Chapter 9
Raymond stood a few steps away from me, trying to jog my memory by showing the small clock tattoo on his wrist.
He got that scar years ago when he blocked my stepfather’s attack. His wrist got slashed by broken glass.
To keep me from worrying about the scar, he covered it with that tattoo.
“Whitney,” he said, walking toward me.
“I don’t want things to end between us like this. I don’t care about money. I just want to be near you.
“Can you let me pursue you again? I know I messed up.”
I looked at him and honestly just found it laughable.
We promised forever, and then he cheated. I used to struggle before, unsure if I still cared, until I saw him again.
That was when I realized that I had truly let it go.
“It’s over, Raymond,” I told him. “We’re done.”
I got in my car and drove off, leaving him behind.
But he kept showing up outside my apartment every day. He didn’t bother me. He just stood there watching me like he thought waiting long enough would change my mind.
I treated him like he wasn’t even there.
After three months, Alice had had enough of his relentless bothering and
finally snapped at him, “Quit playing the victim in front of Whitney!
“Go blame the person who ruined you–it’s not Whitney’s fault! She doesn’t owe you anything!”
She was just venting, but it worked. He stopped showing up soon after. Before he disappeared, he sent me a weird text.
“Whitney, I’m going to find the one who tore us apart.”
Raymond always had a paranoid streak, so I didn’t think much of it at first. But later, I got a bad feeling and called the cops.
I didn’t want any part in whatever was coming.
Sure enough, after Alice’s outburst, Raymond found out that Minnie was with an old man.
They hit it off because he had money, and she had what he wanted. While they were in bed at a hotel, Raymond busted in with a knife and stabbed. her.
He saw the blood and just glared, full of hate. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be like this! You ruined me!”
Minnie was caught off guard and asked the old man to help call the cops, but he panicked and ran without even grabbing his pants.
With nowhere to run, she cursed at Raymond, “You’re nothing without your wife! You’re just a coward!
“I must’ve been crazy to ever fall for you. I thought you were powerful, but you’re just a loser who depends on women!”
Minnie spat blood in his face, pushing him over the edge.
Raymond yelled, “You’re seeking death!”
Then, I saw the news about him. Alice came to me with a video that had already gone viral.
It was a high–definition, uncensored video showing Raymond being led away by the police, while Minnie lay covered with a white sheet, drenched in blood.
“I heard he stabbed her,” Alice said, still shaken.
“I always had a bad feeling about him. Good thing you divorced him.
If you ever crossed him, who knows what he would’ve done to you?”
I stared at Raymond’s calm face in the video, and his words came back to me. “Whitney, if I couldn’t spend this life with you, I wouldn’t want to live it alone.”
When I heard about Raymond again, it was the news that he had committed suicide in prison.
He’d left me a letter before he died. I didn’t even read it. I threw it straight into the fire and watched it burn.
