The year Jonathan O’Brien cheated on me, I paid a huge amount of money to take nude photos of him and the other woman. After that, I posted them online. I destroyed his reputation.
As a revenge, Jonathan plotted to kick me out of our house and warned, “As long as I’m still living in London, don’t even think about coming back!”
Unfortunately, I was forced to leave the country. For five years, no one in London remembered that Jonathan’s ex-wife was me, Natalie Burnell. They only knew that his true love was Tiffany Mountbauer.
But now, I smiled and turned to the people beside me as I looked at the invitation card from London.
“What if I go on your behalf?”
——
After all, some things needed to be handled by our own hands before we could proceed with our lives.
I was about to enter the venue with the invitation card in hand when a black Rolls-Royce stopped in front of me and the people who got out blocked my way.
“Ah, it seems anyone can get in now?”
The woman’s eyes landed on me as she smiled.
“After five years, I thought you were bold enough to die out there. I didn’t expect this,” she said as she played with her bright red nails.
She then continued, “The fact that you’d still be alive and trying to crawl back for mercy.”
“Natalie Burnell.”
Tiffany threw her Chanel lambskin bag at me.
“Why don’t you beg me? Beg me and maybe I’ll see if anyone still wants you,” she said as her eyes gazed on my face.
“You! Fucking-”
Before she could finish, I grabbed Tiffany’s bag. Immediately, I hit her hard on the head. Then, I caught her hair and slammed her against the car door. The loud noise made my blood rush as I couldn’t help but enjoy the thrill.
“Tiffany, my goodness! Five years ago, you called me Mrs. O’Brien as you knelt down. You begged me to take you in,” I told her as I leaned close to her ear and laughed softly.
“What’s this? Five years have made you forget who’s the master and who’s the dog?”
“Or did fucking with Jonathan and being mocked online make you lose your pride?”
“In that case, why don’t I give you some lesson?” I said as I caressed Tiffany’s face lightly.
Without further ado, I grabbed Tiffany’s hair and started hitting her again.
“You fucking monster!” Tiffany screamed.
Her bodyguard quickly caught my wrist and shouted, “Who the fuck are you?”
My wrist was pulled back little by little. The tug brushed against the ugly scar there. I felt a sharp pain, but my laughter only grew louder.
“Five years have passed, so you’ve already gathered a group of loyal dogs!”
I moved my body around, hit the bodyguard in the face and kicked him between the legs. Seeing him bend over in pain, I snatched the iron rod from his hand and walked toward Tiffany.
“Hello again, Tiffany!” I shouted at Tiffany as I weighed the iron rod in my hand and smiled.
“I forgot to tell you something, actually.”
I raised the iron rod as I continued, “Since I’m back, I never planned to let you go.”
I swung the rod, ready to strike, when I heard Tiffany’s terrified cry, “Natalie!”
“Jonathan won’t let you go!”
“Jonathan!”
The iron rod was suddenly pulled away and before I could turn, I heard Tiffany’s trembling voice, “Jonathan, help me! Jonathan!”
“It’s been five years, but she still wants to kill me!”
“Help me!”
The rod was yanked back with great force. I fell helplessly into a strong embrace. The scent around me filled my nose, sending a chill through my whole body.
A calm voice came from above me, slow and deep, as he talked, “Natalie.”
“Five years,” Jonathan said as he pinched my chin, forcing me to look up.
“Why are you still so impulsive?”
“It was five years ago.”
The moment I saw the face I hadn’t seen in so long, the one that kept appearing in interviews that was so perfect and untouchable, a cold shiver ran down my spine.
“I hadn’t had the chance to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do, right?” he asked.
Those who were with Jonathan were his business partners for this party. They stood a few steps away, not daring to come closer. They only watched silently and carefully as Jonathan pinched my chin and spoke each word slowly and clearly.
“Say sorry to Tiffany and beg her to forgive you.”
The corner of his mouth was slightly raised as he spoke. It was the same way he had thrown a plane ticket in my face five years ago.
“I don’t give a fuck about your sudden return.”
My blood froze. The iron rod he casually threw to the ground made a crisp, sharp sound. Just like five years ago. I had caught Jonathan cheating with my own eyes, which made me cry. At the time, I quickly demanded an explanation.
In response, he only wrapped his arm around Tiffany and warned me, “Natalie, Tiffany is different from you.”
“She’s weak. Don’t scare her.”
“Natalie, we’ve been together for too long, so long that I can no longer find passion in you. As long as you behave, the position of Mrs. O’Brien will always be yours. If you dare to hurt Tiffany, I will kill you.”
At that time, I didn’t understand. I still believed that Jonathan loved me. I believed in our shared joys and sorrows, in our rising from nothing to something together.
I bribed a private detective, obtained those erotic photos and then spread them across the internet. No matter how much they offered to hide the story, they couldn’t outbid me. I was willing to pay more so Jonathan and Tiffany would pay the price.
As I expected, Tiffany was expelled from her university. She ended up becoming a social outcast who was shunned by everyone. But it also cost me a terrible price. I could still remember the day Jonathan forced me to sign the agreement and made me leave the house with nothing.
His voice was cold as ice as he spoke, “Your brother’s life or death depends on your decision.”
“So, Natalie, what do you want to choose?”
Now, it was different.
“Oh, Jonathan O’ Brien!”
“It’s been five years,” I told him as I met Jonathan’s mocking expression with a smile even darker than his.
“Is this how you reminisce with your old flame?”
“If that’s the case, I have a great gift for you, too.”
Without further ado, I stabbed Jonathan in the abdomen as I watched the shock on his face. My hands kept moving, pressing and stirring at his flesh. Feeling the warm blood cling to the back of my hand, I laughed even louder.
“Dearest Jonathan.”
“Do you like my present?”
“If you do … ” I muttered as I pulled out my dagger and stabbed him again.
At almost the same moment, Jonathan grasped the blade and cut his palm. He seemed numb to the pain, holding the knife tightly while he smiled at me.
“Natalie, five years, you’ve really-”
“Good job.”
After that, Jonathan kicked me in the chest, grabbed the dagger from me and gazed down at me.
“You really want my life that badly, I see.”
“Natalie,” Jonathan called, walking up to me and stepping on my wrist. The old scar on my wrist burned sharply, which made me bite my lip.
But then he said, “What a shame! I have the final say in London.”
“You may want my life, but you’re not worthy,” Jonathan continued as he bent down and threw the dagger in front of me.
Tiffany rushed over like someone losing her mind, staring at the blood pouring from Jonathan’s abdomen.
She cried bitterly and yelled at me, “Natalie!”
“Five years ago, you staged that scandalous photoshoot that cost me my student status and my future. You even tried to ruin mine and Jonathan’s reputations! Jonathan was kind enough to let you go, just to send you away.”
“How could you be so evil? You even thought of killing Jonathan!”
Tiffany wept, standing before Jonathan like a mother hen protecting her chicks, scolding me without any care for her own image.
“If I had known earlier, I would have let you hurt Jonathan!”
“Then, I definitely would have killed you!”
Seeing the little beggar who had cried so much that I once begged to take her in felt funny to me.
The country girl that Jonathan had hated so much he wouldn’t even look at had now become a lady who could shout at me.
I looked at Tiffany with amusement, then at Jonathan, whose eyes softened at Tiffany’s touch. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, clapping and praising them.
“Actually,” I started to speak as I smiled at Tiffany and Jonathan.
“You two are really a good match.”
“There’s a saying.”
I paused for a moment. Then, it came to me.
“A bitch and a dog, what does that make?”
Jonathan’s face turned gloomy when I said that.
“An everlasting couple. Isn’t that right, Jonathan? Hahaha!”
He shouted, “You’re asking for trouble!”
Soon enough, Jonathan shoved Tiffany aside and rushed toward me. However, the time gap gave me time to act. Without further ado, I grabbed the dagger from the ground and lunged. When the dagger stabbed Tiffany, I saw his face fall apart. The usually calm man lost control and screamed.
“Tiffany!”
Tiffany’s face turned pale as she collapsed into Jonathan’s arms. Her eyes were still soft and gentle. She stroked Jonathan’s face and looked at him with deep love.
“Jonathan, see? I protected you, too.”
“Jonathan … ”
After that, Tiffany quickly fainted. Jonathan lost his mind, lifted Tiffany and shouted, “Call a doctor!”
“Is there any doctor here?”
Before Jonathan brought Tiffany to the hospital, he turned and met my eyes. He looked at me with a fiery, murderous gaze.
He then shouted, “Natalie!”
“There is something I wanted to tell you five years ago,” Jonathan said as his eyes turned red.
“Before you signed the divorce papers, I told you your brother was still alive.”
“The truth is that’s a lie,” Jonathan said, turning away.
“Your brother was already dead before I asked you to sign.”
“I only said he was alive because that was the only way to make you leave London.”
Thunder audibly rolled across the sky. Lightning tore through the clouds as I could still hear my brother’s weak voice calling for me. I saw the truck coming straight at us, while Andrew pushed me away with all his strength before he fell under the wheels.
With gentle eyes, he reached for me and called me, “Natalie.”
“It hurt.”
I could still recall that very moment as I tried to crawl to his side, nearly collapsing into his arms.
But he held my hand softly and said, “But you’ve been protecting me.”
“It was worth it.”
On that fateful day, I had lost the only person I loved in the world. My brother, Andrew Burnell, fell into a deep sleep. He was separated from me by the heavy door of the hospital. Jonathan dragged me outside the ward, pointed at my sleeping brother inside and demanded my obedience.
“Natalie, why do you think Andrew was there?”
“It was because he saw the nude photos.”
“Natalie … Before you hurt me, did you ever think that the person you were hurting was not me? Instead, you’d also hurt your only brother?”
“Natalie, just sign it.”
Jonathan then slammed to the floor. As if all my strength had been taken from me, I collapsed, staring at the agreement.
I heard Jonathan say, “If you sign, I will promise you that Andrew will be kept alive.”
“If you promise to leave London forever, I promise to take good care of him.”
But later … As soon as I boarded the plane, I received a video from Tiffany. In it, my brother was buried quickly. In fact, he was even buried without a proper tombstone.
Tiffany’s voice had a cruel edge as she spoke, “Natalie, this is what happens when you offend me.”
“That car accident was not an accident,” Tiffany’s voice cut into my heart like sharp thorns.
Each word she said stabbed me.
“It was just Jonathan teaching you a lesson. But I did not expect your brother to risk his life for you.”
“Who can be blamed?”
“After all, you’re such a jerk.”
Immediately, I tried to get off the plane just to go home. Unfortunately, the cabin felt full of Jonathan’s bodyguards who supervised me from every direction. In the end, I couldn’t escape the plane. I couldn’t return to London.
For five whole years, I was abroad. I watched the thorny vine inside me grow into a towering tree. Every breath I took felt like it was nearly choking me. I never imagined that even his promise about signing the divorce agreement to keep Andrew alive would be nothing but a lie.
Soon enough, I had rushed toward Jonathan. However, his bodyguards quickly pinned me to the ground before I could reach him. I could only see Jonathan pick Tiffany up and carry her away.
I screamed like a madwoman, “Jonathan!”
“I’ll make you pay!”
“Jonathan! I’ll kill you!”
“I’ll really kill you!”
Countless onlookers laughed and shouted, “She’s just a mad woman! Everyone knows Mr. O’Brien makes the rules in London!”
“I heard about that back then. Mr. O’Brien, to protect Miss Montbauer, had Andrew crushed to ashes. She even livestreamed it at the time.”
My head felt like it was ringing.
I heard someone else say, “Damn! Crushing his bones to ashes? That’s so cruel.”
“Well, Mr. O’Brien did say that he’ll make anyone suffer a hundred times more if anyone makes Miss Montbauer unhappy, even if it’s his own wife.”
“But Mr. O’Brien also built his fortune because of his ex-wife.”
Their voices blurred together as the rain fell hard.
I was soaked by the heavy downpour as if a storm had opened up over my life. The words about crushing Andrew’s bones to ash kept echoing in my ears. On my phone, the old livestream played on repeat. Tiffany was smiling and praising me five years ago, saying things meant to humiliate.
“I don’t want Mr. O’Brien to love me like this, but Mr. O’Brien said if someone makes me unhappy, he’ll make them a hundred times more unhappy,” the recording said in her voice that I once trusted.
The box with my brother’s ashes was opened easily.
I screamed in a hoarse voice, “No.”
No one listened. No one reached out to stop them. I could only watch the box being opened. After that, Jonathan scooped up a handful of ashes and scattered them into the wind. For a moment, I thought I could still feel the faint warmth of my brother’s body in the air, but the rain turned that warmth to nothing.
“No.”
I cried and begged, “No, no, please! Don’t do this to my brother.”
A ringing phone in my hand suddenly brought me back to the present.
I quickly shouted into it with a hoarse voice, “I want revenge! I want Jonathan to pay for what he did! I want the same thing for Tiffany! I want them all dead!”
Tiffany wasn’t that badly injured. In fact, she was pretending to be weak to win every scrap of Jonathan’s attention. Seeing him stay by her side despite everything, Tiffany smiled like she owned the world.
She called his name, “Jonathan.”
“Let’s get married after this is over, okay?”
It had been five years. Despite his spoiling Tiffany with gifts and tender love for all of those years, Jonathan still refused to give an official Mrs. O’Brien title to Tiffany. No matter how she acted or how many sweet words she said, he would not give her the formal title of being his wife.
She clutched Jonathan’s hand as he said, “I don’t want us to miss each other again.”
“Jonathan,” Tiffany sobbed, her voice breaking, “I just want the right to officially stand by your side.”
Her soft, pleading words softened Jonathan. For a moment, he looked lost in her. It was as if he were ready to promise anything when I burst in.
I kicked the ward door open. I was soaked with blood and mud, while I still held the dagger tightly. I stood in front of Jonathan, who looked stunned at my appearance and he said, “You truly are invincible-”
Before he could finish his sentence, I rushed at him to drive the knife forward toward his chest. After that, I grabbed his hair with my other hand to pull his face up to mine.
“Jonathan!” I shouted.
“Today is the day you die!”
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