Eternally Seduced(33)

Constantijin might never admit it, but something had changed between us  tonight  –  and it was a step closer to him loving me back someday.

A swooshing sound interrupted my thoughts, and I saw two women almost  stalking their way into the conservatory, the doors swinging heavily  shut behind them. My eyes widened when I realized that the younger woman  was the same one I had seen with Constantijin on TV last night.

Why was she here?

"Oh, did you see how he snubbed me, Mother?" Constantijin's date screeched.

"Calm down, Brittany. You won't win him back with your temper." The  older woman opened her purse, taking out a lighter and a cigarette.  Blowing out a circle of smoke, she continued, "But honestly, darling, I  don't care if you don't get back together with him. His bloodline is … as  you know...dirty."

"Honestly, Mother, I don't give a damn even if his mother had fucked every guy in the city---"

"Oh darling, I think she truly did back then."

"---but what I do care about is being his wife and getting access to his billions."

Maybe this seemed like an exaggeration, but even this far I could  practically see the dollar signs shining in Brittany's eyes as she  hissed, "Billions, Mother. Don't you think that's worth ignoring he's  got a hooker for a mother?"

The words took me so much by surprise I accidentally knocked over the electrically lit pillar next to me.

Shit.

"Who's there?" Brittany asked shrilly.

I was so busted.

Or maybe I wasn't. Maybe I could hide---

A blazing light suddenly went my way, blinding me. I blinked,  automatically trying to shield my gaze from the glare of the other  woman's Blackberry torch-like lighting.

When I looked up, Brittany and Brittany Sr. were right in front of me.

"Eavesdropping cheap bitch!"

And there went the first missile, from the older woman no less.

But because I preferred Switzerland's neutral role in wars, I pretended  the words didn't rankle and said evenly, "I understand why you think  that, but---"

"Oh my God, Mother, I know who this bitch is! She's that woman  Constantijin couldn't stop staring at a while ago." Brittany gave me a  look from head to toe. I'd be lying if I didn't feel smaller as she did  –   and it didn't even have anything to do with the fact that she towered  over me by at least half a foot.

"Who are you?" Brittany Sr. snapped.

"None of your business."

Her eyes narrowed. "If you're planning to tell Constantijin about what you think you heard---"

Wow. She was really taking that route? I cleared my throat. "I know exactly what I heard."

Brittany suddenly pushed herself between her mother and me. Taking me by  surprise when she suddenly yanked me by the hair, she snapped, "Listen,  you little bitch. I'm going to ruin you if you ever speak one word  about this."

The doors opened, and the sound made me close my eyes in despair.  Another surprise guest? The night just kept getting better and better.  Not.

"Please release my guest, Brittany." The familiar cultured voice made my eyes flare wide open.

It really was her  –  Marge Kastein, Constantijin's mother.

When the other woman didn't move, Marge's voice turned into steel. "Brittany."

Brittany released me with a curse. I curled my fingers into a fist. If I  didn't, I would be touching my scalp because it honestly hurt, and I  didn't want the blond bimbo and her mother to know that.

Brittany Sr. drew herself up stiffly. "I don't appreciate you taking that tone with my daughter, Margaret."

"And if I ever learn about you or your daughter mistreating my guest again, I'll sue both of you for manhandling."

The older woman's face became suffused with such rage, everything  suddenly became clear. These two had a history, and it wasn't a good  one.

Brittany Sr. screeched, "How dare you? If it wasn't for Erik Kastein,  you wouldn't even have the right to speak with me, you whore!"

A pinkish film covered my vision. It was one thing to hear them backstab  Marge  –  which I could honestly forgive since I sincerely believed that  what you didn't know didn't matter a damn  –  but it was another thing  entirely to insult someone I knew in front of me.

Marge didn't even flinch, and for a moment I was filled with such awe  for her. Marge's face, still unlined by age, shone with the kind of  beauty that was more than skin deep. And in her floor-length gown, with  its long black lacy sleeves and white empire-cut body, she wasn't the  one who looked like a whore. It was the other woman, whose probably  royalty-like lineage didn't appear to have a good effect on her fashion  taste. She was dressed as provocatively as her daughter, in a glittery  strapless gown that boasted a fake tan and meaty thighs.

Pity underlined Marge's voice when she spoke. "After all these years,  you still feel bitter that he fell in love with me, don't you?"

"Love?"

I winced at the shrill sound of the older woman's voice.

"You flatter yourself. No, you turned his head around because of all  your cheap little tricks in bed, and of course you'd be able to seduce  him away from me. By the time you had a hundred men using your body, I  was still a virgin---"

The pinkish vision turned into fuchsia, no matter how much I was  inhaling and exhaling to stop rage from taking over my common sense.

"And you really had the gall to marry him, even though you know you'd  make Erik a laughingstock, with everyone having had a taste of your  always-hungry pussy---"

Fuchsia deepened into crimson, and I clenched my hands together in an effort to control myself.

"---and worst of all for Erik, everyone knew that when you married him,  you were already knocked up with someone else's child, a bastard who  doesn't know his place---"

Crimson transformed into the bloodiest shade of red.

I charged towards Brittany Sr.

"What the---"

"Yanna, no!"

Slap.

"You bitch!" Brittany howled behind me. And then she was clawing my  back, pulling my hair to keep me off her mother, but I was already  lifting my hand.

Slap.

The red marks on each cheek didn't even satisfy me. "You make me sick,  old hag!" Slap. "How can you say such terrible words when you're the  ugliest cougar I've ever seen?" Slap.

"Let go of my mother," Brittany screeched.

Dimly, I heard Marge speaking in Dutch, her words fast and furious.

The doors swooshed open, and all four of us froze for a moment, our eyes  swinging in that direction. I hoped it was Constantijin, but this just  wasn't my night at all. A rather large woman in a black-and-white  flapper dress gawked.

Brittany was the first to recover. "I said let go of my mother!" She pulled on my gown so hard I heard a tearing sound.

I automatically let go of Brittany Sr., clutching my gown to my body  before I found myself in my underwear. Of course, that allowed the older  blond bimbo to take advantage and suddenly I had one woman trying to  get me bald while the other one wanted me naked.

The large woman screamed, "Security!"

A siren started wailing out of nowhere, as if triggered by the word.  More slapping occurred after that, but this time it was me taking a dose  of my own medicine. Brittany got to claw my face, but I got to jab her  in the eye. And Brittany Sr. did manage to rip my gown off, but I sort  of popped something of hers, and the next thing I knew silicone gel had  exploded on three of us.

Then there were the police, the walk of shame  –  it was all a blur after  that, and I couldn't remember much of it. All I knew then was that  Constantijin was nowhere to be found.





Lesson #3




There is no chastity belt

that your billionaire cannot make you unlock.



"Yanna?" It took a while before I realized someone had called my name. I  was locked with the blond bimbos in a prison cell, wearing an inmate  uniform because my gown  –  Daria's actually  –  was beyond repair.

But it wasn't that bad, not really. It could have been a lot worse. We  could have been, like, arrested by sexual maniacs with badges. Or we  could have been thrown into a cell occupied by, like, convicted lesbian  rapists.

Compared to all the horrifying thoughts that had crowded my mind during  the ride, reality was a lot more pleasant. In fact, the police station  appeared to be one of the newest in the city  –  a fairly small one, with  the other two cells still empty. The lady officer even offered us coffee  as we waited for someone to bail us out and have the paperwork done on  who was going to sue whom for God knew what.

All in all, I counted myself lucky. If there had been a real-life  hardcore criminal standing even ten feet away from me in this prison, I  would have freaked out.

Like what Brittany was doing  –  or had been doing since we were taken here. Ten minutes ago.

"Oh my God." That was, like, the five hundredth time she had said that. Five minutes ago.         

     



 

Seriously, I wanted to freak out, too, and I was sort of doing it, but,  like, silently. Besides, the only thing her screams and tantrums did now  was to give me a headache.