Chapter 6
948 Words
"Why is this happening to me?" Ruby cried, tears blurring her vision, her voice shaky.
She stared helplessly at her phone. Hope was lost for her.
"Quit the crocodile tears, young woman," said Margie, who had been waiting for the right opportunity to strike, from across the living room.
"You want to deceive us with those tears now that you have been caught? It won't work!" she shouted.
Ruby became totally speechless. Perhaps, her fate had already been decided. She no longer had a choice but to rot in the hands of her adoptive parents.
She walked out of her father's mansion, overwhelmed by defeat, unable to hold back her tears. She took a taxi straight to the police cell where Lily had been thrown for questioning, determined to confront her.
She at least deserved to know why her best friend was hell-bent on ruining her life.
"Here you are. I've been waiting for you. Why did you take this long to show up?" Lily asked sarcastically with a smirk.
Ruby stood speechless, unable to recognize the only true friend she thought she had. She had planned to give her an earful and threaten to retract her words, but she wasn't able to. She was too dazed to speak a word to her.
"Why did you do that?" she finally got a hold of herself.
"What do you mean? You took my man, so why should I sit and watch you do that?"
"Oh! No wonder you never breathed a word to me about him. You wanted him all to yourself, Ruby. You pretended so much to hate this union so you could catch me off guard," Lily said in realization, biting her finger in regret that she had let her guard down.
"You really are cunning," Ruby, she continued. "Who would have thought you could do this to the person you called your friend?"
"That's enough, Lily." Ruby shouted in anger.
"I won't let you manipulate me, you lustful Jezebel. First, you betrayed me, and now you want to ruin me completely? How dare you!!" she yelled bitterly.
"I can't be here alone, Ruby. You'd bear the consequences of your lustful desires with me."
"You want that man? Then, you'll pay dearly for having him," Lily said, feeling no ounce of guilt.
Ruby suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest. She didn't realize that tears had gathered in her eyeballs until they rolled down to her cheeks. She held her chest tightly, unable to breathe properly.
Lily didn't care.
"I was never your friend to begin with, Ruby. I was just in your life for a purpose. I thought it wouldn't be bad if I had another source of income, which was you," she confessed.
"It's better to give up that unrealistic love you have for him, or else, I won't stop jeopardizing you. I will ruin you totally," she threatened.
Ruby couldn't take it anymore. She burst out of the visiting room in fury and fear.
She returned home, planning to let out her pain alone where no one would see her, but what she found out was worse than the pain of betrayal.
She opened the door to her room, only to find an already furious Stanley destroying her belongings and throwing her things outside. Among the things that were destroyed was the music box which her mother gave to her as a birthday gift on the night of her death.
She screamed in excruciating pain. She sat numb on the ground, staring blankly at the already destroyed music box, getting flashbacks about the night of her parents' death. One belonging that had tied her to the last memory of her parents' had been shattered to pieces.
An emptiness consumed her spirit. She rushed outside to cause injury to herself, while crying profusely. She was thrown into emotional turmoil and despair. She clung to the broken pieces of the wooden music box, holding it tightly to her chest while crying silently.
Stanley's anger had already turned to confusion. He had expected that Ruby would come home to explain why she had betrayed the family and thrown the company into crisis. He stood afar and watched her give her silent cry, but didn't make any attempt to apologize or comfort her. His ego didn't allow him. He still felt wronged about what Ruby had caused the company.
He turned his back to leave, taking another glance at her, and finally convincing himself that she only wanted his pity. He regretted not waiting for her patiently, making her find a reason to shed her crocodile tears, preventing him from confronting her. Now, he had no one to take all the anger out on.
His phone rang. It was his father. He had summoned him for a meeting at home. He rushed out to meet his father, completely forgetting about Ruby, now worried about how disappointed his father would be.
He drove quickly to his father's house, thinking of how to give an explanation about what had happened.
While waiting for his father to come downstairs, his eyes suddenly caught his father's safe. He noticed the safe wasn't locked, then he concluded that nothing important would be kept in his father's unlocked safe. He ignored the thought of opening the safe, but something in his spirit wouldn't let him rest. He finally gave in.
He rummaged through the safe, but didn't find anything noteworthy. Then he dipped his hands into the deeper part of the safe and felt a wooden object.
He took the object out of the safe curiously. It was a wooden music box. One that looked exactly like the one he destroyed completely earlier.
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