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CHAPTER 1

Today, I got released for a crime I hadn't committed in the first place.

Sudden lights snap me out of my thoughts as the sound of clicking drags me back to the present.

Reporters.

Fucking reporters.

A bunch of them flooded me at once, crowding me as they took shots after shots, shouting incoherent words at me.

Words that I had to strain my ears to hear. Honestly, I wish I hadn't.

“It's Mrs. Clara, the ex of Mr. Derrick!”

Ex?

What the hell were they talking about?

I shake my head a bit, not wanting to pay them any heed as I try to push through them. Reporters and their gibbering.

“Ma'am! What do you have to say after three years?”

Where the hell are they coming from? I push harder, ducking my head to avoid more cameras.

“Are you even supposed to be out yet? The police claimed your case was rather dire. Is that so?”

Urgh, for Christ's sake, let me pass!

I try to duck further away, but a sharp pain soon stings my skull as someone mistakenly tugs at my hair.

I’m about to give them a piece of my mind when someone says something that makes me halt.

“Mrs. Clara, how do you feel about your ex-husband getting married on the day of your release?”

Huh?

Slowly, I turn around to look at the reporter who'd just spoken.

“What the hell did you just say?”

He wouldn't dare.

“Mr. Derrick is getting married to Ms. Florida at Saint James Cathedral as we speak. How do you feel about that? Do you consent to their marriage?” The reporter repeats, pushing her hand forward to hand me the microphone.

I blink, but I'm still standing where I'm stationed.

This is not a dream.

“You... you're lying.” I force out the words. Derrick wouldn't do that to me.

He... he loves me.

The reporter clicks her tongue, digs through her bag, and slips out her device before playing a video.

..A live video of Derrick in the same church where we’d gotten married, saying vows to Florida, my best friend.

My entire being pales as I stumble a few steps back, almost about to fall, but I steady myself. Tears burned my eyes as I steadied my gaze on my husband, now passionately kissing Florida.

A sudden ache rises in my chest as I turn around.

Rage. Blind fucking rage ripples through my bones as I force my tears down. I run my fingers through my hair, and I tug at them tightly.

I've never felt this angry.

It feels as if my head.. my head..

“Mrs Clara?”

..It's about to fucking explode.

“Talk to us, do you contest Mr. Derrick’s marriage to Ms. Florida?”

I needed to calm myself down.

“Mrs. Clara Anthony?”

I needed to..

My eyes snap towards a police man stationed at the front of the building, my eyes rake him before slowly landing on the gun hoisted on his waist.

I know I shouldn't, but at this point...

Sending my right leg forward, I take a step, and another, grab the gun from the officer, and soon I’m speeding across the lot like a crazed woman.

..But at this point, I'm not thinking at all.

I took the fall for that bastard.

I ruined my life for that fucking bastard.

I was in jail for that fucking bastard!

And he repays me by marrying my best friend on the day of my release?

“Taxi!” I flag down the nearest cab, not minding the growing noise from the reporters sprinting behind me.

“Saint James Cathedral.”

The man nods and steps on the gas.

I hold the metal in my grip tighter.

It's my first day out in three years, and I can't even look at the roads.

||

Once the driver pulls up into the church, I dash out without thinking twice.

The cab driver yells about something concerning his payment, but I don't stop.

I can't stop.

Without even thinking twice, I push the double doors of the cathedral; the screeching sound had everyone on their feet in seconds, snapping their heads towards me.

“Stop this wedding!” I yell, raising the metal in my hand shakily. Murmurs fill the air as eyes turn to me. Some looked frightened, others gazed at me in pity.

My grip tightens on the gun either way.

Derrick..

My eyes burn as I match forward, my body trembling with rage. I pause some meters away from the altar, eyes locked on my husband.

..And his soon-to-be bride.

“Clara, what–”

Derrick’s words are barely out before I send my hand forward, nudging the body of the gun against his head.

I've never done this before, hurt anyone, but..

I stagger back.

Anger. I'm so angry.

Thick red blood spurts out as screams, Derrick's and others fill the air.

“AH!” He screams out, palms flying to his forehead where the gun got him clean.

Blood pumps out, causing Florida's eyes to widen as she instantly glares at me.

“How dare you?!” I scream, my blood pumping as I move to take another hit.

“Seize her!” Amidst the pain, my husband regains the energy to scream, and soon a pair of strong arms grabs me from behind.

I lift my feet, fighting, trashing, as violent screams after screams tear out of my lips.

“You can't do this to me, Derrick!” I shout, my eye shifting to Florida, causing yet another stab of pain.

How could she?

“You don't get to own everything.” Florida seizes me up then snarls, hugging her measly bouquet closer.

“What are you waiting for? Take that bitch out of here now!”

The familiar stern voice of Mr. Anthony radiates through the air, causing the men to drag me faster.

Clicks after click were heard as people took shots of me, murmuring all horrible things.

Amidst the noise, I feel a particular gaze piercing into my forehead, and my eyes snap up, and I am met with a pair of very familiar emerald eyes.

He leans across the pillar, a cigar pinched between two fingers. Raven hair shielding almost half of his face.

But those eyes.. I could swear I’ve seen them before.

In an instant, I'm jolted out of my thoughts as my body is flung harshly out of the church. My knees scrape the asphalt, tearing away part of my kneecap.

“Ah!” I scream out.

Now that the adrenaline is gone, the pain hits me with a force.

My husband, whom I’d taken the fall for, was getting married to my best friend.

I will make them pay.

They will fucking pay!