Page 11 of The Moral Dilemma

They’d been discussing a way to put an end to the wretched tradition of the hacienda for good, which not only included getting rid of Sergio, but also of the ideology he had sown.

The problem was that they were only two women facing an entire region of people with deeply entrenched beliefs. Though Noelle had managed to procure some power for herself, she’d quickly realized it wasn’t enough to kill Sergio—not without forfeiting her own life, too. As such, because of the precariousness of the situation, the circumstances of his death must be perfect—perfectly accidental.

Noelle had plenty of opportunities in the past to kill him, but she knew a sly bastard like him would have prepared for such an eventuality—had even said so himself once when she’d threatened him. Whether it was a bluff or not, Noelle didn’t want to take any chances—especially since it wasn’t only her life at stake. There was also Lucero and her darling Rafaelo that she had to consider and care for. And aside from that, there were also the other nameless victims—the women Sergio still exploited, both in his business and for his rituals.

The countless women he sold or gifted to his associates, all under the pretense of a godly prerogative. There were those children that were exploited and abused. And while Noelle didn’t particularly care aboutothers, she knew her Blue would—and he would expect nothing less from her.

Alas, maybe she didn’t share his humanitarian views—not after what she’d been through and what little faith she still had in humanity. But she did care abouthisopinion of her, and his happiness. Therefore, she knew she needed to act within some bounds that allowed her to exercise her power, but that also limited her from being too cruel with it.

It was one thing to act like a cruel bitch in an attempt to protect him, it was quite another for him to realize she’dbeena cruel bitch all along—a fact which she was sure he would never be able to accept.

As such, Noelle needed to act withinhismoral boundaries, and think as he would. After all, she wanted his admiration and love, never his scorn.

She might disagree with the teachings of the Good Samaritan, but Rafaelo didn’t. That was all she needed to know going forward.

“What are you doing?” Lucero called out, frowning as she saw Noelle take off her dress and put on a pair of trousers and a shirt. “Where are you going?” She paused. “Please don’t do anything stupid…”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to Rafaelo. Even though it physically hurts knowing what he’s being subjected to, I know I can’t take any risks. I’m simply going to teach Sergio a small lesson.” She smiled, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“What? What are you talking about? I thought you wanted to plan things out, not act impulsively.”

“Oh, trust me, I’m not acting impulsively. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” she chuckled. “It seems Sergio still doesn’t understand that if he’s bad, I can be worse.”

“Noelle? What the hell are you going to do?” Lucero followed as Noelle went to her closet to rummage through her weapon collection.

“Sergio thinks he’s the only one who can be cruel. He still believes I’m scared of him, and that must change.”

“Don’t do anything stupid. You know you can’t kill him. Not yet at least,” Lucero hissed.

“Don’t I know it,” Noelle muttered. “I won’t kill him. I’ll merely show him I can be a worthy opponent,” she said as she pulled out a few knives. “This should ensure that he’ll never dare to try something like that again.”

Was Noelle thinking things through? Maybe. Maybe not. After all, the image of Rafaelo bleeding was forever imprinted on her retina, made even worse by the fact that she’d been the one tomakehim bleed. She only knew that her beloved had been hurt, and she needed to return that pain tenfold. The rest… The rest could go to hell.

“You’re being impulsive,” Lucero continued, but her voice echoed in the hall, since Noelle was already out of her apartment, striding down the hallway to the dining room.

No, she was being crazy. But she was being insane with rage, hurt and a need to show Sergio she was worse than the rumors being whispered about her at the hacienda.

And she had a few hours to prepare a surprise for Sergio—one to tip the scales of the disastrous banquet.

By the time she was done, Noelle was pretty satisfied with how everything had ended up. She was just waiting for the guest of honor, who should be arriving just about… now.

The door creaked open as Sergio stepped inside the dining room.

Noelle had asked a servant to call him over, claiming she had something urgent to talk to him about over dinner.

“What the fuck…” he jumped back, his voice going up a notch.

Noelle dug her heels into the floor as she moved the chair around so she could face him.

“I couldn’t let you dine alone tonight, husband,” she smiled sweetly. “You don’t usually cut your banquets short, so I wanted to make sure everything was all right with you.”

“What the fuck did you do…” he muttered as he took a step. Then another. He walked carefully around the carnage, his eyes wide as he saw the walls splayed with blood, the floor wholly stained red.

“You don’t like it? I thought it would be right up your alley.” Noelle batted her lashes at him.

“Cristopher,” Sergio muttered in disbelief as he stopped by the dinner table, his hand hovering in the air over the corpse of one of his most trusted men. “Mario…” He blinked as he studied the man in the seat opposite. “What the hell did you do, Noelle?”

Both men were leaning against their chairs, their throats slit as blood still poured from their wounds. Their eyes were still open and vacant with the absence of life.

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