Chapter 507: Worse Than a Beast
"Storm Xavier, give the money back!"
Verna Golding kept her voice down. She was frantic. That was her son’s hard-earned money! She had hidden it so carefully in a hole under the stove, but it had vanished overnight. Twenty dollars!
It couldn’t have been anyone but Storm Xavier. Verna Golding was furious and heartbroken, but she also blamed herself. Her son had entrusted that money to her, and she had failed to keep it safe. She had let her son down.
But as frantic as she was, she didn’t dare raise her voice. She was terrified someone would find out her son was running a side business—that was considered illegal profiteering, a major crime.
Storm Xavier sensed Verna Golding’s fear and grew even bolder. "What money are you talking about? You’re always acting like a lunatic. Now get the hell out of my way!"
"The twenty dollars! You’re the one who took it. You’re not leaving until you give it back!"
Verna Golding gripped the doorframe, blocking Storm Xavier from leaving. She was sure the money was still on him.
"What twenty dollars? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now move, or I’ll beat you to death!"
Storm Xavier denied it flatly, a vicious glint in his eyes, but he didn’t strike her. It wasn’t out of any compassion for Verna Golding; he simply didn’t have the guts. He was afraid the matriarch would make him pay when she returned.
"You rotten animal! I bet you took the money for that whore, Phoenix Golding, and for that little bastard you had with her! Pah... Everyone in Clearspring Township knows about your shameless affair! You’ve dragged Clayton’s name through the mud, and now you’re even stealing his school money? Are you even human? Storm Xavier, do you have any conscience? Clayton is your son, too! He is your own flesh and blood!"
Verna Golding shrieked the last sentence, her voice torn with anguish, as she glared at Storm Xavier with pure hatred.
She didn’t resent Storm Xavier for his lack of affection; he had never liked her, and she had long accepted her misfortune. But she hated him—hated that animal for completely disregarding his own son. Her son was so exceptional, ten thousand times better than that little bastard Ulysses Spann, yet that animal only had room in his heart for his whore and their bastard child. Oh, how she hated him!
She wanted to kill him.
Storm Xavier looked away, a flicker of guilt in his eyes. He didn’t dare meet Verna Golding’s gaze. But his guilt quickly soured into rage. "So what if he’s my flesh and blood? You know damn well how he came to be, don’t you? I never wanted him! You and my mother tricked me. Hmph. I’ve never seen a woman as shameless as you, just throwing yourself at a man!"
Still not satisfied, he added with a sneer, "Even a sow is better looking than you!"
The color drained from Verna Golding’s face, and his words twisted in her heart like a knife. But she couldn’t refute them, because he was telling the truth.
"Give it back!"
Verna Golding stared fixedly at Storm Xavier. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the doorframe, so tight that her nails bent back, drawing blood. But she seemed to feel no pain; her grip only tightened.
A surge of panic shot through Storm Xavier, but it was quickly swamped by rage. ’What right does this ugly hag have to glare at me?’
’He was the real victim here. She was the one who owed him.’
"I don’t have the money! Now get out of my way, or I’ll kill you!"
"You’re not setting foot out this door until you give me back the money!"
Verna Golding refused to budge. She had to get that twenty dollars back.
"Don’t push me! Or I’ll go to the township office and report your son for illegal profiteering!" Storm Xavier blurted out. The moment the words left his mouth, he startled himself and felt a pang of regret.
Clayton was his son, after all. Although the circumstances of the boy’s birth disgusted him, he still had some paternal feelings. Storm Xavier had never truly intended to harm Clayton; he had spoken out of pure rage. But to retract his words in front of Verna Golding was out of the question. He glared sullenly at her, completely unaware that outside the door, a cold glint had appeared in the matriarch’s eyes.
It vanished in a flash.