บท 35: Chapter 35 - Imma Make You Suffer

When she left I set down the water bottle and lied back in the bed. I stared at the ceiling processing everything from last night.

I was not sure what came over me to ask her that. The words spilled out before I could stop them. I was even more shocked she answered me. Out of the many years I have known and interacted with Felix, I never thought he would stoop to that level.

I knew he had a weird competitive complex with me. He never liked being in a low position or been viewed as less than compared to someone else. But to hurt Celeste to feed his own ego, that is unbelievable.

Her words simmered in my heart. I was angry. At the time when I had graduated high school my parents had decided for me to be sent away abroad to go to school. So I could only hear whispers of what was going on back home and I was surprised to hear she was dating him.

At the time I chalked it up to him probably bothering her until she said yes. That in some twisted way she found his pathetic nature charming. I deluded myself into believing that if I was there it would have been no contest between us.

I knew better though. Our families would never allow for it and in this aspect only he beat me out.

I decided to move on. I did everything I normally enjoyed like drinking, partying, travel and sex to ignore the anxiety gnawing at my soul. It was my most transformative time, I completed both tattoo sleeves and added more on my left side torso and neck. Physically worked out a lot to be even more fit. I even grew out my hair as in my younger days it was kept cropped short.

Despite my habits I still finished school on time and came back to the mess he left behind. Those feelings I pushed down came right back up in an instant. I wanted to rush to her side but she was long gone.

Like a ghost she was never around anymore and hard to get ahold of. Eventually she was back but not the same.

I tried to hear between the lines, see what was being said. I wanted to know if anyone knew what had happened but nothing. Only that they broke up for him to get engaged again.

The day I had started working on the invitations for the gala I hesitated at his name. I did not want to invite him and have him bring her in and make Celeste walk on eggshells. Especially since I have been hearing that his little wench was sticking her nose in business where she did not belong.

So I crafted an idea to keep the dogs away. I sent the invitations as normal. Even adding he could bring a plus one. But on the day of the gala I sent him a threatening video. I had no actual evidence of what he did but I figured I would just send some generic threat to see if he went running. Worst case if he was not fazed, his invitation had the wrong address written and instead went straight to a seedy nightclub deep downtown in the red light district.

Knowing the fact that his mother hated Sol Banks, I doubted that he would have them all come as a group but rather arrive separately so he can keep her in check. So using that against him I sent him on a wild goose chase. 'I know of the skeletons you keep in your closet. You betrayed her. She won't recover when I share what you did. If you want to keep your secret buried, meet at Devils Bend. Call this number when you arrive.' Not my most creative but it got the job done.

Devils Bend is part of the forest countryside known as Swallow Grove. The bend itself was a thin narrow road miles long which leads into a deep ravine. One wrong move and you could fall in and be stranded for hours or days depending on if anyone knew you were there.

I figured keeping it at 'she' and 'her' would be easy to keep things vague. Whether I was referring to Celeste or the other woman was a good weak spot to target. But he actually got scared. He had security check how I delivered the tape and when he saw someone in his schools jacket he freaked out. He called someone several times but could not get ahold of them. He left the woman behind and made the trek to Devils Bend bringing reinforcement with him.

Sol Banks actually later took the invitation herself and went downtown to the nightclub. Nothing really happened there besides embarrassing herself. Since she did not have any other connections to those in the upper class, she had no way of making it to the party alone.

And in the time it takes to get to the bend and back the night would have been long over. His reaction made me concerned. Before he even arrived to the bend he called and called the number I left for him. He demanded to know what I know and who I was. That the school won't keep my identity a secret.

He did something. He betrayed her but as to which her I did not know. After hearing Celestes story I could see Celeste being the person he betrayed but also that was not exactly a secret. People long suspected he cheated but because they officially broke up before the other two got engaged no one could say otherwise.

'Did he also betray Sol Banks? Or rather is there something even Celeste doesn't know?' I felt my head spin at the possibilities. I slowly got up from the bed and stared at myself from the mirror on the wall.

I did not want to repeat my uselessness when I was away. I wanted to play a more active role in Celestes life. "I am gonna smoke out what you are hiding bastard. And imma make you suffer."