The year James cheated on me, I paid a fortune for the compromising photos and leaked them online. I shattered his reputation. To get back at me, he engineered a way to make me walk away with nothing, and then he delivered his final threat. "As long as I'm in Seacrest City," he’d said, his voice cold as steel, "don't even think about coming back." I was forced out of the country. For five long years, no one in Seacrest remembered that James Vance had an ex-wife named Josephine. All they knew was that the love of his life was a woman named Tessa. But now, staring at the embossed invitation from Seacrest, a slow smile spread across my face. I turned to the man beside me. "How about," I said, my voice a low murmur, "I go in your place?" 1 After all, there are some debts that have to be collected in person. Only then can you truly call it the end. Invitation in hand, I was about to enter the venue when a black Maybach screeched to a halt in front of me, blocking my path. A woman stepped out. "What's this?" she purred, her eyes raking over me. "Are they letting in any stray now?" She laughed, a sharp, unpleasant sound. "Five years. I almost thought you had enough pride to die out there. But I guess," she examined her fiery red nails, "you couldn't make it after all. Crawling back to beg for scraps?" "Josephine." Tessa flung her expensive leather handbag at me. "Why don't you beg me? Just a little. If you beg, I might see if anyone here would even look at you," her gaze traveled up my body, landing on my face with a sneer. "You pathetic—" The word never left her lips. I snatched the bag and slammed it into her face. Then I grabbed a fistful of her hair and smashed her head against the car door. The sickening thud echoed in the quiet street, and a thrill, hot and undeniable, shot through me. My blood was boiling with a vicious excitement. "Tessa," I whispered, leaning close to her ear, "five years ago, you called me Mrs. Vance. You knelt at my feet and begged me to take you in." A humorless laugh escaped my lips. "Did five years make you forget who's the master and who's the dog?" "Or did climbing into James's bed and becoming the laughingstock of the entire internet make you forget what shame feels like?" "In that case," I patted her cheek, the slap echoing softly, "why don't I teach you a lesson?" I yanked her hair back, ready to slam her head against the door again. "You're insane!" Tessa shrieked. A bodyguard lunged forward, grabbing my wrist in a crushing grip. "Who do you think you are!" he bellowed. His fingers dug into my skin, pressing down on the jagged scar that circled my wrist. A sharp pain shot up my arm, and I winced, but my smile only widened. "Five years, and he's managed to train some loyal mutts!" I twisted, throwing a punch that connected squarely with the bodyguard's jaw. As he staggered back, I drove my foot into his groin. He crumpled in pain, and I wrenched the steel baton from his grasp, turning my attention back to Tessa. "Tessa." I hefted the baton, my smile cold and sharp. "I forgot to tell you." I raised the baton high. "Now that I'm back, I have no intention of letting you go." I swung the baton down, the air whistling. I heard Tessa's terrified scream. "Josephine!" "James won't let you get away with this!" "James will kill you!" "James!" The baton was ripped from my hand. Before I could even turn, Tessa’s voice rose to a hysterical, broken wail. "James, save me! James!" "It's been five years!" "Five years, and she still wants to kill me!" "Save me!" The force of the pull sent me stumbling backward into a hard chest. A familiar scent, one that sent a chill down my spine, enveloped me. A voice, calm and measured, spoke from above my head. "Josephine." "Five years," James's fingers clamped around my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "And you're still so reckless." "It seems," his eyes, cold and dark, met mine. I stared at the face I hadn't seen in half a decade, the same perfectly handsome face that graced magazine covers, and I felt a wave of nausea. "That you still haven't learned what you should and should not do." "Hmm?" 2 Trailing behind James was a crowd of his business partners, all of them hovering a few feet away, too intimidated to approach. They watched as James held my chin in his unforgiving grip, his words dropping like stones in the silence. "Apologize to Tessa. Beg for her forgiveness." A ghost of a smile played on his lips. It was the same smile he’d worn five years ago when he’d thrown a one-way plane ticket in my face. "Do that," he said softly, "and I'll overlook your sudden return." My blood ran cold. He tossed the baton to the ground, where it landed with a sharp clang. Just like five years ago. I had walked in on him with Tessa, my world shattering around me. I had cried and screamed, demanding an explanation. He had simply held Tessa in his arms and warned me. "Tessa isn't like you. She's delicate. Don't scare her." "Josephine, we've been together for too long. So long that I can't find any passion with you anymore. As long as you behave, the title of Mrs. Vance is yours. But if you dare to hurt Tessa, I will end you." Back then, I didn't understand. I was so sure he loved me. I was certain that the years we'd spent building our lives from nothing meant something. I hired a private investigator, and when I got the photos, I plastered them all over the internet. No matter how much money he threw at it to bury the story, I paid more to make sure he and Tessa paid the price. Just as I'd planned, Tessa was expelled from her university, a social pariah. But my victory came at a devastating cost. I still remember the day James forced me to sign the divorce papers, giving up everything. His voice was like ice. "Your brother's life," he said, "is in your hands." "Josephine. What's it going to be?" Now, looking at him, I felt that same chill. "James." "Five years," I met his mocking gaze with a smile more vicious than his own. "Is this how you greet an old flame?" "If that's the case, then I have a gift for you, too." In one swift motion, I plunged a small, hidden blade into his abdomen. I watched the shock bloom on his face, my hand never ceasing its motion, twisting the blade, feeling the slick warmth of his blood on my skin. My laugh grew louder. "James." "Do you like it?" "If you do," I started to pull the knife out for another strike, but he grabbed the blade with his bare hand. The edge sliced through his palm, but he seemed not to feel it, his grip like a vise as his eyes locked with mine. "Josephine, after five years, you've really—" "Outdone yourself." He kicked me hard in the chest, wrenching the knife from my grasp. He stood over me, looking down. "You want me dead that badly, don't you?" "Josephine," James stepped closer, his foot pressing down hard on my wrist. The old scar screamed in protest, and I bit back a cry of pain as he leaned down. "Too bad. This city is mine." "If you want to take my life," he dropped the bloody knife in front of me, "you're not qualified." Tessa scrambled over, her face a mask of horror as she saw the blood pouring from James's wound. She burst into gut-wrenching sobs, turning on me with a shriek. "Josephine!" "Five years ago, you leaked those photos and ruined my future! You tried to destroy me and James! He had a heart and let you go, only sending you away! How could you be so vicious, so evil, that you'd come back and try to kill him!" Tessa threw herself in front of James, shielding him like a mother hen, her carefully constructed image shattering as she screamed at me. "If I had known that being soft on you back then would lead to you hurting James today," she sobbed, "I would have—" "I would have killed you myself!" 3 The little beggar who once cried and pleaded for me to take her in. The country girl James wouldn't even deign to look at. Now she was a high-society woman, screaming at me as if she had the right. I looked at Tessa, then at James, whose expression softened with pity for her, and I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. I began to applaud them. "You know," I said, my smile wide and mocking, "you two really are perfect for each other." "What's that saying again?" I pretended to think. Then, as if struck by a revelation. "A bitch and a dog," I said, my eyes locking with James's darkening face, "together forever. Hahahaha." "Isn't that right, James?" "Hahahaha." "You're asking for it!" James shoved Tessa aside and lunged at me, but his rage gave me the opening I needed. I snatched the knife from the ground and charged forward. As the blade sank into Tessa’s side, I saw the composure on James's face crack. The man who was always in control let out a raw, desperate roar. "Tessa!" "TESSA!" Tessa’s face was ashen. She collapsed into James's arms, her eyes still soft as she reached up to touch his face, her gaze filled with adoration. "James," she whispered. "I protected you, too." "James…" Her eyes fluttered shut. As she lost consciousness, James lost his mind. He scooped her into his arms, screaming, "Doctor! Somebody get a doctor!" Before he raced toward the hospital entrance, he turned, and his eyes met mine. They were filled with a murderous rage. "Josephine!" "There's something I've wanted to tell you for five years," his eyes were blood-red. "Before you signed the divorce papers, when I told you your brother was still showing signs of life…" "I was lying." He turned away, tossing the final, devastating words over his shoulder. "He was already dead long before you signed anything." "Your signature was just to get you to disappear from Seacrest for good." A bolt of lightning split the sky. The thunder cracked, and in my mind, I heard my brother's weak voice calling my name. I saw the truck hurtling towards me, saw Aiden use all his strength to push me out of the way. He crumpled under the wheels, his eyes gentle as he reached for me. "Jo…" "It hurts," I had crawled to him, holding him, my world collapsing. He had squeezed my hand. "But protecting my sister…" "It was worth it." After that day, I lost the only family I had left in the world. Aiden was in a coma, separated from me by a heavy hospital room door. James had dragged me out, throwing me to the floor and pointing at my unconscious brother. "Josephine, why do you think your brother was there?" "He saw the photos. He was coming to find you." "Did you ever think, Josephine, that in your quest to hurt me, the person you'd really destroy wouldn't be me, but your only brother?" "Sign the papers, Josephine." He had thrown them at my feet. All the strength had drained from my body. I stared at the agreement, and I heard James's voice, a lifeline in the darkness. "Sign it, and I'll make sure your brother doesn't die." "Agree to leave Seacrest forever, and I promise to take care of him." But later, as soon as my plane took off, I received a video from Tessa. In it, my brother was being buried in a crude, unmarked grave. Tessa's voice was a triumphant sneer. 4 "This is what you get for crossing me, Josephine." "That car crash was no accident," her words were thorns, wrapping around my heart, squeezing until I couldn't breathe. "It was just a little lesson from James. He never expected your brother would be stupid enough to die for you." "So whose fault is that?" "It's yours, you bitch." I had scrambled to get off the plane, desperate to go back, but the cabin was filled with James's men, their eyes watching my every move. I couldn't escape. I couldn't go home. I spent five years abroad. Five long years. I felt those thorns grow into a monstrous tree inside me, its branches constricting my lungs with every breath. And to think, even his promise was a lie. I screamed, trying to lunge at James, but his bodyguards pinned me to the wet pavement. I could only watch as he carried Tessa away. I screamed until my throat was raw. "James!" "I will make you pay!" "James! I will kill you! I swear I will kill you!" The crowd of onlookers jeered. "She's insane! Everyone knows Mr. Vance runs this city!" "I heard about what happened back then. To get justice for Miss Wen, he had her brother's bones ground to dust and scattered. Miss Wen even livestreamed it." My mind went numb. Someone else whispered, "Damn, ground to dust? That's brutal." "What do you expect? Mr. Vance said that whoever makes Miss Wen unhappy, he'll make them a hundred times unhappier. Even his own wife." "But didn't he build his empire with his ex-wife's money?" The voices faded. The rain fell in sheets, a deluge that matched the storm in my soul. The words ground to dust and livestream echoed in my head. I could see the video playing on a loop, Tessa smiling sweetly into the camera five years ago. "I didn't want Mr. Vance to go to such lengths for me, but he said that whoever makes me unhappy, he'll make them a hundred times unhappier." The box containing my brother's remains was opened. "No," I choked out, a raw, hoarse sound. No one heard me. I watched, helpless, as James scooped up a handful of ash and let it drift into the wind. It was as if I could still feel my brother's warmth in the air, a painful comfort in the cold, wet night. "No." I screamed it over and over, begging them, pleading with them not to do this to my brother. A ringing phone pulled me back to the present. I was on the line with someone, sobbing hysterically. "I want revenge! I'll make James pay! I want Tessa dead! I want them both dead!" Tessa's injury wasn't serious. It was a shallow wound, and she was playing it up for James's sympathy. Seeing him fuss over her, ignoring his own injury, she smiled. "James," she said softly. "After this is all over, let's get married, okay?" Even after five years, even after all the lavish gifts and public affection, he had never given her the title of Mrs. Vance. She took his hand. "I don't want us to miss any more time." "James," her voice was thick with emotion, "I just want the right to officially stand by your side." She looked so fragile, so devoted, that James's expression softened. But before he could answer, the hospital room door was kicked open. I stood there, covered in blood and mud, a knife still clutched in my hand. I met James's shocked, then resigned, gaze as he muttered. "You really don't know when to—" Quit. The word died on his lips. I was already on him, driving the knife straight into his heart. I grabbed his hair, my voice a venomous hiss. "James! Today is the day you die!"
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