Chapter Eight of Ruthless
It's not over Tacha.

"Who the hell arranged my room!" Kate stormed down the stairs, looking annoyed as hell. "I'm talking to you guys or are you all deaf or dumb! Are you guys not there?"

Tacha and the rest came out of their room so quickly. They were instructed not to serve dinner yet because the guest both Mr and Mrs Brown were waiting to receive haven't arrived. More like Nathan haven't arrived. Even Mr. Brown was yet to come back downstairs since he went up.

Tacha stepped forward raising her hand. "I did." She announced. She was in charge of taking care of Kate's room for the day and she was sure Kate knew. Why was she pretending? When Kate knew it was Tacha who was taking care of her room, she had instructed her to wash all her dirty clothes, including the ones that were not dirty. She instructed her to wash her new bedsheet she only used once. Including her bags. Clean the whole of her room and even useless work like washing all her sneakers.

When Fola, Halima and Mummy K heard what Kate instructed Tacha to do, they were not in any position to tell Kate the work of clothes belonged to the family laundry man. There was also someone in charge of washing the family sneakers, sandals, slippers and every other footwear. Their work was just to make sure the whole house is clean and protected from dust, washed and free of stain, then assist Mummy K in the kitchen to cook. As simple as it sounded, it was an hectic job for them all. Whatever made Kate acted in such way at Tacha. it could only mean one thing. Kate doesn't like Tacha.

"So you decided not to answer me or what?" Kate said, eyeing Tacha so angrily for not trembling at her presence like the rest, or asking her for forgiveness immediately. Instead, Tacha stared at Kate saying nothing. They stared at each other and it pissed Kate the more. She hated people acting like they were something when they were nothing, but a nobody. She eyed Tacha, not hiding the disrespect in her eyes. Tacha tried not to be offended but remained calm and quiet. She was tired and the reason had been for working so tirelessly throughout the day to carry out all the activities Kate gave her. Halima tapped Tacha from behind to say something, but sincerely, Tacha just didn't know what to say. They were all inside and Kate didn't mention a particular name but called out everyone until she asked them a question.

Kate chuckled, her face turning into a disgusting look towards Tacha. She clapped her hands. "Seriously! Who do you think you are to look at me like that? Oh, because you are a graduate and the rest are not! Or you think they didn't go to school at all that's why they are so respectful."

Kate moved closer. She did again, and suddenly, her hand went up too quickly, landing on Tacha's face. So fierce. She hit Tacha without a single remorse on her face. The rest of them gasped and that made Kate happy, for humiliating Tacha in the presence of everyone. Tacha's eyes were instantly red. Her cheek as red as a tomato paste but uninviting. Tacha bit her lower lip to suck in her breath, the shame and the pain Kate made her feel just by the slap. She was in no position to get angry, so she remained quiet, holding the pain she felt just inside of her like the rest of the maids would have done. Tacha was closed to tears, but held it in for as long as she could, cause crying before this girl would be a shameful experience for her. How the hell has this girl grown up so rude and bitter!

"I know you are full of yourself the moment I saw you." Kate started, eyeing Tacha, not bothering to hide her feelings for her. "You are always acting like the head of the maids as if this is a white collar job and you are the manager. Follow me and see what you've done. Including you guys cause you people will say Kate has started." Kate instructed, cat walking in her night dress as they all followed behind her.

Tacha sighed as she followed Kate, delaying her steps to meet up with Kate. Mary came beside Tacha and held her hand. That alone comforted Tacha and brought a little smile down to her face to cover up the tears building up in her eyes. 'Just for a while Tacha. You are getting out of this place soon. She's just another rich girl blinded by her parents wealth.' Tacha said to herself, reminding herself what brought her to the Brown's mansion.

"Have you all seen it!" Kate pointed at the dried clothes the moment they walked in. Indeed, Tacha had dropped them on the bed to attend to something else. Kate stared at the rest. "Is she expecting me to fold them myself, or what kind of disrespect is that? Hmm." She turned her gaze to Tacha who responded immediately.

"I was going to fold them Kate."

That statement resurrected some unimaginable looks as six eye balls became huge behind Tacha.

For about one second, everyone remained silent seeing Kate's reaction which was not good.

Definitely scary.

Fola and Halima were surprised by Tacha's boldness. To avoid calling her Lady Kate, Halima would call her ma, and use ma for her in all circumstances. She wasn't any princess or related to any royal family, why putting Lady behind her back as if she was family to Queen Elizabeth of England. But Tacha had called her by her name, which was only done by Mummy K, her brothers, including Mr and Mrs. Brown.

This made Kate angry and they all saw it. They all knew she loved getting special treatment.

"Whao! Did you just call me Kate?" Kate asked in disbelief. Her brows shot up, her expression emitting anger as her innocent looking face covered in a frown, staring at Tacha.

Tacha sighed, trying not to cry as she said her mind. "I'm just trying to explain the situation of things Kate. What else do you want me to call you?I was just---"

"Quiet!" Kate yelled. "Fola my wire! I want the black one. Now!" Kate screamed, pacing her room all her by herself. "You," she pointed at Tacha. "I will show you I'm not your mate.You can be few years older than me, but in this house, you will respect me. Kneel!" She yelled.

Tacha couldn't believe her ears. Her eyes were filled with tears that could pour anytime soon. She was being humiliated for nothing. She had not intentionally left the clothes. She was going to come back from them after--

"Kneel!"  The long black rubber landed at the back of Tacha's leg. Kate hit her again as hard as she could. She did again, again and again till Tacha went on her knees. She never said she wasn't going to kneel, but someone like Kate hitting her made her so angry. Tacha could no longer hold her tears. They rolled down slowly, forcing herself not to cry out so as to hold the rest to herself. Kate kept on hitting her leg. "Respect me! Respect me! Respect me you idiot." Kate said, breathing heavily as she hit Tacha again and again.

The door opened wide with force. "Kate!"

Tacha's heart ceased beating at the voice. Just with one word, she could tell who the owner was, and it made her heart jumped.

Fola and Halima's eyes came out wide at who stood at the door. Kate didn't respond still, instead, she hit Tacha's back with more force. She was insane at Tacha for not pleading. She was mad at Tacha for not crawling to the ground and ask her to forgive her like the rest. She hated Tacha for acting like the strokes she was giving her weren't painful. Tacha wasn't crying out loud and it pissed her off. She switched to hit Tacha's back again and again as poor Tacha covered her face in shame of being seen as she cried, yet so quietly that no one could hear her voice, enduring the pain that made her feel so little and powerless. 'I'm a graduate God. How can I be going through something this cruel.'

"I said stop!"

Tacha recognised the voice so well and somehow his voice triggered her tears. Tacha finally cried out, and carefully, her body was shaking as Mary ran closer to her, hugging her. But Tacha refused her. Tacha knew it could get Kate angry the more and she wouldn't want Mary to go through what she just experienced. She moved away from Mary, still on her kneel as she was not been instructed to stand up yet. She bowed her head trying not to be seen by the man who made her heart jump in fear.

Nathan held the rubber in Kate's hand, gripping the mouth. After the stroke she wanted to give Tacha landed on her brother's hand,Kate looked up at who held the long rubber, and with fear in her eyes, she dropped it very quickly. It was her brother. Offending Nathan would cost her a lot, but realising she just hit her own brother, her hands went up to her opened mouth. "Oh my God! Bro... I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to--"

"Just shut up! Shut your dirty mouth up!" Nathan yelled at her. "How many times have I told you to stop hitting these maids? Don't spoil their skin for heaven sake. What is wrong with you? Are they slaves Kate? Now give me my credit card. Why the hell are you spending three million naira in a day? What are you buying? For what?"

"No... I'm...I bought.." Kate stammered, trying to defend herself, her head shaking vigorously. "I was just trying to scare her."

Nathan stared at his sister in disbelief. Scare who with that! He heard the strokes he was giving to the maid downstairs with their mum. Kate's voice was so loud that he could hear respect me like it was programmed in Kate's mouth. Nathan looked down at the back of the leg which was extremely red and swollen, he looked up and slowly moved forward to look at the maid. From behind, she was familiar, her curves was the first thing that he found so similar to the image that popped in his mind. "Get up." He demanded. "And look up."

Tacha swallowed her tears and slowly stood to her feet, an excruciating pain gripping her leg that made her want to cry even more, but definitely not in front of Nathan who will mock her. Not in front of Nathan after subjecting her to a nobody, and at the moment, she knew her place. She lost her sef esteem, consumed with shame, and almost forcing tears out of her eyes to console herself. Tacha had to summon courage and obeyed, looking up at Nathan with her teary eyes, her whole face covered in extreme pain.

Nathan was obviously shocked after a long time in his life. "Tacha." He whispered out a little, his voice a little bit comforting and soothing to the ears, but Tacha couldn't agree to it. Nathan raised his brows to question Tacha who only stared back at him with no response. He might have wanted to make life hard for Tacha, but not his sister hitting her. Not his own sister being disrespectful. He seemed affected even when he didn't want to make others think he was. He decided to speak when Tacha wasn't answering to his body language. "What are you doing here?"

Everyone in the room seemed to have lost their voices, as they kept mute like they were dead and dumb. Everything in their head was to know what the hell was going on?

"Tacha. I'm talking to you."

For no reason, Tacha flared up. Tacha's anger instantly arose. She stared at Nathan, her heart beating very fast. Tacha wanted to slap his face. Why the hell was he acting like he cared. 'I wouldn't even be in this position if not for you'. She wanted to hit him so hard. Tacha just wanted to pour her anger on him. Why acting so nice as if the two were different from each other. Like brother, like sister, like father, like mother. Tacha understood it runs in the family. The Brown's family were despicable. Wicked. Bitter. Sick, and Dangerous. But no one dare to go against them because they were powerful. One of the wealthiest family in the country. Everyone must have thought were human. They were animals! And no one dare to report their evil deeds. Everything they did had to be accepted as normal. Tacha was going crazy and for all the reasons she could think of, she was insanely mad at Nathan.

She stared at Nathan, her eyes burning into his with the pain, anger, tears in her eyes as her chest went up and down. Nathan looked away from her.

"You see," Kate quickly said. "Brother Nathan, she's so full of herself. How dare her look at you that way."

"Just keep quiet." Nathan shunned his sister, surprising everyone with his reaction. Nathan was mad that his sister and he wasn't hiding it either.  The moment his voice was as hard as their father, Kate knew it meant trouble. "Look here girl, I will not repeat myself again, so listen!" He said a bit loudly, his veins popping out. "If you dare touch her again as if she's a slave...you know what your brother can do." Nathan warned Kate, bringing his voice down. "I'm seizing my credit card for now. Apologize to her now before I leave the room."

Tacha scoffed at Nathan. Who was he to tell someone to apologize to her. "Spare me Nathan." Tacha faced him with the tears in her eyes, shocking everyone in the room. Tacha didn't care. Even if she was scared of Nathan some particular days, sometimes she wasn't. "What's all this attitude for? Asking her to tell me sorry when you are doing just the same thing as her to me. I'm in this mess because of you. How do you think I was going to pay back the money you wanted without a job? Please I do not want anymore trouble from you." Tacha swallowed her tears. "So please leave Kate out of this. I deserve the punishment and I'm not complaining. If this is how you people treat your maids, I can handle it for a while." Tacha turned her gaze to Kate as she went on her knees again. "Please I'm really sorry Kate. Thank you for making me realise my mistake so that it wouldn't occur anymore. I plead if your brother has made you angry by trying to side with me. Please instruct me and I would do so."

"What the fuck! Get up now!" Nathan was so pissed. Why it was so hard watching Tacha knelt down before his sister was something he couldn't understand. Seeing those fresh scars behind her legs made him stare at Kate in fury. The pain in Tacha's eyes, and the fact that she disobeyed him made him want to walk out of the place. But Nathan knew Kate so well. Kate would hit Tacha again and again if she left her there. His sister can be so stupid at times because of all the privileges she had.

If Kate was boiling with anger earlier, she became soften by Tacha's reaction, a little bit happy but decided not to smile because of her brother who could pounce on her any moment if she doesn't make Tacha get up. Kate looked at her brother and looked at Tacha. Her brother had warned her about beating up maids truly, but not to the extent of being obviously angry at it. Her brother had taken Tacha's side but with pride, she had rejected it. Nobody! Kate thought. Nobody would ever dare to speak to her brother that way. Why was she different? Kate was curious to know what was going on. She was as curious as a rat who could smell food from distance.

"I'm so sorry." Kate said, making sure his brother who had refused to go hear her so well. "I'm sorry I did that to you." Kate faked her compassion for Tacha because she wouldn't have done it if not for her brother. "I will have you see a doctor by tomorrow to quickly take care of your body. Please I'm sorry. You can stand to your feet."

Tacha looked up to see if the whole words were real. A small smile on Kate's face soften Tacha's heart and made Tacha truly believe Kate was sincere and being nice to her, not knowing Kate was only making fun of her angry brother whom for a while spoke differently in the room, surprising them all.

Tacha sighed with relief when she found out Kate wasn't angry anymore. The little time she was going to spend inside the Brown's mansion, she really wanted to avoid troubles and get the hell out. Tacha got up, tried her best not to look at Nathan as she walked lamely, limping till she got out the room.

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Hey hey 😄 Yewande we didn't see an update yesterday, please don't start o 🤣
Sorry guys, I slept off because I was too tired and decided to release the chapter this morning. I hope you enjoyed it 😚😚

It's time to guess 😄 So guys....

What do you have to say?
Why do you think Nathan stood up for Tacha?
Why do you think Tacha refused to accept his help?
HAVE YOU SHARED RUTHLESS WITH ANYONE, WHAT ARE THEY SAYING ABOUT IT?

Have a beautiful Sunday 😚
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