What they don’t realize is that I’m listening right next to them.
They leave after making out with each other for a while.
After that, I also leave.
Isabel is even more vicious than she was a few years ago.
She wants me to be dead.
After listening to their plan, I begin to prepare my plan slowly.
I don’t believe Isabel would have no plan when she finds that Porter isn’t dead. But she must want to get rid of me first.
Why don’t I counter-plot?
Everything is planned, and I am just waiting for Porter to find me.
Isabel’s wedding is only two days away, so Porter will definitely do it before then.
Sure enough, Porter asks me out.
“You have no idea how I got out of here before. That bitch Isabel is really mean, and she wants to kill me!” Porter has been bad-mouthing Isabel on the phone, and I chuckle in my heart.
You really love to act.
“You still remember our previous agreement, right? I won’t let her live well. When she has nothing to lose, she would only rely on you. You know?” I pretend to warn him, “We must make up our minds before we meet again. Since she knows you’re alive, she won’t let you off.”
“Then come here, and we’ll make a plan.” Porter finally asks me out.
“Alright.” I answer without doubt, “Where are you? I’ll come over later.”
“East State, in an unfinished building.” Porter says.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I say.
It seems that woman is indeed a curse, but also a barrier to men.
I don’t know if he will kill me like Isabel has told him. Maybe he has other thoughts in his mind. Whatever thoughts he has in his mind, I should prepare for them in advance.
Putting on my hat and mask, I go out.
I don’t know what’s waiting for me.
James calls me midway. I watch his number flickering on the screen, not knowing whether to answer or not.
I finally get through, for somehow, I suddenly remember the day I shared a bed with him. His body temperature warmed me and made me feel at ease.
“Where are you? James’s voice sounds worried. “Where are you now?”
“What’s the matter with you? I ask confusingly, “Why are you so anxious?”
There is a tremor in James’s voice. “Wherever you are, come back immediately!”
The car has driven into the suburbs, and I will be there soon. The suburbs are deserted, and I squint at the road.
“I have something to do. Tell me when I come back.” Then I hang up the phone.
“Carl–”
James’s anxious voice stops, and I feel upset, for some reason.
Porter has been holed up here lately. No one is in sight but a few run-down, dilapidated buildings.
I walk up the floor, step by step. Porter is waiting for me there.
He smokes his cigarette and greets me when he sees me. “Pretty fast,” he says.
“Yes, there is no traffic.”
I look around and settle down.
There is only a bed board and a mattress here. A few wine bottles and some food boxes are on the floor.
“You’ve had a really hard life.” I stand at some distance from him.
Porter squints at me. “No, but it’s coming to an end.”
“How did Isabel find you out the other day?” I ask.
Porter sighs, “I am a loser. I can’t help wanting to see her. I’m really cheap.”
Yes, he is.
“How did you get out?” I look at him sharply.
Some car horns came from afar.
Porter’s voice is perfunctory among them.
“I leave until they were gone. I asked you to come here, but you didn’t.” Porter complains.
“We can’t all be exposed.” I explain.
Porter stares at me. “You always wear the mask and hat. It really makes me curious about what you look like.”
I smile. “I don’t believe you.” I say directly.
“You’re telling the truth.” Porter’s eyes are fierce.
“What do you want to do with me today?” The atmosphere becomes tense.
“I’m sorry. No matter what I do,” says Porter, gritting his teeth, “I cannot betray Isabel.”
“Sure enough.” I clench my fist.
“Don’t you think you’re pathetic? What you’ve gained over the years? Nothing! You’re just Isabel’s pawn.” I look at him coldly.
I speak out his pain, and he becomes furious. “No! She didn’t do it at all! She loves me!! The old man forced her to do it! She said she would leave me!”
There is a sudden gust of wind, and the floor is dusty. Porter is struggling to explain, looks like a clown.
“And you don’t believe in Isabel either, or you wouldn’t have kept things from her. Isn’t the eldest son still alive? No, he has lost his memory.” I step back, keeping a safe distance from him.
I’ll make sure I have enough time.
Porter looks at me with disgust because I have spoken out his mind.
“You know exactly why you called me here today.” I say.
“You want to be loyal to Isabel, but does she do the same to you?” I laughed at him, “I have something in my hand. Do you want to see?”
With that, I throw the folder from my bag over.
“There are a lot of things that you haven’t seen before, and I was surprised to see it. I didn’t realize that Isabel would be so coquettish.” I stress the last word, and mock at Porter.
“You can’t talk about her like that. She is not!” Porter’s eyes redden as he picks up the folder I have dropped on the floor.
The contents are carefully selected by me. I have asked someone to investigate Isabel before and it didn’t waste my energy.
Porter unwraps it. When he sees it, he snarls and wants to tear it apart.
I grab it back and take a photo out of the folder, “Look at this man. How Isabel likes him, sitting on his lap all the time with her arms around his neck. She was so intimate to you before, right?”
Porter’s eyes are blazed with anger, his fists clenched.
“This man is 20 years younger than Isabel and is a fitness instructor. He has a good figure and is still young. Isabel likes him very much.
“And the old man has a wonderful family background. Even though he is in his seventies, Isabel serves him very well.”
“And Mr. Orlando, do you know how Isabel is attentive to him? She has never been so kind to you, right?”
Porter’s veins are popping out of his head.
“Do you think what Isabel said to you is true and she never lied to you? Don’t you think you are funny now?”
Every word is like a knife to him, and I am trying to break him down.
“You don’t know how many people Isabel has taken advantage of so that she can have what she has today, nor do I, but I are sure that you are not the only one.”
Porter does not response, his chest heaving and his eyes red.
“Isabel wants you to kill me.”
I give him a hard push and Porter comes to his senses.
“She seduced you. You are just her pawn and she never loved you!”
“Yes.” Porter’s voice cracked. “She’s been lying to me.”
“Do you understand?” I ask him.
Porter looks up slowly, his eyes choking back tears. “Why?”
“Because you’re a fool.” I sneer.
“I know everything she said to you, and that’s her way of trying to get you to hook me out.” I confess everything I know, looking him in the eye.
“Are you still trying to kill me?” I squint at him.” I can help you, to get Isabel, or to ruin her.”
I am contemptuous of him. A man who is played with by a woman is really a fool.
“No, I will never come back to her.” Porter mutters. It seems that he is really irritated.
This is exactly what I want.
“I thought that I was special to her, but I didn’t expect that we are both tools for her. In fact, I always know what I am to her, and now I’m a threat, and she’s fed up with me.” Porter seems to have lost all his energy. Suddenly, he loses all his strength and sits down on the floor, his face covered with tears.
I don’t want to comfort him at all, but I think this man is pathetic and irritating. He knows all about it, but he still does these things. It’s pathetic.
“Shouldn’t we discuss the plan?” I sit down next to him and say, “Come here, I’ll tell you what to do.”
Porter, still delirious and motionless, hears me speak, and then looks at me and says, “Say it, I am listening.”
“When you get back, tell Isabel that you have killed me and cleaned up my body. If she is not sure, please show her these photos.” I take out my phone and pass some badly mutilated photos to Porter.
“Okay, I get it.” Porter says.
I do this just to make Isabel be happy for the last two days. Her most horrible nightmare will come at her happiest moment.
Porter is still in a daze. I have nothing more to say to him and get up to leave.
“But who are you?” Porter suddenly asks, staring at me. “You’re terrible, too,” he says. “since you’ve lurked like that.”
“Terrible? I sneer at him, “If you’ve been through what I’ve been through, maybe you know how kind I am to Isabel.”
I don’t want to recall the past. It is too sad, and makes me despair.
I go downstairs. Taxis are rarely seen at this place, so I can only walk a long way.
Cars roar past me, and I walk slowly.
Suddenly a very familiar car passes by me.
James?
At the time, I dress differently, with hat and mask on my face.
I know the license plate number of that car. Why is he here?
I couldn’t help getting nervous.