Chapter 6 THE CLASH

Chapter 6: The Clash

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Astrid joined in! She shouldn’t have helped Rosie! She felt terrible about everything.

“Hey, cleaner, I have a question.”

Astrid had to do was nod.

The cynical voice laughed happily and said to Rosie. “What’s going on? If you know yourself well, a cleaner can look at the situation better than you can.” He took the wine bottle and put it back on the table. “Drink it all. If not, I’ll call Glory.”

Glory asked Astrid questions.

Rosie was a little nervous around Glory. Her family was poor, so she got a job as a waitress at RC because it paid well. Glory would lose her job if she came here.

“Don’t phone Glory!” Rosie took the wine bottle from the crystal table. “Drink!”

Before Rosie drank it, she started to cry.

“Wait a minute.” In the dark, a slow, low voice could be heard. Astrid turned her back to the corner and started shaking violently when she heard this voice.

She started to feel scared, and she began to breathe faster.

In the darkness, a voice said, “Turn around.”

Astrid felt like she couldn’t move because her legs hurt. She begged herself, “Don’t do it to me!”

“I’ll repeat it: turn around. You, the one who cleans.”

Astrid felt like she got hit in the stomach. She knew it was what she had to do. She kept shaking.

Strange things were going on. At this point, everyone knew something wasn’t right.

The man put his fingers to his lips, smiled, and whistled. “What a great day for a game!”

A man on the sofa yelled, “Neymar, be quiet! I’m trying to watch the show!”

“Fuck, Bert, you are so awful.”

Astrid’s eyes were filled with fear, and she wanted to run away.

After three years and 1,945 days and nights in prison, her life was full of unimaginable pain. After she got out of hell, she never let herself think anything crazy about Marcus. What was left was fear and dread of this man that would never go away.

Even though she still loved and was obsessed with this man, she had buried these feelings long ago, and they wouldn’t come back.

“Look up.” Slowly, the voice gave an order. Astrid did what he told her to do.

There wasn’t much light, and the man hid in a dark corner. She didn’t want to look too closely when she walked in, so it’s not surprising that she didn’t see him.

Marcus sat in the corner of the couch like an emperor, with his thin arms resting on the couch’s armrests. His chin rested on the back of his hand was very stylish. But he was wearing glasses with gold frames and was staring at her like a hungry wolf as if he could tear her apart at any time and place.

After three years, not only was he not dirty with the marks of time, but he was even more handsome.

Under the dim light, the face looked like it was made of golden light. He sat there, giving off a charm that was hard to resist.

But... she didn’t dare look at him again! She quickly hid her face in the thick clothes.

Marcus sneered, smiled coldly, and said in a threatening voice, “Long time no see. Don’t you say hello?”

Astrid had a pale face. “Mister Smith...”

Astrid tried to hold back her fear by pinching her thighs with her fingers and looking as calm as she could.

But the man on the other sofa had seen everything she had done for a long time.

Marcus looked at Astrid through his glasses. He would have almost forgotten about this person if he hadn’t seen her at RC today.

A lot had changed in her. If the waiter hadn’t said “Astrid” by accident, he wouldn’t have known this woman.

The room was dark, so he could only get a general idea of what she looked like. Marcus had to admit, though, that Astrid had changed so much that he hadn’t seen it coming.

“When did you come out?” Marcus asked without caring.

Astrid was tense, and her face was pale. She suddenly raised her head and begged the man on the other side... She thought, ‘Please don’t say anything about my jail time in front of so many people.’

Marcus’s eyes got bigger. He pointed with his finger at Rosie’s wine bottle, sneered at Astrid, and curled his lips. “I understand what you’re going to say. I’ll do what you want as long as you drink this bottle of wine.”

Astrid looked pale when she saw Rosie holding a bottle of vodka.

BOLS Vodka, which had a degree of about forty, was one of the most well-known vodkas in the world. Astrid looked at the vodka bottle. She looked pale and opened her mouth to say something.

The man on the couch played with the toy under his feet like a hunter. He looked at Astrid with his black eyes in a funny way. “I don’t have much patience.”

Astrid’s face got paler when she heard the familiar voice.

“I’m not able to drink.”

As soon as she was done, she made Astrid feel worse. She was going to get hurt by that natural look. In a corner he couldn’t see, the palm of her hand was quietly clenched into a fist. She looked like a person on death row suffering while waiting for the final sentence.

“Please forgive me, Mr. Smith.”

Astrid could give up her pride and beg for her life on the ground if she wanted to live. “Please let me go; I can do anything if you don’t let me drink.” She wanted to live, and the only way she could pay back her debts was if she did.

She did owe a lot of money. It wasn’t Talia who owed money.

In the dim light, the man tried to hide his face. Marcus said, “It’s just a bottle of wine,” without any sign of surprise. You kneel so quickly not to drink it? Astrid, where are your pride and arrogance you used to protect?”

Pride?

Astrid kept her head down, and her face showed a bit of mockery and anger.

What did it mean? Could someone lose their pride? Could her pride keep her from dying?

She got on her knees not to get away with a bottle of wine but to stay alive.

She shut her eyes because it hurt. As soon as she closed her eyes, faces that made her feel bad came to her mind. Only one thing wasn’t true. But because of her, that girl died in a dark, damp prison.

At a fancy age, a young twenty-year-old life just withered in the dark and humid place. This was a sin that could never be paid back.

She owed Talia nothing. The person she owed was the girl who stood up bravely to protect her in prison but died in jail for unknown reasons.

Astrid was shaking all the time. She seemed to see the girl again, screaming “Astrid” as she lay in her arms covered in blood. As she was dying, she spoke to Astrid in the most beautiful voice she had ever heard.