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625words
My doing,of course.
The wife stormed James's place,smashing everything,scratching Emma's face so hard that it bled heavily.
Emma,furious at the wife's audacity and James's indifference,grew angrier.
James,who had hooked up with me,only ignored her.
The angier she got,the more he grew tired of her.
After a huge fight,James asked me out to dinner.
I kept all my old habits.
As James watched me eat carrots and talk swimming,his face lit up.
"Claire,it's you!"
I looked confused,but I was in fact secretly thrilled.
Finally.
He gripped my hand tight,grief-stricken.
"On our trip,you fell into the sea.I searched for you for three years!"
Not a word about why I fell or his new girlfriend.
Swallowing disgust,I pretended to believe him.
"But Lucas said he's my boyfriend."
James spat,
"That filthy fisherman?He's tricking you!He saw you're pretty and wants to scam you!"
If he knew Lucas's family owned the company that built the cruise he bought,how much fun would that be?
He pulled out his phone,showing me our old photos.
Three years,and he still hadn't deleted them.
In the pictures,I smiled sweetly, and James was always beside me, looking at me with nothing but love in his eyes.
Maybe he did love me then.
But not only me.
Convinced that I had bought his story,he gleefully planned our future.
Suddenly,Emma burst in,raising her hand to slap me.
"Slut,aren't you dead?Why're you back?"
The slap never landed on my face—James was fast to slap her instead.
"If not for you,Claire and I wouldn't have been apart in the first place!You pushed her off the ship!"
So,he already knew?
I hated Emma,but I hated James even more.
If he hadn't left the control room in the storm,the ship wouldn't have hit the rock.
Emma's face swelled,and she collapsed,wailing like a madwoman.
James looked at her with disgust,no trace of past affection.
Men—so fickle.
I said I wanted to see the cruise to recover more memories,so we boarded.
The ship was lively,we could hear glasses clinking everywhere,and my eyes were met with dazzling light.
Passersby greeted James warmly.
He proudly showed off his business to me.
I was sick of him.
When James left for a call,I slipped away.
I snuck into the control room—empty.
I wasn't familiar with ships and couldn't find what I needed.
Just as I wanted to turn around and leave, I felt a hand on my waist.
A low breath whispered in my ear.
"Don't move!"
The voice was unfamiliar.
Fearing I'd blow my plan,I froze.
The hand pointed ahead.
"Surveillance backups are there."
He knew what I wanted!
I whipped around,seeing Lucas's grinning face.
I was furious and punched him.
He winced,but I grabbed the backup USB.
No computer,though, shame.
Lucas, as if he could read my thoughts set one in front of me,smirking.
Talk about perfect timing.
I found the footage from three years ago.
That jerk and that bitch was fooling around in the pool, when James was still engaged to me.
Emma on the screen was wearing my swimsuit,letting James tear it apart.
Rage consumed in me—I wanted to tear them to pieces, just like what they had done with my swimsuit.
I had guessed as much from James's reaction,but seeing it still infuriated me.
Lucas's hand covered my eyes and he whispered in my ears,
"Sweetie,let's not watch anymore."
I calmed slowly.
Fast-forwarding,I saw Emma in the dining room,drinking my juice.Her reaction was mild.
In James's arms however, she secretly swallowed down a red pill.
Zooming in—it was a carrot extract!
She was trying to kill herself to trap James!
Lucas held me tight,his fingers forcing into my clenched fist,our hands interlocked.
"It's okay.We'll make them pay."
