The Other Side of the War (Tobias Eaton X OC)

Chapter 32

"It's not your fault I ruin everything, and it's not your fault I can't be what you need. Baby, angles like you can't fly down hell with me."

JEANINE MATTHEWS WAS MANY THINGS. A monster perhaps, an abuser, even a villain. She knew that was how people perceived her, and she didn't particularly mind. Yet the woman, under all of her evil actions, had something of a moral code. A twisted one, but a moral code nonetheless. There were certain lines that even Jeanine would not cross. She would never, no matter what her daughter did to anger her, expose her to sexual abuse. Jeanine had seen that enough in her lifetime to know how damaging it was, especially to a young girl. While she had no problem physically torturing her daughter to the end of time, rape was an evil tool she wouldn't ever use.

Jeanine and Storm were two sides of the same unfortunate coin: products of their environment. The cold woman had never known love either; her own parents being the stone-cold villains she eventually morphed herself into, but Jeanine didn't see what her parents did as abuse. She perceived it as normal. Maybe that was the reason she treated Storm the same, or maybe she was just another heartless sociopath.

The two's relationship was broken beyond repair, but no one was allowed to hurt Storm without permission from Jeanine first. She was a Matthews, adopted or not. And she would be treated as such by those around her.

Deep inside her twisted mind Jeanine genuinely believed everything she did was to benefit her daughter, as even she was unable to see the depths of her own manipulation.

"I should kill you where you stand," Jeanine spoke in an alarmingly calm voice.

Max watched the woman carefully from his chair; he needed Eric alive for now. Despite his flaws, he was the most ruthless soldier (besides Storm) that Max had the pleasure of training. But that didn't mean he was going to stop Jeanine from hurting the man.

Eric stood, his arms held tightly behind his back with a look of boredom. "I didn't do anything to your da-"

A sickening slap echoed throughout the office. Jeanine had barely moved a muscle, but the strength from her hit was enough to send Eric stumbling backwards. "Don't lie to me you filthy son of a bitch."

He looked up at her, shock and anger evident in his expression. For a moment he wanted to charge the woman, murder her where she arrogantly stood; but Max gave him a look of warning. They needed Jeanine to pull this invasion off; the two leaders couldn't do it on their own, not without the intelligence of the genius woman and the resources of Erudite.

"I suggest we discuss this issue another time," Max asserted in a pathetic attempt to divert the conversation. "For now we need to focus on the plans for tomorrow."

Jeanine tore her gaze away from Eric momentarily. "If that disgusting excuse for a man ever touches my daughter again I will have you both eliminated. And believe me when I say it won't be a quick death."

"Duly noted," Max sighed half-heartedly. He didn't believe for a second that Jeanine had the spine to do that: that was his first deadly mistake. He seemed to have forgotten just how ruthless the erudite leader could be.

"Have all the initiates been injected?" Jeanine changed the subject after a few moments of silence. For now a simple slap was going to have to do.

"Every last one," Eric responded carefully, "I injected them myself."

"I hope for your sake you were competent enough to complete this simple task," Jeanine snapped harshly.

"Do you forget who's faction you are in?" Eric took an aggressive step forward.