Chapter 3
In the comments section, three accounts working together dropped a video.
It was a clip showing me pinning Sophia to the ground and slapping her across the face.
"Elaine, do you have a twin sister?" Victor asked.
He took a slow drag from his cigar, eyeing me with narrowed eyes.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
The person in the video was blurry, but everyone could tell it was me.
"Who knows?" I replied.
I snuggled closer to him, pretending to be interested as I scrolled back and forth through the video.
"Guess there really are people out there who look just like me. My mom must've kept some secrets from me," I joked.
My playful tone made him chuckle.
Victor stubbed out his cigar.
"Yeah, you two look so much alike. Honestly, I thought it was you at first," he said.
I playfully punched him in the chest, pretending to be mad.
I said, "Come on. I've been with you for years, and you're really going to doubt me just because of one video?
"There are tons of people out there who look like me. Are you gonna suspect me every time you see someone who kinda looks like me?"
He pulled me closer, his arm around my waist.
"How could I? If things had just ended there, I wouldn't have given it a second thought," he said.
I frowned and looked at him in confusion.
His gaze grew colder, but he still wore that smile.
He said, "Honey, guess what? That video blew up, but not even five minutes later, the account was taken down. Everything about it just disappeared from the internet.
"So, what do you think the net cops are trying to hide?
"Maybe this whole thing is tied to someone important, huh?"
He slowly hooked my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eye.
Victor never said the whole thing out loud.
Whenever Victor asked something, it was never really a question.
He already knew the answer.
This was a dead end designed just for me, no way out.
"Honey, your background is squeaky clean. It's like someone scrubbed your past spotless for you," he said.
He ran his thumb along my jawline.
"Do you know what I hate most? Betrayal," he said.
My mind went totally blank. He just beckoned toward the door, and a squad of his muscle marched right in.
This was the crew he used whenever he needed to deal with traitors.
His people all knew that if these guys had their eyes on you, your best bet was to dive out the window.
Taking the fall was a hell of a lot better than whatever they'd do to you.
"Elaine, how long have we been together?" Victor asked.
"Five years," I said softly.
"Yeah, from the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were meant to be mine. I'm willing to give you a chance. Making a few mistakes now and then is no big deal," he said.
He pulled me gently into his arms, his hand cradling the back of my head.
"As long as you become completely mine, I can turn a blind eye to everything," he murmured.
Right then, with Victor in front of me and his goons behind, my heart was in total chaos.
Inside my head, a voice kept shouting at me—Survive.
I swallowed hard, my eyes welling up with tears.
"I've always been yours, Victor. Why are you making me confess to something I didn't even do?" I said.
I couldn't admit it.
Victor never followed through on what he said.
His eyes turned icy as he released me. Then he motioned for his guy to light up his cigar.
"Take her away," he ordered.
I was yanked up and dragged out without a shred of mercy.
Once I was dragged out that door, it'd be like I never existed.
I shouted at the top of my lungs, "I never betrayed you, Victor! You're really going to doubt me just because of a video? I won't accept this."
"Take her away," he said, his voice completely emotionless.
The leader of his men let out a cold laugh.
"Elaine, why not just come clean? Mr. Bennett likes it when people are honest," he sneered.
"I never betrayed him!" I spat out through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, yeah," he said with a mocking grin.
He just flashed a smile and made a gesture. Next thing I knew, someone yanked a hood over my head.
After a while, my head was shoved down onto a cushioned surface, the cold muzzle of a gun jammed hard against the back of my head.
The leader said, "Elaine, we've known each other for a long time, so let me give you some advice.
"You've been with Mr. Bennett longer than any other woman, and his feelings for you are real.
"If you just admit it now, there's a good chance he'll actually let you off."
The gun was already cocked and ready to fire.
If I died here, everything I'd worked for these past five years would go straight down the drain.
No one would remember me, and my family would never even know what happened to me.
They'd just keep waiting, never knowing, until the end of their lives.
But if I confessed, maybe, just maybe, I'd have a chance to see them again.
My voice shook as I finally spoke, "I... I've never betrayed him."
With a bang, the guy pulled the trigger without a second thought.
All I could hear was the deafening ring in my ears.
Was I dead?
Someone hauled me up and yanked the hood off my head.
Victor was standing right there, greeting me with a smile.
He reached out and smoothed out my messy hair.
"Elaine, I knew I could trust you," he said.
I was still trembling. "What happened?"
He handed me his phone.