"The mistake you made is buying his loyalty with money because when I offered him a higher figure than you guys, he was more than happy to see you out," Erica added.
She played the video from the untampered CCTV footage she recovered from Paco for Inngit.
Inngit saw the crime as it was committed with all the guilty parties in the video. Her blood ran cold and she trembled immensely from fear of being discovered.
Patrick stole a glimpse of the proof she had and felt pity in his heart for Erica. He thought his life situation was worse but it was nothing compared to Erica's. He had no idea what the inside of a prison looked like for a crime he never committed.
"Paco was more than cooperative. You and your friends used him for a lot of jobs, and I have proof of everyone. How do you like me now, Inn?"
Inngit plopped helplessly to the ground. Voicelessly paralyzed with profound horror of the situation.
"I'd like to stay and entertain you, but I just got married, so...bye-bye Inngit," with a wave of her hand, she headed back to the car.
"I w... won't spare you..you, Erica," she let out with a shaky emotional voice.
No sooner did she threaten Erica did Inngit dropped like a sack of maize lifelessly to the ground.
Erica snapped her head back and smiled, "Send my grandmother my regards. Be sure to tell her that I'll be sending everyone who had a hand in her murder to apologize to her personally," she uttered cold-heartedly.
Her head of security checked Inngit's pulse and her breathing. In two seconds, he looked up and met Erica's gaze. "She's dead," he informed.
"Good riddance!" Erica exclaimed. "At least now, when they call me a murderer, they'll be right," she uttered and smirked.
Patrick saw the darkness in her eyes and shivered. She might not have been a criminal before but she was one now. And It scared him.
"We'll clean up the body."
"No need," Erica dismissed his suggestion.
"You could get arrested and sent back to prison for th..."
Before her head of security concluded advising her, Inngit's body started burning and melting from the inside. The chemicals in her body vaporized her body from head to toe. It slowly turned into a concentrated residue before reducing to gas and fading with the wind.
No proof of Inngit's body was left behind. Erica leaned her head coldly to the side and smiled.
"I can get arrested and locked away only if I get caught. I did more than investigate my nana's death in prison. I sharpened my knowledge of effective ways to kill someone and get away with it," she said lazily.
She took out a small device from her pocket and approached Inngit's car. She stuck the device on the side of the car door and hurried back to her car.
"Let's go," She ordered.
Swiftly, Patrick was guided back to the car and they drove back. Erica stared at Inngit's car and smiled; with a touch of a button on her phone, the car exploded, and the parts scattered in every direction.
"I'd definitely blame the sheep for being too brazen," she said, answering herself.
Patrick leaned back and held his breath. Holding back the panic coursing through his body.
He had the worst of people in his family and assumed he had a grasp of cruelty but he was yet to meet his young wife. He was shaking like a blade of grass on a windy day.
He witnessed a murder being committed in a gruesome and unspeakable way that vexed him. However, there was nothing he could do but swallow the lump in his throat and avoid being the next target on his wife's list.
Erica turned to face him. "I took your suggestion. Am I not a dutiful wife?" She asked playfully.
Patrick closed his eyes and sank deeper into the seat. Fearful for his life in her company. His body had become as pale as death.
"It's been a long night. Good idea to rest up before we get home," she said. Setting her phone aside, Erica leaned her head on Patrick's shoulder and shut her eyes.
Patrick opened his eyes, glanced down at his wife, and held back a shudder. In her sleeping state, Erica looked like a beauty from a fairytale, innocent and angelic.
Unfortunately, he got a first-row seat on her devilish side and couldn't be fooled.
"Keep staring and I'll assume you've fallen in love with me," she uttered.
She shot her eyes open and met his gaze. Her big brown eyes were sharp and clear. Patrick reflected elegantly in her pupils.
"Can I ask you for a favor?"
"Favor?"
"Can you promise never to lie to me? However cruel the truth is, always give it to me straight. Can you do that?" She asked, her voice softening.
Patrick could tell that the request came from a vulnerable place. He caught a glimpse of her heart in her playful eyes and nodded.
"I promise."
"Thank you," Erica snuggled into his arm and slept off.
Patrick relaxed. He rested his head next to hers, and he, too, tried to catch some sleep. He no longer felt haunted by Autumn Anderton's betrayal.
He saw no reason to continue crying over spilled milk. He made a mental note to adjust to the life he had and make the best of what life gave him instead of pinning over what he didn't have.
However much Erica tried to forget the trying incident that took her grandmother's life, it was permanently packed in her memory.
She found no comfort in her sleep. Erica opened her eyes and went back to loading the data she needed on her phone.
"Ma'am, we are five minutes out from the destination," the driver informed her.
"Derrick," she called her head of security. "I forgot to ask, where are we going?"
"The Lim mansion-house, ma'am."
With a sardonic smile, Erica imagined what the family reunion would look like. She hadn't seen her family since the day she was declared guilty. None of them ever came to visit her or send her letters while she was away.
They believed that she was guilty and deserved isolation to learn a lesson and change. "They have no idea just how much that place has changed me," she murmured.
"We can change the destination, ma'am, depending on where you want to go. Do you have another destination in mind?"
"I want to meet my family and be with them but a part of me is scared they'll discover the person I have become and hate me. I don't have a heart for the..." Her words got stuck in her throat when she saw the familiar gate of her home ahead.
"Should we turn the car around?"
Erica debated, she weighed the pros and cons of the choice. As she waited outside the gate, another car pulled up next to hers.
The window of the back rolled down and her elder sister, Seren Lim's face appeared in her visage.
"Welcome home, little sis. Mom made a late dinner for you, follow me," she said in a commanding tone.
Before Erica could give her a reply, she rolled up her window. The gates were opened and Seren's cars drove into the compound.
"How do we proceed, ma'am?"
"Head in," Erica ordered.
Her cars drove behind her sister's to the front door of the mansion. Erica nudged Patrick awake, "We are home, hubby," she woke him up.