Chapter 4

Marina Fox rushed up to me and raised her hand to slap me.

I turned my face away, and her hand missed. She froze, caught off guard.

"The way you looked standing up on that stage on your wedding day still makes me laugh whenever I think about it."

I said nothing.

She took it as fear, and the more she talked the more worked up she got.

"You really thought I slit my wrists? I just nicked the skin a little, dabbed some red ink on it, wrapped it in gauze, and Dana came running to me like a madman."

She lifted her wrist, still wound in gauze.

"What were you doing while he was holding me and crying? Were you still in your wedding dress, standing there like a fool, waiting for him to come back?"

My fingers slowly curled in.

Marina saw it and smiled even more smugly.

"You're so pitiful. Five years you waited, and you couldn't even hold on to him through his own wedding."

I looked up at her.

"You lured him away with a fake wound, and you're actually proud of that?"

"At least he trusts me."

"He trusts you because he's blind."

Marina's smile froze.

I took a step back, my arm brushing the edge of the display stand.

"But sooner or later he'll see it clearly—that you can't hold on to him at all, that all you can do is cry and throw fits."

"Gertrude Henson."

She was furious.

"What right do you have to talk about me? A woman like you can put on a wedding dress and still not cover up that cheap, poor stink. Dana only married you out of pity."

I tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"Then why did he give me so much money?"

Marina's breathing went ragged.

"That's his guilty conscience! He felt he owed you!"

"Even if it's a debt, it's still my own payout to collect."

I looked at her.

"You can't even get what Dana owes you, and you still think you're something?"

Her face went bright red.

"Shut your mouth, you bitch!"

There was a glass art piece on the display stand.

Marina snatched it up, her eyes full of hate.

"Today I'm going to ruin that face of yours, and we'll see if Dana ever gives you a second look!"

The instant the piece came smashing down, I twisted aside.

The edge of the glass still grazed my forearm, and blood welled up, dripping through my fingers to the floor.

Marina couldn't check her swing; the piece struck the display stand and shattered across the floor.

She stepped on a shard, her foot slipped, and she fell straight down the steps.

That was when the clubhouse doors were pushed open.

Marina lay at the foot of the steps, whimpering, while I pressed my arm and leaned against the display stand.

The moment she saw Dana, the tears came instantly, and she reached out to him.

"Dana... save me, it hurts so much..."

Dana looked at the broken glass and blood all over the floor.

The next second he came charging toward me like a madman.