NOVEL NEXT Chapter 347: Divorced And Banished
"Daddy!" Gwen yelled, her anger simmering like a volcano. "Don't talk to my mother like that. She is your wife and you must learn to respect..."
"Shut up." The senator bellowed, his frosty gaze narrowed at the bastard child, who had also contributed to his misery. "How dare you challenge me, you worthless bastard."
"Ah!" Regina froze in disbelief, her eyes widening.
"That's rather harsh if you ask me." Pearl exchanged alarmed glances with her sister as if communicating a nonverbal message to her.
"Dad!" Gwen's dilated pupils almost popped out of their sockets. She staggered backwards holding her chest dramatically while staring at her father in unbelief. "Did you just call me, your daughter, a bastard?"
"Isn't that what you are?" Greg asked tauntingly, glaring at Gwen straight in the eyes. "A revolting, worthless and despicable bastard child of a criminal?"
Gwen's hands involuntarily flew to her opened mouth, her face flustered with rage and bewilderment. "Dad!"
"Brother-in-law, that is not..." Pearl's words got stuck in her throat as the senator flashed her a lethal gaze.
"Greg! How can you say such an awful thing to your own daughter?" Regina screamed, pulling the senator's attention away from her sister. "Gwen is your child. She is our child." She drawled, gesturing at both of them. "She is a child born out of the love we both shared."
"Love!" The senator scoffed, chuckling bitterly. "You make me sick to the stomach, woman."
"I do not care how you feel about me at the moment. But I won't have you insult our child." Regina retorted boldly even though her walls were already crumbling within.
"Our child!"
The senator's narrowed gaze got darker.
"Or do you mean the bastard child of your lover, who happens to be my criminal-minded evil younger brother, Matt?"
"What!" Regina's face paled as though she had seen a ghost. But she quickly recovered from her shock while pretending to be stunned by Greg's words. "How could you say such an awful thing? How can you accuse me of sleeping with Matt."
"Did Amelia put you up to this again?" Gwen challenged her father while faking a distraught look. "Did she feed you with those same lies she told me while I was in prison? I thought you already knew the truth. You are my father and my mother would never dream of cheating on you."
"Really!" Senator Gregory let out a grim laughter. "So what do you think about this?"
"Shit!"
Pearl cursed under her breath as she watched the senator pick up the black folder on the glass centre table in front of him. She held her breath in anticipation as he threw the folder on Regina's face.
The folder bounced off her chest and fell on the floor, spilling its contents.
"Holy moly!" Pearl cupped her mouth, her eyes widened like a saucer as she caught sight of some nude pictures of her elder sister and Matt, engaged in different immoral activities.
The sight of these pornographic pictures, alongside the paternity test result, knocked the air out of Regina's lungs, making her gasp. She staggered backwards, blood and bile rising up to her throat.
The ground underneath her began to spin and before she could control herself, she fell on her knees, her heart threatening to collapse at any point.
'If only the ground underneath her could open and swallow her whole.' Regina covered her face in shame, her tears flowing like a river.
The lawyers, who hadn't been privileged to see the content of the black folder, were bemused by the revolting sight. They quietly exchanged glances while staring condescendingly at the adulterous crying wife and her bastard daughter.
The room instantly fell silent for a split second until the senator's deep and vengeful voice sliced through the tension in the room.
"I thought you were about defending your whore of a mother?" Senator Gregory taunted Gwen, who suddenly turned frozen in shock. "What happened? Cat got your tongue."
Gwen fell on her knees beside her mother, her face flustered with embarrassment and fury. She gathered the pictures with trembling hands and put them inside the black folder without looking up to meet the senator's demeaning stare. Her quivering gaze shifted to her mom as if to say, "It's over."
"No." Regina shook her head in disagreement.
"Robert ...do your job. I want this filthy scum out of my sight in the next five minutes." Senator Gregory said returning to his seat.
"Mom, just sign the divorce paper and let's get out of here." Gwen stood up, feeling unrepentant.
"No..." Regina shamelessly crawled over to where the senator was and shamelessly threw herself on his feet wailing. "Greg please, don't do this to us. You are all I've got."
"Get your filthy hands off me, your worthless tramp." Senator Gregory resisted the urge to hit her as he signalled two of his aides, who came over and pulled Regina away from him. But that didn't stop Regina from pleading her case.
"Please, Greg. I can explain." Regina croaked.
"What exactly do you want to explain?" Senator Gregory growled in a vengeful voice.
"It wasn't my intention to hurt you. Matt threatened me. He took advantage of me just as he did your late wife."
"Shut up." Senator Gregory boomed like a thunderclap, rising bupnto his feet again. He pointed at Regina menacingly.
"How dare you compare my wife to your worthless self? For the past twenty-three years, you and Matt have deceived and manipulated me, forcing me to believe in your lies. You ruined my marriage and sent my wife to her early grave by blackmailing me with your bastard child. You turned my home into a brothel where you and your lover could carry out your immoral activities while calling me a gullible fool behind my back. You squandered my wealth and even tried to murder my own daughter in an attempt to steal her inheritance."
"No..."
"But guess what, it all ends today."
"Greg..."
"Don't you EVER..." Senator Gregory bellowed, making Regina flinch. "...mention my name in your miserable life again." He signalled to the lawyer and the latter brought the divorce document to Regina again.
"Sign that document right now and get out of my house."
"No... I won't sign it. You can't get rid of me that easily. I am still your legal wife and I have the right to fight for my marriage. If you are going to divorce me, then get ready to make it public. I won't go down without a fight."
"Of course you will."
The senator clicked his finger, and a silver gun was brought to him, which he collected.
"Holy shit!" Pearl scurried behind Gwen at the sight of the gun. "He has finally lost it."
"You can either sign the divorce paper alive or dead. Either way, this marriage ends today. So I will allow you to make your choice. Nothing will give me much pleasure than putting a bullet in your brain right here, before your bastard daughter and your tramp of a sister. When I'm done, I will have your corpse thrown into the sea for the fish to feast on."
"Go ahead. Shoot me if you have the heart. But I will never sign this divorce paper." Regina declared, even though she had no plans of dying.
"I will give you until the count of three." Senator Gregory removed the safety of the gun.
"Just sign the damn paper, mom." Gwen screeched, trembling.
One..."
"Mom!" Gwen screeched.
"Two..."
"Just sign the paper, Gina." Pearl pleaded.
The senator placed his finger on the trigger ready to release a shot. However, Regina seeing that her husband wasn't bluffing, quickly shouted.
"Okay... I will sign it. Don't do anything rash." She collected the ball pen from the lawyer with trembling hands and quickly appended her signature on all the places the lawyer pointed.
"Is that all?" Regina asked, her twitching gaze darting between the lawyer and the gun pointed at her.
"I guess so." Robert collected the ball pen from Regina's trembling hands. He stood up and straightened his jacket.
"It's done, senator. Your marriage is finally dissolved. You are now a free man."
"Good." Senator Gregory returned the gun to his head of security while dishing out orders.
"Get these wretched women out of my house. Make sure they do not leave with anything other than their already packed luggage. I do not want to see any of them within a hundred yards of this property. If they do, shoot them on sight."
"Ahh!" Pearl gasped,
"Yes, sir." The head of security nodded and turned to his subordinate, "Get them out of here now."
"I hate you and I hope you die a lonely and miserable man." Gwen spat on the floor as she was being pushed out of the room.
"Move!" One of the security guards barked at Gwen, pushing her roughly out of the room.
"Take it easy!" Pearl snapped at the security.
Outside the mansion, Sam and a handful of the mansion servants were already waiting with their luggage to see them off. They didn't bother masking the happiness neither did they hide their ridiculing gestures.
"How the mighty has fallen." Our of the maid chuckled wickedly, eying Gwen as she approached.
"Shame can only beget shame."
"So, she was never the daughter of the senator to begin with. Yet, she had the effrontery to boss around."
"So shameless."