[Warning: This chapter includes women's assault, murder and arson. Reader's discretion is advised.]
Chapter 1: Ashes and Regrets (1)
"How ironic that we run to the ocean just to breathe—
because somehow we drown more on land than in the waves.
Maybe we trust the ocean because it never pretends to be solid ground…
Unlike the love we once believed would last a lifetime."
The thought flickered through Sereia's fading mind the moment the nightmare began.
Winston, regrettably her husband, roared like thunderstorm, cutting through their tiny apartment like a blade.
"WHERE IS MY MONEY?!"
The monitors on his desk shook as he slammed his fist against the table again and again, face twisted with a madness she'd never seen even at his worst. Her husband—her first love, the boy she once believed she'd grow old with—was now nothing more than a rabid dog of a man.
Sera wasn't sure. For all the filthy things he had done behind her back and right across her face, she began to question herself if this heartless man was still human.
The first hit came quick. A backhand so strong she tasted metal.
The second stole her breath.
By the third, she stopped bothering to raise her arms to defend herself.
Her blood painted the floor in uneven strokes, dripping down her chin, but she simply stared up at him—numb, hollow, watching him unravel.
"You crazy bitch! All these years you were loaded with cash and you made me do odd jobs under the scorching sun to pay my tuition? Fuck, I wanna strangle you so hard right now so don't play dumb with me! Where is it?!"
Winston roared like a mad beast desperate for meat as he paced like a man possessed, tearing through drawers and bags, tossing their shared memories to the floor like trash.
"There's nothing on your account. I know you cashed it all out," he snarled. "The money—MY money—where did you hide it?!"
His words struck harder than his fists.
Once, he used to whisper love into her palms.
Now he spit filth in her face as though they had never shared a single day of tenderness.
Sereia slowly wiped the blood from her lip, a cold, humorless smile tugging at the edge of her mouth.
So this is who you really are… How sickening.
Her entire body screamed in agony, but watching him panic—watching him tear the house apart in terror—made a wicked satisfaction bloom inside her open wounds.
Did he think she hadn't known?
That she hadn't noticed the late nights he frequently comes home with a strong nauseating scent of a high end perfume that she had never been a fun of.
The secret meetings, chats and video calls when he thought she wasn't paying attention.
And the sudden way he guarded the sole computer they have at home where she signs in her old trading account as though he had unearthed a century old ginseng root?
Winston, oh Winston.
Now I believe it when they say an apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Your kind were a pile of rotten apple.
She remembered how he used to curse his father—
a worthless drunk, a gambler, and a scumbag who ruined their lives.
But here he was, repeating the same sins, except worse.
Not only had he cheated on the woman who fed him, loved him, supported him since she was ten even though she was a year older.
They promised a lifetime together. She blindly fell for his words and registered their marriage even without the proper wedding she deserved.
She had let go of her dreams: university, flowers, dates, wedding. All just to fill in and lift his ego.
But now, he wanted to erase her once he got her money.
Sereia wanted to slap her younger self. But more than anything he wanted her husband to rot in hell and cripple his last bits of sanity.
"That fourteen billion…?" She wiped the blood on her lips and grinned mockingly before bursting in to laughter when the man eagerly answered.
"Yes, yes! Sereia where is it? Babe tell me," he blurted out in excitement, leaving Sereia almost gagging when she heard that cringey endearment.
Pathetic bastard.
"Oh dear, I burned it all! What should I do? You would never touch a cent of it! Hahahaha!"
Her laughter became louder as soon she saw the man's jaw drop and clenched.
Winston's dumbfounded and utterly defeated face was the remedy to all her burning injuries!
"What... what did you mean burn?! Make yourself clear!" He bellowed and his eyes glared at her.
"Think with your stupid brain. How do you burn a digital currency? Idiot—"
Sereia winced before she could finish.
Winston slapped her so hard her ears ring from the sheer impact.
The man wasn't satisfied and he yanked still her hair and pull it to his level. His brooding eyes bore at her neck threateningly.
"Stop messing with me, Sereia. That's a fucking 14 billion dollars! Just tell me where did you transfered it before I lose all my patience with you."
"So what? Aren't you still going to kill me?"
She spat firmly without batting an eye.
She was right. The man was determined to get rid of her whether she gave him the money or not.
A surge of bitterness slapped her harder than how Winston slapped her. She couldn't help but tear up not for the heartbreak. She had long come into terms with that after he had first raised his hand to hurt her.
She only had herself to blame for falling for the wrong person but for wasting her youth, her love and all the opportunities she could've grabbed if not for wanting to support the asshole's dreams.
She feels sorry for her younger self.
This man, why did she ever fell for this kind of trash?