CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

“Where is that scheming snake?!”

It was the shrill voice of Sarah Winchester that woke Katrina from her deep sleep the next morning. She tried to gather her bearings and prepare herself for the full wrath of her mother-in-law that was about to descend on her, but it was too late.Sarah flung the door open before Katrina could even make it out of the bed.

She charged at her like an angry bull and Katrina braced herself for the pain that would hit her on whatever part of her body that Sarah chose to assault that morning.

But Sarah didn’t touch her. Instead, her eyes zeroed in on Katrina’s luggages from the night before. She had been too exhausted and disturbed to unpack and had gone straight to bed.

“Oh, good. You’re already packed, this should be easy. Boys!!! Get in here.” Sarah shouted out. At the command, two heavily muscled men joined them in the room. Katrina’s heart damn near leaped out of her throat at the sight of the strange men who strolled into her room like they owned it.

Helplessly, she turned to look at her mother-in-law and asked in a voice laced with fear. “W-what is going on?”

“Throw out her things. And when you are done, throw her out too.” Sarah sneered, ignoring Katrina’s question and stepping out of the way for men to do as she had commanded.

“Yes, ma’am!” The men echoed.

One of them went for her luggages first, lifting all three at once and flinging them carelessly out the door. The other targeted her wardrobe that still had a few of her clothes and shoes and began throwing them to the ground like trash.

“No. Stop. Why are you doing this? Please stop.” Katrina begged in a painfully small voice. It was all she could do in the face of the chaos that had erupted in front of her. Her mother-in-law stood by and watched it all happen, her eyes gleaming with pure satisfaction at Katrina’s discomfort.

When the men moved towards her bedside table where her most treasured possession—the framed picture of her biological parents—sat, Katrina couldn’t just stand still and watch it all happen anymore.

“No, don’t touch that. Please, not that!” Katrina begged again, with terror in her voice now. The men were more than capable of swatting her to the side like a fly but she was determined to stop them from getting their hands on the only thing she had managed to salvage from the fire that stole her parents from her.

But her trauma was just another day job for these men. They grabbed the frame amongst all other things, and sent it flying across the room. Katrina instantly ran in the direction it went, her heart shattering like the glass of the frame when she found it.

She picked it up, thankful that the only damage done to it was the broken glass and not the picture itself. But it still felt like her heart had been pierced by a shard of the broken glass and was bleeding out.

Just what had she done to deserve this cruelty? Sarah had hated her from the very first day she set her eyes on her. And from then on, treated her like a leper. It was as if Katrina merely breathing and living around her was a serious sin and for so long, she has endured the maltreatment.

Katrina walked over to her mother-in-law with calm steps that betrayed how unstable she felt on the inside.

“Just what did I do wrong to deserve this?” She asked, every word was punctuated by the pain slicing through her. Sarah ’s lips twisted in contempt as she jabbed a manicured finger at Katrina.

“Are you really standing there and asking me what you did wrong? Fine, I’ll tell you. Your whole existence in this family is wrong!” Sarah snapped. Katrina winced at the words despite hearing them in different versions over the years. The pain was still the same no matter how many years have passed.

“First, it was the estate. God knows what you did to my poor mother to make her hand you something so important to our family. And now, you want to give birth to my son's child after he asked for a divorce? Just how far are you willing to go? Just how shameless are you?”

Katrina opened her mouth but words didn’t form. She thought she had time to brace herself before the news got to Sarah but clearly, it had reached her at the speed of light. She maintained a calm composure, forcing words out of her mouth.“I already told you that I do not want the estate. You can have it. As for the other thing, it is between me and your son.”

Sarah ’s eyes flamed, her rage turning her face red in a way Katrina has never seen before.

“You must have forgotten your place. Do I need to remind you that you were a pathetic little beggar when my mother took you under her roof?” Sarah inched closer to Katrina with every word, “But having a roof over your head and spending money you never had to work a day for wasn’t enough for you, was it? You had to seduce my son too. You poisoned his heart and turned him against me.”

“I did no such thing.” Katrina gently replied. She may have readily signed that contract years ago out of the desire to be even deeply embedded into the family, but she never approached Damon. He came to her.

“Then explain to me why a billionaire like him would suddenly marry a worthless thing like you?”

Katrina’s chest was heavy with so much she wanted to say but couldn’t. The contract forbade her from speaking about the marriage arrangement. She even had to lie to Damon’s grandmother years ago, that the marriage was because Damon and her were in love.

And even if Katrina had anything to say, it was hopeless. Sarah wasn’t ready to listen, already deciding in her mind that Katrina was the villain in their family’s story no matter what.

“Now that he is fully back to his senses and doesn’t want you anymore, you want to cling to him like the leech you are by having a child for him. I will not let that happen. Not while I am alive! I will not let you stain our bloodline with your dirty one. If he won’t throw you out, I will.”

“What are you two waiting around for? Throw her out of here.” Sarah gestured towards the men and they heeded the command immediately. Katrina backed away towards the opened door, shaking her head, refusing to be touched or manhandled.

As she tried to escape, she stumbled on her table lamp that the men had hurled across the room. Her feet slipped off the ground and she closed her eyes, expecting the hard fall. Instead, her back hit a wall. A living, breathing, human wall who turned out to be Damon.

Damon gripped her tightly by the waist, preventing the fall and holding her still while his eyes scanned the mess in front of him.

“Mom?” He called out, “What is this? What are you doing?” He demanded, while still holding on to Katrina. He was dressed up for work and his face showed that he had been oblivious to the commotion this entire time. This was also the first time he would step foot in Katrina’s wing since their marriage.

Sarah directed her glare at him, “I should ask you the same question. What are YOU doing? Genevieve came to see me this morning. The poor girl was crying her eyes out because this cunning little thing wants a baby from you.”

Damon sighed, slowly slipping his hand away from Katrina’s waist after steadying her. “Is that why you brought thugs into my home without my permission?”

Sarah didn’t look a bit sorry for her actions. She simply shrugged, “if you’re not man enough to do the needful, I will.”

Damon’s eyes flashed with anger. “Are you calling me a coward?”

“You can call it whatever you like but I’m doing this to protect you and your future. Genevieve is a sweet, smart and beautiful girl from a highly respected family like ours.” Sarah ’s voice actually turned soft as she spoke now. “She is the one who you should have married. The one who truly deserves you. Do you want to lose her?”

Katrina’s heart ached for a totally different reason as she listened to her Mother-in-law speak. Sarah not only knew Genevieve, she was also talking about her with so much warmth and adoration. So many times in the past, Katrina has had to bend over backwards just to get a smidgen of that affection from Sarah and she failed.

“This is not enough to make me lose Genevieve. I would never have told her if I didn’t care about her. And she understands the situation more than anyone else.”

Sarah looked at her son like he had grown two heads. “Are you saying you are really going to go on with it? You will let this…” she pointed a finger at Katrina, “…woman have your child?”

“That is my business, mom. And I will handle it as I please. I am a grown man and I won’t be told what to do.” He responded, voice thick with authority no one could dare go against.

Sarah ’s face twisted with too many emotions to name, but the one that was so obvious was annoyance. It was boldly written there.

Damon ignored whatever his mother had left to say and turned to the men who were still standing in the middle of the mess they made. “You two have one minute to get out of my house before I call the police.”

“I will leave too.” His mother said, her voice raised. “But this isn’t the end, Damon. I won’t stand by and watch you ruin your life.” Then she turned to Katrina, eyes full of nothing but contempt for her. “As for you, I will make sure you are punished for ripping my family apart.”

She stormed off with the men, her heels clicking harshly against the tiled floor. Katrina’s lips quivered. She could feel the tears itching at the back of eyes. She took deep breaths in and out to keep them at bay. She was weak but she kept the appearance of strength because Damon was standing quietly, beside her.

“What did you say to her?” He asked at last. Not an apology or at least a show of concern for what she had just gone through. A small bitter laugh left her mouth. What had she been expecting? No one in the family genuinely cared about her.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t.” Katrina responded without looking at him.

“Why don’t you put an end to this madness and just leave? You can have all the money you want. Do you really have to go this far?”

Katrina pondered for a second if a baby was truly worth the experience she just had. Memories of her life before Alana took her in, flashed across her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut, shutting the memories out after getting her answer.

“I already told you what I want, and I won’t change my mind.” She replied. She has endured for fifteen years. What was a few more weeks that she couldn’t take? Silence passed between them for a brief moment.

“Have you picked a date yet?” He asked again. Katrina snapped her head up to look at him. Did he really mean what he said yesterday? Was he really going to sleep with her?

“You don’t have to pretend you don’t want it. You boldly asked me for a baby and now you want me to believe sex with me is extreme?” Damon smirked.

“No, I—that’s not it.” Katrina said, flustered. Damon caught himself getting fascinated by the shade of red her cheeks turned as she avoided his gaze. Frowning, he looked away and cleared his throat.

“Don’t waste my time, Katrina. The earlier we get this over with, the better. I’ll be waiting.” With that, he walked away from her, leaving her head a jumbled mess, just like her room.