Claire’s POV

I woke up after how many hours or minutes I couldn’t tell to see two bodies, reality dawned, the darkness which clouded my consciousness quickly fading.

“Where’s my husband, where’s my baby?” I screamed as I jumped up from the ground which I laid. My eyes pointed to the two bodies which laid under the pool of their own blood, tiptoeing closer, when I looked up and Delilah with Lilah were standing right there watching, a slight glow of joy on their faces.

What’s going on?

Thump, thump, thump, went my heart.

My eyes went down. Eric and dad.

Lilah burst out laughing. “Can someone tell her that the two men who supported her marriage to Alessandro, my best man, are gone and she’s now left alone to bear the agony?”

Her mom chuckled.

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where is Alessandro and my baby?”

My voice exploded with fury and terror, straining my throat. Their laughter erupted once again, I was hearing the laughter of demons. The way I saw them at that moment. All hatred summed up in the whole world couldn’t amount to the one I had for them at that moment.

They are behind this just because your dad was giving you out to Alessandro.

My mind spelled this out to me, then I thought of Alessandro and my baby.

“What did you just do?” I screamed, hitting them hard on their chests but their voices cracked into more laughter, as though my punches were inciting them.

I paused. Thoughts. “Could it be that their men have kidnapped Alessandro and my baby?” I couldn’t bear it but to ask again.

“Where are they?” I screamed, at the same time looking at the two dead bodies on the ground. I shook terribly. Eric didn’t die of his terminal disease, my dad, of nothing expected but through the assassination of the people he thought loved him most. He, on the other hand, never died while he hated me but just now we got reconciled and I felt I had a dad, one thing I’d been longing for years. They took him away when he won my heart.

I dropped to the ground, wailing and beating my laps. Lilah walked over slowly. “One thing I can assure you is that you will never get Alessandro back.”

With a sinister laugh, her mother and her walked inside. Next moment I saw them rolling their luggage out. “Where to?” I wondered. Then the ambulances came, speeding in to take the dead bodies.

Everything went on so fast that I couldn't explain. That day, the world crumbled beneath my foot and I sank with it. My only hope. Alessandro and my baby. Since they didn’t lay down here dead, I thought I was going to find them. Putting my hand into my pocket, I realized I was with my phone.

Dialing Alessandro’s number, I placed a call.

Ring!

Ring!

Ring!

It rang for three consecutive times without him picking. Everyone was gone, Lilah and Delilah, nowhere to be found. The ambulances were gone, their sirens sounding from a distance, I looked behind, only the traces of blood where the bodies lay.

Everything looked suspicious but no matter what I had to find where Alessandro and my baby were. I’ll report to the police if I can’t find him. I’ll go to the depths to make sure I torment those two women. They will never go scot free.

Since I couldn’t reach him through the call, I logged into my tracker app. So far as his phone was on, I’m sure to get his location. I’ll head over there right away.

To my shock, it was a hotel.

Skyhills Hotel and Suite.

The same one my bridal shower and wedding were scheduled to be held later on after we finished signing our marriage certificate. Right away, I was off.

Upon arrival, I met with the receptionist. Our acquaintance. She was earlier aware of Alessandro and I after we booked the hotel last week for our bridal shower and intended wedding.

“Hello!” She smiled brilliantly, quite excited. I turned back to make sure she’s smiling at me. It was me.

“Ma’am, preparations for your bridal shower are going on, your sister arrived earlier, after your fiancé who was with your baby. So—“ Her guess lingered on my face, then my body. “You must have been stressed but they are here to make sure the planned events go successful.”

“Urghhh?” I screamed, freezing. “So they are here?”

“What’s that?” Bridget seemed confused. Who wouldn’t? She didn’t know what happened. Before she could turn over to ask me, I’d run off, straight to the floor and apartment we booked.

I was running, planning not to stop until I reached our apartment. My wish was switched now, no longer to find if Alessandro and my baby were alive, they are pretty much alive. I was anxious to know what’s going on between Alessandro and Lilah, prior to what happened just a few hours ago.

Why would my bridal shower as the receptionist said still hold despite such a huge loss. I sniffed, wanting to cry but this wasn’t the time for tears. I had a lot to find out.

I arrived at the apartment, the hotel corridor was eerily quiet. There were no voices. No laughter. No music.

Strange.

I walked toward the suite, heels clicking against the marble floor. I hesitated at the door, then turned the knob.

The room was dark. Shadows moved inside.

"Hello?" I called out, stepping in slowly.

A sound. A gasp.

I froze.

From the bathroom, the door creaked open. Two figures emerged, breathless, tangled.

Lilah.

And Alessandro.

My Alessandro.

His shirt was half-buttoned. Her dress was bunched around her waist. Her lipstick was smeared. His hands—his hands were still on her.

Time stopped.

"Claire—" he started.

"Oh my God," I choked out. "No. No, no, no."

I backed away, my knees buckling. Lilah didn’t even look surprised. She simply adjusted her dress and smirked.

"You were always too easy to fool," she said coolly.

The room tilted. My pulse roared in my ears.

"You said you loved me," I whispered to Alessandro, voice cracking. "You made me trust you. We have a child—"

“Where’s my baby?”

Alessandro flashed a lopsided grin. “He’s safe with us, you don’t need to worry.” His words sounded laced with mockery. My eyes scanned through his body under the dim light, no sign of injury. Lilah, same. But the armed men attacked both of our dads.

Something fishy is going on.

I uttered within me.

"Lilah has always rooted for me from the beginning," he muttered, looking away. "You were just so comfortable to notice."

His charms disappeared within a second and all that stood in its place was a disgusting, arrogant attitude. No remorse. No regret. Like he had always planned it but carefully hid beneath the charms. I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened, and the air turned to knives. Everything I had built, every dream, shattered at my feet.

And tomorrow was supposed to be my wedding day. This night was going to be my bridal shower.

The betrayal burned hotter than any fire.

“Which plan? The loss of our dads?” My eyes turned towards Lilah. I recalled she was laughing. “Seems you know something about this!”

The thought of my baby came to mind, I dashed inside, attempting to search for it when Alessandro grabbed me firmly from the back. “You aren’t picking him, he belongs to me. You gave birth to him, right?”

Lilah came, standing before me, arms crossed over her chest, lips twisted into a witty grin. The film over my brain faded. Reality struck, the truth revealed. He wanted you for the baby only. He never loved you, only pretended to. This voice quietly spoke to me. I stood there dazed. I was shocked beyond words.

I bit my lower lips. “Were you just trying to make me fall for you, then you will betray me?” It was evident. “What should I call you, perhaps a Psychopath!” I screamed so hard, bursting fully into tears. My baby cried. He turned away, going back to Lilah.

“And you!” I stormed towards her but he blocked me. “Don’t think you’ve finally gotten him. Oh God—“ I hit my forehead. I just couldn’t tell. Were they in a secret relationship all through this while but I never knew? Did she just manage to seduce him, how?

I cried, making tantrums, refusing to leave.

Lilah’s laugh echoed through the room, a sound I hadn’t expected to hear from her. I turned to her, my eyes wide with disbelief. She stepped forward, a bit closer.

“Did you really think,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension, “that such a man as this would marry a drop out like you.” She smirked, clapping. “Didn’t you also wonder why he kept you a secret but asked you to give birth to him first before he married you.”

As she spoke, tears were forming. More tears. More and more tears. “I’m not done with you yet,” she cut through.

She pulled out her phone, going to her gallery. Series of intimate pictures of Alessandro and her spanning for nine months. Some they were kissing, others making out but not in the Walsons Estate. Outside. Somewhere I didn't know, perhaps a hotel like this. My eyes rolled from right to left, then to her. Her lips tightened into a sinister smirk.

“What's this?” I gasped.

“Wait, let me show you more.” Alessandro snapped, going over to his drawer and pulling out some files, he dashed them on my palms. “Read through!”

MARITAL CONTRACT OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE WALSONS AND ARCOLES DATED—

Nine months ago.

I glared straight, deep into their souls, feeling my life skip away. “I can’t believe this!” I muttered in a whisper. My body went aloof. I was drained of all my enemy, left with nothing, just vacuum.

Then Alessandro clapped.

I jerked up, wondering what this meant. From nowhere, men in black appeared. Just like the ones that invaded the Arcoles Mansion. Before I could say a word, I felt a cloth thrown over my face, my body jacked off the ground, led outside. Then the sound of a waiting helicopter, I was pulled inside.

I wanted to scream, to shout, to fight but I was powerless. I could barely even breathe. I thought of my baby, going to be raised by Lilah? My traitor sister. Hell no! Then my cheating husband. Alessandro. If I was told with all the love he showered on me, I would have never believed. They jacked me up, taking me away. Outside the hotel, I presumed.

“Take her away, far away, to the state she would never be able to leave.” I heard his voice from below, as the helicopter was lifting. Life seemed to fly away. Georgia popped up in my mind. It was the only state with the strictest laws.

Revenge lurked over me. I will surely seek it. I will make them regret ever doing this to me. More than ever, I would fight to become what I’ve always dreamt no matter the number of years it will take me.

A judge.