BROKEN

43. BROKEN

'A man's heart with an evil intention does not curve like a sharp cutlass for one to see'

LAUREN POV

"What? You're surprised I beat you to your game?" Nelly's sarcastic laugh filled the hall of the small crowd that held disbelief written all over their face, especially Jackie; her best friend is the one who soiled the life of her brother.

To me, it wasn't the realization that my cousin was the brain behind my failed marriage that got to me but the realization that the image of the devil my mother described to me wasn't true. He wasn't some scary monster clothed in an ugly black and red attire with two long horns and blood dripping from his mouth. The devil is in fact the most alluring and attractive being just like the devil before me. Nelly.

I watched her sashay in my direction with a wicked smirk permanently glue on her lips. On reaching where I sat, she grab the glass of wine in my hand forcefully. The smirk glowing on her face is what I desperately wish to wipe off. The wine in the glass splashes on the floor but she didn't care; she gulp it and sighed in satisfaction. This can't be the same sweet-talking soul that rather cries each time I kill a cockroach.

She looked so innocent to have been the villain in my story. How on earth did I miss the details? I would never have thought my blood would place me in disarray

With a sister like Nelly, who needs an enemy?

"Oh please! You all should wipe that look off your faces" She snarled then circle me up with her eyes as I gagged over her body.

My lips appeared to be padlocked. I stare in utter disbelief. Here I am waging war with the world while my most real enemy dines with me with the shortest of spoons.

"I watched you snatch everything I cherish from me bit by bit. I endured you hoping that one day you'd changed but Lauren, you will always be a selfish, self-centered, and egoistic witch. Because of you, I encountered a life event that I'm still struggling to heal. So you know, I can never live past that night of horror you put me through and what I went through in the hands of those cruel hooligans while you laugh in my face and be happy with the man that should have been rightfully mine Nelly rasped out in one breathed then pause to gather her stamina. My gaze lowers in disdain.

Is she out of her mind?

I roared out in a peal of raucous laughter that made me sound like a raving lunatic. "A man that should be rightfully yours? Are you delusional?" I asked amidst laughter.

I glanced at the rumpled frown on each one face. Their shocked and pissed stares were hard to tell what was going on in their minds. Nick's mother had her hands on her hips gazing at Nelly.

"You knew he was with me yet you went after him..."

"Shut up!" I fumed. All traces of laughter die off on my lips, "For your stupid information; I never went after Nick. Idiot Michael invited me to a party and I went and that's where Nick walk up to me on his own accord. I wasn't even there because of him and if he finds me attractive that's not any of my faults, is it?"

"It doesn't justify the fact that when you found out about my feelings for him; it pleases you to ruin the chances I had with him. How does it feel to lose everything and be regarded as trash?" She yelled as her hands clasp the wine bottle while I tightened my hold on the gun.

We engage in a staring contest.

"Wait" Nick's baffled voice cut through our heated stare, "Nelly, you were my friend: our friend," He said signaling to a tearful Jackie, "...yet it pleased you in ruining my marriage and seeing me get hurt. Not just that. You were the one person I divulge my marital issues with, not knowing you were the mastermind of it all. What did I ever do to you and him?" His eyes landed on Hillary who averted his eyes to the floor.