A MAZE OF GREED

Theodora and Ralph Longhurst glared at each other. Both of them were defending their actions and putting the blame on the other. Till now, Ruth had made up her mind that she was in team Theodora. The man who claimed that he loved his daughter was the troublemaker.

"I did no wrong!"

Oh, the nerve of him!

"You did no wrong? Really father?" Theodora asked incredulously.

"Then what you did with me, and Gerald was no wrong in your eyes? You tried parting us away. I do not even know what exactly you did with him, but when I got all my senses back, I was alone. He was gone, and I had no freaking clue where he was.

And you told me that you offered him bags of gold coins to abandon me, and he accepted your offer."

Theodora's chest heaved up and down, and at that moment, she looked like a wounded tigress- hurt yet dangerous!

"I was in denial for a long time. I knew that he could not do that to me because he loved me yet, the way everyone acted, including mother, made me believe your lie.

You took my baby away from me, telling me that it was dead. Did you tell the same to Gerald too? Tell me, father, did you?

And as if you were not content with my misery, you stole my best friend too. To this date, I do not know where she went. But I know one thing that it was you. You caused her disappearance as a punishment for standing by my back. Was not that wrong father? Tell me!"

Ruth's eyes moistened hearing how cruel the man was to his own daughter.

"Oh, come on Theodora! Stop playing that victim card on me. You did not love Gerald. It was only foolishness of your young heart. And your best friend deserved that punishment, and I never forced her. She took that upon herself willingly.

And about that baby..." Ralph took a step towards her, staring directly into her eyes.

"Accept the fact that you never loved that baby. You are concerned about that baby only because of Gerald. You had pictured your life with that theif and that baby. And I splashed the black paint on that picture because it was not perfect, Theodora.

If you really cared for that baby, then why did not you try to find her after knowing the truth? Zerith told you that your baby was alive. He even told you the clue- a leaf-shaped greenish-black mark on her chest, little below the left collarbone.

You had resources at your expense. I am sure Lord Augustus would not have minded if you really wanted to search for your baby because he knows the pain of not having parents. But you did not! Why?"

Now Ruth was shell-shocked. Her heartbeats dropped, but she could hear them in her ears- loud and clear. She did not realise how she sucked her breath, and her mind froze before she released it. Her blood ran cold, her fingertips froze.

She stared at the two people in front of her, who had done all the evils and, yet they were not ready to accept any of that. How could people be so in denial? How could they defend their actions after destroying three lives?

Ruth waited for Theodora's reaction in anticipation. She hoped and prayed that the new impression of Theodora she had just created in her mind would not be broken by her.

She saw how Theodora's expressions changed slowly and, with that, all her hopes and prayers went into vain.

"You are right about that, father! I had all the resources at my beck and call and, my husband perhaps would not have minded it. But what about this society?

It would not have ever accepted that baby. I have seen my husband struggling to get what is rightfully his all of his life. And yet, the world is denying him what is his. How could I let that happen to my only child?

Do you think that an illegitimate child would have been accepted as an heir of this O'Dell legacy? Would she be given the same rights and powers as Eloise and Elsie? NO, father! NO!!!"

Ruth felt like someone had poured molten iron in her ears. Her head became heavy, and her chest was crushing under the enormous pressure of the revelations that she had never dreamed of.

"Me and my husband are struggling to get this O'Dell power for all these years. But, who is the rightful heir according to this foolish world? Edwin!"

Ruth's eyes widened at that.

"They all think that he is pure blood because he is the son of Walter and Margaret. And Augustus... they are not accepting his right only because his mother was not wedded to his father. His father never accepted him as his son. All that he now has is alms thrown on his plate by Walter.

Would not have my girl share the same fate as my husband? And what about me? If I had found that baby and accepted her as my child in front of the world, would I have been treated with such respect? Had this world worshipped me the way it does now?"

At that moment, Ruth did not see Lady Theodora who was an ideal mother, ideal wife and ideal daughter-in-law of the O'Dells. No!

She only saw a selfish woman without a backbone standing in front of her and still acting ignorant of all her mistakes for her selfish reasons. She looked nothing less than a woman that Bertha always reminded Ruth to not turn into. Ever!

Ralph looked at Theodora with a strange look that gave away his hard time believing that the woman he was looking at was his own daughter. But in Ruth's eyes, the story now had two villains.

"Exactly Theodora! You are not angry at me for parting you from that thug, your baby and your best friend because you never loved them more than yourself. You are mad at me only because you wanted something, and I denied that to you.

You are bitter only because it daint your ego. Your mother was right. My overflowing love and possessiveness turned you into an ungrateful and selfish spoiled woman who puts nothing before herself! You did not even put your daughter before yourself.

Now tell me, if I am the bad father, then are you a good mother?

No! You do not have any right of accusing me because you are no better than me. The sooner you get it, the better. And stop with middling in your husband's vengeance. Leave Edwin alone!"

The words fell on Ruth's ears, but they bounced back in the air before reaching her brain. The bile rose in her throat, and the space became suffocating for her.

Clutching the gift close to her chest, she stumbled out of the chamber, leaving behind the bickering father and daughter. Ruth's head spun, her vision turned blurry. She did not know where her feet carried her.

All the make-up Elsie had done on her turned pale. Ruth did not realise that she entered a random room, running towards the bathroom, she felt the bile rise in her throat. Opening the door harshly, she ran towards the sink and puked all her guts out.

Every bit of food and liquid that she had consumed since morning, spurted out leaving behind her empty stomach. Her throat burned and the acidic bitter taste on her palate contorted her face in disgust.

Hot tears streamed down her face as she struggled to breathe. After she was sure that she had emptied her system, she rinsed her mouth thoroughly with water. She then splashed some on her face and realised how hot her body had turned.

Her mind was numb, and her heartbeats had not slowed down to normal. Looking up at her reflection in the mirror, she got a hard time believing the girl in the mirror was indeed her.

Suddenly everything she knew, believed and trusted seemed a lie. A big lie. Ruth felt like her whole life was nothing but a lie.

How could Theodora be so cruel? And her parents... did they not have a heart?

Ruth had a mountain of questions ahead of her. And the climb was not an easy task. She needed a rope to climb it, but she could not trust it too. Hell, she could not trust anyone after this.

Did Lord Augustus know about all this? And Edwin?

Ruth's heart hammered hard against her chest. She did not know what to do and what to think. Their words kept running in her head.

She did not know how long she stood staring at her reflection. But some time later, her face put on the expressionless mask. Her hazel eyes lost their shine, and her heart finally decided to work at its natural pace.

Gulping her spit down her dry and burning throat that still had that bitter taste, she inhaled air. Slowly her hand moved up and to her left shoulder.

Pulling down the strap of her beautiful dress, she saw her milky skin revealing in the mirror. She stopped only after the mirror reflected the greenish-black leaf-shaped mark on her chest, a little below her collarbone.

That was her birthmark and her true identity!