Chapter 43 Speaking of the Devil

"Aunt, please, don't show yourself to Nica yet," Chris asked the woman. He was thankful that his wife was still inside and he saw her first.

"I'm the wife and she's just the daughter, so I have more right than her to be by Alfonso's side!" Margaret insisted on going inside Alfonso's room. She has to see her husband's condition so that she can think of a plan against Nica.

"Wife?"

Chris and Margaret stopped arguing when Nica spoke in the doorway. Her eyes were swollen from crying, but there was a fire of anger in there as she looks at Margaret.

"You call yourself my father's wife?" She asked her stepmother sarcastically and closed the door where she came from.

Margaret's tongue backed out and she could not answer Nica. She is seeing a different Nica and she looks like she would not lose to her this time.

"When you became a sugar mommy of that bastard Philip, did you think that you have a husband?" Nica continued taking out her contempt for her.

Chris just let his wife even though there were other people who pass by and could not help but look at them. If he was in her situation, he might have killed the person who was the reason why her father was lying on a hospital bed.

"You call my mother a stealer and a slut! Now, what should we call someone like you who deceives others and is obsessed with the flesh?" she asked angrily and any time, she is ready to scratch her thick face.

"Don't accuse me of things you don't have evidence of! Besides, don't find fault in me and make me responsible of you cheating on Chrismith." Margaret acted tough.

Nica pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes at Margaret. In a blink of an eye, she was already holding her hair and pulled her close to her. "You have a very thick face to talk like that! Your conscience is as black as a crow so you just deserve to be thrown in the mud since that's where you came from!"

"Ah, let go of me! You have no right to hurt me! I'll demand you, wicked!" Margaret became hysterical as she keeps on taking back her hair from Nica's hands. She has not fully regained her strength yet and she felt double pain in her scalp now, thus she could not fight her back.

Nica gave the woman a hard slap on the cheek before she pushed her. She fell on the floor and her hair became messy. If only Chris did not stop her, she could have made her bald. A security guard came to stop them because they are making a commotion.

"You're trash, that's what you deserve! That's still not enough for what you did to my father!" All the words she said to the woman were sharp.

"How dare you! How can you not feel indebted, after I took care of you and treat you as my own daughter!" Margaret cried to get sympathy from the people who are watching their fight.

"Pwe!" Nica spat on her stepmother in so much disgust. "You're the one who's indebted to me because if not for my mother's wealth, you'd have stayed in the mud!"

Margaret shouts in anger and she wanted to come near Nica to hurt her, but the guard is holding both of her hands. She has received so much humiliation and then, she insulted her personality.

The people around are like they are watching a television drama and are quietly waiting for a good ending.

"Never did you become a mother to me and I'll never let you be my mother because you're selfish. I don't want to be like your daughter who just became your puppet and was not treated like a daughter!" Nica shouted at her.

Janice suppressed her sobs in her hiding place. Nica was right, her mother just loved her because she was useful to her whenever she follows what she wants. She no longer has a face to show to Chris and what he could only see now are her and her mother's badness.

Even Janice could not accept her mother's betrayal toward their father. She only has bitter feelings for her and she wants to wish that she was not her mother.

"You bitch, I'll demand you for insulting and hurting me!" the veins in Margaret's neck almost came out. She did not like how the people who are watching them, look at her. The sympathy was in their eyes and they obviously did not like what they heard about her.

"Let's see who between us will rot in jail!" Nica shouted at Margaret and if only Chris is not hugging her from behind, she would have kicked her stepmother. She hates her beyond extent and just slapping and pulling her hair was not enough.

Margaret had no other option but to leave the hospital so that there would be no additional damage in her image. But she still has her mind on fixing her mess and her hard work would not be worthless.

When Chrismith's parents knew what happened to Nica's father, they immediately went to the hospital.

"Hija, be strong for your father and your husband!" Luisa said to the young lady, teary-eyed. Her heart was breaking when she hugged her and was searching for a mother's comfort.

"Mom..." Nica buried her face in her chest and continued crying there.

Even Gregory could not suppress his tears because of the pity he feels for Nica. She looks like she just got a real ally for the first time in her whole life.

"Shh, Mom's just here. Stop crying, my daughter, don't worry, I'll make a way so that woman can no longer come near you!" There was anger in Luisa's voice, for the person she treated as a friend. She never thought she was a victim of her fake personality.

Chris sighed deeply to ease the weight in his chest that was from his worry about his wife. He is happy that she and his mother are finally on good terms. But his heart breaks because of the full of despair look on her face.

"Let's leave them alone," Gregory said to his son and invited him to go out of the room. He lets his wife alone to comfort Nica because the latter needs her presence as a mother.

"I can't forgive them for attempting to ruin my relationship with my wife, Dad!" Chrismith gritted his teeth when he recalled that his wife nearly got in danger in Philip's hands.

Gregory handed the coffee he got in the coffee vending machine to his son before he spoke. "I get your back. I have called our lawyer and made him handle the case we'll file against them."

"Thank you, Dad! I can't believe that my wife experienced abuse from her stepmother." Chrismith said sadly.

"But you're by her side to heal the wound in her heart." Gregory tapped his son's shoulder as an encouragement.

Chris smiled at his father before he sighs. His father is right and he will do anything so that his wife will be happy with him.

Luisa caressed the young lady's hair sadly when she fell asleep. The sadness can still be seen on her face. Because of her tiredness from crying, she fell asleep on the long sofa that was there in Alfonso's private room. Until now, she still feels guilty because of the bad attitude she showed her when they first met.

When Luisa remembered the reason why she criticized Nica's personality, the sadness she was feeling was replaced by anger.

"Speaking of the devil!" Luisa muttered when the door opened.

Margaret was careful with entering Alfonso's room. She planned on leaving earlier, but she saw her friend's arrival. She just waited for the men to go out before she proceeded to the private room.

"Luisa..." Margaret gladly called her friend in a low voice.

Luisa slowly and carefully lifted Nica's head from her lap and placed it on the pillow. She was also careful with standing and stepping so she would not make a noise. "Let's go outside." The tone of her voice was flat and she went ahead first to the doorway.

Margaret frowned because of her friend's behavior. She did not like the care she has for Nica. Before she followed her, she went near her sleeping husband. "Don't wake up again!" She muttered and glared at him. She hates him because he hurt her and she knows that he will throw her away from their lives when he wakes up.

Luisa confronted Margaret formally when they were left alone in the chapel. She chose to bring her there to make her regret her wrongs, but what she did was the opposite of what she expected.

"Luisa, help me wake your son up from his delusion before his life gets ruined by that girl!"

"What do you mean?" Luisa asked her friend confusedly and stared at her intently. If she does not know her true nature yet, he would surely believe in it and fear for his son.

"That woman has completely charmed your son and Chris is blinded by that girl's deceptive personality."

Luisa just let Margaret tell her woven story. She looks pitiful because of the bruises on her face, but when she remembered what she has done to Nica, she did not feel even a bit of pity for her.

"Nica is putting the blame on me so that she can escape the infidelity she's done to your son!" Margaret was crying as she handed Luisa a photo. She is thankful that the copy of Nica and Philip's photo was in her bag.

Luisa was surprised when she saw the photo of Nica with an unknown man in a bed. She does not know the whole story of this, thus she felt confused about what she should feel and who she should believe in.