Revenge to The Devil

When I returned from the UK, I stood on my toes at the exit of the airport, seeking a familiar figure among the crowd.

A microphone was put in front of me. "Miss Li, is it true that Jonathan Li has left you a huge sum of money? It is said that you were married two years ago. What do you think about his death?" a reporter said.

"What?" I felt darkness, which was as chaotic as a nightmare. But I assured myself that I was mishearing, and I grabbed the arm of the reporter. "What did you say? Kindly repeat it!" I said.

"Don't you know? Yesterday, Jonathan Li had a heart attack," he said.

"Nonsense, I called him yesterday," I insisted.

Troy, dressed in a black suit, came up to me, followed by some underlings. I pushed the crowd to run to him, looking around and asking, "Isn't he coming? Too busy, isn't it?"

"Jonathan …" Troy turned around with tears in his eyes, trying to speak, "Jonathan..."

I stepped back, tripped over the suitcase, then I fell over onto the ground.

I pressed my chest and tried to catch my breath, persuading myself that it was just a dream, a dream.

He promised me that he would never let me go. Three days ago, when he saw me off at the airport, we kissed goodbye. And he said he would wait for my return and let me show him my trophy. I got it back.

He loved me so much that he would never abandon me for the third time!

"Madame," Troy held me up, saying in a husky voice, "He is waiting for you to attend his funeral."

"Funeral?" I said.

Funeral, it was a funeral indeed. Rain dropped down from the cloudy sky like tears. I heard the groaning of flying birds. His tombstone was covered with white chrysanthemums and thousands of people in black suits stood and bowed in silence. I ran to him, trampling the chrysanthemums as the white petals were floating in the rain

I gazed at his smiling face on the picture on the tombstone. I felt empty and numb, everything was gone, including the tears. He promised to give me the most romantic wedding. Was it the surprise he prepared for me... a pathetic funeral!

"No," I shook my head wildly, "I don't believe he's dead. He will not let me see him the last time."

"He doesn't want you to see him, for fear that you can't bear it," Troy said.

"I don't believe it!" I cried. I staggered back, far away. The solemn music of Butterfly came from the distant sky. I covered my ears and said, "I don't believe it!" Then, I fainted in the heavy rain.

When I woke up in a haze, I sat up sharply. There was a man in black by my side.

"Jonathan!" I said.

Troy took my hand, "Madame, calm down please."

"He's not dead, is he? How could he have had a heart attack, he was so tough? How couldn't he let me see him at the last moment? You must be lying to me!" I cried.

"If it makes you feel better, you can think that," he said.

"He must be intending to surprise me. Does he want to give me the most romantic wedding?" I asked Troy.

Troy was about to speak when a bodyguard came in, "Troy, the police want to talk to you."

"I am busy!" he snapped.

Just as he spoke, two policemen entered, one of them said, " Troy Yang, we suspect you of murdering Jonathan Li. Please come to the station with us and help the investigation."

Troy looked confused, "What the hell did you say?"

"You have the right to remain silent, but everything you say will be used as evidence in court," the policeman continued.

"Run! Get out of here now!" Troy said.

I felt my blood surging. I pulled the needle out of my hand and crawled off the bed. "What did you say? What's the matter?" I asked.

Ignoring me, they said to Troy:" From the surveillance video from a bar, we saw Jonathan was shot by someone. The people in the bar said that you had a dispute with him, then he left the bar indignantly. And a doctor says that yesterday Jonathan was sent to the hospital because he was bleeding, but he was dead before he got to the operating room. It is you who force them to sign the death certificate as a sudden heart attack and told them to shut up. Is it true?"

"You cremated Jonathan this morning. And his wife even didn't have a chance to pay him one last goodbye. Don't you know that you're not allowed to cremate anyone without the permission of the police?" The policeman continued.

The policeman smirked. He looked at Troy seriously and wondered, "Did you know that, according to Jonathan Li's last will, if he had any kind of accident, half of his fortune would be transferred to you?"

"I did," Troy replied. "So what?"

The policeman pulled out a warrant and showed it to Troy. It had his name on it. "Because you had the motive to assassinate Jonathan Li," the officer said, "we have the right to arrest you."

"This won't stick," Troy hissed as he offered them his wrists. "It won't stick because I am innocent!"

As the police carted Troy away, one-word stick in my head: Assassinated. It stuck like a wishbone that had been caught in an old dog's throat. It refused to budge. It was a cruel word – Assassinated. It had been created by a cruel word to explain an act so heinous that the word itself did it no justice.

I knew that Troy was a good man. He wouldn't hurt anyone. The world didn't care about justice though. All that the world cared about was getting its pound of flesh.

They let Troy go later that evening though. With or without the autopsy, he was innocent, and even the arresting officers had known it. They were bullies; that's all.

I was Jonathan's, beloved woman. I would never have left his side; never. When I knew for sure that he was gone, I rushed out and ran to the loft. It was the closest place to heaven that I knew of. At that moment, if Jonathan had reached out his arms and smiled at me, I certainly would have seen it; and maybe then I would have wanted to live.

He'd promised that he wouldn't let go of my hands – and yet he had and, once he was gone, I was anxious to join him. I gathered all the strength that I had in me but, as I took that leap, I felt arms wrap around my waist, and pulled me in. I kicked and I screamed, but I could not get away. Finally, I gave up and turned around to see who my 'savior' was.

I wasn't surprised in the least when I saw that it was Troy. He looked me in the eyes and said, "You scared the shit out of me!"

I hit him by the arms as hard as I could. "You have no right," I shouted. "And besides, you have only put off the inevitable. You can't watch me night and day. Eventually, you won't be watching me, and my day will come!"

"Calm down," Troy said. "I understand that you don't want to live, but what about your baby? Do you have the right to take him or her along with you?"

That gave me cause to pause. I looked at him curiously and asked him what he was talking about.

"You're pregnant," he said. "How is it that you don't know it?"

"This must be another lie," I hissed. In my mind, I saw Jonathan standing in the clouds, waiting for me. "Please, just let me go. Jonathan is looking down on me. He's waiting for me, and all I want is to go to him."

"No!" Troy sighed. "I knew Jonathan as well as you did. He may be looking forward to seeing you one day, but he would want you to live."

Troy pulled out his phone and said, "One of the last things Jonathan did before he died was sending me a message. I think that you should hear it. Can I play it for you?"

I nodded and Troy took the phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons.

"Troy," Jonathan cried. As if from beyond the grave, it was spooky. You need to avenge me. Before that though, promise me that you will cremate my body before Desiree comes back. If you are careful, you should be able to pin it off on the mortuary as a clinical error or something. I am afraid that if Desiree has to identify my remains, she won't be able to bear it. She is a fragile woman and she can be especially fragile when she is lonely.

"You must be by her side until she is ready to be alone. Tell her not to be afraid. Tell her that I want her to live."

"Jonathan!" I screamed his name over and over again. Unashamed, I cried as I had never cried before and, throughout it all, Troy held me. "It will be okay," he said as he rubbed my back. "It will be okay."

As I sobbed, a pain in my lower abdomen returned and gradually began to get worse. Eventually, I began to convulse, and I was thrown back two years to the time when this had first happened. I had tried to ignore it, but Jonathan had insisted that I go to the hospital.

I had waited too long though and my body aborted my baby.

I looked at Troy and said, "If I am pregnant, you have to take me to the hospital. I may be having a miscarriage. If I am carrying Jonathan's son or daughter, I want to do anything and everything I can to bring it to term."

To the hospital, I whispered to my stomach; to Jonathan. I said, "Jonathan, I know you want a son who will follow in your footsteps. You said that, if our son wants to be a cop, we must send him to the best police academy and steer him in the direction he must go. I promise you that I will do my best and, even if our child is a girl, we will make you proud.