Muriel's POV
“Really?” I said. “By the way, I forgot to tell you. I stocked this pond with piranhas. She’ll become fish food long before she freezes.”
Alaric’s face instantly went white upon hearing that, and he swiftly moved to pull her out. But before he could reach her, I slammed a brick down on her wrist so hard she yelped and flinched away. She could only retreat and nurse the pain.
Alaric ground his teeth at me. “Muriel, must you force me to fight you?”
“Fine,” I said. “I doubt we’ll finish this before your little lover is chewed to pieces. If you don’t bring me that rosary yourself, she won’t be getting back on shore.”
“Alaric, you know me. I always do what I say.”
The piranhas were already circling Janice when she started screaming through her tears, “Alaric, I’m so scared! I don’t want to be eaten!”
Without hesitation, Alaric jumped straight into the water.
Since he was wounded, the fish were drawn to him. Yet he wrapped himself around Janice, protecting her, and murmured, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll keep you safe.”
The look on his face took me back to another ambush when the enemy outnumbered us and had iron bars. It was just the two of us, and he had pinned me under his body, taking every strike himself while saying, “Muriel, don’t be afraid. I’ll always protect you.”
When Alaric finally pulled Janice ashore, both his legs were ripped and bloody from the piranhas. Not paying it mind, he dropped the rosary at my feet.
“Happy now? Muriel, I’m not joking. Touch her again, and I’ll make you pay with your life.”
He’d said things like that before, that we were two crazed souls bound together by fate, destined to hurt and cling to one another forever. But now his reason for fighting was to protect someone else.
I picked up the rosary and glanced at the dizzy Janice. I couldn’t help the sneer. “You’re really stupid for letting that trash prance in front of me, Alaric.”
I stepped out of the gate and looked back once at the villa that had once held our brief, good memories. Then I told the bodyguards, “Blow it up. Turn it into a doghouse. Let the dogs live where they belong.”
Alaric didn’t come home after that. He was busy tending to Janice and staging a grand funeral for the child who died in her womb. As if afraid the illegitimate baby might suffer in the afterlife, he bought every candle in the city and burned them for seven days straight.
Meanwhile, I bought a plot of peaceful land and buried the rosary myself.
The day I finished the rites, my phone rang with an unknown number. I answered, and Janice’s triumphant laugh filled my ear.
“Muriel, what good does blowing up the villa do? Alaric will just give me something better. Guess why he gave my baby a big funeral but despises yours so much? Because he thinks you’re filthy. Want proof?” she taunted, and then emailed me something.
When I opened it, my breath froze.
