All Chapters of THE CEO'S VENGEFUL BRIDE : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Eleanor"Excuse me,” the woman said loudly, as I turned to leave the table.That tone usually only meant one thing. I’d messed up. With a sinking stomach, I turned back and faced her.She was using her knife to dig around the rocket leaves and cherry tomatoes on her plate. “Didn’t I specifically say I didn’twant parmesan shavings on my salad?”I showed her my apologetic face. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll take it back and get you another one.”“What kind of waitress are you? It was just a simple salad and you couldn’t even get that right.”“I’m really sorry. I was sure I made a note of it. There could have been a mix up in the kitchen. I’ll just get another onefor you. It won’t be a minute, I promise.” I picked up her plate and turned away.“Er… excuse me,” she calls, her voice now not only loud, but sarcastic as well.Keeping my expression polite and solicitous, I turned to face her“Shouldn’t you take my husband’s meal away too and put it under one of those hot lights to keep it warm?”

EleanorI had run out without even a coat over my jeans and jumper so when my best friend, Maddie opened the door I was standing on her doorstep shivering like crazy.Her eyes widened in shock. “What are you doing?”“Visiting you,” I said through chattering teeth.She pulled me into the house and shut the door.When she turned around, I threw my arms around her body.Automatically her arms went around me and for a while neither of us spoke. Then she quietly asked,“What’s the matter, Eleanor ?”When I didn’t respond, she went on. “Did something happen to your mother?”I shook my head.She scowled. “So what happened? Why are you like this?”I tried to hold the tears back, I did everything I could, but instead they rolled helplessly down my cheeks.She didn’t ask any more questions. She pulled me toward her warm living room and together, we plopped down on hercouch. Then she held me in her arms, whispering again and again,“It’s okay. It’s okay. Whatever it is we’ll work it out togethe

Eleanor By the time I went home, it was late and my mother had already gone to bed, but she had left the caviar out for me and a sweet little note telling me she loved me. It had little love hearts drawn all over it with red ink.I sat down at the kitchen table and looked around me. We lost our fine home and it looked as if my mom was almostdefinitely going to lose this little apartment too, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to be sad. I was determined I would find a way to solve our problem, without selling myself to the highest bidder.I decided then to quit university and find a proper job that would help support us. I also intended to go through the accounts of my mother’s boutique. I would either try to revive the business, or if the situation was too bad, tie up the loose ends and get rid of it. It was time my mother stoppedliving in fantasy land and woke up to the reality of our new situation.Once I had made that decision, I felt better, freer than I had since Dad died. I

Eleanor And with that I ended the call. My breaths were coming in short spurts, my heart thumping in my chest, and my hands were shaking from everything that had happened.I felt bad, I had never spoken to Ella like that before, and I hoped she would forgive me. I looked around then and saw a bench. Walking over, I perched at the edge and tried my very best to settle my swirling mind. Anxiety had slowly crept into my life over the last year and remained.I shut my eyes and thought of my father. His smile. His lofty pride. He’d loved us, but he loved himself just a bit more. Hespent all that money and left my mother unprotected. For that, the bitterness towards him remained in my heart.My mother and I would not have been in this state if he had only paid for an insurance scheme. Our hearts would nothave been so broken, and we would not have been thrust into this pit of humiliation with no means of escape in sight.My eyes opened.Until now, I corrected. No means of escape until now

Eleanor It was 10:56pm, on the third Saturday in December, Ella accompanied me to the club, dressed all in black in her role of my bodyguard. Her no-nonsense military boots, baggy outfit, and sinister visage promising to do damage to anyone who manhandled me beyond what they would pay for had been exactly the comic relief I’d needed to get my legs working and out of the house.The Blue Butterfly club was so well hidden in an obscure street in the city that we had to go into a dingy umbrella shop to inquire about the address I had been given. AnOriental woman smiled sweetly at me and said we were indeed already in the club. She pointed at a black door that led to the back, but told us only I could go on through to the club, though.Ella immediately dragged me out of the shop onto the sidewalk. “I really don’t like this cloak and dagger stuff. Are they a club, or an umbrella shop? I mean, why is it hidden at the back of an umbrella shop? Heck, I’m beginning to thinkthere is something