Chapter 27

CHLOE’s POV

(“What the heck, girl? Is that true?!”)

I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

“Yes, she’s alive! That b***h is alive!” I angrily exclaimed to my friend on the video call.

My friend’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Oh my gosh! What was Mateo’s reaction?” she asked.

I clenched my fists. “What do you think? He was completely shocked! And now he's following Ana around like a lost puppy!”

(“Really? Oh no, girl! She might be stealing Mateo from you!”) she joked.

I glared at her. “I will not let that happen! Mateo is mine!”

I was interrupted by a knock on my door.

“Who is it? You’re disturbing me!” I shouted, getting up to answer the door.

Mateo wasn’t at the Hacienda, either, as he had business to attend to. There were problems with his company that we couldn’t understand, and it seemed like investors were starting to pull out.

I’m sure that was Ana’s doing! That bitch!

I shook my head and finally opened the door.

“Ma’am, someone left this outside the Hacienda. It’s addressed to you, and it’s milk to help your sleep,” their helper said timidly, so I snatched it from her and opened the door wide to set down the milk she brought for me.

I noticed he stunned as he entered, so I raised an eyebrow at her, but I had a different feeling about her.

“You can leave now,” I said, and she looked surprised, but nodded at me. Her smirk didn’t escape me as she left. I was about to call her back, but she finally left.

I closed the door and looked at the box with my name on it. Furthermore, I sat on the bed and placed the box down before turning to my friend.

(“Oh, what’s that, girl?”) she asked.

I shrugged and handed the milk to drink.

“I don’t know, it’s just a box. Maybe a fan sent it to me,” I replied, not really interested. I peeked inside the box out of curiosity.

(“Why do you seem so restless, girl?”) she asked.

I bit my lip and took a deep breath before drinking the milk again. It looked fresh and would help me lighten my skin.

“I’m curious about what's inside,” I said.

My friend laughed at me.

(“When are you coming back to Manila? Riel is already ahead of you! Even the Manager is getting mad!”) she said.

I just rolled my eyes and blew out a breath.

“I need a vacation! It’s tiring to fake a smile in front of people, TSK! Riel won’t outdo me! I’m still the famous model, duh!” I said with a frown.

(“That’s my friend! Oh, I really need to rest, girl! I have a photoshoot tomorrow!”)

I just grinned at her and turned off my phone, then went to the bathroom to do my nightly routine. But suddenly, I felt dizzy, so I just shrugged and continued to shower.

When I felt the water hit me, I closed my eyes because it felt refreshing.

Gosh. I need to smell good when Mateo gets home so I can seduce him because he hasn’t touched me since he found out Ana is alive.

I stopped when I remembered that woman again.

Ever since they found out she was alive, people, especially Mom and Dad, have been in chaos. They didn’t know what to do when they found out, and Mateo, who still hopes that he and Ana will get back together, won’t be able to escape the truth that I am now his wife.

They are so stressful, TSK! No matter what Ana does, I will still win in the end because the dead should not be brought back to life.

And the secrets are buried in the ground.

I suddenly stopped when I felt something sticky dripping down my face, so I opened my eyes and noticed that red liquid was continuously pouring from the shower, causing my eyes to widen.

“What the heck?!” I exclaimed in shock as I stepped back from the shower, which was flowing with blood.

Trembling with fear and nearly slipping in my panic, I forced myself to approach the shower to turn it off.

After I turned it off, I held my chest and wiped my eyes, hoping I was just dreaming. I opened my eyes again and there was no trace of blood on the floor.

I tried turning on the shower again and breathed a sigh of relief when water, not blood, came out. Furthermore, I shook my head, realizing that I must have been seeing things due to exhaustion.

I finished my shower and put on a bathrobe before leaving the bathroom.

Calm down, Chloe! You’re just tired, that’s why you’re seeing things!

I was startled to see a box on my bed when I came out of the bathroom, so I frowned and picked it up out of curiosity.

And I shook it to try to figure out what was inside, but I still couldn’t tell what it was.

It startled me again by the strong wind coming from the window.

“Did I leave this open?” I wondered to myself, but I sighed and closed the window because the wind was coming into our room.

“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe, you’re overthinking things.” I whispered to myself and went back to the bed to open the box, and inside was a picture of us.

I took it and examined it closely, and my eyes widened when I saw the red mark with an ‘X’ on our picture.

Suddenly, I threw the picture and just stared at the box because I didn’t know what might be inside. And I was about to throw away the box, but it felt like something was pulling me to see what was really inside.

I took a deep breath, and after convincing myself several times, I finally decided to see what was inside.

Trembling, I opened the box and all I saw was a recorder tape. I took it and pressed play.

“Is she dead, Aunt?”

My eyes widened as I looked at the recorder in my hands, my hands shaking.

“Of course. My men removed the brakes from her car. She’s dead now. The woman who was in the way of our plans is gone, and you, Chloe darling, will be my son’s new wife.”

No… It can’t be…

“I love it, auntie! I’ve been sick of being nice to her for a long time! TSK. Goodbye, my best friend!”

I shook my head firmly. “N-No…” I tried to turn off the recorder, but it wouldn’t shut off! The recorder kept playing.

“H-Help…”

I just threw the recorder I was holding and held my head.

“This can’t be true!” I whispered while holding my head.

“C-Chloe… H-Help…”

“No!”

“I thought you were my friend… H-how could you do this to me?”

“No, no, no! Stop it!”

“Y-you killed me!”

“Stop.”

I held my head tightly as the recorder kept playing repeatedly.

“Is she dead, aunt?”

“Of course. My men removed the brakes from her car. Shes dead now. The woman who was in the way of our plans is gone, and you, Chloe darling, will be my son’s new wife.”

“I love it, auntie! I’ve been sick of being nice to her for so long! TSK. Goodbye, my best friend.”

I closed my eyes and covered my ears because it was like music to my ears.

“Enough!”

“You killed me!”

“F***k you! Enough!”

“Is she dead, aunt?”

Ugh!! No! Enough!

“Of course. My men removed the brakes from her car. She’s dead now. The woman who was in the way of our plans is gone, and you, Chloe darling, will be my son’s new wife.”

N-No… That’s not true!

“I love it, auntie! I’ve been sick of being nice to her for a long time! TSK. Goodbye, my best friend—”

“NO! STOP!” I shouted and angrily as I grabbed the recorder and slammed it to the floor, then stomped on it until it was completely broken. “You can’t fool me, Ana! Stop it!” I said angrily as I continued to stomp on the recorder until it was destroyed.

“Is she dead, aunt?”

My eyes widened as it seemed like the recorder was still working even though it was broken.

“What the heck?” I stepped back until I hit my bed.

“Of course. My men removed the brakes from her car. She’s dead now. The woman who was in the way of our plans is gone, and you, Chloe darling, will be my son’s new wife.”

I suddenly sat down because I didn’t know what to do, even though the recorder was completely broken, it still worked.

“You’re a liar!”

“No!”

“You’re a murderer!”

“Enough!”

“You ruined our relationship!”

“You don’t know anything!”

“You’re a murderer!”

“No!”

“You’re a murderer!”

“No! Ahhhh!”

“Chloe!”

I was startled when someone shook me.

“What’s happening to you?!”

I looked up and hugged mama Caridad, who was very concerned about me.

“What’s happening? Why are you shouting?!”

I just cried in front of them and pointed to the broken recorder in front of us.

“Take it away from me!”

“Huh? The old recorder?”

I shook my head at her.

“A-Ana… She knows…”

Caridad frowned, looking confused by what I was saying.

“W-What does she know?”

I bit my nail and looked down.

“S-She knows… She knows what happened to her 5 years ago! I-I heard it on that recorder!” I pointed to the recorder in front of me, and I could tell that the couple exchanged a glance before Papa Levi approached the recorder and picked up a photo from the floor.

“Dear, are you sleeping well?” Papa Levi asked. I paused and looked at Papa, who was frowning at me.

“This is a photo of us, why is it here?” He showed me the photo, and my eyes widened as there was no red mark on the photo.

H-How did that happen? I clearly saw a red mark on the photo!

“This recorder has no battery. It’s a vintage recorder, so what do you mean you heard something on it?” he frowned and lifted the broken recorder, and my eyes widened as there was indeed no battery in the recorder.

“I-I heard something…” I said as I approached another broken recorder to look for the battery. “I-I think I heard something… Maybe the battery is just here!” I said anxiously as I searched in other places in the room where the battery might have fallen.

I heard them sigh and they approached me. “Dear? You should rest. Mateo will be home soon, and he might wonder why you're in this state,” Mama Caridad said. I shook my head at them.

“I-I heard it! Believe me!” I turned to Mama Caridad and held her arm. “M-Mom, b-believe me! A-Ana knows what happened to her.”

She sighed again. “Dear, listen, you’re just tired, okay? Come on, rest because we’re having lunch with Ana tomorrow. We need her, and you know that, right?”

My eyes widened, and I touched my forehead, feeling Mama Caridad guide me to lie down on the bed.

“No one knows what happened 5 years ago, so just rest. I’ll take care of Ana.”

I fell silent and just held on to the blanket tightly. They don’t believe me!

I just closed my eyes,

If you don’t want to believe me, I’ll prove to you that I’m telling the truth!

You can’t scare me, Ana!

THIRD POV

“Tsk.”

She smirked and then pushed herself off the tree, adjusting her hat before walking towards her car.

She glanced back at Mateo’s room and smirked again before getting into her car, tossing the remote before finally closing the window.

“Let’s go to the hacienda,”

The car slowly started moving, and she took off her hat, letting her long hair fall, and removed the clothes she was wearing earlier, then she glanced at the Villalobos Hacienda and just smiled.

“You’ll go even crazier with what I'll do next.”