A well-deserved beating

After the two women had breakfast, Nicole all but dragged Diane all over town to get gifts for her parents.

Then she insisted they visit them that same day because she had missed them so much. That was a lie, but Diane didn’t need to know that.

“You should have taken today and even tomorrow to rest before coming to see them. You look so tired.” Diane told Nicole as they got out of the vehicle.

“Oh, nonsense! Your parents are literally my parents as well. They raised me after my parents’ deaths, after all. I can spend the night here if I'm too tired to go back to my hotel after I visit them.” Was the reply.

“Alright then,” Diane said.

Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, were overjoyed to see both women and expressed their surprise at Nicole’s sudden appearance in the city.

Not long after both women arrived, Diane’s older brother, Lucas, with whom both of them had grown up, came over to the house to see both of them. 

Apparently, his mother had sent word to him that they were around. He was overjoyed them, especially Nicole, whom he hadn’t seen in the five years since Diane got married.

Mrs. Lewis bustled around, cooking and serving everyone food, and it was just like old times again. 

Nicole took in everything, trying hard to hide her resentment, even though it wasn’t exactly easy.

What wouldn’t she give to have it be her real parents hosting and welcoming her back home, instead of some goody-two-shoes family, who thought that they were the saviour of the world?

"It feels so good to be home, Mom and Dad. You don't know how much I missed you when I was studying abroad. I’ve been so busy with my studies that I couldn’t contact you guys for the past few years. As soon as I returned though, I couldn’t wait to see you." Nicole said. 

"Dear daughter, we know how busy you’ve been with your studies. How can the family blame you? The most important thing is that you’re back now, so we have more time to spend together," Diane's mother replied kindly. 

"Thank you Mom. All I wanted was to see the people I missed on my first day back, which is you guys, but someone important is missing. I want to know when I'll see my godson or goddaughter. I haven't given him/her a gift yet. " She said. 

Silence immediately descended on the room at her last two sentences. Nicole smiled to herself inwardly, enjoying the expressions of everyone in the room.

Of course, she had known that Diane's child was gone. But she still wanted to bring up the topic, because she wanted to see the unhappiness on their faces when she did. 

"What's the matter? Why aren’t you guys talking anymore, and why do you have that look on your faces?" Nicole asked pretending to be confused and purposely ignoring Lucas's angry look. 

"I had a miscarriage after I got married five years ago, so unfortunately, I lost the child. But it doesn't matter, I'll have another child, and when I do, you’ll still be my child's godmother." Diane explained sadly, glancing at her depressed mother. 

“Oh, my goodness! I’m so sorry! When did this happen? You didn't even tell me. I can't imagine how sad you are and how horrible it must have been for you. I finally know why your mother-in-law just abused you, Diane. Are you really happy there? I'm back home now, so please let me know anytime you’re upset and I'll gladly help you.” Nicole said, giving Diane a hug as she spoke.

Diane didn't want her parents to worry about her, so she quickly changed the subject. 

"Of course, I would never ignore my best friend. Let's go see how Mom’s food is coming along.” She replied, forcing a smile, but her heart was heavy. 

Her family knew that the subject of her miscarriage was a sad and touchy one for her, and they didn’t want her to be unhappy, so they quickly diverted the topic, and soon, everyone was ready to eat. 

All of a sudden, though, Lucas told them that he had some work to attend to and couldn't eat at home, and a few minutes after he said that, he left.

***

The further Lucas Lewis drove away from his parent’s house, the angrier he got. 

That bastard! That sick, womanizing bastard who didn’t know a single thing about being a gentleman, or a husband for that matter.

Harold had always been a playboy and a mama’s boy as well, which were two very dangerous combinations.

Thus, Lucas had been very skeptical about their relationship when his sister began dating Harold all those years ago.

He knew just how horrible Harold was for someone as soft and kind-hearted as Diane, but Diane loved him and remained blind to these things.

Now, look where that had left her … married to a man who treated her like crap and let his damned family members do the same. 

It was more than Lucas could bear, and it wasn’t the first time she had been ill-treated by both Harold and his family members. 

In fact, on one of the previous occasions, Diane had very nearly lost her life. He would make sure that it was the last time she would be ill-treated by them, though.

He arrived at Harold’s office complex in record time and marched angrily in the direction of Harold’s office, which he remembered very well. He met Harold heading out of his office.

“You bastard! You fucking bastard!” Lucas began without a preamble.

Just looking at Harold’s face sickened him to no end. He should have tried harder to dissuade Diane from getting married to this asshole.

“Well, well, well! If it isn’t my dear brother-in-law.” Harold drawled sarcastically.

“I’m not your dear brother-in-law. Left to me, there’s no way in hell and on earth that my sister would have gotten married to you.”

“Whatever. I’ve heard that story several times, but the fact is that she is married to me and nothing you say or don’t say is going to change that. Is that why you’re here? To remind me how I wasn’t your first choice for a brother-in-law? Well, let me tell you one thing. I don’t like you either, so the feeling is very mutual.”

“You arrogant bastard!” Lucas screeched, enraged.

He raised his hand and punched Harold squarely in the face, causing him to emit a low screech of surprise and pain.

Harold dropped the documents in his hands in anger and turned to face his brother-in-law, ready for a fight. 

He managed to get a punch in, but Lucas was extremely angry, and he was much stronger than Harold was, so, within mere minutes, he had beaten the other man to a pulp. 

Afraid that if he didn’t stop beating Harold, he was going to kill him, or at least, almost do so, Lucas eventually released him, just as people came running to separate them.

“You broke my fucking nose,” Harold muttered, holding on to his bloody nose, his eyes watering.

“If I knew that your mother or your sister had started mistreating Diane again, I would have broken it long before now.” Lucas spat out between gritted teeth.

Then he swung on his heels and left the premises without a backward glance.

Harold gathered himself up in shame, and headed back to his office, snapping at his workers to leave him the hell alone.

His whole body was aching badly, and his face felt like it belonged to someone else. He knew that by the next day, he was going to be a sorry sight to behold. 

Once he got back to his office and locked the door, he put a call through to his mother.

“Mom, were you being mean to Diane again today?” He asked her.  

“What sort of question is that? When have I ever been mean to her?” Mrs. Collins asked in return, so Harold told her what had happened and how Lucas came to beat him up at the office for allegedly maltreating his sister.

Mrs. Collins was rightfully outraged, and she urged him to call the cops and have Lucas arrested, but he managed to calm her down, or so he thought.

Mrs. Collins was too livid to be calm. The thought of Diane’s brother beating up her son on account of his ‘barren’ sister was too much for her to bear, and right there and then, she decided that enough was enough.

As soon as she hung up the call, she called some of the domestic staff to throw out Diane’s belongings and instructed the gateman that he shouldn’t allow Diane onto the property when she got back.

If Diane’s family thought that they could play dirty, then by God, so could she as well.