Just then, her cell phone rang out with Apple's signature tune, screen lit up displaying the name of her best friend. Tang Yu swiped her slender finger across the green button, and put the call on speaker.
"How bad is it? Can't you get off the hook with a little bit of patch work? Maybe rafu the holes, then cover them with some clusters of pearl beads or Swarovski crystals?" Sydney, the very picture of a friend in need, spoke from the other side of the line.
Tang Yu gripped the steering wheel tighter, her stomach lurched a little, as the fresh image of the ruined gown flashed before her eyes.
"Apparently, the perpetrator put a lot of effort into ruining me. Entire gown together with the detachable train that clocked up fifteen feet is full of glaring mouse holes. To make it seem realistic, they even put a plenty of dry mouse droppings inside the cloak room."
"Eww!" Sydney cringed. "Girl, why on earth are you heading to face Britney's rage now? Like, you know that she is gonna lash out on you, don't you?"
"I mean, we can't blame her, her show is only a week away. Listen, if I get to leave Brit's place unscathed, I'ma get wasted in a grand night time establishment. Join me after this." Tang Yu threw a quick glance at the side view mirror, and careened her sedan. Maneuvering it skillfully, she over took three other vehicles.
"It's on me, I will splurge on you for tonight."
"Oh that's great news. I will get the leach off of my back tonight." Tang Yu joked with a short laugh that died down in the first count.
Sydney detected the hint of upsetness in Tang Yu's voice. "Be candid and tell me how you are feeling now."
"This whole gown took 10k hours of work to be hand-sewn and embroidered. What's more, they even stole the pearl beads. Britney already deposited half the amount as prepayment, now I have to refund her." Tang Yu replied, accelerating the speed. It was sharp eight in the morning, the peak hour; still by heaven's grace, traffic was pretty modest by urban standards.
"Okay, just shake it off your head! Stop hanging on it, it's just twenty million dollars, you are a fucking billionaire!"
"Is it your best shot to cheer me up? Girl, I did a good majority of eighty percent of the needle and stone work myself. All of my hard work, and sleepless nights have been poured into the drain. Swear to God, If this is one of my rival companies, I'm not gonna spare this bastard! I will stop at nothing, before dragging him or her to jail."
Tang Yu's long fingers curled hard round the steering wheel for a fraction of second, then her hands relaxed. She took a new turn towards the mountain road of Beverly Hills, getting out of the LA's highway. "More than the monetary loss, what's bugging me is the anonymous identity of the culprit. I don't have any bad relationship with anyone outside of the fashion industry. Not that I have one inside the industry, but the competition is very much there. So, I can't rule this possibility out."
"Your logic is legit through and through. But, you need substantial evidence to prove it. Got any?" Sydney asked.
"I don't know. The CCTV footage blackened for an hour from around three to four am last night. I will let my brothers aka attorneys sleep on this tonight. My entire family is in the law business, where would he escape?"
"Yeah. You can get the culprit to serve five, or better ten years of imprisonment, for all I care. As for your reputation's injury, and brand image, I have a brilliant idea!" Sydney's voice had a ring of excitement.
"Yeah?"
"You can salvage the damage, and bring the situation in your favor, if the universe doesn't frown at you."
"Go on,"
"Just tell Britney to grace Met Gala with the mouse holes thingy; I mean, who knows, she might be the new trend setter! She has done Victoria's Secret many times. Hence, she shouldn't mind the holes as long as they cover her cracks."
"Yeah, yeah, the latest internet sensation? She will definitely trend on the internet in hot search, and I will go down in history with her as well."
Apart from a loaded truck speeding up Tang Yu's way, the highway was very clear. She changed her lane, as the truck driver didn't seem to have a lick of intention to give her a way.
To her shock, the truck changed its lane as well, and was zooming towards her. The smile ebbed away from Tang Yu's lips; she heard Sydney follow up with something, but couldn't register a word.
She slammed the brakes hard. The precipitate halt reached fruition due to a mighty force which slung her against the steering wheel. She jerked up her head only to see the truck colliding with her car front to front.
Thick blood pooled behind her brows, before streaming down the side of her face. The Maybach sedan overturned, flinging her to a corner, upside down.
"Yu? What's this crashing sound?"
"...."
"Yu?"
"...."
"Yu?! Yu, speak up! Are you alright?!"
Tang Yu wanted to move her lips, but the acute pain of someone hammering nails on her skull kicked the air out of her lungs. Breathing bacame a chore, as if a huge heap of bricks had been stacked on her chest.
Just then, another car pulled up from behind. A tall, Italian man in his fifties descended from his compact car. He moved rather slowly, meandering to the maybach, dragging a hockey stick on the road.
Thud! He smashed the car window, pieces of broken glass flew everywhere, shimmering in the sunlight.
Tang Yu's eyelids, which were getting heavier, cracked open a little at the crisp sounds. She took a gander at the stranger, exhausting all her willpower. For some reason, her instincts told her this was the mysterious culprit...
"What is this sound?! Yu!"
Sydney's frantic inquiries furrowed the man's sparse eyebrows. He hunched over, lowering his eye level to meet Tang Yu's, grabbing the cellphone, and chunking it in the deep ocean, silencing it forever.
"Hello, dear! I'm Ermanno, the person who got your dress ruined. It was a gorgeous gown, but I had to destroy it in order to lure you down this road. Anyway, very nice to meet you in person!"
The low saccharine voice, green eyes with over spilling enthusiasm crawled on Tang Yu's skin.
Ermanno smiled benevolently.
"I know you are running out of time, so, I will be super fast and feed your curiosity. Charlotte Ceretti, you may have heard the name, the girl your father gave a death sentence to, in John Malik's case." He spoke in half-baked English.
Tang Yu's vision was gradually darkening, but she forced her eyes open. She needed to know how the dots would connect her to an ambitious gold digger.
"She was my daughter just as innocent as you are. You are a talented person, I know from my investigation, and so was my girl. Your father…" He rotated his neck both left and right, cracking it twice. Anger fell off his hand which gripped the uneven windowsill, blood trickled down. Lips quivered, blood gathered beneath his pale face.
"Your fucking father had taken my daughter's life! How much bribe did the fucker receive for passing that shitty verdict? Huh? Tell me how much!" Ermanno shoved his head inside the car through the broken window, breathing at the top of his lungs.
"It must be a whopping billion dollars, isn't it? I sold all my business and apartments in Italy which added up to seven million pounds. I offered him all without keeping a penny, but he refused. He fucking refused! Why though? I just wanted him to set my daughter free, and let the real murderer be convicted killer. He ousted me out, threatening to put me behind the bars, for attempting to corrupt his moral rectitude!"
Tang Yu's vision started to shrink. Remnants of strength were evaporating out of her, flowing out with the blood. She wondered once or twice how would she die, but getting murdered in the hands of a psycho never crossed her mind.
Charlotte did murder the finance minister's son for he refused to marry her. Her father was very solid when it came to fair judgment.
"He took my daughter's life, so, I'm taking away his! In the same unfair way, through an untimely death." A strangled sob erupted from Ermanno's mouth. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. I have to do this or else Charlotte's soul won't be able to rest in peace. As for your soul, don't worry, I am a kind hearted person. I'll be flying to Italy right after this, and kill myself beside my wife's grave. I have no one to live for anymore. May your soul rest in peace. Goodbye, dear. This world would be a worse place without you. I'm sorry but not sorry."
Ermanno straightened up, and flicked his right wrist, moving away from her car.
The truck reversed a few meters, then drove forward, grazing past the maybach. Tang Yu's car rotated thrice on its roof on the side of the road, before plunging into the Pacific Ocean.
Blue water sneaked in through the cracks. Red blood thinned, mixing with the water. Tang Yu drifted into a peaceful slumber.