Like mother like daughter

Both of them challenged each other with their eyes. Scarlett realized that her friend had never been truthful with her. She never cared about her the way she swore many times before. Now, she couldn’t hide her true face and it was indeed an ugly one. All Scarlett could see in her was her envy and the evil that lurked behind her eyes. “You came right on time!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Maybe you can explain what I just walked into? Something tells me you always knew that your mom was screwing my dad but you never thought I deserved to know. What else are you hiding from me, Megan?! It seems like I don’t know you at all. I mean, you set me up with a stranger last night to rape me so clearly, I don’t know you!” Megan’s mother widened her eyes in shock. Scarlett wondered what her father’s reaction was but she wasn’t going to turn around and check for herself. She wasn’t going to break eye contact with Megan first. The latter was just staring back at her without saying a word. Her mother faced Scarlett: “What are you talking about? What do you mean, set you up? My daughter would never do that. You had a one night stand with a man and you want to blame Meg for it?...Meg, say something!” But Megan was being too quiet, her face turning crimson red. Scarlett couldn’t stand her anymore. She raised her hand and slapped her across the face as hard as she could. The sound rang in the air for a few seconds after it happened. Megan had stumbled a few steps back, holding her cheek with a look of astonishment and pain. Everyone was silent and shocked for a while until Megan’s mother held on to Scarlett’s wrist and squeezed: “You-! How dare you hit my daughter inside our home?!” She raised her own hand to return the slap but Scarlett didn’t wait for it. She was blinded by rage and it was slowly taking over her entire reasoning. She acted before thinking and pushed Megan’s mother back with all her strength. The woman wasn’t expecting it. She let out a tiny noise before she fell. They watched her body painfully hit the ground and her head banged into the corner of a table that was in the way. Megan screamed, looking at the stern body of her mother, drops of blood seeping out of the wound on the back of her head. She rushed and kneeled in front of her but too scared to touch. “Mom…Oh my God, mom?! Can you hear me?! Shit.” Scarlett blinked repeatedly. She didn’t know what to do with herself. She fisted her hands, staring at the woman whose eyes didn’t focus on anything in particular. Suddenly, her father pushed her out of the way to kneel next to Megan’s mother. Carefully, he raised her upper body and rested it on his thighs. His hand held onto the back of her head and she moaned in pain. Scarlett watched with horror. It was odd to see the care and attention her own father was showing to an estranged woman: “Joyce…” He said in a whisper. “Joyce, what’s wrong honey?” Honey? Scarlett would have laughed if the situation wasn’t literally blowing her mind away. Megan’s mother looked at her father and smiled. Megan on the other hand, was up on her feet again. She pointed a finger toward Scarlett: “You hurt my mom! Your problem is with me, why did you have to get her involved? She could have died, for God’s sake.” “Meg, stop.” The woman whimpered out. “I-I’m fine…Please, don’t blame Scarlett. She is clearly out of her mind today…” Both mother and daughter shared a look. Scarlett noticed how it seemed like they were silently communicating with each other. Then, Megan turned to the man kneeling with her mom and spoke words that made Scarlett understand that her nightmare was only beginning: “Why are you so quiet, dad? You saw what she did, didn’t you? Until when are you going to stay quiet and pretend that everything is fine? Until when are mom and I going to be wronged and put after the only daughter you recognize?” Scarlett chuckled. All eyes converged toward her. She looked insane and now, Megan was actually terrified of her. She took a step back when Scarlett pointed her murderous glare at her: “Did I just hear you say dad?” Despite her fear, Megan held her head high: “You heard me right.” She then turned to the man who was still kneeling on the floor even though Meg’s mother had recovered enough to sit on her own, holding her head. “Dad. I’m sick of being an illegitimate child, okay? Now is your chance. You have to tell the truth so we can all rest. There is no way out of this anymore.” The man stood. Both of his daughters were looking at him. He knew it was true. He couldn’t run away anymore. When he spoke, he made sure to not meet Scarlett’s eyes. “Listen, honey…It’s true. Megan is actually your sister.” He dared to throw a glance toward her. Scarlett’s face was void of any sort of emotion. Somehow, it made the father upset and his voice rose: “Don’t look at me like that, okay? I tried to keep this from you because I didn’t want you to suffer but you give me no choice. You came here and burst into the room without even…Well. It doesn’t matter anyway. You had to find out one way or another. The thing is I have been seeing Joyce for a while now. It started before I even married your mother. We broke up at that time but I didn’t know that she was pregnant. I met Megan a few years later but I just couldn’t say anything to you or to your mother so I kept it a secret. But all I ever wanted Scar was to tell you about your sister…This is not how I wanted things to go. And you might feel like you have been wronged but put yourself in Meg’s shoes. She had to live as an illegitimate daughter. You had all the privileges she could only dream of. You cannot be angrier than her right now.” The man took a few steps forward. Scarlett was frozen like a statue and she didn’t attempt to speak. Not even once. So her father took a deep breath and smiled awkwardly: “I see you are taking this rather well, Scar…Good. Now that you know the truth, we can start a new chapter of our lives, together. We can now become a family-” “Stop.” Scarlett wrapped her arms around herself. “What’s wrong?” “Family, you say? With these women? Never, dad.” “You have to stop being selfish, Scarlett!” “Selfish?! Is that what you call someone who doesn’t want to be related to a woman who didn’t hesitate to set her up with a man out of jealousy? I don’t know dad…Are you sure that you’re my father? You just sound like a complete stranger right now.” “Lies won’t get you out of this situation, Scarlett. I’m telling you, from now on Meg and her mom are you family. You will call them sister and mother.” “I will die first before I let those words out of my mouth, do you hear me?” Joyce approached, putting a gentle hand on Scarlett's father's shoulder. She said to him in a soft voice: “Please don’t force her. If she doesn’t want to, it’s still okay. We have lived all this time without her, I’m sure we can go on for a bit longer. Give her time.” Scarlett rolled her eyes at the woman’s show of kindness. As if she cared about her wellbeing. How could her father be blind enough to not see the sly look on her face? How could he not know that they were taking advantage of him? Scarlett gritted her teeth together. She was stupid to still care about her father after all he’d done. “It doesn’t matter.” He spat out with anger in his voice. “Acting like a spoiled little brat won’t change the fact that Megan is your sister, Scarlett. You must accept it, whether you like it or not. And now that you are aware of the whole story, Megan and her mother must come and live with us. There is no point in staying separated.” Scarlett gasped in shock. The sly smirks on Megan and her mother’s face made her sick. “Never!” She yelled. “That house belonged to my mother. I won’t allow you to bring strangers in there, dad. You will have to cross over my dead body before you do it, believe me.” “That house belongs to me, young lady!” “Yeah, only after my mother died. And I won’t let you do this disgusting thing. I won’t let you take these whor-Ah!” Scarlett received an unforgiving slap on her right cheek. It wasn’t painful because what hurt the most was knowing that her gentle father dared to slap her for the sake of someone else. Her eyes filled with tears as she glared at him: “You hit me because of these women?” The father didn’t reply. He clutched his trembling hand and Scarlett could tell that he regretted his actions but it was too late. She sprinted out of the door and didn’t stop when the man called her name. She burst into tears as soon as she was inside the elevator, her heart aching so much that she feared it was truly broken. She came to confront Megan about her rape but never even got to it. Instead, she broke the relationship she had with her father and found herself a complete orphan. She lost both of her parents. Scarlett walked out of the building, half crying and shaking her head in confusion. It occurred to her that Megan had ruined her life in barely a few hours by stealing her virginity and her father. She wondered if it had always been her goal since the beginning of their friendships. Had she approached her that first time with the sole purpose of ruining her existence? Scarlett was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the dark vehicle that suddenly shrieked and stopped not too far away from her. The man on the back seat was quick to jump out. He watched the young lady bump into a couple of people that were walking the opposite direction. She didn’t even bother to apologize. It was as if she was stuck in her own bubble and the outside world had become invisible to her. The man ran after Scarlett and held her arm: “Hey.” She turned around and frowned when she recognized the man from earlier, the male escort she woke up next to in the morning. He had a concerned look on his face but Scarlett knew better than to believe he actually cared about her. “Don’t touch me.” She hissed, snatching her arm away from his grasp. “What happened?” He asked. He reached out in his jacket and took a handkerchief out. Scarlett refused to accept it. “Tell me what happened.” The man insisted. “I might be able to help you. Look, if this is about this morning-” “Yes you son of a bitch! It’s about this morning and it’s also about what just happened to me. And you know what?! There is nothing you can do for me and even if you could, I will never accept any sort of help coming from a male escort!” Scarlett could have spit on his face but she decided against it. She didn’t notice the way the man’s bodyguard looked at her, their hands resting over their weapons and waiting for a single order from their boss. But the man didn’t say anything. “Sir…” “Let her go.” He sighed, watching the woman walk away. “So much anger in her…” He wondered why he wanted to help her so badly. She was just a woman among so many others after all. He’d already tried being kind twice. It was more than enough generosity. “Let’s just go to the company.” He ended up saying to his men before returning inside the car. But the thoughts of Scarlett didn’t leave his mind on the way. Not even a bit.