"Goddamn Ben...!" said Joanna without being able to finish her words because her mother, after hearing Ben Madoff's account, became upset and scolded her.
"But Joanna! How dare you act like that? Where did you get those bad habits? That's not how I raised you. Alright, you saved Ben from trouble or even death, however you should not force him to commit to marry you or to pay you such a large sum of money. A million dollars is exaggerated, isn't it?" Cecilia hammered furiously at her daughter without even seeking to hear her account of the story.
Ben Madoff was rubbing his hands, delighted that Cecilia was madly yelling at her daughter. However, given her poor health condition, it was not good for her to shout. Joanna, aware of this, pretended to recognize her mistake and apologize.
"Mom, you are right and I'm sorry. Please, don't get carried away with anger! You know you should avoid getting angry in your current physical condition. But pay me a careful ear. The truth is I never forced him to do anything for me. In pain, he in first place begged me to come to his aid and that he would reward me with the sum of one million dollars. However, the next day, feeling even more indebted to me for what happened last night, he offered to choose between money or marriage with him," she explained.
"I'm sorry! What happened during the night?" Cecilia interrogated with a mighty tone of voice . She stood up on the bed and stretched out her ears.
She had suspicions about what might have happened in the twilight of her beloved daughter's meeting with chairman Madoff.
After all, she had had a similar experience with Mrs. Goldberg's husband who, having been unable to convince her to have consensual intercourse, took her by force, and then at the end of his crime promised to marry her so that she would not reveal anything to the external world. In the end, she fell pregnant with Joanna and was abandoned. Indeed she was just a mistress and nothing more, precisely a woman without rights with a bastard child to take care of.
To prevent her daughter from repeating the same mistakes she had made, she never stopped telling her when she was still a little girl to be wary of wealthy men because they very often use their money and their power to get what they want. They don't know the answer No.
Moreover, she signed up Joanna in an abused women association where she was taught how to defend herself against violent men and rapists.
But now that her daughter Joanna had fallen into the same trap as her despite the warnings she had given her, Cecilia was slaughtered with sorrow. She panicked and everything in front of her became unclear. Then like a falling leaf, she dropped herself on the bed.
"Mommy!" cried Joanna before trying to help her mother.
Cecilia held her sole daughter's right hand in disgust as big tears began to roll down her jaw.
"Don't call me again! I can't believe you are my daughter because if you really are, you can display such a dishonorable attitude. Get the hell out of here now! I don't want to see you for a good while," Cecilia said harshly to Joanna's address.
"But Mom...," Joanna responds sadly, heartbroken and buttocks glued to her seat. She was paralyzed for a moment.
"Why are you still here? Do you want to see me faint before you leave, is it it?" asked Cecilia in tears, her voice cracking.
Joanna didn't dare to stay. She was afraid that her mother would lose consciousness again because of the emotional shock. So, reluctantly, she got up from the stool, took two steps back, and dragged Ben Madoff out of the room with her.
After carefully closing the door, she grabbed the tycoon's arm and took him to the end of the corridor, far from Cecilia's room. It was then that the pile of anger she had accumulated at the bottom of her finally came out.
"Have you gone crazy? Why did you come here? What did I tell before leaving the office? Was it not that I was coming back after seeing and getting my mom's blessings? If you were in too much of a hurry to see me again, you could have just called me on the phone. Was it really necessary to come here and embarrassed me in front of my mother? And tell her all these rubbish that ended up worsening her state?" Joanna asked the chairman of Madinvestment, who remained tight-lipped.
The latter felt bad in his skin because in fact, he just wanted to tease Joanna a little bit. He never intended to harm the latter's sick mother Cecilia. He was as surprised as his bride to see her have a tamper tantrum. So he tried to redeem himself from Joanna but she did not give him the chance to do so.
TCHOUK! The sound of the blow she gave to the mogul's belly.
"Aïe it hurts! Why did you do that? Are you out of your senses?" Ben Madoff reacted angrily.