Free Web NovelChapter 199: Standing up (3)
"Victor, I am not in the mood for her to be acting a fool and for you to be this way. Take your mother to her room before she embarrasses us before our servants. She smells like she got her hand on something to drink. Go," Hank said, snapping his fingers for Victor to get moving.
Why should he have to put up with this nonsense? The only person Hank thought Layla would listen to now was Victor.
Victor shook his head, standing firm on his decision. "No. This is a problem between the two of you. I will not speak to you about keeping her here and I will not lock her away for you. I am tired of being in the middle-"
"Now is not the time for your speech, Victor. We’re all tired," Hank said, uninterested and unimpressed with Victor speaking up. "Take your mother to her room or it will be the front door I have her escorted out of."
"You’ll have someone else do that too? You’re a coward, father," Victor said, looking Hank dead in the eye.
Whenever Hank wanted someone to speak to Layla or send her away, Victor had to do it. If Hank wanted Layla gone, he should have the courage to do it himself.
"You push me to fix your problems with mother and she does the same. Both of you are horrible," said Victor.
Hank balled up fists, angered by Victor’s disrespect. Ian was here and now all of a sudden Victor wanted a voice. Well, it was a little too late for Victor to speak in Hank’s eyes. "Do not put on a show for your brother. Look at how you cower already. This doesn’t suit you so stay quiet."
Hank had many things to regret as of late. Letting Layla be too involved in raising Victor was one of them. Victor had turned out to be a great disappointment while Ian had made something from himself.
Ian only had the money the court forced out of Hank yet he did something more than Victor who had more money at his fingertips. It was easy to decide which son should inherit everything.
Hank had the thought of throwing away the old family to start anew with Ian and his mother.
"Do not make me your enemy," Hank warned Victor.
As much as Hank loved Victor, he could throw him out of the estate right alongside Layla. His word was law in this estate so if he said to lock away Layla, Victor shouldn’t think twice about doing it.
Layla moved to stand behind Victor. It was about time that he took her side and stood up to Hank. Now, if she could just get him fully back on her side and join her in getting rid of Ian. "Well done son. We should-"
"No!" Victor yelled, pushing Layla away after she tried to touch him. "I am not doing this to defend you. Your actions were horrible. You need to stop being angry with Ian over something that father did. Ian is my brother."
"He is not! He is a bastard!" Layla spat, pointing at Ian. "Your father betrayed me by sneaking off to sleep with that whore. That was not part of the deal we had."
"What deal?" Ian questioned, interested in this part of the conversation. He had heard of a deal before but didn’t have a clue about it when he was younger. It seemed to be important since Layla was bringing it up now.
"It is nothing. Shut your mouth before I drag you out of here," Hank warned.
It wouldn’t be a pretty return for Ian’s mother if this secret were to come out. He had been filling her head with the dream that she could come back to be a family with him and Ian.
Layla laughed as she knew Hank wouldn’t touch her. Her father wasn’t a lord but he had enough wealth to create trouble for Hank. "I would like to see you try. The day you drag me shall be the day you take your last breath. I dare you to challenge just how crazy I can get."
Layla blamed the way she was now on Hank since he had gone against their agreement and didn’t listen to her afterwards. He shouldn’t have continued to see the maid or kept Ian around for so long. She was fine in the beginning but Hank ruined her.
Layla turned to Victor. She would not be made the only monster on this estate. "We were desperate to have a child. Your father needed to have his future heir and since I couldn’t give him one, there was a suggestion for us to use a maid."
Hank marched over to where Layla stood but a strong grip on his shoulder stopped him before he could even reach Victor. It came as a surprise that Ian would stop him. "Now you have turned to defending her?"
Ian was offended by the assumption. "No, I am only curious about what she has to say."
"I thought I was picking someone he wouldn’t have any interest in. Someone who could just vanish into thin air once we got our heir. Your father courted your mother, having her turn to the one who might serve him tea, and eventually, that time became when they slept together," said Layla. freewebnøvel.com
There were days when Layla stood outside the door, wanting to barge in to stop them, but she didn’t have the strength to. She could only cover her mouth to hide her cries as the sounds of her husband enjoying being with another woman reached her ears.
It was a secret kept between three people so there wasn’t anyone Layla could turn to for comfort when the time came for Hank to be with another woman.
"He was to stop as soon as we learned she became pregnant but he continued to sneak and see her. Didn’t send her away when Ian was born like we planned to. I have my reasons for lashing out because of the position I was placed in," said Layla.
Victor found his father to reach a new low but this didn’t help him to view his mother in another light. It sounded like his parents made an agreement and one of them stopped liking it. "So, you mean to tell me that Ian’s birth was all your doing then you turned around to treat him as though he shouldn’t have existed?"
Ian let go of Hank now that he heard the story. He would like to know if his mother knew of this arrangement as well. Everyone in this estate was messed up in their own way which was why he could never stay here for long.
"I had a beautiful baby boy. There wasn’t a need for us to keep a bastard. This was all about an heir and we had one. A legitimate heir. I was not going to let it be ruined by a bastard becoming the next lord. Think of how our family name would be ruined if it got out that Ian is now residing here. Think!" Layla yelled, looking at Hank.
Hank was single-handedly making this family a joke.
"Enough of this," Hank said, annoyed by everyone present. He had been looking forward to showing off Ian but they were all disrespecting him in his own home. "Layla, pack your bags and get out of here. I am tired of your shit and you," he turned his attention to Victor. "You are cut off.’
Hank would like to see how well Victor would do without him. Victor had all this attitude now only because he was putting on a show for Ian. He gave Victor one day and then he would be crawling back here begging for forgiveness.
Layla panicked as her plans weren’t to go this way. Victor shouldn’t be cut off when this was an important time for Victor to prove himself to Hank. "No! You cannot cut him off. Please," she pleaded, reaching for Hank’s hand to hold.
A slap echoed as Hank smacked her hand away. "You’ve cursed me with a sick son. I should have thrown the two of you out long ago."
Victor couldn’t believe his father’s words. When had it reached that point for his father to make such a statement? His mother was the one to make him sick, but Victor couldn’t ignore how his father always stood by and did nothing.
Ian moved to block Victor from going to Hank. "Not right now," he whispered as he held Victor back. He had made the mistake of not coming sooner to get Victor out of this estate. They had both suffered here in different ways. "We are leaving."
As much as Ian wanted to play pretend to get close to his father and then learn about where Noelle was, it was evident that staying here wouldn’t be good for Victor’s mental state. Victor looked out of it. Like he was about to do something without thinking about his actions.
Victor already had a scare last night and Ian did not want to see him hurt himself more by fighting two people who did not deserve his time.
Ian turned Victor around so they could go to the front door and get inside the carriage. Hank and Layla would get what was coming to them, but first, placing Victor in a safe place where he could calm down was more important.
