Why did I go after Jack Jack?
The memories came flooding back, pulling me under into that suffocating, desperate summer.
The year I turned eighteen, Christine and Jack got engaged.
The Jack and Audrey families were well-matched in status, and Jack, as the Jack family's only son, made for a handsome enough match. To the outside world, it was perfect.
Only I knew the devil Jack truly was.
I’d seen it myself back in high school. He’d cornered a girl who confessed her feelings for him in the gym equipment room. With a basketball in hand, he hit her head—over and over. Her sobs and pleas were drowned out by his manic laughter.
"You think someone like you is worthy of liking me?" he’d sneered. "Disgusting."
That scene haunted my nightmares for years.
Christine was the moon in the sky—pure, untouchable. She had no idea of the darkness that walked the earth.
To secure the alliance, John painted Jack as a flawless prince. Christine believed every word.
She even started looking forward to the marriage.
I tried to warn her.
"Little sister, Jack isn’t a good man. Stay away from him." Blocking her bedroom doorway, I mustered every ounce of courage I had.
She just gave me a cold, dismissive look. "Audrey, what scheme are you plotting now? Can’t stand to see me happy, is that it? You think some pathetic lie will ruin my engagement?"
She didn’t believe me.
Not that I blamed her. Why would anyone trust the "mistress’s daughter"?
Helpless, I watched her walk step by step toward the abyss. My heart burned.
John was on the verge of running John's Group into the ground. He desperately needed the Jack family’s capital injection. Christine was his last lifeline. He didn’t care if Jack was man or monster.
I begged my father. I knelt before him, pleading with him to call off the engagement.
He just kicked me aside impatiently. "Get out! You have no say here! Your sister’s happiness is worth a thousand times your worthless life!"
That’s when I understood. No one could save Christine.
Except me.
If I couldn’t be the good one, I’d be the villain.
A thorough, shameless, wicked woman.
On the day of Christine’s engagement party, the hall was packed.
She wore a pristine white gown, beautiful as an angel.
I changed into my boldest red slip dress, applied heavy makeup, took a glass of red wine, and swayed over to Jack.
"Mr Jack," I raised my glass, smiling with practiced allure. "My sister is truly beautiful, isn’t she?"
Jack’s eyes locked onto me instantly.
Men like him are wired for conquest and thrill.
Christine was the sacred, untouchable ideal. I was the red rose offered up willingly, thorns and all.
He took the bait without hesitation.
I led him to an upstairs lounge.
He pinned me against the door, his breath hot, his eyes full of nothing but lust and possession.
"You little slut. I knew there was something about you. Just like your mother—born to tempt men."
Fighting down nausea, I wrapped my arms around his neck, whispering breathily in his ear. "So… who makes you feel more, me or my sister?"
He tore at my dress roughly, marking my skin with one humiliating bruise after another.
"Her? She’s a porcelain doll. Wooden. Nothing compared to the fire you’ve got."
Then the door was “conveniently” pushed open.
Christine stood in the doorway, her face as white as paper.
I could almost hear her heart shattering.
She saw Jack and me, clothes disheveled, tangled together. Her expression shifted from shock to disbelief, finally hardening into a hatred so deep it chilled the bone.
"Audrey… you…"
I broke free from Jack’s hold, deliberately straightening my rumpled dress, and met her gaze with a defiant smirk. "I’m sorry, little sister. Jack says he prefers my type."
*Smack!*
A sharp, stinging slap landed squarely on my cheek.
The pain was fiery.
But I smiled.
"Get out! Get out of this house!" she screamed, hysterical, tears streaming down her face like broken pearls.
That night, the Audrey household erupted into chaos.
The engagement was, of course, called off.
Jack was placed under house arrest by the Jack family. Christine bought a plane ticket the very next day and flew abroad. She didn’t return for five years.
As for me, John beat me half to death with his belt, then threw me out of the Audrey house like garbage.
I had succeeded.
In the most degrading way possible, I had destroyed her engagement and pushed her away from the devil.
The price was that she would hate me for the rest of her life.
What I didn’t know was that this was only the beginning of the nightmare.
The real hell was still waiting.
