THE DEVIL'S BRIDE

Chapter Nine

GENEVIEVE

The moment Caleb left his room, I looked at the bouquet in my hands. It was cheap nonsense.

They weren't ugly, exactly, but they certainly weren't what I expected from someone who was supposed to be my fiancé.

I rolled my eyes and threw them into the trash. Caleb had always been too sentimental for his own good. But I had never tolerated Caleb because I was madly in love with him.

He had his uses. He was always f*****g good in bed. His family had money, so he wasn't dead weight. Not to mention, he was really good-looking.

That was why I'd tolerated Caleb and his insufferable mother for this long.

I left the room and walked into the lounge, where Bianca was still sitting comfortably on the sofa.

I took a sit, and she moved closer to me. She told me that Evelina was the one who had inflicted the injury on Caleb.

Evelina had always thought she could get away with anything simply because Caleb cared about her. She was about to learn otherwise.

I left the Ryders' mansion and returned to my penthouse, which Daddy had gotten for me on my twenty-first birthday. I pulled out my phone and called Riley.

She answered almost immediately. "Genevieve?"

"Do you still have that video of Evelina that we took at the Presidential Suite?"

There was a brief pause. Then Riley laughed. "Of course I do."

"Good. Post it now."

"Now? What should I write?"

I smiled. "Nothing complicated. Just make people believe what they see."

That was all it took. Within minutes, the video was online and then it spread rapidly.

Comments flooded in. Violent delivery worker. She should be fired. Imagine attacking a customer. People like this shouldn't be allowed to work with the public.

Nobody cared about what happened before the recording started. All they saw was a woman pinning another woman against a couch. And that was enough.

I watched the numbers climb from a hundred views to thousands.

I couldn't stop smiling. But I wasn't satisfied yet. If a video could damage her reputation. Money could destroy it.

So I made a few calls to some "friends". I paid them to spread the s********e exaggerated what had happened. Before long, strangers were calling her dangerous, unstable, and aggressive.

It was beautiful. I leaned back and crossed my legs.

Evelina had spent years believing she was untouchable because Caleb would always protect her.

Now she had no Caleb. No reputation. And soon, no job. I looked at my phone one last time. The comments were still pouring in.

I smiled. She had no idea what was coming.

---

EVELINA

I couldn't sleep. I lay in bed until morning, staring at the ceiling while my mind replayed everything that had happened.

Every time I closed my eyes, I remembered Caleb's voice. His words. The look in his eyes. The person I'd thought I knew suddenly felt like a stranger. Eventually, I gave up on sleep.

I won't let my mother know about what had happened. It would be devastating for her, and she would start worrying about my safety. I couldn't add another burden to everything she was already carrying.

She already had enough to worry about. So I showered, changed clothes, tied my hair back, and went to work.

The moment I stepped into NippyZippy, something felt wrong. People were staring at me. Some whispered.

One employee immediately looked away when our eyes met. I frowned.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered.

I ignored them. I didn't have the energy for whatever drama was happening today.

I checked my phone and saw twenty-three missed notifications. My stomach tightened as I unlocked the screen.

My heart stopped. There was a video of me at the hotel. It was my confrontation with Genevieve.

The part where I had pinned her against the couch. The video had been edited just enough to remove everything that came before it.

There was no context. No threats. No mention of my mother. Just me, looking furious. I scrolled down and saw it has been viewed by thousands of people. There were hundreds of comments.

My hands began to shake. "No..."

My name was everywhere. People who didn't know me were calling me violent. A few were demanding that NippyZippy fire me.

My breathing became shallow. This couldn't be happening. I hadn't done anything wrong.

Not like they were making it seem.

I rushed toward the office and saw that my supervisor was already waiting. The expression on his face told me everything.

"Evelina Mercer?"

"Yes?"

He avoided my eyes. "You need to hand over your company ID."

I stared at him. "What… What are you talking about?"

He sighed. "You're no longer employed by NippyZippy."

For a moment, I couldn't speak. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"You haven't even asked me what happened."

"We've seen the video. And it's viral, Mercer."

"The video doesn't show everything."

"That's not our fault now, is it? We can't have this kind of publicity attached to the company."

"So you're firing me because strangers online decided I'm a bad person?"

"We have a responsibility to our customers."

I stared at him. My eyes burned. I swallowed hard and forced myself to stand straight. There was no point begging.

No point explaining myself to someone who had already made up his mind. I handed over my ID. Then I walked out. I went to the parking lot, got on my motorcycle and rode off.

The moment I was far enough from NippyZippy, I checked my phone.

Three hours to noon. I had no job. No savings. And now, Nightfall Estate was my only hope. It was the only thing standing between my mother and disaster.

I wiped my eyes and stared at the road ahead. Whatever was waiting for me at Nightfall Estate, I had no choice anymore. I was going.