Crash and Burn

(Clarice)

“CHOOSE your assignment.”

I swiftly caught the envelope that Maggy tossed away upon entering our office. My forehead creased. But when I opened it, I instantly got the message the second I saw three closed-up photos of three different men. I took a quick glance at each photo. All the men there were equally gorgeous. Each of them had shown a glimpse of their personality based on their posture.

The man in the first picture had a blank expression on his face. The second gave a nerdy vibe with his thick glasses and an uncomfortable smile on his lips, and the third had a bewitching smile on his face as if he was seducing whoever took his picture. The last man caught my attention.

Maybe because out of the three brothers, only that man did not resemble Benedict McClennan so much. That old bastard was the man who stole our wealth and destroyed our families.

If the third man in the picture would be my target, I could somehow manage to control my anger and would not be tempted to cover his face unlike the two other men who were Benedict McClennan’s carbon copies. I took the picture and showed it to Maggy.

“I will take this one,” I said before handing the remaining pictures to Yalena who was currently sitting beside me on the couch.

It was Yalena’s time to choose. The last picture would automatically become Maggy’s target.

After a while, Maggy nodded. “That’s Alano McClennan, the notorious womanizer. He is Benedict’s second son and according to the rumors, he’s the most playful among his siblings. Are you sure about this, Clarice?”

I smiled, amused this time. “Am I supposed to feel offended? It looks like you are doubting my abilities, Maggy.”

Maggy chuckled. “Of course not. You’ve come so far, Clarice. How could I ever doubt you?” She raised her hands as if she was surrendering. “You’ve always been the asset of our company. You have your way with people. A womanizer versus a temptress will surely be a fight worth watching.”

I was about to speak but I was interrupted by the person who knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Julian barged in.

I stiffened.

“Clarice, I need to talk to you for a while and-“He stopped midway when he saw the photo I was holding. Julian was the only man I ever trusted; he was my best friend. Unfortunately, he fell in love with me.

In another circumstance, I would have allowed myself to fall for Julian, too, because he was everything a woman could ask for in a man. He was almost like a Prince Charming. But I was no Cinderella. I had no plans of becoming a heroine in a love story.

I planned to be the villain instead.

That was the reason why I couldn’t allow my heart to waver. My mission with the De Laras had to come first before anything else. Love was not included in my priority list right now.

He swallowed. “So… you are going to push through with your plan, Clarice?”

Julian was also the only man who knew about the plans I had with the De Lara twins. I could never keep a secret from him.

“Yes,” I answered coldly.

Julian was taken aback while the twins remained silent. He took a deep breath before speaking. “You don't have to go back to Manila and risk getting yourself hurt all for revenge. I can help you. I have my men who can-“

“The best revenge is not hurting someone physically, Julian,” I responded, deliberately cutting him off. “It’s targeting the human’s most sensitive part: the heart.”

“Clarice, Maggy, and I are no longer the same people from before. If we want to, we can choose the easy way to have our revenge,” Yalena butted in. Just like me, she was done choosing her target as well. “But we’ve waited so long for this. We can’t be distracted by the easy way no matter how tempted we are to do so.”

My chest tightened. When we were teenagers, we made a vow in front of our parents’ graves that we would make Benedict McClennan pay. But now that we had the means to fulfill our plans, we could not find the old man anywhere. We had a feeling that his three sons were hiding him. We decided that the people we would destroy first were his sons since they were the thorns in our path towards him.

“Does this mean that you are really going back to Manila, Clarice?” Julian asked.

“Yes,” I said without an ounce of hesitation. I could not afford to be swayed by the pain in his eyes. My best friends and I struggled so much just to be able to get to where we were now. It made me realize that life is a battle. If I wanted to win, a sacrifice was necessary.

A whole damn lot of it.