CHAPTER FOUR — A PROMISE.

Chapter 04.

A PROMISE.

Abby's POV.

“You aren't going to shoot me, are you?” I asked, my body vibrating to the thump of my heart. “You won't kill me.”

“Well, we'll just have to see about that.” he said, with a shrug. “Now, sign the paper.”

He ducked his head to the side.

“I won't sign the papers.” I said, trying to steady my voice. “So, if you're going to shoot me, then go ahead.”

“I said sign the papers now!” he yelled, shooting into the air.

“Argh!” the panic pitched my voice to a scream as I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears with my hands.

“Trust me, the next one will go through your head.” he said, with ice in his voice as he pointed the gun at me. “Now, pick up the pen and sign the damn papers.”

He cocked the gun. At the sound, every nerve in my body seemed to shrink. I could barely meet his gaze for the fear of being shot at.

Breathing heavily, I opened my eyes and swallowed hard. I picked up the pen from the table. However, my right hand trembled as I tried to put my signature on the paper.

“Stop with the act, Abby.” he spoke through his teeth, holding the gun close to my ear. “I know that you're only putting up an act.”

“You don't expect me to sign the divorce papers so that everything my father worked for will belong to you, do you?” I asked, with tears in my eyes. “Have you even thought about what you're doing right now?”

“Of course, I have so just sign the damn papers!” he yelled, shooting at the window.

The glass shattered, and scattered all over the floor.

“You are testing my patience, Abby. Like I said earlier, the next would be in your head.”

A tremor ran down the length of my spine.

“You have got this, Abby.” I closed my eyes and drew in a deep, calming breath.

By the time I opened my eyes, I gripped my right hand with my left, and then put my signature on it.

“There, you have it.” I said, trying to suppress the tears rising in my throat. “Everything belongs to you. Are you happy now?”

“I am sorry it had to be this way, but I just can't help it.” he said, shaking his head. “I just had to do what I had to do.”

“You had to do what you had to do?” I scoffed, blinking my teary eyes in surprise. “Can you even listen to yourself right now? You'd to do what you'd to do. So what next?”

“You leave.” he said, dropping his hand. “You have nothing more to do here, so leave.”

“What?” I crinkled my face in confusion. “What do you mean by I should leave? This is my father's house.”

“Was your father's house.” he corrected, in a harsh tone of voice. “You handed everything to me when you signed those papers. So, I need you to leave now.”

“No, no this can't be happening.” I said, blinking back tears. “Y-You can't do this to me Claude. What happened to loving each other? What about the promises you made to me?”

“Don't you get it?” he asked, with a serious look on his face. “I never loved you to begin with. My feelings for you wasn't real. It was all an act.”

“No, I can't believe that.” I said, trying to go close to him. “You are just saying those words to hurt me. I know you still love me, so please don't do this to me.”

“Get away from me.” he yelled, pushing me with a hand.

I landed on the couch.

“I don't want to see your face in this house anymore.” he said, speaking through his teeth. “If you don't get up and leave right now, then it will be your corpse that will be taken out of here.”

“I am so sorry about the loss of your parents, Abby, I should have…” the rest of the words died in Aunt Lydia's throat as she opened the door and found Claude pointing a gun at me. “What is going on here? Why are you holding a gun?”

“Oh, this?” he said, looking at the pistol in his grip as if he had no idea he had it with him all the while. “Well, what do you think is going on?”

He pointed the gun at her.

“Don't shoot, please.” she fell on her knees, face to the ground, and hands raised above her head. “We can talk about whatever this is, but please don't shoot.”

“You are late.” he said, dropping his arm. “There is nothing more to talk about. All I need from the both of you right now is to leave.”

“This house belonged to her father who's late now.” Aunt Lydia said, lifting her face to him. “Now that he's dead, it belongs to her.”

“Perhaps, if you'd arrived earlier, then it might have still belonged to her.” he said, with a shrug. “But right now? It doesn't belong to her anymore; it now belongs to me.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, turning to face me. “What is he talking about Abby? How does the house now belong to him?”

“Not just the house, but everything her father owned while he was alive now belongs to me.” he said, a wry smile twisted his lips. “So as the new owner of this house, I'm asking you both to leave.”

“Aunt Lydia,” I called, in a broken voice. “He was going to kill me if I didn't sign the papers.”

“I don't understand.” she said, shaking her head. “You both got married two days ago, what's going on right now? Why is there a talk about divorce?”

“You don't have to understand what's going on right now.” he took out a handkerchief from his chest pocket, and wiped the gun. “Here, you know where to keep it, Sean.”

The man who collected the flower vase from me earlier, took a step forward, and received it from him.

“And you, Johan.” he turned to face the other man. “I will see you around. You both can leave now.”

Together, they exited the room. I righted myself from the couch, and took some steps. But as I was about to walk past him, he gripped my arm, and held me back.

“Where do you think you're going?” he asked.

“You want me to leave, right?” I asked. “I am going to get my things.”

“What things are you talking about?” he raised a brow.

“My clothes, jewelries, shoes, everything that belongs to me.” I said, using a measured tone. “I am leaving just as you've asked me to.”

“You can't take anything with you.” he said, shaking his head. “Nothing in this house belongs to you anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, speaking through my teeth. “I bought those things with my money. They're mine.”

“Well, not anymore.” he said. “You can't take them with you. I won't allow you to do that.”

“And what are you going to do with them?” I asked, blinking back tears. “You can't obviously use them.”

“Of course, I can't.” he said, with a brief smile. “But I can make good money if I sell them, don't you think so?”

“You hypocrite!” I lifted a hand, and slapped him. “How dare you?”

“I am only letting this slide because you're hurting right now.” he said. “But if you try to hit me again, then I won't hesitate to hurt you.”

“I can't believe I allowed myself to be fooled by a man like you.” I said, a tear trickled down the side of my nose. “I hate myself for it.”

“Hey, that's enough.” Aunt Lydia said, pulling me to the side. “Let's just leave.”

“I can't.” I said, in a broken voice. “I can't let him have all that my father built.”

“Hey, listen to me,” she framed my face with her hands, and looked into my eyes. “You don't want to do this right now. It's over. It's a mistake you can't correct. So let's leave now.”

“But…”

“I know.” she said, stroking my hair. “It hurts, but you can't do anything about it now. So let's go.”

I turned to the side, and shot a long, pained look at him.

“Just listen to her and leave.” he said. “It would be better that way.”

“Don't think that you've won just yet.” I said, my voice husky with tears. “This is only the beginning; I'll return to crush you.”