A Woman's Empire

XLIV

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

Leo spat out blood onto the concrete floor. He was fuming. He couldn't believe that his very own father, the monster that created him, would do such a thing to him. And for what cost?

"Let her fucking go." Leo spat, thinking of Audrielle who was sitting across the room from him. He looked up to see Antonio standing by the door with a gun in his hand. Leo could see the fear in his brother's eyes.

"That's not going to happen, son."

"Why the fuck are we even here?!" Leo roared when suddenly the crow bar hit his stomach again. He groaned in pain and he could hear Audrielle cry as she pleaded for the beating to stop.

"Sweet, sweet Audrielle here is pregnant. That baby growing inside of her carries Harrington and Amour blood. That baby is worth millions, maybe even billions." Christian said, wiping his bloody hands on a clean towel.

"Y-You're going to sell m-my baby?" Audrielle croaked.

"No, of course not. We're going to keep it. We're just getting rid of you once you have it." Christian replied, walking up to Audrielle.

"R-Rid of m-me?" She asked as Christian started to caress her bruised and dirty face.

"We haven't thought of that yet. We might sell you off or just kill you. But once you give birth to the baby, we'll no longer be needing you anymore."

"You can't get rid of me, the baby needs it's mother to survive! And what about my parents, they'll eventually find out what you've done with me, they'll call the cops!" Audrielle cried and Christian chuckled darkly.

"Oh sweetheart, why do you think Lucy's been spending so much time around? She'll become the mother of the baby when you're gone. And as for your parents, getting the cops involved is the last thing they'll want to do. You think that my family business that's been run for hundreds of years is illegal and absurd? You don't know half the things your father's shipping company does. He basically does the dirty work for us."

Leo watched Audrielle break down into a sob when Christian harshly slapped her across the face. Leo grinded his teeth together and his jaw clenched. His knuckles turned white and he was seeing red. At this point, he didn't care if Christian was family or not, he was going to die. Christian and everyone else in this building should just be lucky that Leo was tied back to a steel chair or else all hell would break loose.

"Now should we have a little fun shall we?" Christian smiled when a laptop was suddenly placed on a table. "Set it in front of her." He ordered and Tanner dragged it over towards her. When he opened the laptop an image burst on screen. Audrielle squinted at the sudden bright light but once her eyes rested, she gasped, realising what was on screen.

"You wanna know what your husband was doing while you were away?" Audrielle shook her head slowly. She didn't want to see it.

"Too bad. We're going to play all thirty of them."

Audrielle quickly looked away when the first one started to play. The sound was loud and Audrielle couldn't seem to be able to block it out. Lucy's moans were ringing in Audrielle's ears. She glimpsed at the laptop to see Lucy's naked body on top of Leo. They were in a bedroom. The bed that Leo and Audrielle once shared. The bed where Audrielle felt at peace when she would lie in Leo's arms as he ran his fingers delicately through her hair. The bed that he handcuffed her to because he thought she had cheated on him.

Tears ran down Audrielle's face and she couldn't seem to stop them. They seeped into the tiny cuts on her face and stung but Audrielle was numb. She looked away from the screen and stared lifelessly at Leo.