Melody's POV
Everyone else said Marcus Stokes was head-over-heels for me.
But unbeknownst to them, he cut both of my fiancé’s legs off and wrapped them in a gift box for my birthday just to force me into a relationship.
So, in revenge, I kidnapped him, snapped one of his tendons, and gouged out one of his eyes.
Even so, he didn’t get angry and even smiled at me.
“See?” he said. “I told you, we’re the same kind of people. Meant for each other.”
I smiled back. For some reason, his words made sense.
Eight years with him, and I’d seen things most people wouldn’t believe: blood and storms, a life of chaos.
Then one day, a woman appeared at his side: pale, immaculate, like she’d walked out of a painting. She wore a long white dress that made her look almost angelic.
“Marcus said,” she started, “you’re too dirty for him. Only someone like me deserves to stand with him.”
Yet I didn’t take her seriously. I just nodded and used a knife to ruin that pretty face.
“An angel, huh?” I said, as I carved. “I wonder if angels can be disfigured.”
Her screams were awful, but they sounded musical to me.
Grinning, I took a photo of her bloodied face and sent it to Marcus.
[Take your dog away,] I texted him.
——
In just ten minutes, he showed up with a gun tucked in his arm.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I dealt with a disobedient dog,” I said. “Aren’t you supposed to be grateful?”
His brow tightened. The blind eye flashed a strange rage as he ground his teeth. “Melody, you can’t hit the dog without asking the owner. You’re being presumptuous.”
Impatient, I lit a cigarette and rubbed my ear. “What are you barking? I don’t hear you. Say that again.”
“Melody, you—” The woman, Judy Moss, clutched her ruined face and sobbed. “Marcus, kill her. Kill her for me! She ruined my face because she's jealous that you like me!”
When Marcus pulled her hand away and looked at the bloody scars, his eyes went bloodshot. He put the gun to my forehead, and the chamber clicked. His voice was colder than the muzzle as he said, “Melody, you’ve gone too far. She’s only a girl! She’s not like us!”
I smiled, pushed the barrel aside with my hand, and blew a smoke ring into his face. “So what? Are you going to kill me to avenge her?”
“Or—” I let the question hang, teasing. “Do you want to ruin my face, too, to make her feel better?”
I chuckled and continued, “You know I’m not that idiot. You know the consequences.”
With that, a dagger pressed against his belly.
Immediately after seeing that, Marcus’s men closed in on me.
But my knife tips had already drawn closer, and faint blood oozed.
He hissed in pain, and for a long moment, he just stared. Then unexpectedly, he laughed and waved his hand to his men.
“Back off,” he barked. “I didn’t tell you to come over. Get out of here!”
“You're really awesome, Melody,” he added, surprising me.
“Of course,” I said. “My brother-in-law taught me well.”
After all, he cut my fiancé’s legs and sent them to me as a present to turn me into someone like him. Then he held my hand and plunged a knife into my fiancé’s chest to force me into marrying him.
He had even said, “If you become as dirty as I am, then only I deserve to be with you.”
He dragged me down from a high place and left me in the dirt. Now, my once clean hands were stained with blood, which I couldn't wash away easily. Yet he pretends to like “clean” things? It was laughable.
“Don’t like my gift, Marcus?” I asked innocently. “Oh, right! You prefer cutting off limbs. So, I’m still soft for you, huh? I’ll remember next time.”
Judy fumed, pulling at Marcus, demanding he avenge her. But he only watched me for a long time before finally turning and leaving with his men.
