Chapter 1
It was my first dinner at Caleb's family home after our wedding. Caleb was upset with me for not serving Briar, his niece, and gave me a shove right in front of everyone.
Suddenly, a barrage of comments floated across my vision.
[Hold on! Just endure this slap, and he'll fall for you!]
Caleb saw I wasn't moving and raised his hand, about to slap me. "Are you deaf? Go serve the food!"
To hell with that "enduring humiliation for a greater cause."
I snatched the steaming spicy poached cod fillets from the table and flipped the whole dish right onto his head.
With the family screaming around me, I chucked the empty pan straight into the trash.
"Trying to mooch and still act tough? Guess that burn wasn't hot enough for you..." I sneered.
*****
Scalding chili crisp oil dripped down Caleb's hair, smearing his eyes.
Cod fillets and bright red chili peppers stuck to his rigid face. It made him look like a mess—pathetic and hilarious all at once.
"Ah!"
A scream like a stuck pig shattered the brief silence at the dinner table.
Caleb clutched his face and writhed on the floor, his voice warping with agony.
"Jolie! You lunatic!" Caleb shouted.
Margaret, my mother-in-law, was the first to react. Her mean face twisted with fury as she lunged at me, fingers outstretched, aiming straight for my hair.
"How dare you touch my son! I'll rip that vixen face of yours to pieces today!" she screeched.
With a casual sidestep, I dodged her attack like it was nothing.
She grabbed at thin air and almost face-planted right there.
[Player warning! OOC alert! You're way off script. You will lose his love!]
The obnoxious system notification kept spamming my vision.
"Love?" Jolie snorted to herself.
She shot back at the message, "This kind of garbage love? Whoever wants it can take it. I'm not interested."
Yara, Caleb's sister, shot up from her seat, screaming and jabbing a finger at me.
"Jolie, are you out of your mind? You're his wife. How dare you lay a hand on your husband! Have you no manners at all?" she shrieked.
Briar, Yara's eight-year-old daughter, was bawling her eyes out, her hands greasy from the honey-glazed chicken wings she'd just been gnawing on as she pointed at me.
"Bad lady! You hit my uncle! You're a big meanie!" she wailed.
In the middle of all that chaos, I kept my mouth shut.
Quietly, I grabbed the heavy wooden chair next to me.
Before Margaret could come at me again, I hauled the chair up and smashed it right onto the lazy Susan of the rosewood round table.
Crash!
A thunderous crash shook the room.
Plates, bowls, and chopsticks jumped and clattered to the floor, smashing to pieces everywhere.
Everything froze. Suddenly, the whole world was silent.
Everyone was completely rattled, gaping at me like they'd just seen a ghost.
Margaret's hand froze mid-air, Yara's words died in her throat, and even Caleb, rolling on the floor, was too stunned to even feel the pain for a moment.
I let go of the chair, its legs dragging across the floor with a screech that made everyone wince.
I fixed them with a cold, dead stare.
"Domestic violence?" I said, my voice flat.
I pulled out my phone, the screen lighting up, and with deliberate slowness, I punched in 911.
"Let's see what the cops say about who's really the abuser here," I said, my tone icy.
Caleb, still wracked with pain, dragged himself up off the floor. When he caught sight of the number glowing on my phone screen, his eyes went red with fury.
He charged at me like a rabid beast, reckless and wild, trying to grab my phone.
"Jolie! How dare you call the cops! You're ruining me!" he roared.
I stood my ground. As he rushed at me, I raised my foot and nailed him right in the knee.
Thud!
The tough guy from a moment ago dropped straight to his knees in front of me, all his bravado gone.
I looked down at him, and the sound of his knees hitting the floor was music to my ears, way better than any begging.
"This house? I paid for it in full before we got married. The title is in my name alone—Jolie Sterling," I said.
My voice wasn't loud, but it rang out clearly for everyone to hear.
"Caleb, you and your whole family are just guests under my roof," I said, ice in my tone.
"And now? The owner doesn't want you here anymore," I added, cold as ever.
I pointed right at the door, spelling out each word.
"If you don't want to end up dead, then get out of my house," I said, my voice sharp and merciless.
Police sirens were getting closer, growing louder by the second.
The same family that had just been yelling for my head turned pale, their faces drained of color as soon as those sirens hit their ears.
Margaret was the first to rush over to Caleb, hugging him and bawling her eyes out.
"Oh, my poor boy! How could you be so unlucky marrying a cold-blooded viper like her? She's out to murder her own husband!" Margaret wailed.
That was the scene the cops walked in on.
Caleb was kneeling in disgrace, drenched in chili crisp oil. Margaret was crying hysterically, Yara was pointing at me and cursing, and Briar shrieked in terror from the corner.
And me? I stood at the center of the wreckage, cool and detached, like a stranger to the mess around me.
"Officer, it's her! She dumped hot chili oil and fish all over my son! Arrest her, quick!" Margaret shrieked, pointing at me and pulling the classic "blame-the-victim" move.
Caleb instantly switched to his sad puppy routine, turning to the cops with a pitiful expression.
"Officer, it's just a bit of family drama. My wife...she's got a fiery temper," he said, trying to play it down.
He was trying to downplay everything as just a marital spat.
But what he didn't know was that from the moment he shoved me, I'd already started recording everything on my phone.