Chapter 1
1062words
This video was personally arranged by Elisa for all the city's elite to witness.
The entire venue erupted in chaos. They were done for.
—
[Three Weeks Earlier]
That afternoon, when Elisa answered my call, her voice bubbled with happiness.
She told me it was her third anniversary with Damian. She'd ditched her afternoon meeting to pick up a custom cake and bought him that limited-edition watch he'd been eyeing for months.
"April, I'm bailing on you tonight," she said with a laugh. "I'm heading home to surprise him."
But when my phone rang again, her voice was completely broken.
Her surprise had turned into a nightmare.
She walked in with her gifts and cake, key in the lock, but instead of her lover's embrace, she found a trashed living room and Kate's unmistakable designer bag thrown on the sofa.
From upstairs came the unmistakable moans of her best friend and the heavy breathing of the man she'd loved for three years.
She pushed the bedroom door open.
Damian and Kate were naked, tangled together on what was supposed to be her bed.
The cake slipped from her fingers, splattering across the floor in a mess of cream and fruit.
Damian went ghost-white, while Kate didn't even bother covering herself—just peered over his shoulder with a smug, victorious smile.
When I got there, Elisa was huddled alone on a bench outside her building.
She wasn't sobbing out loud, but her entire body shook as scalding tears dropped one by one onto her hands.
I didn't say a word. I just draped my coat over her shoulders and held her tight.
—
[NOW]
On the outdoor lawn of the film festival, as the final movie ended and before applause could begin, the massive screen flickered unexpectedly.
In an instant, all sound cut out.
A close-up of a luxurious bed filled the entire screen. In high definition, a man's muscular back thrust rhythmically while beneath him came a woman's half-muffled, passionate moans. The face contorted with pleasure was unmistakably Kate's.
The crowd fell into a stunned, horrified silence.
In the video, Kate draped herself over the man's shoulder, her lips brushing his ear as she purred: "God, that idiot Elisa actually thinks you're in love with her?"
The camera shifted, revealing Damian's handsome face flushed with pleasure, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Her money's all I need," he chuckled between heavy breaths. "In bed? Hell, she doesn't come close to you."
The silence held for three heartbeats before the crowd erupted in shock and outrage.
My eyes cut through the chaos, zeroing in on two people whose faces had drained of all color.
Damian and Kate sat frozen in their seats, looking like they'd seen their own ghosts.
The damning footage played for fifteen excruciating seconds before a "panicked" technician finally managed to cut the feed.
The lights blazed on suddenly, harsh and disorienting.
Every eye in the place scanned the restless crowd, all searching for one person—where was Elisa?
At the back of the crowd, a figure rose with deliberate grace.
Elisa wore a razor-sharp black velvet dress, her normally soft curls pulled back severely to showcase her elegant neck. Her lips were crimson, her eyes winter-cold.
She strode through the dead-silent crowd, each click of her heels on the pathway ringing with purpose.
She walked directly up to the shell-shocked pair.
Damian's mouth worked uselessly, no sound emerging, while Kate buried her face in her coat.
The silence was so complete you could hear people breathing.
Elisa plucked a champagne flute from a passing waiter. She raised it toward the disheveled pair, her smile dazzling yet arctic.
Her voice carried perfectly in the silence: "Here's to you both. May you get exactly what you deserve."
With that, she flicked her wrist, sending golden champagne arcing through the air to splash across Damian's ashen face.
Without another glance, she turned and walked away, head high amid the explosion of camera flashes and shocked whispers.
I hurried after her, catching her arm only when we reached the parking lot. "Elisa..." I couldn't hide the worry in my voice.
She turned and gave me a reassuring smile—not a hint of vulnerability in it, only the cold satisfaction of revenge well served.
Just then, her phone lit up.
A text from an unknown number flashed on the screen, just five words.
"You will regret this."
A chill ran down my spine as I watched her face.
Elisa barely glanced at it before deleting the message. She started the car with a cold smile.
"The war," she said softly, staring into the darkness ahead, "is just beginning."
—
The next day, Damian's texts flooded Elisa's phone like a broken dam.
They ranged from desperate apologies to twisted justifications to outright threats.
At first, Elisa still cried reading them—until she saw the cruelest one.
"How good are you in bed? Like a damn dead fish! Don't get so high and mighty. You're NOTHING without me"
In that moment, every trace of sadness vanished from her face, replaced by cold, crystallized fury.
Without replying, she calmly called to have technicians install a state-of-the-art hidden surveillance system in her home.
"I want to see exactly what happens in my house when I'm not around."
Three days after the installation, Elisa forwarded me a video.
The footage showed her living room, with Damian and Kate lounging on the sofa. Kate filed her nails impatiently: "So how much are those videos you stole from Elisa's computer selling for? Where's my cut?"
Damian planted a kiss on her lips. "Patience, babe. We've got a buyer lined up. Once we get paid, we're off to Europe—no more dealing with that uptight bitch and her attitude."
I watched the video, trembling with rage, and called Elisa immediately: "Call the cops! We need to report this NOW!"
Elisa's voice on the other end was unnervingly calm—flat and cold as winter ice.
"April," she said, "isn't there an outdoor film festival in the city next Saturday? Get us two VIP passes."
I froze. "What are you planning?"
I could almost hear the cold smile in her voice: "I'm going to give them a little 'surprise' of my own."
