Chapter 4 - The Poisoned Rose
The entire room spun around me as the lawyer's words echoed in my ears.
I gripped the edge of the wooden altar to stop myself from collapsing.
My mother had not died from a tragic twist of fate.
Someone had deliberately taken her away from us when I was only nine years old.
My father let out an agonizing roar that shook the windows of the hall.
He lunged toward Victoria with a fury I had never seen in him before.
Two soldiers quickly intercepted him and held him back.
Victoria scrambled backward, her face pale with genuine terror.
Julian tried to hide behind his mother, stuttering that they knew nothing about any poisoning.
The military lawyer opened the classified file and began to read aloud.
He detailed how Victoria's late husband owned the chemical plant near our old neighborhood.
They had secretly dumped toxic waste directly into the groundwater supply.
My mother was one of the first victims to fall ill.
Victoria's family had poisoned her and then forced my father into eternal debt to pay for the cure.
I felt a cold, burning rage ignite inside my chest.
I ripped the white veil from my hair and threw it onto the floor.
I marched right up to Julian and slapped him across the face with all my strength.
The sound cracked through the hall like a gunshot.
Julian stumbled, clutching his reddened cheek in sheer disbelief.
His eyes darkened with a sudden, violent malice.
He snarled that nobody disrespects his family and gets away with it.
Julian whistled loudly, and the heavy doors of the community hall were kicked open.
A dozen men in black tactical gear stormed into the room carrying illegal firearms.
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Julian wiped a drop of blood from his lip and smiled wickedly.
He ordered the armed mercenaries to kill everyone in the room and burn the evidence.
