Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 415: Having The Upper Hand

Chapter 415: Having The Upper Hand

Grandpa knew your mother was lying and that’s why he threw you out!

Talia didn’t believe that part of his story. She saw pure, unadulterated hate in Ralph’s eyes, but that was not the thing that concerned her.

She could feel his hand rubbing on her body and she couldn’t get why he liked to get her naked and touch her. She was screaming internally, but she wanted to stop him from doing it.

Is it because I don’t like it? Or is it because his mother was violated, he got twisted and he wants to inflict that same pain on me?

He touched her but she felt like he didn’t enjoy doing so. And as far as she can tell, there wasn’t even a single scratch mark on her body.

"Am I your cousin?" she asked bearing the pain she felt as he pinched her abdomen.

The moment she said it, his hands left her abdomen. Pulling down the tunic to cover her, he got up. Talia understood that this guy actually believes that she is his cousin and knows in the corner of his heart that what he does is wrong.

But why do something he himself is not comfortable doing? He can use other methods to inflict pain on me.

"Our mums were sisters?" She decided to talk more.

She was hoping that there will be helicopters searching around the area by now if they had tracked her location. But she heard nothing except the chirping of insects and sounds of some wild animals. She even heard the roar of a lion distinctly.

She figured they haven’t tracked her yet, but she wanted to escape. She wanted to survive; to get back in Fred’s arms.

"Not sisters, cousins," Ralph’s tone has become soft.

And now Talia was more confused. But she was not actually caring for the story, and tried to figure out the stuff lying around. If she wants to escape, she’ll need to make sure Ralph is immobilised.

There is the camera and the tripod. Hitting him hard in the head might make him faint. Or the good old kick to the nuts... That would stun any man without fail and it would be much easier to achieve. And the handgun...Talia was sure Ralph picked up the magazine and the gun with him before they left.

The much perfect way is to make sure he is dead before trying to escape. She wasn’t sure where she was and it would be prudent to wait till sunrise to get out of this cave.

"My mother was Jerald Brunton’s daughter."

Ralph’s declaration gave Talia a shock so great she forgot about everything else for a second.

Jerald Brunton’s daughter? The one my grandpa considered as his own brother? The one who went to war on my grandpa’s behalf? And grandpa refused to acknowledge his daughter? He even threw her out and closed the door on her?

"My grandmother met him when he was stationed at the southern border and that’s when they fell in love. He died and my grandmother having no other way left my mother at an orphanage." Ralph continued.

Talia was stunned, but then she still didn’t believe Ralph could be a Brunton. She believed her grandpa and also she already could see a lot of holes in his claims.

It’s all claims of word of mouth. Also she didn’t believe someone raised as a Brunton wouldn’t have the common courtesy to write home about the ’lover’ he met, if he loved her enough to sleep with her. He definitely would have at least left a souvenir with her in case something happens to him as most people who get drafted do.

But her grandpa’s heartless behaviour did bring her some doubts.

Surely DNA testing is a viable option. But it would be tricky since her granduncle had no other descendents and he was only a distant cousin to her grandpa. But she couldn’t guess why her grandpa refused to exhume her granduncle to do the test, to give this thing a rest.

"He didn’t even listen to my mum!" Ralph gritted his teeth and clutched Talia’s throat and she felt her windpipe close.

"Your lovely grandpa – the one lauded as a Saint walking on earth! The moment my mum said my grandpa’s name, he exploded. ’A whore’s child can never be a Brunton’! Those were his exact words before he threw us away. He even let out the dogs to chase us out!"

Talia felt her chest getting heavy with the lack of oxygen and she almost lost consciousness. She grabbed his hand and struggled to get out of his grip, but he was holding her with an iron grip. Only after seeing her face going blue, he let go of her throat.

Talia bowed down and ended up on a coughing fit holding her throat. Her energy she decided to save got spent on coughing. Her chest felt like there was an anvil resting on it.

"Do you know why I hate you, Brunton?" He grabbed the hair at the back of her head and made her look at his eyes. "After pushing us away, I was forced to watch how ’Caring’ and ’Loving’ that joker Jerome was for his granddaughter. Every year on my granddad’s anniversary, there will be an entire page of remembrance ad in every newspaper in the country. All of that was a facade to hide how jealous he was about my granddad...."

He shouted and pulled her hair and Talia felt unable to do anything. She was never treated this way before and she didn’t know holding by the hair might hurt this much. She tried to grab his hand and that seemed to have provoked him more and he grabbed her hair tightly.

His strength was not comparable to Talia’s and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get herself freed.

Then as if he had an idea, he let go of her. He held her hand by the wrist and turned it around to look. "Look at the hands of this Princess! Her grandpa actually padded a large part of the house to not let her knees harden when she started to crawl and she has never worked hard a day in her life!" he smirked as his grip on her wrists tightened.

Talia thought her wrists would break but suddenly he let go of her. Pushing her on the floor, he brought the basin that he said her ring was.

With great difficulty, Talia got up. The texture of the floor of the cave contained sharp edges and the flimsy layer of cloth she was wearing protected nothing. She ended up having scratches in her bottom and the palm of her hands.

"Do you want your ring? Get it!" he placed the basin in front of Talia and squatted in front of her.

She saw him holding something metallic in his hand and upon closer look she figured that it was indeed her handgun. She almost had lost all hope that someone might be searching for her.

I have to escape!

Talia looked in the basin and he was not lying when he said that he buried the ring in a pile of shit. The basin was really filled with some poop that stank.

Ralph, who was emotional some time before, turned back to his usual maniac self and started to chuckle.

By now Talia guessed what Ralph wants. He wants to humiliate her. By humiliating her, he will humiliate her grandfather and can hurt him deeply at the same time.

The world knows her as an impeccable lady, but he wants to show her as a filthy person. In the past or now, he wants to get back at her grandpa by humiliating her.

Just like he suffered seeing the pain of his mother, he wants her grandpa to suffer seeing her pain.

And that is why he poured piss on her, got her naked and touched her inappropriately, and now he wants her to dig her hand in literal crap - all the while recording everything.

Now she has two choices – to play along his game or to refuse playing.

"I can choose not to get the ring, right? After all it is just a ring and only worth some millions," Talia decided to refuse to play his game.

She was already feeling sour all over her body, smelled like pee and there were many scratches on her body that stung. She didn’t want to add one more scent to her body.

She wanted to escape this place but on the off-chance she doesn’t survive, she didn’t want there to be videos of her digging her hand in crap, willingly.

She wanted that ring back. She was surprised how she is willing to search for the ring in the basin without second thoughts. If only it was some other situation, she’d have searched for the ring without reservations. But now, she doubted if the ring is even there.

Ralph was stunned for a moment and that surprised Talia.

Does he believe in my love that much?

"Get it!" he pointed the gun to her face and Talia really got happy seeing him stumble as his plan failing.

"No!" Talia shook her head. "Have you read the story ’The Princess and the pea’? I too am a Princess, you see." She cocked her head haughtily. "And I don’t even love Arthur that much."

She wished he discharged the weapon. Then the sound may alert someone.

Ralph’s hand trembled out of anger.

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