Chapter Six
>GRAND QUASI-FUNERAL
...The Mental Prison
He was back the following day.
Muse had been couped up in her cell all day, her body aching badly.
She was sure her blood pressure was spiking from thing so much.
She had her illness to think about and his offer to destroy her completely.
She didn't know which was better—turning him away or accepting his offer.
But when he came again, she promised to make that decision that day.
She knew when he came, the clanging of metal echoing down the corridor.
The cell warden had opened the door and let him in without a word.
She stared up at him with lifeless eyes, unsure what to say to him.
The contract paper he had given her was still lying on the floor, somewhere.
"Muse," he called her name in that voice that seemed to soothe her.
She said nothing to him as she stood to her feet and scanned him quickly.
He took a step closer.
He didn't speak much today.
He just slowly pulled out his phone and began to scrol through something.
"Tell me, when was the last time you checked the news about your family?"
Her eye brows rose.
Why was he asking her that?
She was obviously a prisoner.
"Hello!" She said with spite. "New flash! I don't have access to news in here."
Pierre's lips curved into a smirk.
"I thought so too."
But she could tell that he hadn't thought anything before she had spoken.
He turned his phone towards her.
"This might interest you."
Muse glared at him for a second or two until her urged her with his eyes to look.
She peered into the phone.
Her breath caught in her throat at the headline that she saw there.
It read:
"THE VITALE FAMILY HOLDS A GRAND FUNERAL FOR DISGRACED DAUGHTER."
She swallowed hard.
This couldn't be true.
But below the headline was a photo of her adoptive parents dressed in black.
Was this made with Al?
Was this some form of pictures made with deep seek intended to prank her?
Was Pierre playing with her?
She continued to look.
She noticed that there was a marble headstone with her name on in it.
Her adoptive parents were standing near the headstone with a doleful look.
If this was real, were they stupid?
She wasn't fucking dead!
She looked up at Pierre with every single question she had in her eyes.
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"See Muse, they have buried you," Pierre said to be in a quiet voice.
Her heart rate spiked.
"Literally," he added. "Muse, there is a grave with your name on it in the cemetery."
Her hands shook as she took the phone and scrolled through the article.
There were more photos of the entire family at her psuedo funeral.
They all looked appropriately sad.
There were even videos if her mother who was crying into a handkerchief.
Her brothers also stood at one corner with both of their heads bowed.
And there, in the background, were Reed and Colleen holding hands.
This was not a joke.
This wasn't made with Al.
She had been buried.
"They buried me?" She said to Pierre who nodded with a tsk sound.
"You should keep reading," he urged her, and she did as he asked.
The article went on to describe how the family had lost a daughter.
The exact words was that the family was there to mourn the loss of their beloved daughter who had lost her way.
It mentioned how they would be donating her belongings to charity.
And Reed Seaman had announced his engagement to the Colleen.
The shameless article even called her the "true Vitale daughter" there.
The engagement venue was set and the reception would follow the service.
Something hot and brutal rose in her, spreading through her veins.
Her breath began to come in small gasps that nearly didn't let her breath.
Her eye filled with tears.
It was over for her.
She could never go back.
The family had not only disowned her publicly, they had buried her.
"They announced their engagement at my funeral," Muse told him in a whisper.
"At your funeral," Pierre confirmed.
He leaned in.
"They didn't just disown you, Muse. They erased you completely. And you are dead as far as the world is concerned."
The tears that burned her eyes finally started to flow down Muse's cheeks.
But she wiped them away angrily with the back of her palm.
"Why are you showing me this?"
He stood straighter, digging both of his hands into his pocket.
"That is because I want you to understand exactly what kind of people you are dealing with Muse," Pierre informed.
She sniffed softly.
"This wasn't just about them getting you out of the way. This was about making sure you could never come back."
Muse nodded in agreement.
It was a plan.
She was sure if it.
She just couldn't prove it.
"Even if you somehow finally prove your innocence, who would believe the dead disowned girl?" He added.
Everything he said made sense.
She swallowed hard.
"You still are yet to tell me the reason you want to marry me," she inquired.
Pierre sighed softly.
"The Vitale family destroyed something that was once precious to me."
Muse blinked.
"They took someone that I cared about very much. And I have been waiting for the right opportunity to return the favor."
"So I am just a weapon in your revenge plot?" She deduced swiftly.
He shrugged.
"We both want the same thing," Pierre said to her. "We want justice. The difference is, I have the resources to get it."
Muse looked at the photos again.
Her own headstone stared back at her, cold and final in the picture.
There was no going back.
She had to accept Pierre's offer now that it still stood unless she would die.
She looked up at him.
"What exactly are you proposing?"
Pierre smiled briefly.
"This would be a contract marriage about two years maximum. There would be no form of physical intimacy required unless you decide otherwise."
Her brows rose at that.
But, he continued to speak.
"I get the business advantages that come with having a Vitale connection, even a supposedly dead one."
Muse rolled her eyes at him.
What made him think that she had any form of connections at this point?
"You will get your life back, your health and also have the power to destroy the people who outright betrayed you."
It sounded good to her though.
"And after two years?" She further inquired as she handed him his phone.
He took it from her.
"You are free to go."
"Muse, I will give you enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life and the satisfaction of watching them burn."
"You make it sound so simple."
"It is simple," Pierre said.
She liked his confident tone.
"The hard part, Muse, is deciding if you really want to remain buried or if you want to rise again from the dead."
She sighed.
"Unless you want Colleen to get to you first," he informed her.
Her eye widened.
"What about Colleen?"
Pierre's expression darkened.
"Colleen has connections to dangerous people. The kind who specialize in making problems disappear permanently."
Muase knew all that.
"My sources have informed me that she is not done with you yet."
A chill ran down Muse's spine.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, accidents happen in prison all the time, especially to those inmates who seem to know much inconvenient truths."
Pierre's voice was deadly serious.
"You need protection, Muse. The kind that comes with having powerful allies."
"And you are offering to be my ally?" She demanded with quirked brows.
He shook his head.
"No, I am offering to be your husband. There is a difference."
Muse was quiet for several minutes.
She thought of everything—the medical report, the funeral photos and the threat of Colleen's dangerous connections.
It was all too much for her to handle.
"If I say yes," she said finally, "what would happen next Mr Donovan?"
"You sign the contract. I post your bail and get the charges dropped."
She swallowed lightly.
"You receive the best medical treatment my money can buy. And then we plan how to make them all pay for what they did."
"You can really get me out of here?" She pressed because she doubted.
Pierre smirked lazily. "I can have you out of here by tomorrow morning."
Muse looked up at him.
For the first time in weeks, she felt something other than despair.
It was small, like a tiny flame flickering to life in her chest, but it was there.
"I need time to think about it," she said.
Pierre nodded.
"You have until tomorrow morning then. And after that, the offer expires."
He walked toward the door.
And then he paused.
"Muse?"
She looked at him.
"Remember they decided to let go of you because they thought you were useless. You have to prove them wrong."
She blinked at him.
"When you are ready to take control of your life you can sign the papers."
Finally, he walked away while hoping that Muse would do the right thing.
As the door closed behind him, Muse let herself slump to the marble floor.
They had mourned her.
They had put her in the ground while she was still living and breathing.
Reed had used her funeral as the backdrop for his new beginning with Colleen.
She had made up her mind.
She requested for a pen and then signed the marriage contract.
She needed to find herself.
She needed her revenge.
And to do that, she would need all the wealth and power she could find.
Pierre could give that to her.
Her family would not be expecting this.
But she, Muse Vitale was not one to remain broken for long.
The flame of revenge burned brighter.
Perhaps it was time for the dead to rise.