Betrayal Ashes

The Alpha's Vengeance

Chapter 3

Anessa's Pov

I shifted, scared and confused. Who kidn*pped me? Why did they kidnap me? I had nothing left to my name, all I was an abandoned pregnant woman. But I had to figure out where I was first. I took in a deep breath and the smell of dust and concrete filled my nostrils. I was in some kind of unfinished building.

Footsteps approached, and then, without warning, someone yanked the blindfold from my face. It took a moment, but soon, the figure in front of me came into focus.

“Lily.” I spat, it was her. But why was she there?

“Why did you bring me here?”

“Surprised to see me?” She asked, her voice dripping with malice.

“What do you want? You’ve already taken everything from me.”

She smiled, but her eyes remained cold, “You know… You were always a problem, Anessa, you have always been in the way. Alaric should’ve left you long ago, but you just had to cling to him, didn’t you? I had to wait years for him to finally get rid of you. And now, with our baby growing inside me…” Lily placed a hand on her stomach.

My heart froze, “A baby? You’re pregnant?”

“Yes.” She replied, beaming, “I'm two months along, and Alaric was planning to come and stay with me throughout the duration of my pregnancy, I am the one he loves after all. However, at the end, I knew that he was going to come back to you as you were his lawfully wedded wife and leave me alone, so I had to do something about it.”

I stared at her, my mind racing to process her words. She was pregnant with Alaric’s child, and she had planned everything to ensure I would never stand in her way again.

“You’re insane.” I whispered, my voice trembling with fury and fear, “You manipulated everything, didn’t you? Drugging me, setting up that man, framing me, just so you could have Alaric all to yourself.”

Lily laughed, the sound chilling in the cold, hollow space of the unfinished building, “You make it sound so dramatic. It’s not my fault you were so easy to destroy. You handed me the opportunity yourself on a silver platter.”

My hands clenched into fists, but the rope tying me to the chair bit into my skin, restraining me, “You’ll pay for this.” I growled, “I’ll expose you. I’ll make sure everyone knows what you’ve done.”

Lily’s smile faltered for a brief moment before she composed herself, stepping closer to me. She crouched down, her face mere inches from mine, “Expose me? How, Anessa? You’re nothing now. No one believes you, not Alaric, not his family, not even the staff at the mansion. You’re just a discarded woman, a nobody. And worse, no one even knows where you are, so what can you do about this, hm?”

I glared at her, my voice low but firm, “You can try to erase me, Lily, but the truth always comes out. And when it does, you’ll lose everything.”

Her expression darkened, and she grabbed my chin roughly, forcing me to look into her cold, calculating eyes, “You still don’t get it, do you? There is no ‘truth.’ I am the truth now, whatever I say is the truth. And as for you…” She let go of my chin and stood, brushing invisible dust off her dress, “You’re about to disappear for good.”

Panic surged through me, “What are you talking about?” Disappear for good, what the heck was she about to do?

“You didn’t think I brought you here just to gloat, did you?” Lily said with a sinister smile, “No, Anessa. This is where it ends for you. No one will come looking. No one will care. And Alaric… well, he’ll be too busy with me and our baby to even notice you’re gone. But first, I have to take care of that scourge in your stomach for him. You should have heard how angry he was when you said you were pregnant with his child, he asked me to get rid of it for him.”

“You f*****g… Ugh!” Out of nowhere, one of the men kicked me so hard in the stomach that I doubled over. The other joined him, and they kicked me repeatedly, each blow aimed at my abdomen. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth, but they kept going.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Lily’s voice rang out, “Enough.” She commanded, “Take her to the bridge, we will finish her off there.”

They dragged me to a car, and we drove for a while. I was in pain so much that I barely noticed where we were going. But as we stopped, the smell of water hit me, and I realized where we were and what she wanted to do.

“Please…” I managed to choke out, clutching my stomach protectively. The sharp ache in my abdomen was unbearable, but my desperation to protect my unborn child outweighed everything else, “Don’t do this.”

Lily stepped out of the car, her heels clicking against the pavement as she approached. She crouched in front of me, her expression smug and triumphant, “You should have stayed out of my way, Anessa. You brought this on yourself.”

I glared at her, trying to summon any ounce of strength I had left, “You'll regret this, Lily. You'll regret this!”

“Regret? Hahahaha!” Lily laughed, it was chilling and evil, I felt goosebumps rise all over my skin.

“Unfortunately for you, Anessa, you won't live to see me ‘regret it.”

They forced me to stand at the edge of a bridge. The cool evening breeze brushed against my skin, and I knew this was it, a fitting end for the woman who had ‘cheated’ on her husband.

“Any last words, Anessa? Who knows, I might be nice enough to hear them.”

The numbness came again and this time, at full force. Maybe it was because I knew I was going to die, so I didn't care anymore. It was as if I could see the world in a whole new light, and it was ironic, really. However, I laughed, despite everything. A chillkng hollow laughter that showed everything I felt, thought, saw.

Very hollow.

I stopped laughing and then turned to Lily, the corner of my lips pulling into a smirk, and said, “I was naive Lily, I won't deny thay. I was naive enough to believe that if I showed him my sincerity, he was going to love me eventually, but I was wrong. I was utterly wrong.” I scoffed at myself, at my stupidity and now I was paying for it, “You’ll pay, Lily. When karma comes, it’ll be ten times worse than what you’ve done to me.” My voice was low, steady, calm, “I’ll haunt you both, and when I come, it won’t be quick or painless. It’ll be slow. Agonizing. And you will beg for mercy but it will never come.”

“I’d like to see you try.” She said as she raised her arms, “Goodbye, Anessa.” She said and shoved me over the edge. As I fell, I twisted backward. The last thing I saw was Lily's face, and just behind her, Alaric’s. A second later, the icy cold water swallowed me whole.

***********

“Ah!” I gasped, sitting up with a jolt, my lungs burning.

“You shouldn’t move like that. You’ll tear your stitches.”

I looked toward the voice and saw two tall men dressed in black suits, their auras calm but dangerous. One stood with his eyes fixed on me in curiosity while the other had his eyes closed, gold rimmed glasses sitting on his nose.

“She’s awake. Call the nurse to check on her.”

“Yes boss.” The one standing nodded and turned to leave. However, before I could ask anything, the one with the glasses spoke.

“It’s a shame seeing you like this, Anessa.” He said.

I arched an eyebrow, “Do I know you? And how do you know my name?”

“I must have changed a lot for you not to recognize me.” He removed his glasses, then fixed his dark green eyes on me.

I gasped, my eyes widening, “It's… you…” I stammered, all the cells in my body screaming. It had been a long time, but his face hadn’t changed. My ex-boyfriend, Zachary Klein, looked just as handsome as always, maybe even more so.

“It's been a long time Anessa.” He flashed me a cold smile.