Chapter 29

The woman looked very hungry as if she had not touched food in a long time, it was clear from the way she ate. He devoured all the food that was on the table without thinking about the eyes of the people in this restaurant who looked at him in disdain.

Lucien sat in front of him quietly while enjoying a cup of coffee. He just waited until this woman finished her food and after that it would be cheaper for her to ask questions.

"You like the food, madam?" He tried to make small talk, hoping that his polite and sweet attitude would make this woman melt and give her confidence.

The woman nodded slowly, for her now the taste of food is not important anymore because the most important thing is that she doesn't feel hungry anymore like before.

"Who are you really? Do I know you?"

"I don't think we've ever met before. But I know you well enough, madam."

"Is it true?"

"Yes, I know from someone."

"Who? Who do you know me from?" The woman immediately panicked realizing that someone might be after her life even though she had nothing else to give.

Seeing the panic that was evident on his face made Lucien want to laugh so badly. The woman sitting before him was a cruel woman who deserved punishment for the crimes she had committed to her husband who had been married to her for a dozen years, giving her three children and the pleasures of life that no man would ever give her.

Remembering how he could laugh so freely when his husband screamed in pain when the fire burned his body made Lucien feel very sick. If it weren't for this woman he might be able to use to find Reymond Osvaldo, he wouldn't care about her.

"All this for the sake of the mission." she thought.

"Why are you smiling like that? What's so funny?"

"Nothing funny, madam. I suddenly remember a very funny joke I just heard this morning. You want to know the story?"

"What?"

"I work for a rich man who owns various big businesses. He told me about his past, he has a wife who he loves very much who has given him three children. They live peacefully in a luxurious mansion built in the middle of a very rich horse farm area. vast and beautiful. One day, the man helped a poor young man who was almost killed by members of a dangerous criminal gang. He sympathized with the young man and let the young man live in his house. He even treated the young man like his own son. But what happened to him what will come next will be something he regrets the most. Helping others doesn't always end well. That young man actually seduced his wife and together they attempted to kill her just to control all the property he had."

The woman looked very scared to hear the story Lucien said. He had no idea what this young man was actually saying and why the story he was telling was so similar to the story that had happened to him eight years ago.

"N-no...! That's not right! I didn't kill him, that's not right...!" This woman immediately denied it even though she didn't know whose story Lucien was actually telling.

Lucien smiled even wider, he didn't expect that his small bluff could make this woman scared. Maybe what she did looks cruel, but this is a punishment that is appropriate for an evil woman like herself.

"Madam, are you all right?" asked Lucien, pretending to be innocent. The woman looked down with a pale face. His hands were shaking. He did not know what really happened to him and why anyone would know this sad story.

"Reymond, he's the one who forced me to do it. I can't do anything, I can't! He keeps sending videotapes of how he and his friends kill their opponents in a heinous way. I'm scared, he also threatens to do the same thing with my children if I refuse their wishes. I am completely innocent, I am the victim, I am the victim...!"

Her tears streamed down her face. He felt intense pressure and suffering ever since he knew the savage Reymond Osvaldo. Everyone kept blaming her and alleging that she was involved in the death of her husband eight years ago at their mansion in Sacramento.

Little did Lucien expect that this woman would be so easily provoked. He didn't mean to make her admit everything that happened so quickly. Especially with someone he just met today, it's as if he doesn't care what will happen to him anymore.

"Why are you telling me about that? Do you think I'm a cop who wants to catch you?"

"The police, the cartels or my husband's friends, I don't care anymore. Everyone I meet just wants to hear that story from me. There's no point in pretending I don't know anything. Jerry is dead, to this day I can still feel the anger and grudge he has for me. Fransiska, Darren and Kevin, our children have never been able to forgive me, they call me a demonic woman who killed their beloved father for an evil man named Reymond. Their lives was destroyed and I am the cause. I understand why they hate me so much, because I deserve to get a very severe punishment."

Lucien was starting to not know the right way to respond to the story this woman was telling. He got all the information he needed without having to force this woman to tell and admit what she had done. Her resigned attitude actually made Lucien start to feel sorry for her. He felt the truth of the story this woman told, the mental pressure and regret that was very strong filled his soul. He did not do all that because of his own will, but because of coercion from someone.

"If you feel you deserve a harsh sentence, why don't you tell the police and confess everything?"

***