Ding!
A notification called Patrick's attention to his phone.
'Confirmed. You have received 5,000,000 zass from Newman Bank. New Balance is 5,000,798 zass.'
The transaction from his brother was on time. Patrick brushed his thumb on the screen, relieved to have gotten the means to fund his education and protect his mother.
Looking at his phone intently drew Erica's attention to check what had caught his attention.
She peeked from the side just in time to catch a message from Lucas popping up on Patrick's phone.
Lucas: I have wired the money to you. Thank you for marrying that psycho in my place, brother.
Erica's smile dropped. "Psycho?" Her questioning glance fell on Patrick.
Hearing her utterance, Patrick lifted his head and it dawned on him that she saw the message from his brother on his phone.
"You got paid to marry me?!" Her tone took an icy turn.
"I...the thing is...what happened was..." Patrick found no words to answer Erica. The woman seemed more scary than she did when she walked in.
"Well, since that is the case. I see no reason for us to put on airs," she said, hooking her arm around his and ushering him to walk with her.
As they took the lead, the bodyguards marched orderly six feet behind them.
Erica arranged his thoughts before she put them into words. "Since we are married, let's agree to coexist peacefully with each other. Let's not unnecessarily interfere in each other's lives, deal?"
"Deal."
Patrick agreed with her. It was the first thing raised that night that he agreed with willingly. Although he had no clue what it meant to be Erica Lim's husband, it pleased him to see that she wasn't unreasonable.
They got in the car and the autoclave rushed off to head to Erica's house. Patrick used the time to register for college with part of the money Lucas wired him.
He received a confirmation message from the bank and released a sigh of relief.
His wife minded her own business on her new phone. Her fingers moved quickly on the screen, keeping up with everything she missed while away in prison.
The car came to an abrupt stop which startled Patrick and Erica. It caused both of them to drop their phone and look up in panic.
"Do you want to die?" Erica questioned her driver.
"No, ma'am. I'm sorry," the driver hurriedly apologized. "The car came out of nowhere. Forgive me."
Erica looked passed the driver, through the front car mirror to the car that was blocking the way. She frowned as she recognized the car almost immediately.
"Hmm...when the sheep brings itself to the slaughterhouse, do you blame the butcher for cutting it to pieces or the sheep for being too brazen?" She asked.
Patrick, the driver, and her head of security stared perplexingly at her. Troubled by whether or not she required an answer from them.
A woman alighted from the car ahead and approached their vehicle. She furiously stomped her feet on the ground and knocked on Erica's window.
"Erica, step out of the car and face me!" She demanded.
"An enemy of yours?" Patrick inquired in a worried tone. "She seems aggressive, don't get out of the car. I think we should head back and find another route," he suggested to avoid the hostile confrontation with the strange woman.
"Run...hahaha," Erica laughed. "Hubby, one thing you need to know about me is that I don't run, ever!" She lightly caressed her bangs ignoring the constant knocking on her window.
"How do you want us to handle this, ma'am," her head of security inquired, ready to take action to solve the problem as Erica wished.
"Don't bother your little heads with this one, she's mine," Erica forcefully pushed open the car door. Bumping the woman and sending her falling to the dirty ground.
She stepped out of the car and folded her hands to her chest. Staring emotionlessly at the woman fuming on the ground.
"You brat!" The woman cursed. "How dare you hit me?"
"When did I hit you? It was you who asked me to come down but stood so close to the door, don't blame me unnecessarily," Erica countered calmly.
Patrick came down to help Erica. Being born an illegitimate child, he was well accustomed to bullying and how to handle them. Seeing someone pick a fight with his wife triggered a protective sense in him that forced him to walk to her side.
"You witch! Just wait and see how I deal with you for this!" The woman rose and raised her hand to hit Erica.
Erica easily dodged the attack without breaking a sweat. "I have been to jail, Inngit. Do you want to test the skills I learned in there?"
"You are a criminal. You don't deserve to be free."
"I am free, Inn," she said, snaking her fingers on Inngit's chin to force her to register her presence. "I know the people who killed my nana. All the people who ganged up to frame me and get me jailed, I am here for them. I won't rest until all of them are dead!" She whispered, her cold voice making her sound like the messages of death herself marking her targets.
"W..what?"
"Starting with you," Erica put force on Inngit's jaw and forced her mouth open. Her hands worked like oiled pistons and hastily, she fed Inngit a pill.
Inngit's face paled. Once Erica freed her, she inserted her fingers in her throat, struggling to vomit whatever she was forced to swallow, but to no avail.
"Wh...what did you feed me?"
"Send my message to your accomplices. I won't stop until I bury everyone who had a hand in killing my grandmother!" She declared.
Patrick was astounded to find out that his wife wasn't the criminal he thought her to be.
"Erica, how dare you threaten me?"
"I haven't threatened you. I have threatened the people who killed my grandmother, why are you getting upset?" Erica raised her eyebrow questioningly.
"You..."
"Me?"
"You're trying to frame me. I haven't done anything," Inngit said.
"I'm not the court of law, Inngit. I won't hold a trial, but I will show you proof of your guilt," Erica said; she walked to the car and picked up her phone from the floor.
She hurried back to show Inngit the videos she was recovering from her cloud minutes before she showed up.
"I willfully got convicted and sent to prison so my enemies can lower their guard. I needed to investigate my grandmother's death without interference and that was the only way," she disclosed.
Inngit and Patrick were shocked. Inngit felt drained when she heard Erica's words.
"I found Paco, your henchman. You all paid him a lot of money to clean up the crime scene and frame me," she said.
Inngit wanted to die on the spot. She didn't think that Erica would be so patient and clever. She endured the embarrassment of being arrested, convicted, and sent to prison for three years just to investigate them.
"Are you calling me a murderer?"
"If the criticism fits then accept it."
"Erica! You..you...you idiot!"
"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 sell you out," Erica added.