Chapter 51 The wager?
Chapter 51 The wager?
In the outskirts area, there was a house that looked similar to all the other houses that surrounded it. That house belonged to Maria and her husband, Mike.
If you had to look at it, you might have called it quaint, but the truth was, it was just as poor as all the rest of the houses.
The roof was shingled with cheap wooden boards, which were barely keeping out the rain.
The paint on the walls outside had been bleached by the sun and was peeling in some areas, showing even more signs of aging.
The bricks on the foundation had been reinforced by concrete mixed with sand, giving them an ugly grayish color, and finally, the entire house was only one story tall.
Maria herself was a very beautiful woman; she had long brown hair, pretty green eyes, plump lips, and a stunning figure that could easily drive any man crazy for her.
She had a slim body with large breasts, which complimented her curvaceous body, while her beautiful face showed both gentleness and sexiness.
"My stupid husband," she complained to herself as she stirred a pot in the kitchen, "Why did you have to lose your money by betting on some gambling games?" She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "We're already behind on our payments; if we can't pay back this month's payment, I don't know what they will do."
She wore a simple brown dress and black shoes on her feet. On her front, there was an apron tied by strings that were fastened around the back of it. The apron itself was so big that it covered most of the front side of the dress as well.
As she stirred the contents inside of a large pot on top of the stove, Maria thought about how hard things had gotten lately and wondered if perhaps there was anything else she could do to help their situation out.
She'd always been independent. Independent in mind, body, and soul. Growing up, she had dreams of living somewhere else other than here, but no matter what she did, nothing ever came from those dreams.
But now that marriage has come full circle, it hasn't even been two years since she got married, and already things have started getting rough between them both.
There just wasn't enough money for anyone to survive unless they worked multiple jobs at once in the capital city. This led her to settle down with Mike when he proposed to her.
He was the first guy who seemed nice enough and cared for her well being unlike others who only saw her as eye candy or, worse yet, someone who would have sex with them for money.
She accepted his proposal after several months of dating because it looked like nobody else would ever love her anyway due to her being too poor and having nothing else going for her except beauty.
But now that marriage has come full circle, it hasn't even been two years since she got married, and already things have started getting rough between them both.
She felt lonely every day without him there. Every night, she went to sleep alone, wondering why things couldn't be different between them anymore. She had loved him so much!
But over time, their relationship grew sour due to all these issues piled upon each other, making it more difficult for either party to talk without arguing about something stupid and petty.
On top of everything else, he lost a lot of their income recently, so now she's constantly working harder to make ends meet. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
All she can do now is wait until tomorrow comes, hoping everything will get better again someday somehow.
"The dinner is ready, but it doesn't feel right eating when I don't know where my husband is."
The food was done, so Maria dished herself a plateful and sat down at the table by herself before sighing loudly.
That man had gambled away almost everything they had in this world in an attempt to get rich quick, but failed miserably instead. So there she sat alone at home with little hope for tomorrow while he ran off doing God knows what outside their neighborhood.
She didn't think about it hard, as she wanted to forget how bad things were getting lately between them both and just enjoy dinner alone for once without worrying about anything else except herself.
...
Meanwhile, her husband, Mike, was in a situation that he didn't even consider to be a possibility.
As he stood outside the gambling house, looking around with fear clearly etched into his face, there were tears rolling down his eyes. "This can't be real..." he thought out loud. Just now he lost everything in the gamble, but that wasn't the worst, as he lost in gambling many times before.
However, this time it was different as he looked at the man staring at him with his four lackeys, the ones he'd just bet against. The wager? A night with his wife, Maria.
He shook his head in disbelief, refusing to accept reality as he held onto his last shred of hope tightly. However, that thread of hope snapped as the men started to walk towards him with his group while sinister grins were etched across their faces.
They surrounded him in no time, and he felt more helpless than ever. The man he lost the gamble with took out a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to him. Mike's eyes widened in horror as he saw his name written on the document, signed by none other than himself. He knew exactly what type of contract it was—it was an agreement certificate!
Mike fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably and begging for mercy, but those men just laughed mockingly at his pleas.
It had always been his dream to have his own family one day, despite his low-income job, because growing up he had no siblings or parents who cared for him, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. However, now he was about to lose it all, including the one person who actually cared about him.
One of the lackeys took the contract from the leading man's hand and threw it toward Mike. It landed on top of his chest and remained there, unmoving, until Mike gathered enough courage to pick it up.
He stared at the words written inside it before slowly raising his head towards the leader of the group, who had been standing idly by watching everything unfold before his very eyes.
"Please don't do this. Please..." Mike pleaded desperately, hoping that somehow his pleas would reach the heart of the devil himself.
Lucas smirked evilly, tilting his chin up high as he looked down upon Mike with disdain and disgust filling his voice when he spoke, "Why shouldn't I? You should have thought about this before you bet your wife on a gamble."
His tone sounded like that of pure evil itself, sending shivers throughout everyone present there.
All the men burst out laughing as if this situation were hilarious. They had always enjoyed seeing people suffer, and especially now they were excited to watch this scene play out in front of them.
The five of them were like hyenas, waiting for their prey to die.
The other guys who were with Mike had long since left, leaving him alone in the hands of these monsters. He began to feel extremely helpless, knowing that there would be nothing left for him after tonight except regret and pain.