Cuckold

A few hours had passed since the incident. It was now late at night. Olivia was still at the hospital and had to be admitted because her wounds required intensive care for the first few days. As she was sitting in the bed, most of her face bandaged, fighting back tears of anger, frustration and sadness. For a person who relied so heavily on her looks for the last couple of years, returning to a life worse than how it had been before all her surgeries, saddened and worried her deeply.

Olivia was staring in the distance, while her mother was sleeping in a pull out bed next to her. Her father wasn't allowed to stay, and had to go back to the precinct after he had visited her and saw that she was okay for the circumstances. His hearing had been postponed until the next day, whereas Olivia's trial was postponed until further notice, as they needed the doctor's clearance before any new court appearances could be scheduled. But for Olivia, this was the last thing on her mind right now.

Her head was filled with thoughts about what had happened, why it had happened and thinking about her next moves. Not only regarding her lost looks, but also on how she could defend herself against Harold. Not knowing if this was a single incident or if she was to expect more punishment for whatever crime he had found her guilty of.

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In the hours following the incident, everyone, including Harold, had been informed of what had happened. While Harold was pleased with his success, Laila was actually feeling bad for Olivia. Although she didn't like her, and it wasn't likely that she would find herself ever being able to forgive Olivia for what she had done to herself and the people she held dear, she did pity her a bit. Her inability to accept that Noah wasn't interested in her, had made her go down a bad path. She had kept going further and further until there was no way back for her anymore and now she was facing the consequences of those choices one by one. But Laila could imagine how different things could have bene if anyone in her life could have shown her that no love that has to be forced, is worth it in the end. If someone could have loved her for who she was, instead of who she was pretending to be, which was nothing more than a pretty face.

Noah and Steve seemed to be mainly more upset with Harold, for causing damage to another life, despite their efforts to prevent it. In their eyes, Harold had bested them not once, but twice now. Although the subject of his attack was less dear to them now than the first time around, that didn't stop them from feeling vexed that it had happened at all. Max, initially having intended for this type of outcome, wasn't sure how he felt. He didn't like that he had failed in what he had set out to do, and he knew he didn't like that he had disappointed Noah, but whether he was sorry that this had happened to Olivia? That he couldn't say. At least not while being fully honest.

Maria however, had the harshest opinion of all. She not only didn't feel sorry for Olivia, she felt that it was due justice. After she heard the news, her only response was, "I guess now the wicked witch of the west looks on the outside, like she looks on the inside.". She wasn't the only one feeling this way, for there was one more person who was of this same mind. This person was none other than Harold of course, who was now on his way to make sure Olivia knew this as well. Although he couldn't deliver his message in person, he would have to live with the satisfaction that it would be done exactly the way he would have done it and with the imagination of how it would go down after the words had crossed his lips.

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After enough hours had passed for even Olivia to fall asleep out of pure fatigue, a figure appeared out of the shadows. He inched closer without making a sound and walked past the bed Olivia's mother was sleeping on, to reach Olivia herself. Before he made the smallest sounds or said a single word, he put his hand over Olivia's mouth. He needed her to know that he was there, but not be able to respond. To prevent her from screaming, and waking her mom or alerting the few staff members that were still roaming around the halls of the hospital, he pressed down even harder the moment Olivia opened her eyes in a panicked manner.

In a menacing voice he shushed her before he whispered in her ear, "It is too late to say anything my love. You made the wrong person angry and he has asked me to say the following words to you." As Olivia was struggling to pull the man's hands away, clawing at him and kicking in vain, she listed to his message with a raging heartbeat while burning tears streamed down and into the bandages.

"'You have turned me into a cuckold and used my own family to do it. Since you have done so while having nothing more than your looks, I decided to take that very thing away from you. Let's see how you will go through life now that the way you look on the outside, matches what you are on the inside. A useless. Ugly. Wh**e.'"

After that the man smiled at her in a way that sent shivers down her spine, being able to see little more than his big teeth from the little bit of light that poured into the room from small window in the door. Then, in the same menacing whisper, without missing a beat, he added a final threat. Saying, "Now, be a good girl and don't scream, unless you want me to give your lovely mother over there some matching ones.", as he pointed at the wounds that were covered by layers of gauze.

Then, in the same way he entered her room, he left. While Olivia was left in a pool of her own sweat, frozen in fear as the tears continued to stream down her face.