Venom in the Orchards
By @john1208
Beatrys Vossen stands at the rainy funeral of the woman who destroyed her life, wearing a bright pink raincoat and a vacant, bubbly smile. On a spontaneous whim for her thirtieth birthday, she abandons the city of Goudhaven for a quiet countryside farm stay at Rustenveld. Everyone assumes the cheerful airhead is simply fleeing her grief. In reality, Beatrys is setting a cold-blooded trap. Her true target is Maartin Kest, a ruthless CEO hiding out in the exact same pastoral retreat, attempting to escape his own suffocating life. Amidst morning apple harvests and the watchful eyes of Ouma Hessel - the farm’s elderly proprietor with a hidden agenda - Beatrys meticulously lays the groundwork to dismantle Maartin's world. It is a slow, quiet dance of rural escapism and hidden daggers. But as a deep, genuine bond forms between them, Beatrys leaves to execute her final strike, only to realize she completely misunderstood the rules of the farm. Rustenveld was never a neutral sanctuary; it was a psychological trap designed by Ouma to test the heirs of Goudhaven. Returning a year later to find Maartin waiting for her in the orchards, Beatrys must ask: who was truly playing who?
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