Chapter 270: You Will Pay
[Music recommendation: Ta-ku - We Were In Love]
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They say delusion is a wonderful place to live in... until reality smacks a plate right across your face.
Gwen was a prime example of that. The only difference was that reality came in the form of a very vengeful and very furious wife of the man she had dared to lay her hands on.
Gwen dreamed... dreamed of becoming the wife of the most powerful man in the business world. Something that had definitely not been part of her original plan.
When the Prescott family had decided to invite some of the world’s most powerful figures to the wedding, their goal had simply been to place them under permanent mind control.
Controlling them meant controlling every business empire they commanded and every industry they influenced.
Not every influential figure in the world was present, but the handful who had attended were already enough to give the Prescott family a firm grip over the entire country and even parts of the international market, depending on how far those empires reached.
The presence of the heads of both the Archon Group and the Van Empire alone was a jackpot. As the two most powerful corporations in both the country and the world, bringing them under their control would have been worth more than all the other guests combined.
At first, Gwen had set her sights on Cillian, the CEO of the Archon Group. He was young, powerful, and, most importantly, single.
But the moment she laid eyes on Gavriel, every other man ceased to exist in her mind.
The desire to possess a man whose mere presence commanded respect and submission filled her with giddy excitement. She wondered what it would feel like to have such a powerful and incredibly handsome man at her beck and call while she indulged in a life of unimaginable luxury, backed by enough wealth to last generations.
She really had dreamed... and in her mind, that dream had been within her grasp the moment she believed everyone had fallen under her control.
That was precisely when reality struck her with vicious, unforgiving force, leaving her gasping in shock.
Thick gravy and chunks of meat splattered across her face, hair, and clothes. Desperate to see who had attacked her, she instinctively pried her eyes open.
That was her second mistake.
The instant her eyelids parted, the spices mixed into the gravy seeped into her eyes, burning them enough to make her whole face contort in agony.
Second mistake?
Well, the first had been acting like a complete airhead and convincing herself she had already achieved everything she had set out to do.
Just as she opened her mouth to let out a terrified scream, a cloth napkin was rammed into it before a hand clamped tightly over her mouth, muffling every sound.
A menacing voice echoed in the quiet room. "Not so fast."
’Who? Who is it?’ Gwen thought frantically, her pulse racing.
Then the voice spoke again, each word dripping with murderous intent. "Not until I make you pay for even daring to lay your filthy eyes on my husband."
As soon as she heard the word husband, Gwen’s blood ran cold.
’Aliana.’
’But how? Wasn’t she under our control? Then what happened? Did the spell not work?’ As dreadful thoughts coiled tightly in her mind, Gwen raised her hands and tried to wipe the gravy and stinging spices from her eyes.
But with her vision obscured, she never saw another hand shoot forward and seize a fistful of her hair in a brutal grip.
Pain exploded across her scalp as Aliana ruthlessly yanked her upright. Before Gwen could even process what was happening, Aliana lifted her completely off the ground and hurled her across the room.
She slammed into the wall before crashing into a side table with a deafening bang.
Gwen crumpled onto the floor as pain tore through every inch of her body. The impact was so brutal that, for a fleeting moment, she thought she had blacked out.
Meanwhile, Cillian, Jade, and Andrew were all up on their feet, staring at Aliana’s trembling back with absolute shock on their faces. With the way Gwen had been digging her own grave, they knew she had it coming.
When Aliana had smashed the plate on Gwen’s face, they all had felt a wave of satisfaction wash over them.
But this...
Watching Aliana grab Gwen by the hair and hurl her across the room like a rag doll was something none of them had seen coming.
Jade and Cillian had known Aliana possessed extraordinary powers, but this was the first time they had witnessed strength that bordered on the superhuman. As they watched her radiating fury like a living inferno, all they could do was stare in awe.
"Oh my..." Cillian muttered in disbelief.
"...fucking lord," Jade finished for him, equally stunned.
All the guests under the spell remained seated, though their heads had turned in unison toward the commotion.
Gavriel, on the other hand, had risen to his feet the very moment Aliana stood. He had been ready to crush that disgusting woman’s face with his bare hands the instant she dared to touch him, yet his wife had beaten him to it.
The others might have missed it, but Gavriel had clearly seen Aliana’s eyes flash crimson as she exercised her powers with remarkable control.
Watching her unleash her fury simply because another woman had dared to lay a hand on him stirred something deep within him, leaving him inexplicably turned on by it.
She never failed to surprise him.
He could only stare at her as she slowly stalked toward the woman sprawling helplessly on the floor, completely oblivious to the judgment about to rain down on her.
Weakly, Gwen reached up, yanked the cloth from her mouth, and used it to wipe her eyes and face, which were still burning intensely from the spices.
The moment her vision cleared, her blurry eyes landed on Aliana’s icy expression, which hit her like a bucket of freezing water. But what shocked her most was seeing the woman’s eyes shining an unnatural red.
"Y-you... w-what are y-" Gwen stammered, but before she could finish, Aliana seized her jaw and slammed the back of her head against the stone wall behind her, forcing a loud, painful groan from her throat.
"Foolish." Aliana’s low voice drifted into the silence. "How utterly foolish of you to think I would ever let a harlot like you lay a finger on my husband."
Her voice remained unnervingly calm, yet that quiet fury was somehow far more terrifying than if she had been screaming. Every word was accompanied by the brutal pressure of her fingers digging deeper into Gwen’s face, forcing another cry of pain from her.
Disoriented by the impact, Gwen weakly reached up to grab Aliana’s wrist, attempting to pry the hand from her face, but Aliana did not budge an inch.
"L-Let go... b-bitch..." Gwen choked out.
A cold smile spread across Aliana’s beautiful face.
"Let go?" she repeated, tilting her head ever so slightly. "Didn’t I tell you... not so fast? You still have to pay for every vile thing you’ve done. Not only did you dare covet my husband... you also harmed my friend."
Her crimson eyes narrowed. "And for that... you will pay."
Gwen’s eyes widened with sudden panic. "H-how did you..."
"Enough! I know everything about that sick little cult of yours," Aliana cut in, her nails digging deeper into Gwen’s jaw as she hissed, "Now it’s my turn to ask the questions. What was your purpose in harming Cedric? Why drag him into all of this when you clearly had no interest in marrying him?"