夫は紙人形

Kara’s POV

'Kara, I forgot Jade’s gift. Get it to me ASAP!'

Derrick’s text came in the evening, worded in such a way that I had no choice but to do as I was told. Normally, Derrick had his personal assistant do that, but apparently, Derrick tended to forget that.

The demanding nature of the text made me mad, more than usual, and what he asked me to bring him humiliated. I was so done with him.  Especially considering how I deliberately tried to get out of it.  Derrick was even happier that I chose to stay behind.

Because Jade Black would be there, hanging onto my husband's every word. Jade, Derrick's first love and college girlfriend, came back to town two weeks ago. Since then, Derrick has seldom been around our mansion, and every day he spent away, I knew exactly where he was and who he was with.

The whole thing hurt, even though I tried to tell myself that it didn't matter. I tried for years to win Derrick's love before realizing that it was only a delusion. It was heartbreaking, but there was nothing more I could do. Our marriage was nothing more than a mistake. Unfortunately, it took me nearly three years to recognize it.

Luckily, there were only two months left in the contract, and all I wanted to do was fulfill all my duties as agreed by the contract and get the hell away from Derrick Whitney.

The text and demand itself were demeaning, and I had half the mind to ignore it. But that would only lead to a screaming match later, and I wasn't in the mood for Derrick's rants. Besides, it would be an in-and-out job if I did it right. If I was lucky, I'd meet Derrick's secretary before I could make it to Derrick and let her take it to him. 

"Just in and out," I told myself after getting dressed to suit the event, grabbing the gift and booking an uber ride. "It'll be over before I know it."

Derrick was at a venue in a swanky hotel, partying with his and Jade’s friends and colleagues in the main Ballroom. There was a gorgeous pond in the middle of the room, right next to the open bar. I spotted Derrick standing near the bar with a bunch of men in immaculate suits and women in pretty dresses, all his and Jade’s college friends. All of them trust fund babies and rich heirs and heiresses.

"Oh, Kara, hello! Goodness it’s been so long since I last saw you!" An arm came out of nowhere to hold my hand when I started to walk towards Derrick, and I recognized that voice.

Immediately, I felt repulsed.

"Jade," I replied in the coldest voice I could muster. "I cannot say it’s a pleasure to see you again." 

Jade’s smile disappeared, annoyance flashing over her features. She was a classic beauty, with mahogany hair styled immaculately, heavily lined green eyes, dressed in a bold, scarlet gown designed to catch wandering eyes. It wasn’t a surprise, considering how she was a successful model.

“But why?” she pouted, all hurt and innocent. “I thought you’d be happy to see me, Kara. What did I do to deserve that? You’re my best friend!”

“Really, Jade?” I wanted to ask. “Do you really want to act like nothing’s wrong after everything you did.”

“I’m pretty sure this is a misunderstanding,” Jade insisted. “You know I’d never knowingly hurt you. You always make assumptions and believe the wrong things even without talking to me about them.”

There were so many things I wanted to say, yell at her face and make her see what exactly she did to me, but I didn’t want to command attention.

How dare Jade come here, acting like the good girl and sniffing around Derrick again when she was the one who hurt him and his family in the first place. She stole from Derrick’s grandmother and left Derrick with a broken heart so she could go abroad and find her own success as a model. Now she was here, rich and famous, and Derrick was welcoming his college sweetheart back as if she left for a vacation!

What on earth was he even thinking?

I despised them both. I wished my status as Derrick’s wife wasn’t a secret, otherwise I would’ve been able to tell her what exactly I thought of her.

“Let go of me,” I replied, shaking my hand. Jade held on; her grip was too hard. “I’m just here to give Derrick your gift and get out. Let. Me. Go!”

I pulled my hand harder than last time, and Jade, who was standing on five-inch heels, stumbled forward. In any other circumstance, I’d have been able to stop our momentum, but not this time.

When Jade stumbled at me, I lost my balance, and Jade did nothing to stop us both from falling down the pond with a loud and humiliating splash!

The pond was shallow, but it was deep enough that my fear of water made itself known. For a blinding minute I was paralyzed, my mind flashing back to the time I nearly drowned. I couldn’t move my hands and legs, and there was a weight pulling me down.

“Get up, Kara,” my brain screamed at me. “It’s not the lake, this isn’t your hometown, you need to get up!”

And then I realized that my leg was hurting, which snapped me right out of my panic back into the present. I sat up, sputtering water, just in time to Derrick, who’d come over, dragging Jade out of the pond.

“Jade, what happened?” he asked her without sparing a glance at me, all gentle with concern. “Did you trip and fall?”

“N-no,” Jade said, eyes darting at me. “It was an accident, sort of. My hand hurts a bit, I think it’s bruised…or twisted…”

“We need to get to the hospital to see for certain,” Derrick said before turning to glare at me, clearly having come to the wrong conclusion.

“You pushed her in, didn’t you?” he accused.

“What?!” I yelped, trying to get out of the pond. My leg hurt so much, and I was bleeding through my own dress, staining the water red. “No!”

“No, she definitely pulled Jade in,” one of Derrick’s friends, Kane, who was standing close to the pond tattled, shooting me a nasty look. “Not like we didn’t expect her to pull something like that.”

“Yeah, she yanked poor Jade after ripping into her for no reason,” another, Leira, piped up. “Jade’s being too generous on her, if it were me, I’d have slapped her already.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That wasn’t what happened at all. But it wasn’t a surprise, because Jade had been poisoning Derrick and her friends against me throughout the years. Now, they all thought of me as the devil incarnate.

“I didn’t do it on purpose-”

“Shut it!” Derrick thundered at me, pulling Jade closer to him as if he was trying to protect her from me. “Don’t try to lie to me, Kara, not when everyone saw what happened. I knew you were jealous of Jade, but I didn’t think it was this bad. You need to get a grip on yourself, Kara, this is vile, unbecoming behavior.”

I wanted to protest, to try and convince him of my innocence, but that wouldn’t work. I had enough experience by now to know that. Besides, I had enough self-respect to not beg. Especially in front of Jade.

"Derrick, stop, we can play the blame game later. Kara is hurt, look at all that blood," Jade simpered, batting her lashes at Derrick. "Maybe you can help her first, at least get her out."

Derrick scoffed.

"She can come out herself," he declared, loud enough for me to hear. “Besides, she's nothing compared to how important you are to me, and she'll never be."