I smiled.
The knife pressed forward, slicing through Madison's skin.
"Have you ever wondered why, with so many chances to do this, I chose to do it now?" I tilted my head. "In front of the biggest crowd possible?"
"The answer is simple. I planned my way out a long time ago."
"I could kill every last one of you today and walk away without a single consequence."
A dark stain of blood spread across Madison's dress.
The combination of fear and pain left her shaking uncontrollably, her whole body trembling like a leaf.
In the audience, Les Gilbert couldn't sit still any longer.
He dropped to his knees in front of me with a heavy thud.
"We've heard about everything Ken did to you," he said, his voice cracking. "It was our fault. We failed as parents. We failed your mother and father's memory."
"Just spare the child. We won't press any charges against you, I swear."
"The Gilberts have had only one son in every generation. I'm begging you, have mercy and let this baby live!"
Gwendolen Gilbert nodded beside him, her eyes red and swollen.
The sight of them on their knees, so utterly humbled, was enough to stir anyone's heart.
I looked at the slight swell of Madison's belly.
A cold smile curled my lips.
"Have mercy?" I repeated, tasting the words like poison. "When I was the one begging for mercy, who showed any to me?"
The story of Ken Gilbert and me was painfully simple.
A rich girl fell in love with a wolf dressed in a gentleman's skin.
Ken was a scholarship student my parents had sponsored out of poverty. We met when we were eight years old. By eighteen, I'd defied my family to be with him in secret.
To prove to my parents that our love was real, I moved out of the family mansion and into a basement apartment with him.
I still remembered that night. Ken held me tight, his eyes rimmed red, and spoke with absolute conviction.
"Ruby, wait for me. One day I'm going to make something of myself."
"When that day comes, I'll spend fifty thousand dollars. No, five hundred thousand. I'll give you the biggest, most beautiful wedding anyone has ever seen."
"I'll make every person who ever looked down on me know that I can give you the best of everything."
And he didn't disappoint. Not at first.
Ken had a razor-sharp instinct for business. He turned a few bold investments into a small fortune, then founded his own company. Almost overnight, he became the hottest new name in the industry.
During that time, he started staying out late, always vague about where he'd been. Then someone spotted him in a jewelry store, picking out a diamond ring.
They rushed to tell me, giddy with excitement.
"You've waited so long, Ruby. It's finally paying off."
"I snuck a peek at the ring. The diamond was the size of a marble."
"Can you imagine what kind of wedding would match a rock like that?"
"Ruby, your hard days are over. Ken is handsome, devoted, and he hasn't forgotten everything you sacrificed for him."
I laughed it off, told them it was nothing.
But inside, I was counting the days.
I waited. And waited.
No proposal came.
What came instead was a set of paparazzi photos.
Ken, strolling down the street with his arm around a young woman. On her finger, a diamond ring the size of a marble.
I couldn't believe it. I had to hear it from him. I had to be wrong.
I pushed open the door to his office and found them locked in a kiss.
When he saw it was me, the flash of surprise on Ken's face dissolved into something far worse: indifference. A lazy, unbothered smile.
He patted the girl on the backside and turned to me with a grin.
"This is my new personal assistant. Pretty, isn't she?"
"I'm thinking of taking her down to Miami for a little vacation."
"If Mom and Dad ask where I am, cover for me, will you?"
