Broken not Defeated

02.

"Go on your knees and apologize", Tori smirked.

Leila's blood boiled.

She fisted her palms again. Consequences be damned, she would beat this brat to death! For a kid she was older than, Tori had crossed the line severally; grasping tightly onto every opportunity to remind her she worth nothing. But it ends today!

Leila's fury grew, her eyes bloodshot - well literally, as her own blood had stained her.

Just once.

Just once would be enough to satisfy her rogue desires of beating atleast one of the Styles to a pulp, and she'd gladly take on Tori!

Tori scoffed and closed the gap between them, "my brother wouldn't flinch in the slightest you know", she whispered to Leila's bleeding face. "Apologize or else..."

The phone ringing broke the moment, reminding Leila of the initial situation. An awaiting lioness of a mother-in-law. She scoffed within, coming to a resolve.

She was done with the Styles!

Leila ignored them, she dipped her other hand into her jacket, grabbing Tori's car keys. "Drive yourself!" She spat and walked away. Fighting with a kid was not worth it.

"Come back here now!! Hey!" Tori's screams rang out behind her, but this had to end. Not one of them treated her like a human, she was treated worse than the maids that littered their mansion. Not even the man she was married to cared the least!

She understood perfectly well that their marriage was unexpected and solely business, but he could have been nicer. The least he could do was treat her as her title required - his wife! Even if he had to pretend.

She flagged a cab, heading straight for the hospital, she'd end her contract with Mr. Ronan for good. She could feel the driver's stare from the mirror as she picked out the glass particles her fingernails could reach, but she didn't care. As he came to a stop, she sighed, wiping off the blood alittle, before alighting and heading straight for the entrance.

The elevator doors had whizzed open on the fifth floor and the first sight she met with was her mother-in-law. Her pace slowed. Some cousins she recognized were present too. "What's going on?"

Her phone beeped again and this time she took it out. Missed calls from her mother-in-law and Julian. Two text messages from Julian which she opened immediately.

*DAD'S GONE* - his last message read and her phone fell from her hand, grabbing their attention.

Time seemed to have frozen with each party staring at each other. Leila's gaze locked in with her mother-in-law's. Her brown dress was drenched, depicting signs of unending tears that had left it's gland. Leila's eyes traveled back up to the woman's face. Her eyes were red and her vision possibly blurred.

"I can't believe this wench!"

"Speak of an ungrateful b***h!" The cousins whispered not so quietly.

The older woman blinked and in a minute, she bolted over, salting Leila's bleeding cheek with a thunderous slap. "You wench!" Her mother-in-law bellowed, dishing out the second slap on her other cheek.

"A leech sucking off on our family's wealth - that's what you are! and you dared act as you care?!!! What makes you think you can do that! It's been over an hour I called you!", she slapped Leila yet again. "The least you could do is make this family your priority! Nothing comes before us!" She yelled.

Leila's tears blurred her vision. Maybe it was her words, or the sting from her bleeding cheeks, or the neglect she felt, but suddenly, her heart twitched with pain. Her body weakened, she felt nauseous. Were they blind to see she was covered in blood? Could they not ask, or pretend just this once to care?!

Julian stepped out of the room. His eyes locked with Leila's. "Where have you been?" He asked, his voice cold as usual. Leila scoffed aloud this time, earning a shocked blink from her mother-in-law.

"I'm covered in blood for f**k's sake! Does no one care!?" She yelled, "your last child is out there partying like a drunk and I'm your problem?!"

She'd had just enough.

"Leila", Julian pocketed his hands, his voice grave and his face stern but screw him!

"Julian!" She yelled back with zero fear, "I'm not your plaything anymore!!!..... I stayed, I endured because of your father but sadly he's gone! The only sane person in this family is gone!", she completed her words but a rough kick on her waist from behind had her falling face flat. Tori flipped her hair proudly and squatted to her level, "you don't speak to my family in such high styled tone", she spat literally on Leila's face.

"Make sure she's unrecognizable", she smirked at the thugs Leila hadn't noticed.

They launched at her, picking her up like she weighed nothing. Leila's vision blurred as she watched the one family she respected as hers all turn their back. Tori held her mother and led her into their father's ward. The last eyes that stared at hers as she was dragged away into the elevator was Julian's. Cold, loveless and indifferent. Her tears fell.

*

After Leila had left the party, Julian had called his little sister. Tori didn't waste time in whining to him about his so-called wife's attitude. Julian had cut her off with a simple, "get yourself to the hospital, dad's gone and Leila's on her way here".

Tori cared less about her sick and dying father. They didn't go along at any point, but she smirked, gathering thugs . Leila was wrong to mess with her.

*

They hadn't taken her out of the hospital, Leila was sure of it. It seemed like the basement of the hospital. They had placed her in a wheelchair and a face cap to avoid attention. Leila on her part had lost the will to fight, besides what could she possibly do against three hefty dangerous looking men.

At the basement, they tossed her body to the ground as she rolled out of the wheelchair. They laughed. They'd been given permission to do whatever they wished to her. One coming to squat before her, grabbed her by her jaw as he ran a hand through her face.

"You shouldn't do this", she managed to voice and he laughed manically. "Or what?", his hoarse voice echoed, "or what princess?", he smirked, letting his hand travel down to her breast.

Leila grabbed it immediately, "don't. Stop" but he slapped her. Her eyes rolled back and her eye lids closed. It was heavy, a complete combination of Tori's and her mother's still wouldn't equal the weight of his slap.

The other two rounded her, one pulled her up by a chunk of her hair, while the other two laughed at her pain. He tossed her forcefully, her back hitting hard against the wall. She fell with a groan.

"Ahh! You shouldn't have annoyed me", he scoffed, grabbing her by her neck this time , "you should be begging for your life instead".

Her wounds from the glass had began bleeding again, she looked dead, as he flung her to the side. With her back clashing hard against the wheelchair, her innocence was gone, leaving an unquenchable thirst for revenge.

"They would pay for all this" - Leila swore in her broken state. The thugs had picked up bats, but Julian walked in in time. "Leave her", his voice dead and indifferent. Leila scoffed at his playing hero, she didn't bother to look up even though she heard his footsteps approaching.

"You have no business staying with us. They'd only continue to treat you as trash", he noted calmly without a twitch of pity in his tone.

How could he meet her in such state and sound as the same cold bastard she'd always known. It hurt her even more!... "Let's get divorced", he rasped.