Alice

"What did you say?"

"I am asking for a divorce, as stated in the marriage contract. If I didn't give birth to a male heir, there is no need for me to stay married to you."

I laughed. My mind was about to give in to my instincts. This woman is a seductress, how dare she!

"Divorce?"

"Yes," she looked at me with those pretty emerald eyes. Those two jewels that had haunted me several days and nights. I wanted them to look at me the same as that night, filled with emotions, not like this moment. Indifference and coldness. Who gave her the right to look at me like that?

"Truly, you are an ungrateful wretch."

I grabbed her arms, so tiny, so soft, and pushed her to the wall. She winced a little. Some guilt happened to appear in my heart but… but…

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked with a low tone, "I had lived here as the contract said, and I had cared and assisted Madame for a long time, I even carried your child and raise her the best as I could. Now it's time for you to complete the deal and divorce me. "

Those words infuriated me. As if she was only waiting for me to let her go, when she enchanted me, she bewitched me that night. Even when I kissed Emma, when I asked her out the next morning, I couldn't help but remember that woman. In the end, I left without taking Emma with me, I left to an old cabin in the forest. The one my parents built to spend peaceful times.

However, her face was there… always.

"Let go," she whispered, but it was not enough. "Let go!"

She tried to push me, but my ire was taking control of me right then. I felt as if I was burning, as if this woman was the lighter and me, the flame. I needed her to exist, to grow and to survive.

"Don't move," I whispered to her ear. My hand was already in her collar, her neck, that lovely skin. "You are my wife now!"

She was frightened, but I didn't care. She can be afraid, she must be. After everything she did, she doesn't deserve to live in peace.

I shouted at her, I threatened her, and I heard her denied it… over and over. She even cried. Good. Cry all you want. I don't believe you. She is an evil woman, a schemer. She must have used my mother to get money and keep that child. I must investigate, quickly. I will send her to prison to rot in hell… no… no… I will lock her… I will catch her and lock her in a secret place. Then I will see her beg for forgiveness every day of her life.

"Mommy!"

I heard the voice of a child. Her daughter. The child she had with another man. Dammit!

She left, and I let her go before I did something else. But it was not enough. Not enough. My ire, this freaking emotion that was eating my heart and rationality, was about to explode.

However, when I opened the door to take that woman back, I saw them. She was smiling at the little girl. Blue eyes, dark red and wavy hair… How… no… no… that child can't be… the paternity test…

That woman said the child was not mine. She said it!

***

"Ethan?" I heard a voice nearby. It was Emma. She seemed to be crying. There would be a time that I will try to be considerate of her feelings. After all, we grew together, and we attended the same school. Until I left for training in the military. We could only see each other for brief periods of time. Her house was a few steps from mine, and my mother had known Emma's grandmother for a long time.

We were close and had always hanged out together. Though, at that time, I never felt anything romantic for her but a slight care, as if we were siblings.

Then… she came. That little girl, two years younger than Emma and me. Green eyes and long black straight hair. She seemed angry, every day, she frowned or escaped from school, or so Emma told me. That girl, Alice, was an orphan, and before her parents died, she was spoiled to the core.

'My parents love her as if she were their daughter, why is she behaving like that?' she said once. I heard her complain about that girl with bright green eyes almost every day.

Then I found her. I came back from the training camps and I found her walking on the road, nearby the lake. I stopped the driver and followed her.

"Hey!" I shouted. She didn't listen. "Hey!"

I ran towards her. Something told me that I had to… maybe my heart, maybe a strange feeling. I grabbed her hand, tiny and soft, then I turned her face to me.

She was crying, but her eyes were empty. Her face was hurt, her cheeks were swollen and red. Her lips were bleeding and even her nose had a red stain.

"What happened to you?"

"Let go," she whispered without looking at me.

"Come with me, I will take you home."

"Let go!" she shouted and finally put her gaze on me. She even tried to break apart. "Let go!"

I didn't. "You are hurt…"

Her school uniform was dirty, and some parts were ripped. Her long hair that was always in a high ponytail was disheveled. I didn't notice before, but she didn't have shoes on. Her white socks were dirty and almost broken.

"Let me go, leave me alone!"

"I won't hurt you, if you don't want to go home, come with me," I said in a soft voice. Somehow I felt pity for her.

She looked at me pondering, then she turned around after kicking me. Then she ran.

I ran after her, and the moment I saw her, she jumped into the lake. I followed her without thinking. Dammit, I hated water.