Chapter 3

"Don’t leave me, Darson!" Celeste cried, her voice trembling with desperation as she clung to her husband.

Her heart ached, not from love, but from the fear of losing the last chance to exact the revenge she had been planning all along. She couldn’t let him go, not now, not when she was so close. The thought of being abandoned here, on this dark, empty road, with no one around and no way to carry out her plans, filled her with terror. The moon and stars offered no comfort, only a reminder of the loneliness that awaited her if she failed.

“P-Please, my love!” She forced herself to sound pitiful, trying to appeal to whatever lingering affection he might have had. “Believe me, I didn’t push Chiarra! I-I didn’t hurt her! She did it to herself, p-please believe me, Darson!” 

Her words were a lie, a pitiful mask she wore to buy herself time. Inside, she was seething with hatred, not only for Chiarra but for Darson as well. How dare he turn his back on her after all she had endured, after everything she had planned? But she couldn’t let that show. Not yet.

“Shut the f*ck up, Celeste!” Darson roared, shoving her away with force.

“D-Darson!” She latched onto him again, desperate to keep him from leaving. She wasn’t begging out of love or fear of loneliness. No, she was begging because she still needed him, needed his pity, his protection, even if only to maintain the illusion that would allow her to strike back one day. 

Thrown to the cold concrete, Celeste’s cries grew louder, but they were not just of pain. They were of frustration, of a plan slipping away. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face, pleading. 

“My love! P-Please, believe me!” She kneeled, grasping at his legs. She had to make him stay, even if just for a little longer.

Darson’s face was twisted in anger, the kind that once would have scared her. Now, it only fueled her determination. She had to get through to him. She had to.

“For five years, Celeste! Five years of this sham of a marriage! I tried. I really tried to be a good husband, but you’re a disgrace! You can’t even get pregnant!” he spat, his voice dripping with contempt. “You said you accepted Chiarra, but look what you did! Now she’s in the hospital because you couldn’t stand her and our child!”

Celeste’s mind raced as she desperately sought a way to twist his words, to make him see her as the victim. “T-That was her doing! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Darson… please forgive me… but believe me, I-I didn’t hurt her! She pushed herself! She jumped—”

“Fuck off, Celeste! Do you think I’m stupid?!” he shouted, kicking her again as she tumbled back to the ground. “Ever since we got married, nothing good has happened! You and your family are a curse! What kind of karma did you bring on us?!”

She had to act fast. If he left, it was all over. “D-Darson…”

“This stupid marriage is over, Celeste.” He grabbed a piece of paper from the car— their marriage certificate— and tore it into pieces before her eyes. 

“No, no!!” she cried out, reaching for the scraps, stuffing them into her dress pocket. But in her mind, the only thing she was mourning was the loss of her access to his wealth, his power.

“I should have left you a long time ago. You’ll never set foot in the Allegra mansion again, Celeste! I’ll make sure of it!” 

Celeste forced herself to her feet, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “P-Please, don’t leave me, Darson! I promise I’ll do anything! I’ll serve both of you—anything, just don’t leave me!”

“Ha!” Darson laughed cruelly. “You think you can change just because I might forgive you? You’re pathetic.”

“No, no!! I’ll stop being jealous of Chiarra, w-we can switch places, I’ll be the mistress—” But he slapped her hard, the sting and the blood only adding to her humiliation. She was running out of time.

“You’re nothing like a proper wife, Celeste. If you were, you wouldn’t be saying things like this,” Darson sneered.

Celeste’s tears were now a mix of rage and despair. “What do you want me to do, Darson? You treat Chiarra like a treasure, while I’m supposed to stand by and watch! How can I not be jealous when I hear you two in her room?! What do you want from me?!”

The bitterness in her voice was real, but not for the reasons he thought. She was angry because she had lost, because he was slipping away from her grasp.

“There’s nothing you can do, Celeste,” Darson declared coldly. “Everything is useless now. You tried to kill Chiarra and our child. I will never forgive you. You deserve to be abandoned, Celeste. Be thankful I’m only leaving you here.”

“D-Darson?” she whispered, trying to reach out, but he swatted her hand away.

“I just hope I never see your face again. Go back to your ruined family, where you belong. Cross me again, and I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Her heart pounded as she watched him get into the car, her last hope fading. But even as she banged on the window, her pleas were hollow. They were the cries of someone who knew they had lost everything, not out of love, but out of a desire for revenge that would now go unfulfilled.

“Darson! P-Please, don’t leave me!! I’m scared!” The engine roared, and she felt the panic rise. “Darson, I can’t do this alone!! Don’t do this to me! I’m scared!! Darson!!”

But the car moved, and in her desperation, she tried to block its path, only for it to veer away and speed off, leaving her in darkness.

As the lights disappeared, she trembled, realizing that not only had she lost him, but she had lost her chance for revenge. Her world crumbled, and in that moment, she knew she had failed. She whispered a quiet apology to her family, knowing she had let them down. And as the darkness closed in, she was left alone, her heart filled with despair, but not the kind born of love— it was the despair of a failed scheme, of a revenge that would never be.

“BOSS, RUN!!”

Celeste was startled when a loud, unexpected voice suddenly shouted.

Her eyes widened in shock as she heard rapid gunfire erupting all around her. The sound sent chills down her spine, making her heart pound. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

She looked up at the sky, expecting fireworks, but saw nothing.

She paused her mourning, standing up in curiosity, wondering where the gunfire had come from. Could there be people nearby who might help her?

Ignoring the darkness, she steeled herself and began walking, blindly feeling her way through the emptiness. It was as if she had become a blind person, lost in the situation.

“Ouch!” But within a minute, she tripped over something and fell hard onto the concrete.

She grabbed her head, feeling the pain. She noticed a large bump that had caused her to stumble.

“A-Ah, it hurts… h-help.” To her surprise, she heard a man groaning in pain.

Startled, she crawled toward the man. "I'm so sorry, I didn’t see you! It’s really dark. Are you okay?" she asked, her voice trembling with fear and concern.

Even though she was scared, she still cared about the stranger. Being alone was terrifying enough, but having someone else there was somehow even more unsettling.

She gasped when the man suddenly grabbed her wrist. “Y-You…”

She felt the coldness of his hand and noticed a slick liquid on it, but she couldn’t see what it was. "Help me... I'm begging you," 

His voice was shaky, and he held onto her wrist tightly.

Celeste panicked. His voice was barely a whisper. But before she could react, his grip loosened, and his arm fell limply onto the concrete.

"W-Wait!" she panicked, shaking the man’s body, but there was no response. He had lost consciousness. "I-I need help too, sir. Please wake up!"

She frantically felt his body, her hands becoming soaked in liquid. "What’s happening to you, sir? Where were you, and why is your body so wet?" she asked, confused.

She stopped when she felt a hard, rectangular object inside his shirt.

She quickly pulled it out and was surprised when a cellphone screen lit up. “A cellphone! Sir, you have a cellphone.”

She fiddled with it and turned on the flashlight. What she saw made her heart race.

The liquid covering his body was red—blood—coating him from head to toe. His face was battered and bruised, almost unrecognizable.

Celeste’s heart pounded in fear as she nervously placed her finger under the man’s nose to check if he was still breathing.

When she realized he was, she sighed in relief. She quickly opened the phone and dialed the emergency hotline.

"Ambulance! I-I need an ambulance!" she shouted into the phone, her voice full of panic.

The man’s condition was far worse than hers!

Her fingers were covered in his blood, but she didn’t care. She ignored her fear and shock, focusing only on getting help!

“Don’t die, sir! I’m calling an ambulance—”

“No!” She was startled when the man’s eyes suddenly flew open, and he shouted, “Don’t call an ambulance… just please call Diego.”

“W-Who’s Diego, sir?”

Celeste saw the man struggling to keep his eyes open, but he could no longer fight it and closed them again.

Despite the difficulty, the man forced himself to speak. "Zero, three, three, nine... call Diego."

"H-Huh?" Celeste stammered, but the man lost consciousness again. She frantically looked at the phone screen. It was locked with a password—wait!

"Zero, three, three... nine?" Celeste gasped as the phone unlocked!

She quickly went to the contacts and searched for the name Diego. She found it and immediately dialed the number.

“BOSS! WHERE ARE YOU?!” A loud voice shouted on the other end, nearly deafening Celeste.

Boss? They’re talking about this man! What happened? "H-Hello? Um... are you Diego? He needs help—"

“Who are you?!” Celeste gulped, shocked by the aggressive interruption.

"W-Wait, please. I just found this man asking for help on a dark road! His body is covered in cuts and bruises! He told me to call Diego because he didn’t want an ambulance—"

"Don’t hang up, Miss! We’re locating your position!"

“Oh, okay, okay, sir! I need help too—thank you so much! I don’t even know the way home, so—”

“Don’t move from where you are, Miss! We’re on our way.” The call ended abruptly, leaving Celeste staring at the phone screen in disbelief. How rude!

She bit her lip and decided to ignore it. She needed help to get home! It didn’t seem like Darson was coming back for her. He had completely abandoned her in a place like this.

Celeste turned her attention back to the man and shined the flashlight on the blood covering his body and where it was coming from.

She tore a piece of fabric from the hem of her dress and wrapped it around his waist, where the blood was flowing the most.

"Hmm... i-it hurts so bad..." the man groaned weakly, his eyes tightly shut.

Celeste swallowed hard, trying to comfort him. "Everything will be okay, sir."

Slowly, she saw his eyes open again. He looked up at her like a pitiful, abandoned puppy. Just like her. Perhaps because of his condition, Celeste couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy, thinking they were in the same situation.

With deep sadness, she gave him a gentle smile. "Everything will be okay..."