Paws of Justice
I wrapped my coat tighter, gripped the nearly torn umbrella, and rushed out into the storm.
In a cardboard box at the end of the alley, three newborn kittens were huddled together, trembling.
I quickly scooped them up, holding them close to my chest to warm them.
"Watch out! A car's coming!"
The sudden shout made me freeze in my tracks.
A truck sped past, splashing mud right beside me. I looked back but saw no one.
Looking down, the ginger cat in my arms stared up at me with big, round eyes, its tail gently brushing my wrist.
"Was that you talking?" I asked hesitantly.
The ginger cat let out a "meow," and to my surprise, I clearly understood what it is saying, "You idiot, if you'd been any slower, you'd be soaked."
I froze, thinking the typhoon was messing with my ears.
At that moment, the stray dog in the corner wagged its tail and came closer, its voice rough: "That man lied to you again. This afternoon, he was at the pet store buying imported cat food for another woman."
"Which man?" My heart tightened.
"The one you keep feeding leftovers to every day—James Cambers." The stray dog licked its paw. "He's not bankrupt at all. Just yesterday, I saw him driving a black car into a luxury neighborhood."
I held the kitten tight in my arms, my knuckles white.
James Chambers is my husband. Three months ago, he told me the company had gone bankrupt and he owed millions in debt. He left early and came home late every day, saying he was "working five jobs to pay it off."
I believed him. I pawned all the jewelry my mother left me and even secretly sold blood to get money for him.
But now, a dog told me he's lying.
The typhoon still rages outside, but my heart feels colder than the rain.
Clutching the kitten, I walked home, surrounded by the sounds of animals all around me.
The sparrows in the trees said, "James, the second young master of the Chambers family, went on a date again today with that woman in the red dress."
The dog passing by said, "I heard that woman was his high school classmate. She dumped him back then, and now she's come crawling back."
"The second young master of the Chambers family?" I stopped in my tracks. "The Chambers family from the capital?"
The sparrow fluttered its wings. "Exactly, the Chambers family who run the hotel chain. He's the second son—why would he need to work for others?"
I stood in the rain, shivering all over.
So all my hard work over the past three months had been a lie.
When I got home, James still hadn't come back.
I settled the kitten in a cardboard box on the balcony and named the ginger cat Hobbes.
Hobbes squatted beside me and whispered, "Tomorrow, I'll take you to his cheat spot."
I nodded, and finally, the tears started to fall.
Early the next morning, Hobbes led me toward the villas on the east side of the city.
He knew the place well and slipped around to the backyard of one of the villas, pointing at the second-floor window. "He's in there, with that woman named Lily Sewell."
I pressed myself against the outside of the wall, catching the sound of laughter inside.
"Honey, when are you actually going to divorce your wife Yvonne Johnson?" That was Lily's voice.
"Relax! Wait until she's pregnant." James's voice was full of malice, "When the time comes, make her have an abortion, then have her sign over the property. She'll be left with nothing."
I covered my mouth, trying not to cry out loud.
So he wasn't just cheating me out of my money—he wanted to destroy me like this.
Hobbes rubbed against my hand. "Don't be sad, we've got your back."
I remembered that Lily had a little poodle named Patches, who was always so affectionate when I saw him.
Maybe I could start with Patches.
That afternoon, I bought the best bacon and crouched by the flowerbed near the villa.
Before long, Patches came trotting out, wagging his tail.
"Patches, come here." I handed him the bacon.
He sniffed it, then gobbled it down, his voice cheerful, "Yummy! Way better than the cookies Lily gives me!"
"Patches, I need you to help me with something." I whispered, pulling a tiny camera out of my pocket. "Can you wear this on your collar?"
Patches tilted his head. "Does that mean I get bacon every day?"
"Absolutely." I reached out and stroked its head.
It obediently let me hang up the camera, then hopped and skipped back to the villa.
Over the next few days, I saw far too many ugly scenes through that camera.
James and Lily were plotting to fake debts, pretending to help me get out of trouble, tricking me into signing a "voluntary surrender of all property" agreement;
They even planned to make me "accidentally" pregnant, then use the excuse of not having enough money to force me to a small clinic for an abortion, so I'd never be able to have children.
Clenching my fists, I glared at their vile faces on the screen.
That night, the whole neighborhood suddenly went dark.
I knew my chance had come.
With the divorce agreement I'd prepared long ago in hand, I found James in the living room, talking on the phone.
"James, I'm scared because of the blackout. Just sign this, please." I put on a frightened act, "It's a talisman agreement from a friend of my mom's. They say it will keep your security if you sign it."
James snatched the pen impatiently. "That's just superstition."
He didn't bother reading it and just slapped down his signature.
I sneered in my heart—this wasn't some talisman agreement, but a legal document demanding a clean break on divorce.
The next day, when I went to pick up Patches, I noticed its collar was missing and it had wounds all over.
"Lily took off the camera and even got me spayed." Patches cried out in distress, "She said I was naughty and won't give me any more treats."
I held it close, heart aching, "From now on, live with me—I'll feed you the best bacon."
Patches nuzzled me, "I'll help you watch them. I'll tell you every single word they say!"
From that day forward, Patches became my most trusted informant.
It told me Lily had come up with a new cruel plan: hiring fake debt collectors to force me to sell myself to pay off debts.
The door slammed open while I was feeding Patches some bacon.
Three men blocked the doorway. The leader has a scar on his face, slammed a crumpled IOU onto the coffee table.
"Your husband James Chambers borrowed 500,000 dollars three months ago. With interest, you owe 800,000 dollars by now!"
The glass of water in James's hand shattered on the floor, water spilling everywhere.
He immediately ducked behind me, clutching my arm and trembling. "Yvonne, I really have no money. I even used the money you got from selling blood to pay their interest..."
I shook off his hand and stared him in the eye. "You bought a new watch at the mall last month—how can you say you have no money?"
The man with scars on his face took two steps forward and grabbed my wrist. "No money? Then I'll take collateral! Your wife is quite the looker. Half a year at my club, and your debt is clear!"
"Don't touch her!" James yelled suddenly, but he still stayed hidden behind me.
I straightened my back and took half a step back. "If you want to collect the debt, go to him. I'm not involved in his mess."
"So I have to do this the hard way!" The man with scars on his face raised his hand, ready to strike me.
Suddenly, chirps of sparrows came from outside the window, urgent and sharp: "Yvonne, run! They're faking it! There's a woman in the kitchen, dunking a sponge in manure, saying she's going to smear your face all over!"
A chill ran through me, and I deliberately stumbled to the side.
The man's hand missed its mark, and he was carried forward by momentum, accidentally pushing James up against the toilet by the door.
"Since your wife's not playing along, I'll make you feel some real pain!" Another bald man stepped forward and yanked James by the hair.
James struggled and shouted, "I'm the Chambers family' second son! How dare you touch me? I can pay you more!"
The bald man sneered, pressing James's head down toward the dry toilet: "Second son of the Chambers family? Right now, you're no better than a dog."
"Ah! No! Sewage!" James's scream pierced everyone's ears.
Outside the window, the sparrows kept announcing, "The makeup artist is smearing his face with a brush! James is kicking his legs with his eyes shut, almost throwing up!"
"He's throwing up! It's all yellow stuff, must be bile!"
Soon, James collapsed like a wet rag onto the floor, his face and clothes covered in filth, dry heaving nonstop.
Lily came over in her high heels and immediately covered her nose, "What happened to you? This is disgusting."
James weakly reached out his hand, dirt still caked under his fingernails. "Lily, help me... I'm not feeling well..."
"Don't touch me!" Lily jerked her hand away, disgust evident as she rubbed her fingertips. "I'll take you to the hospital first. Clean yourself up fast—don't make a fool of me."
As she turned, she shot the man with scars on his face a meaningful glance, and he quietly gave her an "OK" sign.
Watching them walk away, Patches grabbed my pant leg and ran over. "Lily doesn't love him at all! Last week, I saw her go to a hotel with some guy in a suit—and she even used James's black card to pay!"
I crouched down and stroked Patches' head. "She's got other lovers too?"
"More than a dozen!" Patches said, all puffed up with anger. "She called yesterday, saying that once James's reputation is ruined, she'll grab the money he's stashed in the study and run off abroad with that guy who drives the sports car!"
I stood up, watching Lily's car disappear into the distance, clenching my fists tight.
So James was just a pawn she was playing with. Neither of them can be let off.
A few days later, Lily "sold" me to a nightclub called the Nightcap.
"Yvonne, if you want James to stay alive, you better do a good job working here."
Lily said to me with a smug smile lighting up her face: "The guests here are all big shots—you've got to make sure you treat them right."
I clenched my teeth and stepped into the nightclub.
The place was bathed in shadows, the music thumping loud, and the men's eyes hungrily locked onto me like starving wolves.
Lily sat at the bar, sipping red wine, throwing mocking looks my way every now and then.
Just then, a big, burly man came over. It was Hudson, a famous rich kid in the city, notorious for being ruthless.
"Heard you're new here?" Hudson reached out to touch my face. "Spend the night with me, and I'll give you a hundred grand."
I dodged his hand. "I'm not that kind of person."
"Don't make me do this the hard way!" Hudson pulled a whip from his bag. "Believe me, I'll make sure you can't stay here after tonight."
Just then, a hissing sound came from the corner.
A monocled cobra slowly slithered over and stopped right at my feet.
It's Onyx, the snake I rescued in the mountains last time. It said it would help me.
"Yvonne, let me take care of him." Onyx's voice was ice cold.
Before I could say a word, Onyx suddenly lunged at Hudson, wrapping itself around his arm.
"Ah! Snake!" Hudson screamed in terror, dropping the whip he was holding.
Onyx tightened its grip, flicking its tongue. With Onyx by my side, I took command: "Talk! How many bad things did Lily make you do? How much evidence do you have of her crimes?"
Hudson was terrified out of his mind, stammering, "I... I helped her run a casino, and... I even pressured a few women into prostitution... I have the ledger, it's all in my car..."
I quickly told the nearby waiter to go to Hudson's car and grab the ledger.
Just then, James suddenly burst in, pointing at me and yelling, "Yvonne! You're actually fooling around here with another man!"
I looked at his pretentious act and couldn't help slapping him across the face. "A lousy husband like you dares to catch me cheating? You and Lily's dirty little secrets—do you really think I don't know?"
James stood there stunned, frozen in place.
Just then, the nightclub door suddenly burst open, and dozens of reporters swarmed in, their cameras clicking nonstop.
"Mr. Chambers, is it true that you faked bankruptcy to deceive your wife and secretly conspired with Miss Sewell to harm her?"
"Miss Sewell, are these ledgers real—about you running a casino and forcing women into prostitution?"
Lily and James were surrounded, their faces pale as death, unable to say a single word.
I stood off to the side, watching them in their awkward mess, and finally let out a relieved sigh.
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