Reborn After My Best Friend Set Me Up to Die Chapter 07
“Claire,” Simone stepped forward and hugged me. “Thank you for giving me this chance. I’ve been waiting for this day for years. Now I can finally let go and start my life over.”
She’d been Julian’s first love in college. Back then, Julian had cruelly abandoned her to curry favor with my wealthy family, even racking up a huge debt using her credit limit. I didn’t need to spend a fortune to win her over–at the mention of taking Julian down, the woman whose eyes blazed with hatred agreed to ally with me without a second thought.
“You deserve it, Simone. Wish you all the best for the future,” I smiled, my heart truly at peace.
She raised an eyebrow, climbed into the taxi, and said, “You too, Claire. Don’t let scum like that dirty your hands ever again.”
I’d thought my revenge had come to a perfect end. But I was wrong.
A month later, on a cold, rainy Tuesday afternoon, I was driving through a run–down neighborhood in the suburbs of Los Angeles, on my way to inspect an old commercial property the company had just acquired. Through the rhythmic swish of the windshield wipers, I spotted two familiar figures under the flickering awning of a cheap motel.
Julian looked like a walking corpse, his hair greasy, chain–smoking a cheap cigarette.
Vanessa was wearing a faded sweater, shivering in the cold wind as she clung tightly to his arm. The two were screaming at each other, hurling accusations and insults, but neither would leave the other.
I pulled over to the side of the road, the tires splashing through a puddle. I opened a black umbrella and stepped out into the rain.
When my shadow fell over them, both froze. Julian’s eyes bulged with extreme terror. The man who’d once plotted to kill me for millions of dollars said nothing, pushing Vanessa away selfishly as he scrambled into the dark motel room, slamming and locking the door
behind him.
He left Vanessa alone in the bitter cold wind.
“I thought you’d have at least a shred of self–respect left, Vanessa,” I looked at her calmly. “After how he humiliated you in that restaurant, how could you crawl back to him like a dog?”
Vanessa slowly lifted her head. The rain had washed away her makeup, revealing a twisted, bitter face.
“Don’t look at me with that pitiful expression, Claire!” she suddenly shrieked hysterically. “You’re always like this! Standing on your golden pedestal, looking down. at me with your pity!”
I frowned. “Vanessa, we’ve known each other since college. When you couldn’t afford to eat, I paid for your meals. When we graduated, I got you a job here. I’ve always thought of you as my sister.”
“And I’ve hated every second of it!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, pounding her chest hard. “Do you think you’re some kind of saint? Every time you paid for my coffee, every time you ‘gave‘ me this job like a charity handout–you were constantly reminding me how big the gap is between us!”
I stared at her in shock, barely able to believe the twisted darkness in her heart.
worked overtime in the office until the middle of the night! I put in twice as much effort as you did!” Vanessa raged. “But no one ever spared me a second
glance! You were born smart, born rich, and you married the perfect husband. You have everything in the world without lifting a finger!”
“And what about me?” she let out a laugh that was more like a sob, a bitter, broken sound. “I married Marcus for stability. But you have no idea what’s behind that fancy finance director title of his–he’s a violent alcoholic! I spent every night living in fear!”
“I wanted to destroy your perfect little life with my own two hands!”
“By stealing my husband? Or by deliberately tricking me into going to that so–called ‘investor cocktail party‘ on October 14th?”
Vanessa’s entire body stiffened, as if someone had their hands around her throat, cutting off her breath.
I stepped closer to her. “You didn’t just want to ruin my marriage. You and Julian planned that deadly trap
long ago. You knew exactly what kind of savage beasts were waiting in that locked VIP room. You begged me to go in your place, pretending to be helpless, just so I’d be humiliated and destroyed! You wanted to step on me, to crush me–even to kill me.”
Vanessa trembled violently, stepping back again and again until her back hit a brick wall with a thud.
“How… how could you possibly know that?!” she stared at me as if I were a ghost risen from the dead. “You refused to go that day… the trap never even happened! How do you know?!”
“Julian told you, didn’t he? He betrayed me!”
“All you need to know is that heaven will never let the crimes of devils like you be buried forever,” I spoke the final words softly, my voice cold as ice. “Rot in this hell you’ve made for yourselves, Vanessa.”
I turned and walked back to my car without a second glance. As the car pulled away from the street corner, I glanced in the rearview mirror.
Vanessa was collapsed in a muddy puddle, clutching her head as she let out a blood–curdling scream outside the locked motel room door.
They truly were perfect for each other. Let them spend the rest of their lives in poverty, resentment, and endless torment–trapped together forever. Three years later.
California sunlight streamed through the floor–to–ceiling windows. I signed the last document, closed the folder, and leaned back in my large leather chair, stretching lazily.
My father had officially retired the previous year, handing over the entire business empire to me. I was no longer anyone’s appendage—now I was the true master of this building.
The office door opened, and Owen walked in with two mugs of hot sugar–free coffee. He was now not only the chief legal officer of my company but also the most important man in my life.
He walked over to me, bent down to kiss my forehead,
his gentle gaze falling on the simple yet dazzling wedding ring on my ring finger.
“How are you feeling today? Has the little one been giving you a hard time?” Owen placed his hand gently on my slightly rounded belly.
I shook my head with a smile, taking his warm, broad hand in mine. “He’s been very good today.”
Occasionally, I’d hear their names in the idle chatter of Beverly Hills socialites over tea and cake. Word was that Julian and Vanessa had finally moved into that run–down motel for good. They had no money to get a divorce, trapped in a cycle of alcohol and violence, tormenting each other day in and day out. The two people who’d pushed me into the abyss in my past life had built themselves a hell from which they would never escape.
But none of that mattered to me anymore.
I leaned my head on Owen’s shoulder, looking out at the bright blue sky outside the window.
The nightmarish bloodshed and despair had long since been washed away by time.
Now, every breath I took was filled with true love, freedom, and boundless hope.