7
i met his gaze calmly, my eyes holding a chilling, glacial indifference.
“From: the very first moment you approached me, your intentions were purely transactional, solely for exploitation. I, in my naivete, believed I had found true love, yet
I had unknowingly stumbled into a wolf’s den.”
“It’s true I’ve spent a considerable amount of your money these past two years,” I conceded, my voice flat, “but get this straight: you deceived me first. My body was shattered, ravaged, by your relentless demands. We are, and have always been, utterly even. I owe you nothing, and you owe me nothing!”
“As for Grandma’s medical bills,” I continued, a cold clarity in my voice, “I haven’t used a dime of your money for them in over a year. So go ahead, cut off the funds
if you wish. Just stop hounding me!”
Since my rebirth, my every waking moment had been consumed with meticulously planning my escape from the Sterling family’s suffocating abyss.
The Sterlings possessed immense wealth, and Brandon, to his credit, had been relatively generous with me.
So I funneled a portion of those funds into Grandma’s ongoing medical expenses.
Another portion I transferred to my parents and my six brothers, instructing them to strategically invest it–to buy up stocks, bonds, and company shares that, in my past life, had brought in astronomical returns.
My aim wasn’t to accumulate enough wealth to directly confront the Sterling family, but rather to ensure that Grandma’s future surgeries and treatments would be perfectly covered, her well–being secured
But, to my pleasant surprise.
The returns from those investments had not only fully covered all of Grandma’s medical expenses but also left me with enough surplus to repay every single cent the Sterling family had ever given me
Thus, for the past year, I hadn’t touched Brandon’s credit cards, hadn’t relied on his funds at all.
He, however, too immersed in his endless parade of fleeting romances, hadn’t even noticed, utterly obliviou
Chapter 2
I retrieved a pre–written check from my pocket, extending it towards Brandon.
1214
“From this moment forward,” I declared, my voice firm and unwavering, “our paths diverge. You can make it official with anyone you please. Just never, ever, bother
me again!”
But he remained rooted to the spot, refusing to move.
With no other choice, I unveiled my final, devastating card.
1 unlocked my phone and, with a flick of my thumb, brought up the surveillance video–the undeniable evidence of Brandon and Serena’s illicit affair, their bodies
tangled in a blatant, fervent display of passion.
The onlookers, who had been silently enjoying the unfolding drama, now flushed a deep, embarrassed red.
Everyone present began to whisper, their condemnations swift and merciless: Brandon, a rotting philanderer, Serena, utterly shameless.
Brandon stood frozen, rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with stunned disbelief, sheer shock etched across his face.
“When… when did you install surveillance cameras in my house behind my back?!” he stammered, his voice hoarse with incredulity.
I kicked him aside, a swift, brutal shove that sent him stumbling.
“What, Mr. Sterling?” I scoffed, a sneer twisting my lips. “Are you refusing to admit it? And this is just a snippet of your sordid affair! If I were to release the videos of your rampant womanizing outside, you wouldn’t have a shred of reputation left!”
The thought of Brandon returning home every night, reeking of cheap perfume, made my stomach churn, a relentless wave of nausea washing over me.
In a surge of pure, visceral disgust, I spat directly onto Brandon’s face, a sharp, defiant act.
Serena, witnessing the explosive video on my phone, unexpectedly swelled with a twisted sense of triumph, her lips curling into a smug, victorious grin.
She eagerly tugged on Brandon’s sleeve, then, with an air of arrogant superiority, gazed at me, her eyes brimming with a malicious delight.
As if snatching something precious from me brought her an exquisite, unparalleled joy.
“Brandon, darling,” she purred, her voice dripping with possessiveness, “our bodies are so perfectly compatible, aren’t they? Believe me, I can definitely conceive your
child again!”
“You promised you would marry me! You can’t go back on your word now!” she shrieked, her voice rising in frantic desperation.
Hearing her words, I merely offered a mocking smile, a thin, derisive twist of my lips.
I couldn’t fathom why she harbored such absolute conviction that Brandon would actually marry her.
He was a man selfish to his very core, yet she truly believed that by snatching him away, she could inflict genuine pain upon me, that she could somehow wound
- me.
A pity. I had long since ceased to care.
I had no desire to witness their sordid squabble, their frantic scramble for scraps. I was about to turn and walk away.
But then, a collective gasp echoed from behind me, a sudden, sharp cry of horror.
Brandon, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, shoved Serena to the ground. Then, with a chilling brutality, he lifted his foot and mercilessly delivered several vicious kicks directly to her mountain–sized abdomen.
His mouth spewed curses, a torrent of vile words.
“You bitch!” he roared, his face contorted in a mask of pure fury. “You ruined everything for me, and you still dare to cling to me? I’ll beat you to death! I’ll kill you!” Serena initially shrieked, whimpering for him to stop, but after enduring several more brutal kicks from Brandon, blood began to gush from beneath her, a relentless, unstoppable flow.
And her grotesquely swollen abdomen, already stretched to its absolute limit, now ominously showed terrifying signs of imminent rupture.
Everyone present was utterly terrified. They rushed forward, frantically pulling Brandon away, while some dialed 911, and others frantically called for an ambulance. This grim spectacle, however, was no longer any concern of mine. My parents and my six brothers had already arrived at the County Clerk’s office, waiting to retrieve me, to sweep me away from this chaotic scene.
They enveloped me in their tight, protective embrace
“My darling girl,” they whispered, their voices choked with relief and love, “it’s all over now. It’s all in the past. Come home with us.”
I walked with my parents and brothers, back to the home I had so dearly missed, and shared a joyous reunion dinner with Grandma, a warmth spreading through me that no wealth could buy
Later, I heard that Serena Hayes, after being rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, had barely clung to life
Not a single one of the twenty fetuses in her womb survived
Hand bagong this devastating news, she became completely unhinged, wailing hysterically, demanding Brandon Sterling compensate her for her loss, for her suffer
Upon hearing this devastating news, she became completely unhinged, wailing hysterically, demanding Brandon Sterling compensate her for her loss, for her suffer- ing.
Alas, Brandon had been arrested for assaulting a pregnant woman and was now held in police custody.
And Brandon’s parents? They wouldn’t even spare Serena Hayes a single glance, utterly abandoning her to her fate.
Later, wanting to add fuel to their self–immolating fire, I immediately submitted the information I knew from my past life to the police department.
In my past life, a significant reason Serena Hayes had sought my demise was because had uncovered the full, horrifying truth behind the death of her former hus- band, the seventy–year–old man she had married.
After Serena conceived Brandon’s child, she frantically sought to disentangle herself from the old man, relentlessly demanding a divorce.
But the old man, having finally married Serena and experienced the unexpected joy of late-life fatherhood, was hardly going to agree so easily.
So Serena, ruthless and cunning, took matters into her own hands: she murdered him outright, severing all ties, ensuring no future complications, and seizing his entire fortune.
Only after the old man was dead and gone did she feel secure enough to openly carry on her affair with Brandon Sterling.
At the time, having been brutally cast out by Brandon, I was utterly oblivious to Serena’s dark machinations behind the scenes. Naively, I even spent an unsuspecting night at her house.
It was then that I stumbled upon the poison she kept hidden in her cabinet, a fatal discovery that sealed my fate and led to her targeting me for death.
In this life, her pregnancy had occurred earlier, and the old man had met his grim fate sooner. I meticulously gathered all the necessary evidence in secret before finally submitting it to the police.
Consequently, Serena Hayes was later convicted of murder for financial gain and sentenced to death.
As for Brandon Sterling, he was sentenced to one year in prison for assaulting a pregnant woman. Upon his release, his reputation was utterly ruined, and he couldn‘ t even hold onto his family’s vast fortune.
Ultimately, he went bankrupt and, in a final act of desperation, leaped into the river, ending his life.
And at last, embraced a radiant, beautiful future, one entirely of my own making.
[The End]
