Four

Later that night, I sit down nervously in one of the chairs at the dining table. The stranger's maids round up with serving the meal. The way the two younger ones are looking at me as they place the dishes tells me that they are still wary of my presence.

I haven't seen the stranger since morning, so I decide to ask, "What about your boss? Will he be joining me for dinner?"

"Yes, miss. He will be here at exactly seven on the dot," the older lady replies. Her gaze still remains sympathetic. She must have understood the pain in my eyes, even though I didn't say anything to her.

She joins the rest to take her exit, leaving me all alone in the large room. The large wall clock adjacent to where I am seated dings with a loud sound, indicating that it's already 7 pm.

And just then, some sharp footsteps follow, approaching the dining room. I look up, only to see the stranger nearing me with a scowl on his face.

"Hey," he mutters, taking the seat opposite mine.

"Hi," I say back, not knowing exactly how to respond to his terrible mood. I gape at him. Even while frowning, he looks dangerously handsome. I find myself drawn to his stormy gray eyes.

"Don't mind my attitude, I had a terrible day."

I watch him start dishing out food for himself. He finishes and settles back down on his chair and only then did he notice my empty plate.

"You're not hungry?"

I shrug.

"I thought you would be, especially considering how your day went." His gaze drops to my bandaged hand and I suspect that he already heard about my melodrama earlier today.

"I…" I begin dishing out food instead. My self awareness heightens with each second. There is something about him that charges the air around us whenever we are in close space.

"Didn't know the news would affect you this much. There is a search party already looking for you. Do you know that?"

My fingers tighten around my fork. If dad has already involved the police and his men to look for me, it means it won't be long until they find me.

"Wh-where are we?"

He looks up at me, our eyes meeting and locking for a second. "If you're worried about getting found, then don't."

"Are we not in the city?"

"We are at the outskirts of the city. Besides that, my private security is tight enough to protect you from your crazy father."

My fork drops from my hand. He notices it and arches his brow at me questioningly. He looks so cute that for a second, I almost forgot myself while admiring the beautiful human sitting across from me.

"What?" he casually asks, taking a bite of the turkey before washing it down with the glass of water in front of him. I watch his throat work down, swallowing the food, my mouth watering at it. His lips look so plump and firm and super inviting.

He snaps his fingers, distracting me from my thoughts.

"Your previous reaction indicates that you have a lot going on in your mind. Why not voice it out?"

"I… I was just surprised that you know my father."

"I know more about your family than you can ever imagine. The Vanderblibs are a lot."

The way his eyes begin darkening as he mentioned my family name tells me that whatever he knows about my family isn't something worth hearing.

I bite my lips to avoid them from trembling. The last thing I need from this stranger who knows and hates my family is to notice that our feelings are mutual. But it seems like my eyes betrayed me because the next question he asks almost makes me choke on my food.

"Do you hate them?"

I intentionally widen my gaze at him to make it seem like he asked something unthinkable.

"You should," he continues, "After what they did to you, you should despise them."

Does he know about the threesome? I wonder. I can't remember telling him, so how did he know about it?

"Your father is a scumbag. He lacks the ruthlessness required to successfully run an empire like The Vanderblib Group. But what did he do afterwards, selling off his beautiful daughter like some pimp just to save the same business he couldn't manage. Tell me what is more ridiculous than that."

His statement leaves me speechless. I gape back at him, an understanding settling deep within me. He has a deep score to settle with my father. That makes the both of us since the last thing I need is to return back to our lifeless home.

He is the pawn I need to mastermind my revenge against them all.

"You really do hate my father," I tell him.

"I do," he confirms, wiping his mouth with tissue paper.

"He shouldn't have forced me to marry a man that would betray me on my wedding night." I confess through seethed teeth.

My words make his hand pause on what he is about cleaning off from the side of his mouth. "That was why you were running away? Tell me more… What did he do to you?"

I begin narrating everything that happened that night. Even though the memories still hurt like a fresh cut wound, I continue giving him the detailed explanation of how the three people I love the most in the world ended up betraying me.

"That's a lot," he says when I am done.

"That's why I need to get back at all of them."

"You should," he agrees, taking a sip from his wine glass, "I am one of those few who believe in the golden rule. Whether in the positive aspect or otherwise."

"What I don't know is how to go about it. What I have in mind isn't a strong enough payback."

His lips turn up in a smirk, "Do you know this popular saying which goes… when trying to take the road that leads to revenge, dig two graves. But I guess in your case, you would have to dig four graves."

I don't care how many graves I have to dig. All I want is for Matt, Amanda and Lauren to get what they deserved. Dad too.

"Are you willing to do that?" he asks, looking straight into my eyes, challenging me to answer either a yes or a no.

"Yes," I reply after a while.

"Good."

He gets on his feet and crosses over to where I am seated. "Good night. Have a good night's rest. Tomorrow, we start strategizing on how to get back at those who hurt you."

He lowers his head and pecks me lightly on my cheeks. My body shudders in response, as the electric heat awakens every nerve in my body.

With that, he leaves me for the stairs, leaving his masculine cologne behind. My head turns to watch him climb the stairs in majestic steps.

I finish the rest of my food while my thoughts wander in crazy different directions. When it goes to the resort, I sigh, wondering what I could have been doing right now had it been Matt didn't cheat on me.

We would have been having fun, I guess. I had been looking forward to our wedding night. It was the only good thing I had held onto. I knew Matt wasn't in love with me, just I had been with ever since we were children. But I expected him to like me enough, even if it was just for our wedding night.

I had been hoping that our love would grow in the course of our marriage. I had imagined that with time, we would blend in as that perfect couple I wanted us to be.

But here I am, broken and battered, with nothing left but a bitter soul.

Even a stranger is treating me way better than my own husband. A man who hates my family and wants revenge, regardless, found the grace to treat me like a human. Unlike my family, who only wants to exchange me for their business loss.

I sigh again. The last 24 hours had been a mess. A nightmare I wish I can wake up from. If only I caught them on the eve of my wedding night, maybe the wedding wouldn't have been held and I wouldn't be here, hoping to get back at all of them by masterminding a revenge plan.

Here I am, trusting a stranger to help me get back at my terrible family. Who knows what they did to him to warrant such anger I noticed in him earlier. It looks like whatever he had against dad and our business name runs so deep.

I frown on realizing two things. I never asked the stranger for his name. And I don't know what he has against my family. Why does he hate The Vanderblibs so much? I wonder. What did my dad ever do to him that requires a dangerous payback?