(Emma’s POV)
“So, it’s true all this time! You only got close to me for such a hidden agenda—to kill my father!”
There was no word coming out from him, except his cries. All he did was to accept my anger and hatred!
“A task force agent who had been assigned to do an undercover, making the daughter of the target fall in love with him to get her trust, only to betray her in the end!” I continued. My voice and my eyes were full of wrath! There was no room for forgiveness for what he did!
“I’m so sorry, Emma…” he apologized over and over again.
I didn’t feel any satisfaction with just a slap, so I hit his chest as hard as I could, and he was just letting him hurt him without doing anything to stop me. He even seemed numbed by the pain.
“Why did you have to do this to me and to my dad, Brandon?! Why did you have to kill the only family I had?! I trusted you! Both dad and I trusted you so much, but you betrayed us in the most cruel way! I hate you! I hate you so much! I loathe the day that I met you, that I fell in love with a traitor like you! How I wish I never met you in this life!”
I cried and hit him, and all he could do was accept everything.
In the end, I screamed at the top of my lungs all the pain, stress, and exhaustion I felt, and then the world turned black, but I felt that I didn’t fall on the floor. He immediately caught me and carried me in his muscled arms.
The next morning, I opened my eyes, and I wondered where I was because the place seemed not any familiar to me. I looked everywhere—the ceiling was made of dried nipa palm leaves. It probably was a nipa hut.
What was I doing in a place like this? How did I end up here?
I massaged my temple and felt a slight ache on my head. Wait, did I drink a lot of alcohol last night? But why? Was this some sort of a hangover or anything like that? But what was the event last night, and why did it feel like Ihad drunk myself so severely?
I was forced to recall what happened and how I ended up here. And what followed next was a series of events that flashed like a flood in my head.
Henry revealed to me who Brandon Anderson truly was—his job and his real intention of why he got close to me and made me fall in love with him. At first, I didn’t believe Henry because I only wanted to believe in my fiancé. But as I heard the gunshots and a familiar screaming voice from the rooftop of the building where we were, my life changed forever!
I could not believe it! My eyes went watery all over again, remembering everything that happened!
I continued to recall it until I saw for myself how Henry was not lying at all, and the one who had actually been lying all this time and deceiving me was none other than Brandon!
Brandon was given a huge mission: it was to shut down my father! And he used me so he could succeed in doing so. And last night, he succeeded. He had killed my father. I heard it. I heard the gunshots. I saw my father lying helplessly on the floor, shedding his own blood, and it was Brandon who did it! The gun he was holding that moment was the one he used to put an end to my father’s life!
My chest felt heavier. I was such a fool to have fallen into this monster’s trap!
It was almost making me insane! The man I loved was the very person who killed my dad!
I cried and once again screamed all of the pain I was feeling. “You betrayed me, Brandon! I can’t believe I fell in love with a monster like you! I regret trusting you! I regret loving you! And I even regret the very day I laid eyes on you!!!”
For the next few moments, I was doing nothing except for crying and regretting everything—welcoming the monster in my life with arms wide open, falling for him, bringing him to our house and introducing him to my father, treating him as part of our family, trusting him, and loving him so much, because in the end, he did nothing but just hurt and destroy me! He did not only kill my dad, but he also shattered my heart into broken pieces!
Later on, I fiercely wiped my tears away and decided to leave as soon as possible because I wouldn’t forget he was also the one who took me into this unfamiliar place. He was the only one who was with me last night before I fainted, so I was certain it was he who brought me here!
Desperately, I looked for a way out and ran away as fast as I could.
I honestly didn’t know where to go; all I knew was I needed to get away from that monster!
But in the midst of my running away, I had unexpectedly come across Brandon! He wasn’t alone. Two men were with him, and they seemed to be talking about something seriously. When he saw me, he was shocked.
“Emma, you’re awake! But where are you going?”
I did not answer him. I just ran the other direction to escape from him!
“Emma! Emma!!” He called me and ran after me.
I ran so fast until there was no longer a way to run because a cliff was ahead of me. It was drastically high, and if I fell, I was sure there would be no chance for survival!
I stopped, making him stop along with his friends beside him, who also ran when he ran to chase me.
I only had two options. Let Brandon get near me or jump off that cliff.
But I was not scared anymore! There was no longer a reason for me to be afraid of or even to remain alive. My father had been killed. My love betrayed me. Maybe ending my life here would be the best escape from all the pain I was feeling after everything that happened.
“Emma! Don’t do it, Emma!” Brandon’s voice was shaking in fear as if he had read what was running on my mind—that I was considering jumping off the cliff.
With unstoppable tears in my eyes, I faced him.
“Emma, I’m begging you! Don’t!” The desperation was so evident from his very frustrated and scared face.
When I saw that he was tactically slowly stepping his feet to get near me, thinking that I would not notice it, I warned him by stepping my leg even closer to the edge of the cliff, which made it one wrong move, and I would fall.
It, indeed, desperately made him stop trying to get closer to me, and all he could do was cry and beg me not to do it. “No, Emma! Don’t! Emma, please!!!”
“Dare to get near me and I will not hesitate to jump, Brandon!” I warned him. I was so serious about it, and I would really do it if he continued to be bold!
“Fine! I’m following anything you’re saying, just please, please don’t jump, Emma! Please! I’m begging you!”
I didn’t care about his tears. I even chuckled in sarcasm. “Are you crying and don’t want me to die because you don’t really want me to end my life, or because it will demerit you from climbing to a higher position in your office?”
“f**k, Emma! I don’t care about the ranks if it’ll cause me to lose you—”
“Liar!” I shouted, cutting him. “If my life really means to you, you should’ve known that I won’t live without my father! You shouldn’t have killed him! But what did you do? You shot him with your own gun! In your own hands!”
He cried a river. He was full of guilt, sadness, and regret.
“Now, answer me. I want to hear the truth, and nothing but the truth, Brandon. All the affection, warmth, and love that you showed me all this time were only part of your plan, weren’t they?”
He could not answer.
“Damn it! Answer me!” I demanded.
“Yes. Yes, Emma. That’s right, but—”
“I really hate you, Brandon…” I cut him again, this time I was not shouting anymore, but my voice was filled with so much rage. “Even in my next life, I’ll still hate you!”
He bit his lower lip as he continued to shed his tears.
“Please, let me explain. Give me a chance to explain myself to you, Emma…”
“Explain? A chance? Ha! Have you even thought of giving my father a chance to live before you shoot your gun in every part of his body?!”
He could not answer me. I was already tired of crying. I was exhausted from it all. This should end it all here…
“I’m tired. I don’t want to cry anymore. I don’t want to continue living in misery, in pain, crying myself to sleep, and thinking about how I once trusted someone I thought would always love and protect me, how I had been used and betrayed by the only man I loved truly and deeply! This is such a great wound you carve in my heart, Brandon, and I don’t think I can ever forgive you…”
“Emma…” His voice broke.
I took another step backward, getting so close to the very edge of the cliff. And this made Brandon’s eyes widen in extreme horror, like he had never been this scared in his life.
But I knew it was all just an act! He had already made me fall for his lies; he could not deceive me this time around!
“No, Emma! Emma, please! Don’t! Don’t jump! Don’t end your life here, Emma! I’m desperately begging you, don’t do it!” He begged and even went down on his knees.
But no matter what he said, I would not believe him anymore.
“If we meet again in another life, I wish nothing but misery for you, Brandon. I want you to feel the same pain you made me feel when you killed my father and when you betrayed me. I will never let you get away with it. I’ll make sure that every single day you’ll suffer and you’ll be living in sorrow and regrets, and there won’t be a day that you’ll ever forget what you did, how you hurt me, how you used me, and how you took advantage and broke my heart apart…”
After saying my last wishes of curse for him, I did not hesitate to jump off the cliff.
“NO!!!”