Doyle glared at me with bloodshot eyes and shouted, "Bastard! If you insult my wife again, I’ll beat the crap out of you. You hear me? I’ll keep hitting you until you learn your place.”
One of the officers turned to me with a stern expression and asked, "Are you the one who filed the report?"
With a blank face, I nodded. "Yes, Officer. Last night, Doyle broke two of my ribs and knocked out a tooth. Today, he came back to the hospital and assaulted me again. Please investigate this seriously.”
The police officer looked at Doyle and asked, "Mr. Bell, how do you respond to this accusation?”
Doyle stood tall and answered defiantly “Yeah, I hit him. And I’d do it again. He insulted my wife. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t defend her?”
The officer checked the medical report and said in a serious tone, “You do realize you’ve caused serious injuries. If this case goes to court and he presses charges, you could be facing five years in prison. I suggest you apologize and try to settle this privately.”
When he heard that he might face five years in prison, his face changed but Doyle still said sternly, “He’s just a weak man that can’t take a punch. That’s not my fault.”
Seeing this, Laura interfered and stepped in front of me. She said, "Antonio, you do know that Doyle is still a young man. Do you know young men are hot-blooded and easy to rile up? Let's be honest here … you did say some awful things that made him angry.”
“A little temper is a good thing. It's much better than being a spineless man like you. Don’t hold a grudge. How about this … I'll split my time when it's odd days, I stay with you and on even days I'm with him. Is it fair enough?”
I let out a laugh, full of scorn at Laura. Who did she think she was? Was she a queen or a princess? And what did she mean by using odd number thing to stay with me?"
"Laura … do you even hear yourself? Do you think you’re some kind of empress? Are you thinking by tossing out favors like that you're doing me kindness? Do you not feel gross at all, sharing things with some used goods?"
Laura's flushed red with anger and embarrassment. Her finger pointed at me as she yelled, "Antonio! After everything I’ve done for you over the years, this is how you repay me by humiliating me in front of others?”
“Fine. If you want to play hardball, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
She looked me dead in the eye and then said, "One last chance. Will you drop the charges and settle this?”
I met her stare with the same coldness and answered, “No. Doyle needs to be taught a lesson. He owes me that.”
She straightened her posture and spoke through clenched teeth, “Fine. Since you're so heartless, don't blame me when I stop playing nice.”
"It seems, you've gotten too cocky, Antonio. It seems after I gave you a seat at the company for so many years, you thought highly of yourself and can't tolerate others. Even more so, you don’t even listen to me anymore. I need to teach you. I hope you don't regret this, Antonio."
Then after she said that, she turned to the police with a chilling calm and said, "Officer, I’d like to report Antonio Bernadi for rape. He used work as an excuse to force himself on me multiple times.”
