6 - Corpse Bride

"Sealed with a kiss," I whispered softly and watched as Diego's face brightened up. Immediately his hyperness kicked in and he tried to get me to read everything in the room. Good thing Matteo and Sofia came in and saved me from him. They too were good-looking with Matteo being huge and tall while Sofia being a little bit shorter and chubby. A picture perfect family if you ask me.

On the drive back to the cabin, Diego was given a headphone to keep his focus from me while I was given a brand new phone, keys to the house, and car keys for me. But I had to sign a contract first. I had to change my surname and live with the family for three years before I could move out. I would spend three years as Diego's sister until he went to a boarding school. Then I was free to go about my life wherever I chose.

Sofia explained that I was allowed to visit my actual family and they were allowed to visit me but I had to pretend to be their lost daughter. She didn't give me all the details but her return would open up a way for the family to regain all that it has lost. I didn't care much as long as it wasn't something risky so I signed the contract and the already prepared documents for the change of my name.

We got to the cabin and I spent the next few days hanging out with Diego in the day and learning about their daughter in the night. It turns out that she wasn't actually their birth daughter but the daughter of his only sister who had passed away after giving birth to her. So I had to pretend to have some similarities with her. Also I would check online for any news about me and my disappearance but it seemed like I had been wiped clean from the face of the earth.

I called Rita one evening, staying silent while I waited to hear her voice but we ended up having a breathing contest until I heard Finn's voice. He had told her dinner was ready while she had screamed back in reply that he "ruined her breathing game with a pervert" and then hung up. Even though it was obvious that she was with him, I was a lot relieved to know she still thought him a safe space. He was still pretending to be good to her so she was safe for now.

I called back the next evening but I wasn't able to reach her. I believed she had blacklisted my number. I couldn't call Finn for fear he'd recognize the number and feel something was up so I made fake accounts and tried to stalk his socials but everything was private. Hitting a dead end with him, I went over to Jennifer's. She had posted more and more recent pictures of them together and on the proposal day, she had made a second post.

The image was of the actual bride in the cartoon, Corpse Bride. It was an analogy about her being the living bride and me, the dead one. I held up my hand to my mouth. She knew that Finn had tried to kill me. She was aware of it all.

I knew she never liked me but she stuck close to me because that was the only way she could get to see Finn. And in my naivety - which I deluded myself into thinking was kindness - I didn't send her away from my side, even convincing Finn to accept things she swore was good for him. She had sworn she was over him and although I didn't believe her, I felt there was nothing she could do about it. Turns out there was.

First, she pretended to be drunk and kissed Finn in my presence. Then she came to the house and knelt in the sun all day, begging me to leave him. Finally, she had sent me a doctored video of her in bed with him, not knowing he had returned early from his trip and was making dinner for me. She was great at petty tricks but orchestrating my murder and convincing Finn to do it himself was on another level.

Finn would pay for what he did to me but I had to make Jennifer suffer first. So much that she'd wish for death.