Page 13 of Cutthroat

Without realizing it, I slapped Everett so hard that my Lee Press-On nails popped off and flew across the room. He was stunned and so was I, but I was too hurt and upset to care. I said,

“When I divorce your no-good ass, it’s still going to be you that takes care of me and my girls. Here’s how adultery and divorce work.

Since I’m a wife with small children, no job because you forced me to quit, and since I have proof of your affair, half of everything you own belongs to me. This house is mine because, like you said, I have small children. No judge is going to put a wife and mother on the streets.

I’m going to take every dime you make because I have kids to feed. By the time I’m done with you, you and your bastard will be on the corner begging for loose change to get a cup of soup. Whatever bitch you had this child with, can keep your trifling ass. All I want are my girls and your money.”

That was the first time I ever disrespected my husband. The look on your father’s face was priceless. That was the first time that Everett genuinely apologized. But his betrayal was too massive for me to forgive. It was God’s job to forgive him, not mine.

Even though Envy’s mother died when she was a baby, she acts exactly like that tramp. Hateful, manipulative, and spiteful. She’s nothing like us, because she’s not one of us. She was conceived in lust and sin, and she carries on that tainted legacy,” Marie said truthfully.

Eve and Eden were lost for words. They never expected to hear that Envy was only their half-sister.

CHAPTER 6

“I genuinely don’t know what to say. I held Daddy in such high regards. I remember watching him holding your tissue while you blew your nose. I watched him polish your toenails and brush your hair before you went to bed. I would’ve never known-”

“You would’ve never known that he was just like any other man. It wasn’t your place to know that Sweetheart. Everett was the leader of the pack of fucked up men if you ask me,” Marie admitted as she interrupted her oldest daughter. Thinking back to all she had endured was making her angry.

“I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover. I never thought that daddy was that type of man. Ma, you’ve always looked so happy. No red eyes from crying, not a strand of hair out of place, and a smile was always on your face. You and daddy were relationship goals. I always said I wanted a man just like my dad,” Eden said as she sat in the middle of the bed.

The knowledge that her father had been so heartless to a woman with the heart of gold genuinely hurt.

Marie replayed her daughter’s words in her head and without warning, she threw her head back and laughed.

“Relationship goals? I never understood why women say they want a man just like their dad. When they don’t know what they’re asking for. You knew Everett as a father, not as a man. We have two very different views of one person. Do you understand?” Marie asked.

Eve nodded her head in understanding. Eden didn’t respond and Marie knew that she wouldn’t. Eden was just now realizing that she had gotten exactly what she asked for.

“Eden let me be clear, you should never look at any couple as relationship goals just because you see a smile. If you watched me hard enough, you would’ve seen the Visine I dropped in my eyes to hide the redness. Smiling faces sometimes hide the most pain. Do you understand that?” Marie asked as she looked into her daughter’s bloodshot eyes.

Eden was too emotional to speak. She only had enough strength to nod. But Eve had questions. There was something that she just couldn’t understand.

“Ma why did you even accept responsibility for Envy’s demonic ass? She has always made our lives Hell, but what she did to Eden definitely takes the cake.All the drama involving her could have been avoided if y’all just let her grandmother throw her out with the fucking trash. Why did she have to come here?” Eve asked angrily.

She was furious. Envy had always been a backstabbing bitch, but this new betrayal was a new low even for her. Marie could see the fire in her daughter’s eyes and knew it was time she gave her girls the whole truth, because from where she sat it was obvious to her that neither of her children understood her actions.

“I’m not surprised that you two haven’t caught on yet. I raised you girls to be good upstanding women. I raised you girls to have manners and told you to treat people the way that you’d like to be treated. So let me fill in the blanks.

Even though I believe all children need a strong motherly figure in their life, being Envy’s mother was the furthest thing from my mind. I wasn’t interested in raising another woman’s child. I was interested in revenge,” Marie said nonchalantly.

Eve and Eden sat with their jaw on the floor as they stared at their mother in disbelief.

“Revenge?!” They asked as they looked at Marie as if she had lost her mind. The word sounded foreign to them coming from their mother’s mouth.

“That’s right. Good old fashion RE-fucking-VENGE! I was a good woman to Everett’s dog ass, and he took advantage of me. I stuck by that man through a lot, but there is but so much a woman can take before she’s had enough. There was no way I could honor a man that brought an outside child into my home.

So, like any fed-up woman, I met someone else. When your father found out he lost it. When he asked me,“Why would you do this?’ I’d point at Envy’s little ass and smile. I brought Envy here to remind Everett that he was the reason things were the way they were. There are consequences to disobedience,” Marie laughed.

Since she was talking to her and Everett’s daughters, she left out the devious parts of the past. There was no need to tell them how she set it up for their father to walk in on his business partner performing oral sex on her, walking in on his best friend signing his name on her cervix, or her having unprotected sex with his rival.

She had transformed Everett from a suave businessman to a disgraced alcoholic. Revenge was a dish best served cold, and Marie Francois Merci was a cold-blooded bitch. She also made sure to leave out the part about the hit and run that left their father dead. Paying someone to make her a widow was $3,000well spent. No, there was no need to tell her children those minor details.

Eve was shocked by her mother’s admission. But Eden had an epiphany. It was as if a light bulb switched on above her head as she listened to her mother speak. A physical attack against Jermaine would be pointless. He was a mammoth of a man compared to her. Punches from her dainty hands wouldn’t hurt him in the least. It also wouldn’t give her the satisfaction she desired.

Eden bolted upright. She now understood what she had to do to her cheating husband. She had to hit him where it hurt. Attack the core parts of him and break him down as a man. A physical attack was an emotional response to betrayal. No, she needed something permanent. Something that would torment him forever. She smiled; a psychological attack was the key to a successful decimation. She knew this type of damage took time and patience; she was ready.

“Let the games begin,” Eden thought as her idea began to form into a plan.

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