On a rain-slicked street corner, surrounded by the stench of garbage, Lily shivered. Her cheap dress was soaked through, a pathetic imitation of the designer clothes she once wore. Then she saw it. The gleaming black Phantom, a symbol of a dynasty she had thrown away. It purred to a stop before the city’s most exclusive diamond boutique. The door opened. Ethan emerged, his suit tailored to perfection, his aura one of absolute power. He turned and offered a hand to Elena, who stepped out looking radiant, a queen beside her king. The sight was a dagger in Lily’s heart. Jealousy, raw and acidic, burned through her veins. “That should be me,” she hissed, her fingernails digging into her palms. “That fortune… that billionaire life… it was all mine!” Her eyes, wild and bloodshot, darted around the alley she was lurking in. They landed on a discarded plastic bottle with a faded skull-and-crossbones warning label. A twisted, venomous smile spread across her chapped lips. Snatching the bottle, she stormed out of the alley, her steps frantic. “ETHAN!” she shrieked, her voice a raw-throated cry of rage. Both Ethan and Elena turned, their expressions of serene happiness freezing at the sight of the disheveled madwoman charging them. Elena gasped. “Lily…?” “Don’t you speak to me, you witch!” Lily screamed, unscrewing the cap of the bottle. Liquid sloshed within. “You stole him! You stole my life! If I can’t have his fortune, I’ll destroy the face he loves so much!” She lunged, swinging the bottle in a wide arc, aiming the corrosive contents directly at Elena’s perfect face. Ethan didn’t flinch. His eyes turned to chips of ice. With a speed that was almost inhuman, he moved, not to shield, but to attack. His leg shot out in a precise, brutal kick. Ethan kicks the acid bottle back into Lily's own face. She shrieks in agony and is dragged away by police to a life sentence.

Lily's Desperate Trap