Chapter 96 CRIPPLED OR DEAD?
Giselle glared at the TV, her veins bulging, and a maniacal laugh escaped from her lips. She reached for a new phone and logged into her account.
She immediately dialed a number.
“What do you want?” she yelled at the top of her lungs, and a laugh responded back.
“Really? Will you do anything?” The cold voice came through, and Giselle’s grip on the phone tightened.
“I will,” she said, her voice trembling with defeat.
“Cripple your leg!” the voice snapped. Giselle’s lashes fluttered. It took a minute for the words to sink in.
“My legs… how will I ever act again?” she yelled, and the voice sighed.
“Act? Do you still believe that would happen? Your career is ruined. Stop being blinded!” The reply was sharp, and Giselle bit down on her lip, blood dripping to the floor.
“You bi—”
“You are in no position to hurl insults at me. Should everyone see it? I still have more videos I can post, GISELLE. I’m warning you, don’t try to find me or try to escape. I’ll destroy you in an instant. Plus, you have three minutes.”
The call went blank. Giselle stayed frozen. She wanted to smash her phone too, but she kept her cool. Money she couldn’t afford to waste.
She collapsed into her chair. Her career, the one she had built over ten years was crumbling at twenty-eight. How could it all be falling apart so fast?
Another call came through. Giselle reluctantly picked up.
“Sigh… the cancellation of the contract. Someone will pick it up!” Before she could respond, the line went dead.
She stayed frozen, her lips parted in confusion. Who was doing this? Someone she had bullied? Abused? Who the hell…
She stood and rushed to her table, kicking it aside with her feet. She grabbed her butcher’s knife, ready to dismantle it, but then…
Ding. Her phone rang, three minutes flashing and blinking. She fell to the ground. Did she really have anything left to lose? Of course, the blackmailer could send the pictures, she no longer cared.
Then an image popped up. Giselle ran to stare at it.
“I’m warning you, back out, and I will destroy everything!”
Reading the message, she trembled in anger. Her gaze flickered downward, and she froze.
Earlier, she hadn’t cared because she could make a comeback with her uncle’s company. But seeing the photos around the company, she froze. Worse...a feminine figure was holding a matchstick, she couldn’t see her face, but she could feel the smile.
She grabbed her house key from the table and rushed out, calling the figure, but it only rang. No answer.
She stood in the street, frozen, as gazes turned toward her.
“Is that Giselle?”
“Why does she look ragged?”
“She finally gets what she deserves. She ruined so many lives!”
“Did you see her sex tape? She was moaning like crazy… and she actually used drugs. Cops are after her now!”
Giselle felt ashamed, looking at the ground and trying to hide behind her disheveled hair. She bit her lip, holding back tears.
Suddenly, a message dinged. She stared at her screen: “Good girl” with a photo of her attached, right there in the street. She lifted her head, scanning the crowd for anyone suspicious, ignoring the camera clicks around her.
“I can’t believe I liked her!”
“Such a shameless two-faced bitch!”
“I heard she ruined her best friend in high school, Celina!”
Giselle froze at those words. She turned to the gossiping girls
"Of course Celina was everything, she could never be!" She gritted her teeth hearing them continue.
A dead person was better than her? Giselle laughed inwardly. Why can’t you stay dead and forgotten, Celina!
She moved toward the two girls but froze when she saw someone.
“Celina!” she muttered in shock. The female stood there, dressed in the hoodie Giselle had once gifted her, eyebrows the same curve, a nice mask covering her face.
“Aren’t you dead?” she screamed. Everyone began recording, live streaming.
“Did she go crazy?” a passerby asked.
Giselle could hear Celina’s voice crying out:
“You killed me and thought you could have it all… Everything is crumbling! Everyone hates you!”
Giselle pressed her hands to her ears. “Let me be your ghost!” she yelled, advancing as the crowd backed away.
“Wow, she’s probably acting!” some mocked.
Giselle scattered her hair, screaming at the thin strands: “You should have remained dead!”
“But I didn’t!” Celina’s voice came closer. Giselle stepped back, fear overwhelming her… unaware she was moving into the street.
“Sta—”
Giselle froze.
She snapped her head to the side, eyes shimmering. Her heart stopped at the glint of a car speeding toward her.
The car slammed into her. The crowd screamed in horror.
Blood splashed and Giselle’s body was thrown forward. She lay still, her right leg twisted, broken. Her eyes opened slightly, lips parted, small drops of blood forming.
“Is she dead?”
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Erica removed her nose mask, staring at Giselle’s body. Nothing shimmered in her eyes except satisfaction.
Nine rushed to Erica, dressed in the same style. “Is she dead?” she asked.
“Leave it to fate,” Erica replied.
“This death is too easy. She deserves more,” Nine said, smiling wider.
“The best way to be remembered in death is for fans to feel sympathy for you, to show up at your funeral with flowers… Giselle loves that life, but she won’t get it. If she dies, she’ll never find peace. Her funeral will be smeared with rotten eggs, her name forever tarnished… Fame never dies,” Erica said.
“If she isn’t dead, she’ll forever be in regret and crippled. She loves her legs too much,” Erica muttered, glancing at her watch.
“I have a dinner to attend,” she said softly.
Suddenly, Nine’s phone rang and she answered.
“Miss… he said he wanted to use the toilet… he’s gone. He disappeared.”
Nine froze, halfway to a cab, her lips parted. “Shit!”