Just let’s go to the mansion so I can deal with my family," she ordered, and Rufus immediately started the car.

‘Great, another frustrating thing to deal with,’ she muttered under her breath when she remembered that she still had her family to face. What a lucky person she was.

“Don’t mention whatever happened to your family today, I’ll deal with it,” she suddenly heard Rufus say after some time.

“But you’ll get into trouble instead,” Mabel pointed out, but she couldn’t deny that the idea of Rufus handling the situation sounded very enticing to her.

“If you tell him the truth, Lord knows what he’ll do to you. I’ve been working for him for years, I’ll handle it,” Rufus assured her.

“Thank you,” Mabel said and her heart became full with joy.

Time felt very fast for her as they drove past the gates of the family mansion. Her heart started to pound and her palms became sweaty due to how nervous she was. When they got to the mansion, Mabel got down and headed into the house.

When she entered, she found her father patiently waiting for her. The fact he had his hands folded at his back told her that she was in trouble, big trouble.

At her father’s back were her stepmother and half-siblings, who all had an evil smile on their faces.

“Dad,” Mabel started but the next thing she felt was a sting on her left cheek while her head flew to the side, giving her whiplash.

She bit her lips to stop herself from groaning in pain. It wasn’t the first time she had been slapped by her father, but having been away from her house for five years had made her forget the feeling.

“Why didn’t you come out as soon as your flight landed?” Anthony asked her in annoyance.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I wasn’t feeling too well and I didn’t want to come back home sick,” Mabel lied but at the same time, it wasn’t too far from the truth as she was sick of her family. She couldn’t even lift her eyes to talk to her father, as she was terrified of him.

Anthony lifted his hand to hit her once again and Mabel quickly closed her eyes waiting for the pain. However, someone stopped him before his hand could land on her.

“Anthony, let’s not trouble the poor thing, she just returned home after five years.” She heard Claire, her stepmother speak, and that stopped her father from hitting her again.

“Oh honey, what happened to your arm?” Claire asked, her voice filled with concern when she noticed the wound on Mabel’s arm.

Mabel felt a bile in her throat upon hearing the witch speak. Her stepmother fitted into the stereotype stepmothers had as she was cruel to her but pretended as though it came from a place of love.

“Well, I…” Mabel started but she was cut short by the same person who asked her the question.

“Come, honey, it’s time for dinner and I’ve prepared all of your favorites,” Claire walked up to her and put her hands on her shoulder. Without allowing her to freshen up, she led her to the dining table, and the rest of the family followed.

Everyone took their respective seats at the table and when the helpers came to dish the food, Mabel clenched her fists underneath the table when she saw that her stepmother had ordered all the dishes she hated and was even allergic to be prepared.

Mabel’s eyes shot up to Claire, who gave a wide smile as though she had done something nice. The helpers didn’t bother with dishing Mabel’s food just as they had been ordered by Claire. She wasn't important after all to be given such treatment.

“How’s the situation with Christian Romero coming along?” Anthony asked his son.

"It's going well so far. We're having a meeting with the government representatives in a few days to determine who the deal will go to and let's just say that he wouldn't know what hit him," Kelvin responded.

"Dad," Kendra, her Half-sister started and Mabel felt her blood turn cold when she found Kendra staring at her with a cynical look on her face.

"What is it, honey?" Anthony asked his daughter in a soft voice, one that stung Mabel's heart as her father had never spoken to her softly.

"Everyone here is contributing to seeing the Romeros' downfall, what's she doing to assist?" Kendra asked her father.

The one thing Mabel hated happened. The entire family turned their attention to face her.