Face of Vengeance

"Please Miles, you have to believe me!" Elena clung to her husband's leg, tears coursing down her red-rimmed eyes. "I never cheated on you, I swear it!" Miles' cold eyes sliced into Elena, a grimace contorting his chiseled features as he gripped the damning photos like a vise. The glossy images left no doubt - his treacherous wife urgently devouring some corporate peon's mouth, her fingers clutched in the man's hair. "What's this, you lying wh*re?" Miles' gravelly voice dripped venom as he flung the photos at her feet, along with a crumpled hotel receipt. "Thought you could cuck me without consequences?" "No, no!" Elena madly shook her head. "That's not what happened at all!" David had lured her to the hotel that afternoon under false pretenses of an office party. When she arrived, the place was deserted save for him lying in wait like a scorpion poised to strike. Realization dawned too late as he pounced, trapping her petite frame against the door as his calloused hands pawed her body. She slapped him hard, the crisp smack echoing through the room. But the sick f**k only grinned, hysteria glinting in his beady eyes as he wrenched her wrists over her head. His cracked lips mashed against hers in a violating kiss as the camera flash incriminated her. The photo would be twisted to portray her as the cheater, the sl*t who stepped out on her husband. When the truth was, she was just the unlucky prey to cross paths with a predator. "He forced himself on me!" Elena wailed, hating how weak and pitiful she sounded but unable to stop herself. "I didn't want any of it, I promise! You have to believe me, Miles, please!" Her pleas fell on deaf ears. Miles used his superior strength to shake Elena off, sending her crashing to the floor. Amber watched the scene play out with a sadistic smile. Shards of Elena's world scattered at her feet as Miles cast her aside without a second thought. It was all because of that viper Amber, who had slithered her way into their lives six months ago. Ever since she became Miles' secretary, Elena's once picture-perfect marriage had crumbled. "Get that cheating wh*re out of my house right now!" shrieked Donna, Miles' mother who had always disliked Elena. "N-no!" Elena protested. "I'm pregnant, Miles! D-Don't do this to me! To our baby!" Cruelly twisting the knife, Amber said in a mock sweet voice, "Who knows if the baby is even yours, Miles? Based on that photo, it could just as easily be David's." How dare that homewrecker accuse her of such a vile lie! She started to desperately proclaim her innocence once more, but the look on Miles' face stopped her cold. He actually believed Amber over his own wife. "Sign these divorce papers," Miles snarled, throwing the documents into Elena's stunned face. "Then get the hell out." A loud crack of thunder echoed ominously outside. Elena's shoulders slumped, realizing she was truly trapped. "Please Miles, I'm carrying our child," her voice soft and meek, hands instinctively cradling her belly. "Don't be so heartless to your own baby." His face twisted with revulsion at her words. In one violent motion, Miles seized Elena's jaw in a vicelike grip, forcing her to meet his cold, merciless glare. "You'll sign those divorce papers right now, you lying snake. And if you don't, I'll make sure your deadbeat dad's failing company gets its overdue burial." The malicious threat robbed Elena of any final shred of defiance. Protesting seemed pointless- Miles clearly viewed her as subhuman, his heart poisoned by Amber's deceitful manipulation. With a trembling hand, Elena scratched her name across the accursed documents, etching away her life, her identity, her future. "Good, now get out of my sight," Miles spat, motioning for his private guards to remove her. The burly men started towards Elena, chests puffed with eagerness to remove this apparent filth from their boss's vicinity. "And don't ever let me see your deceitful face again," Miles called after her. "Or it'll be the last mistake you make." Within minutes, Elena was bodily cast out from the opulent estate, thrown to the wolves of the raging storm. Torrents of frigid rain lashed at her exposed skin as she stood shivering on the concrete, utterly alone. All she had left was the flimsy, soaked sundress clinging to her trembling figure. No money, no phone, no possessions to her name. Not a single lifeline to call for rescue, and no destination in mind. Elena trudged onward, her bare feet leaving wet imprints on the glistening pavement. This was the outskirts of London, devoid of anyone to turn to for help. And with no money or phone, calling a cab was an impossible dream. Her only choice was to keep walking, praying to stumble across someone with enough kindness in their heart to offer aid to a drenched, desperate woman. Shivers wracked her body as the unrelenting downpour seeped into her very bones. Up ahead, the faint rumble of an approaching engine caused Elena's head to turn. A pair of headlights pierced through the sheets of rain, gradually growing brighter as the vehicle drew nearer. Perhaps this was her salvation! Hope flickered out like a snuffed candle as dread slithered up Elena's spine. Her outstretched hand, desperate for rescue, retreated against her chest. Feet leaden, she stood frozen, unable to move as the car hurtled straight for her, headlights blinding in their searing brilliance. For an endless moment, time stilled—then the sickening crunch of metal colliding with flesh shattered the silence. An explosive force slammed into Elena, a wrecking ball of agony ravaging her body until she was airborne, mouth open in a silent scream. She sailed through the torrent before crashing back onto the unforgiving asphalt with a bone-jarring impact that stole her breath. Darkness swallowed her as her face smashed against the pavement's jagged surface. Warm blood seeped from the gashes, pooling beneath her shredded cheek. Seconds ticked by, her battered form unmoving. Finally, Elena's lids fluttered open, bruised gaze lifting toward the windshield. A chilling cackle drifted out as the driver's side window descended, revealing the cold sneer twisting Amber's lips. "Consider that a parting gift from Miles and me, you miserable little b*tch," Amber winked at the crumpled, bleeding Elena. "See you in hell." With that, the vile woman threw the car back into drive and peeled away, leaving Elena at the hands of death.