Two Months Earlier...
Lucy heard a familiar voice behind her. It sounded like her friend she met five years ago.
"Lucy?" someone called.
She stopped yelling at nothing and turned her head towards him.
She was shocked to see Gale. What a coincidence that they met again in the place where Gale used to confess his problems.
"You? You're here. I bet you’ve had many problems and mistakes to confess here!" Lucy told him while her eyes dropped tears. She quickly dried them with her palm.
Gale took a deep breath and smiled at her.
"Maybe. I just got here. It's nice to see you again. I'm sorry about last time. I didn't have time to meet you before I went back abroad," he explained to her and Lucy finally understood why he just vanished.
"Well, it's all in the past. I'm glad I see you again. It's time for me to go. It's your turn now,” she said and was about to go when Gale grabbed her arm.
"Please, stay,” he said but Lucy didn’t feel like talking with someone right then. She just wanted to find a place where she could have a good rest and peace of mind.
"I'm sorry but I need to rest. I just got out of—" she stopped when she realized that Gale had no idea that she’d even been in prison for the last five years. If she told him that she'd been in jail, maybe he would stay away, thinking that she was a criminal.
"Never mind. See you when I see you. Bye." Lucy let go of his grip and waved goodbye.
Gale just sighed. He couldn't stop her by force, and besides, they were not so close that he could be protective of her.
Lucy walked in the hallway of the Tagaytay tourist site when a gunshot echoed. She felt a sting on her shoulder and belly. She bent her head to check, and her eyes widened as her dress was soaked in blood—her fresh blood.
She felt dizzy and weak until she collapsed on the ground.
---
Eloisa POV
Today Lucy was being discharged from prison. She couldn’t be out in the world. I must call Brian to tail her and finish her today. Kent and I can only live peacefully once I get rid of her. I know that my husband still has feelings for her, and I can't accept that his heart belongs to her. I must erase her from our lives.
"Hello, Brian, did you follow her?" I called him.
"Yes, she's right in front of me. My gun is now pointing at her. Should I shoot her now?" Brian asks for my permission.
I look around to check if anyone can hear me. I focus on my phone again.
"Do it now!" I ordered him without hesitation. I don't care if she used to be my close friend. I just want to get rid of her.
I firmly close my eyes when Brian shoots. I heard the gunshots, the sound echoed in my phone. I am startled when a hand grips my shoulders.
"Honey, I heard you talking to someone? Was it Dad?" It's Kent.
I turn off my phone and tell him that it's a call from my friend Cindy.
"She asked me when we are going to visit her. She told me how Gale broke her heart." I lied to him.
Cindy wasn't the only girlfriend Gale proposed to. There were a lot of girlfriends. I was one of them, but I was drunk and loveless that night when I saw Lucy's photo in Kent's wallet. It broke my heart, so I ran away and got wasted until I decided to call Gale to fetch me.
It's still crystal clear in my head.
---
Flashback
It all started with a kiss on her cheek, until she started to like it. Gale escorted her inside the inn like her husband.
"One room please!" he said to the receptionist and she gave him the key.
"Room 505, sir," she said.
"Thanks." He helped the drunk Eloisa into the room he had paid for one night.
He slowly put her on the bed and was about to leave when she held his hands and pulled him above her.
"Do you think I'm drunk? What is your plan? Are you going to just look at me for the whole night, my brother-in-law?" Eloisa began to tease him by slipping her hands inside his shirt.
Gale was a man and even she was his brother's wife, he couldn’t deny the fact that his manhood was hard.
"Is this what you want?" Gale said and then their lips were entwined.
"Hmmm," Eloisa moaned with every kiss they shared.
Gale stop kissing her and told her that what they were doing was wrong, but Eloisa insisted, until forbidden desires happened.
-----
"Shit!" he screamed when he saw Lucy's limp and bloody body on the grass.
He hid behind the huge trees when he saw someone holding a gun drag her body into a black car. Gale hopped inside his car. He couldn’t believe what he’d just witnessed. This was a murder. Someone had killed Lucy and was taking her body. He followed him and it felt like they traveled forever. Gale feared that he might lose Lucy. He didn't know if she was still alive from the gunshot or not.
"Please, stay alive. I will save you!" Gale mumbled.
Brian found a secluded place where no one could find her body.
He quickly dug a hole and buried Lucy's corpse.
"Goodbye, Lucy!" he said and looked around to check if someone had seen him. Then, he left poor Lucy.
Gale quickly ran to the place where Brian buried Lucy. He didn't know what to do.
While looking for something to dig with, a heavy rain came, and Gale's prayers were answered.
"Please, don't give up Lucy. I'm coming!" he muttered while his knees on the muddy ground and his hands were busy digging up the ground.
He started to tremble when he still couldn't see Lucy's face.
"Fuck, where are you, Lucy?" He was getting really nervous now. He must save her no matter what. This poor girl must survive.
A sigh of relief crossed his face when he felt human skin. Finally, he found Lucy.
He quickly took her out of the hole and put her in the backseat. She was pale as a corpse. He called his doctor to hurry and meet him at his cabin.
"Hurry. There's no time!" he ordered and after he got inside the cabin, he cleaned her. He checked her wounds and there was one on her left shoulder. The other one was the most critical. The wounds on her belly were deep and the blood wouldn't stop. He was relieved that she was still breathing.
Finally, doctor Killan came, and he quickly prepared everything for Lucy's operation.
---
Two Weeks Later...
Gale took a sip of coffee inside his cabin while waiting for Lucy. She was healing and regaining her strength so quickly.
"Good morning!" Lucy greeted him while trying not to damage her wounds.
Gale helped her sit in a chair.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her while looking at her beautiful face.
Lucy couldn’t forget her tragic experience with the person who shot her. She couldn't believe that after her stay in prison, her enemies wouldn't let her live.
"I'm fine. Thanks to you. I don't know how I can repay you!" she told him but, Gale had an idea. One that would make sure that no one could hurt her again.
"No one saw me take you from the grave. Lucy is dead. If you live like her, they won't stop until they kill you," he told her, so Lucy asked him what his plan was.
Gale confessed everything about his identity. She knew that he was Kent's stepbrother. At first, she wouldn't believe him but then he showed her photos of Kent, she believed him.
Gale was the one who suggested that they should join forces to take revenge on the couple and Lucy accepted the plan.
"What do you want? How can I keep my identity as Lucy?" She asked him and took sip of milk.
Gale took a deep breath and held her shoulders.
"Marry me. Be my wife. We will change your name to Greta Stone. You will be rich and famous like me. No one will hurt you anymore," Gale said and promised to help her until his last breath.
Lucy was hesitant at first, but Gale told her that their marriage would be fake, and he would provide rules for their relationship. Their deal would be safe.
"Deal?" Gale raised his hand.
"Deal!" She shook his hand and accepted the offer.
"From now on, I will call you Greta!" Gale confirmed.
And Greta Stone was born out of Lucy Mason’s death.