Episode 13

"Do not worry about what may happen here tonight,"

Megan whispered in my ear, reminding me of what she had done in the car. When we were back at the mansion, I would talk to her seriously. She had crossed the line again, not caring about what could happen in the future.

It was really good, I felt desire and sensations, but she couldn't control herself.

I looked deeply into Megan's eyes, ignoring the beauty of the terrace we were on. The terrace was lit by candles and some lights above. The table we were sitting at was huge, with food, drinks, cigarettes, and cigars, placed according to each seat.

At the moment, there were three waiters dressed in black and white on the terrace, but only one was serving us white wine in our glasses.

Mercier stood behind us, standing with a revolver on his waist, silent.

The situation there was intriguing, I thought that something was going to happen that night. It was strange and suspicious.

"And what can happen here?" I asked, and she leaned her face closer to mine, ignoring the presence of her loyal bodyguard behind us.

"Well... In a business dinner, many things can happen, discussions, planning, and so on, but in a settling of scores dinner... someone always gets hurt."

I swallowed hard because her words made me afraid. I started thinking about a million things and unpleasant possibilities.

I turned my face and adjusted myself in the chair, which was very comfortable. In my movement, Megan became a little distant, making her jaw clenched, showing her rigidity.

"And what kind of dinner will we have tonight?" I asked, and took the glass of white wine on the table to drink.

"A settling of scores dinner!"

"Ah..." I took a sip and saw out of the corner of my eye Megan biting her lower lip, and her sudden bite made me choke.

Concerned, Megan stood up and took the glass from me. I suddenly coughed, but soon started to breathe normally again.

I looked at Megan, who was analyzing my condition and observing the sweet liquid in the glass.

"Are you alright, princess?" she asked, as Mercier approached and took the glass in his hands.

"Yes... there's no need to worry," I said, grabbing a napkin to quickly wipe the corners of my mouth.

"I should worry," she said, leaning on the back of the chair, her face almost touching mine, her breathing heavy.

If she was startled when I choked, she must have been having palpitations, affecting her breathing.

"I should worry because you are my wife... I will always give my attention to you."

I simply nodded now fixed on her deeply attractive blue eyes. Her mouth approached and I felt her gentle touch on the tip of my nose.

"Mercier?" she called for him, still close with the glass in his hand.

"Yes, Armstrong?"

"Search the waiter... I don't want anything to harm my wife."

"Okay."

"Wait!" I asked, and Megan furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yes?"

"Don't scare him... search him, but don't be too aggressive."

"How should I act... Armstrong?" Mercier asked, completely ignoring me.

My words meant nothing. It made sense for him to act like that, I was not his boss and I had no voice to give opinions or orders there.

Megan looked at him and looked back at me. She analyzed me...

"Mercier?"

"Yes?"

"Do it according to my wife's order."

"I will do as you wish."

Mercier left and began searching all the waiters, and as I saw Megan's and my orders being followed, she pulled the chair, sat down, and continued to analyze me. I could feel her breath on my bare shoulder and neck. It was incredible how much she desired me, always approaching, always longing to touch me, besides obviously thinking about the two of us, impure thoughts.

"Stella?" she said, her hand resting on my thigh, fully splayed, causing my eyes to close. I couldn't make my body reject such sensations.

"What do you want, Megan?"

"I want you!"

"Now?" I asked, not surprised. If she had said anything else, I would have been surprised.

"Yes." she affirmed and her hand went under my dress after being pulled.

In the position we were in, no one could see what her daring hand was doing and intended to do.

"I see you've forgotten what we talked about!" I said, looking into her eyes and she clenched her jaw. She tried to get up, but I held onto the same hand she wanted to use so badly "Don't run away!"

"Who's running away from me is you!"

Silence settled between us and she tried to get up again, but...

"Because you crossed the line in the car... I won't sleep next to you tonight!"

She grabbed my jaw and turned it aggressively.

"I will decide what will happen from this moment until the end of the night, princess!"

"Megan..." I tried to remove her hand from me, it was already causing me pain "you're hurting me..."

"Hurting? Yes! I know." she said and let go of my jaw.

I tried to say something, but at that moment, a group of dapper men accompanied by beautiful women of different skin colors and stunning hair walked out in order through the door that led to the terrace.

One of the women, with fair skin, blonde hair, and a slim figure, looked in our direction and smiled, but her smile was directed only at Megan, who didn't pay much attention because her focus now was the red-haired man who sat at the other table. The red-haired man picked up a cigar to smoke, but Megan raised a clenched fist and the man dropped the cigar immediately.

Megan Armstrong, the most powerful woman I had ever known, besides being beautiful, was an insane delight of pleasures.

Everyone seated at the table in silence. A tense atmosphere, glances exchanged every second. Arrogance, superiority, deception, egocentrism, all together in a dirty game. A dinner of settling scores, but the men seated at the table seemed calm, as if they weren't about to argue. Megan was plotting something against them, I could feel it.

"Good evening, gentlemen" Megan said formally, still seated "and... ladies."

Not everyone responded, they simply nodded. I was lost and didn't know where to look, at the arrogant faces or the young women there. They seemed fine, while I thought the complete opposite.

"Help yourselves." she said, spreading her arms, showing all the food and drink.

The waiters began to serve, in a perfect manner, and Megan simply stared at all of them, analyzing without blinking, in addition to the gentlemen and ladies.

I ended up thinking it would be a great moment to speak up and tell them all that Megan had kidnapped me and that she was a wicked woman, but I also thought it would be useless. Those men were dirty, bad people, and simply wouldn't do anything to support me.

The waiter served my glass and before I could take it, Megan took it and drank, preventing me from enjoying that smooth liquid. Drinking was my escape to relax, the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense. No one spoke, everyone just ate and drank and looked at the two of us.

Those men weren't lawyers, and neither were the ladies. They were as frightening as them.

I touched Megan's arm and she rested her hand on my thigh, where she gave a warm caress, then looked at me and offered me a square glass with a liquid that seemed to be whiskey.

"Take it and drink." she whispered, and I accepted.

As soon as the liquid touched my tongue, I set the glass aside on the table and hated her attitude. Megan smiled and I tried to forget the taste of tea in my mouth.

Tea? I hated it!

The waiter served something for me to eat and Megan shook her head. Why couldn't I eat or drink? I was already impatient.

I moved my face closer to hers to complain, without causing any scandal, and she took advantage of that movement to kiss me. It was a warm and unexpected kiss for me. I was afraid to open my eyes and find all those stares on me, I was embarrassed. And yes, I pretended everything was fine when I saw all the looks on me. Until...

"Congratulations..." a female voice said and I looked, already seeing the blonde woman raising a glass. "You finally got married and gave us the pleasure of seeing your beautiful wife."

Blah blah blah...

"Thank you, Thompson... and thank you all for being here," Megan said formally and stood up, pulling me up with her, holding my hand affectionately. "As you may have noticed... I got married, and this is my wife, Stella D'Angelo, who has taken my last name... You can call her Stella Armstrong."

I adopted? I don't remember when.

"We haven't seen each other in a year," she referred to the gentlemen there, and they just watched silently and attentively. "And during all this time... a lot has changed."

When she fell silent, four bodyguards who worked for her left through the access door, and in the middle of them was James, who carried a black envelope. He had a gun in his waist and the other three had their weapons ready. It all happened very quickly, and before I knew it, Megan was already on the other side of the table with her hands on the shoulders of the man with the cigar, and Mercier had the gun pointed at his side.

Now that dinner was turning into a settling of scores.

James stopped behind me and handed me the black envelope, and it trembled in my hands because the fear of the worst happening was overwhelming me.

Why did he give me that?

I looked at Megan, and after giving me a malicious look, she squeezed the man's shoulders.

"What's going on, James?"

"Don't ask anything, miss... just do what Armstrong tells you to do."

"And what is she going to tell me to do..."

"Look, gentlemen," she spoke loudly and I paid attention to her, she was cold and frightening. "Debts have a deadline," the gentlemen there got agitated and the women got scared, except for the blonde named Thompson. "And this deadline expired today. This is the settling of debts dinner!"

"Armstrong?" one of the gentlemen stood up but ended up being forcefully pushed back into the chair by Jones.

"I haven't finished speaking, Bryan," she walked, walked silently, and stopped by my side.

Not knowing exactly anything was terrifying. What would she do to those gentlemen who owed her? Would they kill them?

"All of you owe me a lot, and the deadlines I gave have expired. I believe you already know my method, and I know you are all scared."

"So are you going to kill us?" the man with the cigar asked and Jones pointed the gun at him, causing him to raise his arms.

"Let's just say..." she looked at me and I trembled in fear. "My wife... will decide."

What?

"What?" I asked in astonishment and fell back into the chair.

Megan couldn't put that responsibility on my hands, I wasn't like her, I would never harm a human being, a fellow human. Never.

"That's exactly what you and everyone here heard!"

"No! Never."

"You will, and that's final!" she shouted harshly and took the envelope, tearing it open and taking out a document.

She showed it to me, and I saw that it was a contract showing various names and surnames, which belonged to those gentlemen because they were only male names. The women were spared, thanks to the heavens. Besides the names, there were also quite frightening punishments.

"Please, Megan... don't put this responsibility on my hands. I don't know them, I've never seen them... I have no right to have a say in this."

"I know, but I also know that you are kind-hearted... I remember clearly what you were willing to do to save that idiot's life. Today, you have a chance to save the lives of two of these men."

"Two?" Bryan panicked and ended up receiving a hit on the head from one of the bodyguards, causing Bryan to faint, and the gentlemen were as startled as I was.

"Now you can save everyone." she said suddenly, and I saw the relief in me, but also in everyone there. Fear could be seen in their terrified and anxious eyes.

"Everyone?"

"Everyone, however... you will decide what punishments they must receive to earn the chance to live."

I looked at everyone and lowered my head. I was certainly now seen as a threat or a way to free their lives, and I simply didn't know how to fit into that situation.

"Below each name, there are three different forms of punishment. You will choose one for each name and must sign the document... if you don't accept and don't sign... today you will witness a massacre."

"Massacre? But Megan..." I already had tears in my eyes, and despair ran through me. And what about those who were the targets and could die because of me?

I read one of the punishments and imagined such a scene...

I never thought Megan would be capable of punishing someone with ropes or lashes. I never forgot the unconscious man in the chair after being beaten.

"Sign, and none of them will die today."

"They won't die today? But what about tomorrow? In ten days? Or even a year?"

"I don't care about their lives... if they die tomorrow, it will be because they deserved it."

"Megan..." I thought deeply and looked at everyone again.

My heart tightened, and I felt a tear on my face, already running down my cheek, and I know Megan saw it — I will sign this and mark the punishments, but I ask you that after this... you forgive the debt that everyone here has with you.

"Forgive the debt?" she was expressionless.

"Yes... Punish, but forgive everyone's debt. That's the only thing I ask of you."

Megan showed no emotion, so I sat down to start choosing the prescribed forms of punishment.

James handed me a pen, and my hand trembled. I looked at Megan, and she simply nodded.

After she nodded and I signed, I hoped that she would do as I asked. If she did, I would know that she had changed, even if only a little.

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