"For the murder of William Stone, I hereby find you, Esmeralda Stone—"
Esmeralda held her breath, staring at the Judge from the defendant's box. The courtroom was so quiet, she could hear her own heart drumming in her chest, beating loudly in her ears.
This was it; the judge's next word would determine her fate.
"—innocent."
"NO!" A woman's scream cut through the courtroom but Esmeralda stopped listening at the word "innocent"; instead, she heaved a sigh of relief.
Innocent… again.
She was found innocent of the death of her late husband, William, just as she had been found innocent of the deaths of the seven husbands before him.
Esmeralda had been married eight times since she was 18; one husband per year. Her husbands never lived up to one year after their marriage. In fact, the next husband would usually die a month earlier than the previous. William had died the earliest, three months. He only lasted three months.
Their deaths became suspicious in its consistency, and even more with the fact that they would usually leave everything in her name.
Before the public, along with the former families of her late husbands, started accusing her of killing them, they had first accused her of using an evil seduction tactic on the men to end up with such a wealthy result. They would have been right. Afterall, Esmeralda was a 26-year-old alluring woman; a light porcelain-skinned curvy lady, with luscious red hair made in ever-perfect big curls, and a pair of bewitching brown and blue eyes no man could ever resist.
They would have been right, except that there might be something else involved, something Esmeralda wasn't telling anyone because she honestly couldn't figure it out, something the courts couldn't find because the hospitals always gave them the reports that her husbands had died of a medical condition, mostly a heart attack.
There was definitely something killing Esmeralda's husbands.
A tall, dark shadow in the middle of the night— it was — she didn't know what it was! She wasn't even sure if it was real or if she was just losing her mind because of how much death surrounded her.
Crazy!
Ahhhhh!
Whatever it was, she had to make sure it wouldn't kill her too.
She had to make sure—
A hand went swiftly across her face, the sound of the slap echoing in her ears and bringing her back to the present.
The flashing of cameras felt blinding and the clicking of the little machines as the reporters took pictures, felt absolutely deafening.
They were now outside the courtroom? Already?
She had been too engrossed in her thoughts to notice that happening.
"You Slut! You filthy whore! You killed him, you killed my husband!" The woman who had yelled earlier, screamed in her face as her two sons tried to hold her back. Their wives were here too, each with a child.
What a sweet family reunion.
Esmeralda smiled. "You should thank me, Karen."
"What?!"
"Your husband died during sex. He died while I was giving him the best time of his life." Esmeralda's smile broadened, her words low and painful. Karen's eyes widened with horror and Esmeralda continued; she just needed someone to feel as much pain as she was feeling. After all, hurt people, hurt people. "Something you were never able to give him. Isn't that why he married me?"
Karen raised her hand to slap her again but another woman held her hand.
"You will not hit my daughter again!" Esmeralda's mother yelled and Eva pulled her hand away from her grip.
The flashings increased, along with the clickings.
These people had no sense of privacy, her life was nothing but content to them. Esmeralda was used to it though. In fact, she was ready to read different news articles that would call her names such as Medusa, Husband Killing Esmy, and so on.
"Yes, you heard what the Judge said. Our baby didn't kill anybody. So you better get out of here if you don't want any trouble." Her father chipped in, standing between her and Karen, while Manuel - her 20-year-old brother, joined him. "Right, Get out of here!"
It was so ridiculous to see them stand up for her like this. Who were they fooling?
"Let's go, mum." The younger son tried to pull Karen away but she didn't listen.
"That whore murdered your father, Leonard!" She pointed at Esmeralda who stared ahead, unblinkingly. "She has everything we have ever worked for—"
"We are leaving, Ma." The elder one, Charles, commanded and they started turning to leave. "This is not over Esmeralda! You are going to regret this, I promise you." He said before they all finally left.
Some reporters followed them, asking them questions while they all stated that they had no comment.
Some stayed behind to torture Esmeralda and her family with questions.
"Charles Stone just threatened you, how do you feel about this?"
"Are you afraid?"
"Will you press charges?!"
"Did you really not kill Mr. William Stone?!"
"Who will you be marrying next?"
"Whose grandpa is up your list?"
Ridiculous.
Esmeralda hissed and tried to step away from them but they blocked her path, asking more and more questions.
"Just a word, please—"
"Esmeralda, over here!"
"Esmy, darling, just a moment of your time!"
They threw questions at her family while they tried to create a pathway for her. She couldn't move away from there until Big Ben came. Big Ben, her tall, bald, muscular, black-suited bodyguard. He was in his mid-forties and the most effective protector she had ever known. He was like a family, in fact, he may be the only real family she had.
He cleared a path for her in no time, and led her straight to the car. Jolie, her best friend since she was 17, was already by the car. Tall, slender, blonde-haired beauty in a silk off-white shirt and black pants.
She opened the door for her. The minute Esmeralda got in, she got in too and shut the door, keeping the reporters away. Then Big Ben got in the driver's seat and drove away, the reporters followed them as long as they could before retreating.
As for Esmeralda's family, they were in another car, as they should. Sharing the same car with them would drive Esmeralda insane. If she had a choice, Big Ben wouldn't be driving her to their house as he was right now, but due to the several court battles she had been facing, all her accounts were frozen and her properties were locked down.
Now that she had been declared innocent, things would go back to normal, but it might take a day. She needed somewhere to stay before then, besides she was the one who got the house for her parents.
They had to be useful for something.
Jolie squeezed her hand gently and it was only then that she realized that she had been crying.
"It'll be okay, Esmy." Jolie said and Esmeralda wiped her tears away angrily.
She couldn't allow them to get to her. She wasn't weak!
"Charles is bluffing, I swear."
Esmeralda chuckled, resting her head against the tinted glass. She wanted a smoke badly, a shot of alcohol would help too, and maybe then she would be able to get this dark shadowy image out of her mind.
Maybe it would stop haunting her then.
"I'm not scared of Charles. Big Ben will protect me. Won't you, Big Ben?"
"Anything for you, ma'am." Big Ben said from the driver's seat as he took a turn.
"I'll protect you too. You know I'll do anything for you." Jolie flashed her a smile and Esmeralda smiled too.
Jolie had been a good friend to her since they met in that club many years ago. Jolie had been in that club, working to survive while Esmeralda had been there because— well, she didn't like to remember.
Bad memories.
Jolie was an orphan and Esmeralda had taken it as her responsibility to help her to live a life of her dreams, where she would go to school, get a degree, a job and live in peace, owing no debt to no one. In return, Jolie had been everything.
Esmeralda met Big Ben a year after she met Jolie when Gadton, her first husband, had hired him as her bodyguard. She had thought he had hired her a bodyguard to protect her from the hungry gazes of the men who tried to lay a claim on her, until she clocked 18 and he married her.
Her only consolation was that he didn't live long.
10 months!
What a relief it had been.
"I've paid the lawyer. The full payment."
"Jolie?! She's expensive? Where did you get that kind of money?"
"I've been saving," she chuckled.
Tears welled up in Esmeralda's eyes and she pulled Jolie into an embrace.
"Jolieyyy. Thank you for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you."
"I guess we'll never find out."
Esmeralda pulled away with a smile. "Thank you too, Big Ben. I'm so lucky to have both of you. I can't imagine my life without you." Big Ben nodded in acknowledgement, not a man of many words.
"Alright! That is enough mushiness! Let me tell you what happened over the weekend. Girl—" Jolie started telling her about all the rumours she had missed.
Jolie's voice was so soothing and peaceful that Esmeralda fell asleep.
Her eyelids fluttered shut, and her heart raced, because once again, the shadowy image was all she could see.
It would come for her too, just as it did for her husbands.
It was only a matter of time.
She could feel it in her heart, the fear playing with every beat.
It was coming.