Beware the Bride in Black

My name is Margaret Quinn. Before I met Oscar Sterling, my life was as dull as a glass of plain water. I know Oscar Sterling and Debra Shane. They are the most notorious couple in G City, not because of love, but because of their intense and twisted hatred. The rumors about them have always been bloody and insane. Some say Debra Shane once threatened to rip out her own kidney just to hold on to Oscar Sterling. They say Oscar Sterling, in a fit of rage, broke Debra Shane's limbs. Even more say their combined suicide attempts can't be counted on one hand. Two people like that were meant to be tangled up until death. Until Debra Shane ran away from home. Oscar Sterling's world collapsed instantly—or rather, he dragged the entire Sterling Family to the brink of ruin. He threatened to kill himself, swearing that if Debra Shane didn't come back, he would die right in front of everyone. When Old Mr. Sterling found me, the gray at his temples seemed to have multiplied. He was my father's lifesaver. Without his help back then, my father would have died in an accident long ago. "Margaret, I'm begging you." Old Mr. Sterling's voice held a faint tremor. "Marry Oscar. Only if you marry him can you stabilize him, only then can the Sterling Family get through this crisis." I looked into the pleading in his eyes and remembered my father's dying wish, and in the end, I nodded. I knew from the start this marriage was a bargain—and the beginning of a farce. On our wedding night, the red candles burned bright, but they couldn't thaw the chill that filled the room. Oscar Sterling never glanced at me once. He sat on the couch, smoking, his face blurred in the swirling smoke. The door was kicked open so hard, I didn't even have time to react. Debra Shane stood in the doorway, hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot, like a wild beast out of control. She gripped a broken shard of glass in her hand; its sharp edges glinted coldly in the light. The next second, she charged straight at me. Glass shards pressed tightly against my neck, the icy sting spreading instantly. "Who are you?" Debra Shane's voice was hoarse, dripping with hostility. I didn't say a word, only instinctively tensed my body. "Get out." Oscar Sterling finally spoke, his voice cold as ice. He wasn't speaking to me, but to Debra Shane. Debra Shane laughed suddenly, as if she'd heard the biggest joke—her laughter sharp and piercing. "Oscar, you want me to get out?" Her grip tightened, and the glass shards had already cut through my skin. Warm blood trickled down my neck. "You want me to get out over this woman?" "And what if I do?" Oscar Sterling stubbed out his cigarette, stood up, and stepped toward us. "This is my marital home. My wife is here. You have no right to be here." "Wife?" Debra Shane turned sharply and glared at him, her eyes brimming with hatred so intense it seemed about to spill over. "Oscar, have you forgotten everything between us? Have you forgotten you promised you'd only be with me for the rest of your life?" Oscar Sterling's eyes didn't flicker an inch: "It's all forgotten." Debra Shane completely lost control of her emotions. She screamed, and the glass shards in her hand cut deeper into my neck.