Forced Marriage: Escaping Her Monster

"Stella!" 

Hearing Jerlina walking closer, Jimmy stepped aside. 

Jerlina's stepmother walked in with a bright smile replacing the scowl she had till then, as soon as she heard Jerlina.

"What brings you here?" Jerlina put on a bright smile to match her stepmother's.

"Oh, dear," Stella wrapped her arms around Jerlina for a hug and Jerlina put up with it. 

She saw Scarlett behind Stella and she pulled out her phone to record after passing the baby to Bobby. Jerlina nodded with a smile.

They predicted the next one to come for her under the nudge of Emma would be her stepmother. 

Jerlina hasn't paid a cent for them for more than two months and they have never lived without her money and it would be hard for them to survive. 

They do not know how to spend thriftily and not to mention all the debts they are under.

After talking to Gina, Jerlina never cared for them. Although her stepmother would be too proud to talk to her, Emma would have found a way to make her come to her. And recently Charlie informed that  Becky, one of Emma's minions talked to Stella.

They expected this to happen.

And recently they learned about a "journalist" who is asking around about Jeremy and everyone connected to him. And that includes her and that "journalist" met with Stella too.

The next target that "journalist" has is... Dr. Kruger.

They investigated this "journalist". At one glance, she is a typical fresh-out-of-school, ambitious girl, with a want-to-change-the-world attitude.

But she has powerful backers and seems to have an agenda. At one glance, she looks like an airhead who cannot understand that in the world, not everything is black and white. Good and bad cannot be defined perfectly.

There are a lot of nuances and grey areas in between good and bad. Jeremy is someone who treads in the grey area all his life. 

True, Peyton and the areas around are not a model city, but they are still better than the rest of the county. It's all because of Jeremy.

Her interest in Jeremy is a bit odd. Although Jeremy is not a perfect citizen, he is not worse than the other gang lords.

Why isn't she investigating the Shard Viper or the Tiger? Why is she so focused on Jeremy?

And that is suspicious. 

Jeremy has asked to keep an eye on that journalist and she is allowed to move freely in the town, for now. It is probably to learn more about her. 

But she is not resting. 

"...It's fine if you didn't invite me for your wedding, but you should celebrate this Thanksgiving in your home with your husband."

Stella's fake affectionate voice made Jerlina almost retch.

"I am!" Jerlina smiled. "I am following my husband's tradition so..."

Move aside!

Stella looked a bit perplexed. "No... That's not... Come to our home. Your dad would have-"

"I'm sorry, Stella. It's getting late. Daisy would be waiting for us. We have to leave." Jerlina turned and hooked her hand in Jeremy's arm.

She now guessed Stella's plan is to create a scene by "inviting" her for Thanksgiving.

And as expected, Stella started to cling on to Jerlina's arms and stopped her. 

"I raised you..." Stella's voice broke. "I was good to you than your own mother. I made sure you have warm food on your plate every day, even when your father didn't bring enough home and..."

Stella went on and Jerlina clenched her fists as she was infuriated.

Better than my mom? What right does she have to talk about my mom?

But she held back knowing that Stella is trying to rile her up.

  "Stop lying, Stella," Jerlina walked to the front, stopping Jeremy. "What kind of games are you playing now? And..." she held one of the buttons of her dress that looked a bit suspicious. "Is this a camera? Wow! It is!" she let out a dry laugh and let go of the dress.

"You come to invite someone to your house with a  spy camera?" she scoffed. "Get lost, Stella," Jerlina turned towards the house. Stella surely didn't disappoint.

"Stop, you b*tch!" Stella got enraged as she got caught and grabbed Jerlina's arm. "Pay us back everything... Everything I spent to raise you! And pay the debts owned by your father! Why should I-"

"You raised me?" Jerlina snorted. "Your neighbor knows, the entire town knows... stop lying and leave..." Jerlina waved her hand. 

"Ha! So this is your answer?" Stella shouted.

"Yes," Jerlina said with her back straight with no fear on her face. "And you have to pay me $127,645.47. That is the amount I've spent on you and your daughter in the past ten years. I have the receipts. I didn't include the mortgage payments for the house and I didn't add any interest-"

Stella started to curse and Jerlina found something odd as she tried to get something from her purse.

Jeremy pulled Jerlina back. "Careful," he shouted and Jimmy held the struggling Stella and pinned her against the wall.

  "Ha," Jeremy got her purse and got a glass bottle out. "Is this acid?"

He held Jerlina back and Jerlina saw Stella's face getting pale.

She actually brought acid? Why? To throw it on my face?

So why the hell did she have a camera?

All Jerlina could see was Jeremy's tall back. But his stiff shoulders made her believe that he is raging mad. She was too.

"Answer me before I ask twice. Where did you get this?" Jeremy's voice seemed calm but Jerlina could sense the rage in him.

Jimmy didn't have to hold Stella anymore as she looked limp and terrified. Jimmy held her hair and made her face Jeremy.

"I don't-" she stopped as Jeremy took a step forward.

"I'll-" she let out a short breath. "Viper..." she panted. "The debt... Gina... we couldn't pay...Viper told me he'd speak with..." she started sobbing. "Linny... please, help me... we had no other way... they were forcing Gina to pay with her body and... Linny, please... for your dad..."

She started to beg.

"So, you were willing to kill me for your debt?" Jerlina walked to the front. Scarlett turned off the camera and walked towards Jerlina getting the baby from Bobby's hand. 

"Get to the car, Jerlina," Jeremy turned at Jerlina. 

Jerlina knew what he is going to do next.

His way is an eye for an eye. But her way...

Her mind went blank and Scarlett held her hand.

"Come on, Jer... Don't pity her," Scarlett spoke in a soft voice.

"Joel, I..." she gulped looking at Jeremy. She wanted to speak up for her stepmother but she couldn't find the words.