Betrayed by My Trash Husband, Surrender Myself to the Devil-Chapter 11: Absolutely Deranged (II)

Claudia POV

"You are absolutely deranged, Clarissa."

That was the only sentence I could utter after listening to her "reason."

I shouldn’t have expected much from her, because every time she tortured me, her reasoning had always been:

You deserved it.

Or—

It’s just fun to see you cry.

As usual, Clarissa simply rolled her eyes, as if what I said had no basis in truth whatsoever.

"See how I never insulted you, but you keep doing that to me?" she said. "That just shows how well-behaved I am, and how crazy you are, Claudia. No wonder it’s so easy to seduce Miles."

"You can seduce Miles because he’s a piece of shit just like you."

Clarissa gasped, acting as if she were shocked by my words.

"Oh no, Miles would be really sad if he heard that. After all, he wants you to be his fuckmaid. I don’t think he’d tolerate a disobedient fuckmaid."

"What makes you think I’ll agree to your ridiculous request?" I asked back.

"And what makes you think you have a choice in the first place, Claudia?" Clarissa sneered. "Do you want a divorce? Well, good luck with all the accusations piling up against you. You won’t be able to keep Aurora’s custody with that big sign of ’child killer’ hanging over your head."

What Clarissa said aligned perfectly with Ray’s prediction about their plan.

It was terrifyingly accurate, as if Ray had already seen the blueprint of everything from the beginning.

So I wasn’t as surprised as Clarissa expected—and that seemed to unsettle her.

"What’s with your reaction?" Clarissa frowned. "Do you not want Aurora anymore?"

"Well, too bad, then," she continued. "Because I already have a plan to replace both Aurora and Lara with a new one. Miles and I want a fresh start, so we have to get rid of them anyway."

"You—Lara is your daughter!" I finally snapped.

I could understand if Clarissa wanted to hurt Aurora, since there was no blood relation between them.

But Lara was her own daughter, why wouldn’t she spare her own child?!

"Meh. She’s a girl," Clarissa shrugged. "Miles likes her, but he told me he wants a son instead of a daughter. So once we get our fresh start, we’ll try for a son—while kicking Aurora and Lara into the... bucket."

"You get it? Kicking the bucket, hihi~." Clarissa giggled as if she had just made a funny joke. She stopped laughing after a while and added casually, "I want both of them to die, because I don’t really like either of them anyway."

A bone-chilling sensation crawled up my spine hearing her statement.

Knowing Clarissa, she would absolutely do it if given the chance.

That meant I had no way out other than fighting against Clarissa’s and Miles’ plan while somehow maintaining my innocence, so I could divorce Miles and keep Aurora with me.

It felt like there was a mountain standing before me as I was fighting impossible odds.

And I was completely alone.

I basically lost my family after my mother died, and I had lost my husband too to this bitch.

The hopelessness made me feel small and weak. Yet I had to maintain the façade of a strong woman in front of Clarissa, so she wouldn’t find my weakness and exploit it.

"Your threats mean nothing to me, Clarissa. I know you can’t do anything to Aurora and Lara while this case is still ongoing."

Clarissa raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so you actually know your shit."

"Well, that’s true," she shrugged. "I can’t do much to these unconscious girls for now. But you still don’t have a choice. Just like how I framed you once, I can do it again."

She yawned and stretched lazily, "Anyway, I’m tired. Why don’t you leave first, so I can finally go home? I still need to keep up my act as a good mother who never leaves her daughters’ side."

"Aurora is not your daughter," I retorted. "And neither is Lara—since you don’t see her as one."

"Whatever," Clarissa said indifferently. "Now go. Before I scream again and tell the officers you’re about to strangle Lara."

I clenched my fists in frustration. There was nothing I could do right now except leaving the ward, so I walked to Aurora’s bedside and whispered softly into her ear:

"I’ll be back, my little angel. Please stay strong while Mommy finds a way out of this... for us."

After that, I turned and walked toward the door.

But before I could leave, Clarissa suddenly walked to me and said;

"Stop."

I turned—

SLAP!

and her hand struck my face without warning.

I staggered back until my shoulder hit the wall behind me. My ears rang violently, and pain exploded across my cheek.

"No hard feelings," Clarissa said coldly. "That’s just Mom telling me to slap you once for leaving the family."

"And don’t slap me back," she added calmly. "Or I’ll scream and tell the officers you’re threatening me. I’ll say it’s self-defense."

I could only glare at her while covering my swollen cheek.

Rage boiling in my chest as I suffered from one humiliation after another, and it slowly pushed me closer to the edge of madness.

If not for the circumstances, I would have grabbed the fruit knife from the drawer next to Aurora and Lara’s bed, and stabbed her throat until she stopped using that filthy mouth.

But there were no what-if scenarios in real life.

So I endured the pain and left the ward in silence.

The officers escorted me out of the hospital. Their gazes flicked to my swollen cheek more than once.

Unable to hide his curiosity, one of them asked, "Did Miss Reed slap you? She seems kind. So you must’ve said something to anger her, right?"

"No need to ask her, John," the older officer said. "She deserved that slap after trying to kill Miss Reed’s daughter. I would’ve done worse if it were my own."

"Huh, I guess you’re right," the other nodded. "This woman deserves it after what she’s done."