La Esposa Que Él ArruinóES

Seven Years Earlier

The air on the roof of the school's E-block, the tallest building, was cold. Basically freezing.

Below the building, the campus looked like a toy set for rich people. It was filled with old stone buildings with ivy climbing the walls and pointed roofs that resembled church spires. Everything was perfectly maintained.

The roof was the only place the faculty didn't bother to check after midnight; they assumed their elite students were snuggled up in their high-thread-count sheets, dreaming of Ivy League futures.

Julian was leaning against the brick edge, his school tie loosened. He wasn't looking at the drugs. He was looking at her. Alicia was the only thing in the entire institution that didn't feel like a play. She wasn't a Prescott, she didn't have a trust fund, and her last name didn't carry the weight of a corporate empire. She was just smart, quick, and hungry for a way out of the life she'd been given.

He watched as Alicia carefully measured white powder on a small hand scale. She worked with the precision of a chemist. Her eyes squinted in the dim light.

“This is the last batch in town,” Alicia whispered. “If we sell it all by Friday, we’ll have enough money to get through the summer without asking Silas for a single penny.”

“Perhaps we should move the rest to the seniors in House B,” he quickly added. “We’ll reach ten thousand.”

Julian gave a dry, hollow laugh. “Silas doesn’t give pennies, Alicia. He gives ultimatums, darling. He’s spent my entire life making sure every penny I spend has his signature on it.”

“Ten thousand,” Julian repeated. He pulled a black vape from his pocket and took a long drag. A thick cloud of sweet synthetic vanilla filled the night air for a second before the wind carried it away. He passed the vape to her.

“Silas probably thinks I’m at dinner right now shaking hands with the senators.”

Alicia took the vape and inhaled, the small blue light at the end glowing in the darkness. She exhaled a thick cloud and laughed. “I’d lose my mind if I knew my golden boy was up here bagging product.”

“That’s why I’m doing this. He told me today that if he catches me with you again, he’s going to send me to a military academy in the desert.”

"I'm tired of asking for an allowance. I'm tired of him owning my time too," said Julian.

Alicia put down the scales and stood up, entering her space. Her worn jacket brushed against her expensive blazer. She raised her hand and touched her jaw, her thumb tracing the line of her skin.

“He hates that you love me,” she said, a small, even smile tugging at her lips.

"Yes, he hates it. He hates that he can't control me through you," he laughed.

"Jules, honey, we're not just selling drugs. We're buying a life, and once we've had enough, we're leaving. No more Silas, and definitely no more rules," she continued.

Julian agreed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He  kissed her, tasting the sweet steam and cool night air. It was a desperate kind of love, the kind that felt like a secret they had to keep or die.

He kicked off his blazer and spread it out on the hard cement floor. They didn't have much time before the night watchman made his rounds, but they didn't care. There was a frantic energy between them, a need to prove they belonged to each other and not to the names on their birth certificates. For those few minutes, Julian wasn't an heir and Alicia wasn't a scholarship student. They were just people making a pact in the dark.

Afterward, they lay tangled together on the blazer, sharing the vape and watching the vapor swirl and disappear into the stars. “Ten thousand is a lot of freedom,” Alicia whispered, resting her head on her chest.

“It's a start,” Julian said. He looked down at the bag of powder and then at the girl in his arms. "We're going to take it all, Lex. Every penny they think we don't deserve."

“Oooooh, I like that nickname… Lex.” Alicia smiled and they fell into each other again, this time it was raw, desperate and impulsive like a predator savoring its prey.

They stayed there for a while, whispering about the future and inhaling more of the white powder. They were high on all the drugs, yet they still decided to drive back home because dawn was approaching and Silas would start looking for Julian.

Alicia slid into the driver's seat, her movements sharp and erratic from the top. They drove into the cold night, the engine roaring as she pressed the pedal. They blasted loud, distorted music on the radio, laughing and shouting over the noise. They drove well over the speed limit, the trees beside the road blurring into nothingness.

Bang!

For a second, there was another sound beneath the wreckage. Something that didn't belong to the metal or the glass. Then it was gone. The sound of the car crash was loud. Eheh, eheh, Julian coughed, the air thick with smoke and the smell of burnt rubber and gasoline. He felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his side and something warm trickling down his forehead.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, but there was no answer. He turned to the driver's seat and saw Alicia barely breathing. Her face was covered in crimson streaks of blood.

"No, no, no, no, Lex. Lex, wake up." He tried to move, but his own body felt broken. Every breath was a struggle.

He got out of the car and started yelling for help, but they were in the middle of nowhere. No one was coming. He stared at the wreckage, trying to think through the fog in his brain. The blood was rushing to his face, blurring his vision, but he forced himself to stay conscious.

He stumbled to the driver's side and grabbed the handle. The door was jammed, crushed beneath the weight of the frame. He groaned, putting every ounce of his remaining strength into a yank until the metal groaned and gave way. He reached in, his hands shaking as he unfastened Alicia and began to pull her out of the mess of wires and glass. He dragged her along the asphalt, her legs trembling, and set her on the shoulder of the road about ten meters from the car.

She patted his cheeks slowly with trembling hands. "Lex, Lex, wake up. Wake up, Lex. Please."

She opened her eyes for a split second, staring at him in confusion, and then the explosion hit. The car's fuel tank ignited, sending a wall of orange flames into the sky.

He hoisted her onto his shoulders as he gazed down the long stretch of road ahead. He took a few heavy, unsteady steps, and then his vision finally went dark. There was a long, heavy thud. The last thing Julian saw was Alicia's hand slipping from his.