“That woman is a monster,” Tyler noted as I ended the dreaded video, I shut my eyes and sucked in short breaths before I reopened them.“Alice has always been a monster, always,” I added and stood up from the couch I had been sitting on. I heard Tyler sigh and his light footsteps followed.“At least now, You’ve got the information you need, You can get her arrested for your father’s murder,” Tyler informed me. I turned and glanced up at him. “It’s not that simple, my father was shot multiple times, even though this is substantial evidence, there’s no certainty that it is enough to put Alice behind bars. We can only hope that it would save Rye.” I explained.“That’s going to be a bit complicated,” Tyler commented.“Why do you say so?” I asked and he ran his hands through his hair, I licked my lips as I anticipated his response.“Well, I say so because all of this only proves that Alice was connected to your father’s death, the ca
“Leo, you can’t avoid me forever,” I informed the brown-haired boy while he furiously unpacked his luggage.“I’m not avoiding you. I just don’t want to talk to you.” He said and avoided eye contact.I sighed. This was going to be harder than I had expected. I glanced at the room for the millionth time since I had walked in, The bed was covered with a grey Naruto Duvet, the walls were covered with anime wallpaper and if I had no clue what his obsession with these fictional characters, I would say Tyler had gone a bit too far.“At least try to see things from my perspective, when I found out, I was devastated, I felt betrayed and hurt and it was not a nice feeling.” I tried to explain. Leonardo stopped and looked me in the eye.“She was sick, she had just been admitted into the hospital and she had multiple to her head, You seemed to have forgotten all of that — for that dumb tape!” He yelled.“It’s not a dump tape okay?” I shot back a
"I saw his face." My bottom lip quivered, my eyes stung with fresh hot tears and my feet felt like they were riding on jelly. It felt like everything was becoming obnoxiously loud and I wanted it to stop."I saw his face," I repeated, my voice sounded a pitch higher than a remember but it felt like my throat my clogged, and my chest was restricted. At this point, it felt like my head was nearly above water because my entire body felt uncomfortable.For the first time in three years, I could see it, I could see it playing like a movie right in front of my eyes, with no blurs, no form or illusions or anything. I saw his face, I saw how his hands pressed onto the trigger button before the bullet went off, I could hear things, very real things.The sound of old music playing in the background from the floor below us, it was my mother's birthday but my father insisted that he wanted her to at least enjoy his genre of music for the first time since they had been married, the sound of glasse
I fell to the ground. My hands gripped the ground, I had finally remembered. I had finally remembered where I had seen that Tattoo, that scorpion tattoo. That tattoo had been painfully familiar for so many years.Alice.Alice had that same tattoo.It was right behind her neck, and when I had dragged her hair earlier, the outline was there, she had only recently had a removed but the outline was there. It was right there, the shape of a scorpion, which I had seen a few times as a child too. How was Alice connected to this man? Did Rye know that she was connected to this man? Was she aware that the woman she was supporting was a monster? She knew, but she didn't believe it.I could not blame her, Alice was a trained liar, a professional, she knew how to manipulate and play with people, but now, I would find out the whole truth and ensure that I put her and this man behind bars because that is where they belong I pushed myself up and rested against the wall. It took me a few seconds bef
This hospital was a complete contrast to anyone I had ever seen. The depressing atmosphere seemed extinct and you could barely feel the urgency soaked in the walls. There was no loud barking from one medical practitioner to the other and there were no stretchers running about. I quickened my pace as I followed Tyler and Leonardo. The latter had been stuck to the duo ever since the incident, I felt a pang in my chest at the fact that the bit was probably lonely, especially after the incident with his family and the fact that he would barely see them in Canada.“How may I help you?” The receptionist was a petite blonde with dimples, She had tanned skin and her hair stopped just below her jaw, forming an exquisite bob.“I’m here to see my brother, Trace Adams, I’m Tyler Adams—” He rushed out and you could hear the urgency in his tone.“Oh my, You are Tyler Adams?” Her chirpy tone had lowered a bit, The edges of her lips curled downwards and her eye lid’s lowered. “Your family is waiting
A lot of time must have passed because the second time I opened my eyes, everywhere seemed darker than I had remembered and I shivered a bit. It took me a few seconds to register that I was alone in the room. I glanced across the blaring blue hospital room.The door had a small opening and I could hear quite murmurs from outside, I tried to move my body or swing my legs off the railing of the bed — I hoped it was a bed though, after all, what else was in a hospital room?As I swung my leg over though, a dull ache stung the back of my head and I bit down on my lip and bent my head in response, my hand ran over the sore spot, I hated whenever I had those flashbacks. I needed to get out of the room and check on Tyler but I would have never expected the sight I met in front of me."You are the only child I know who frowns after seeing their parents for the first time in a while." Her voice sounded stiff but bold, it held a bit of mockery underneath.My head shot up and I felt my heart pou
I stumbled back, My limbs felt like jelly ad I could barely keep myself up, the scent of iron filled my nose and I became painfully aware of the fact that my lip was bleeding from hitting too hard on it, I took another step back and everything turned red as I burst down the halls back the room I had woke up from.“Alice!”I boomed, my voice was heavier than the pain in my chest, The guilt that was carefully tearing me apart and forcing me back into the dark place I spent years crawling out from. “Alice! Where are you?! Come out! Come out now woman! face me!” I growled. I was livid, my voice shook with anger and rage and my entire body shivered with an emotion I did not recognize. It felt like a movie.Like fate had not just played this cruel game with me, It almost felt too bad to be true, too sickenly unbelievable to be the reality, I clenched my jaw and barged into the room, but an empty room glared back at me.My feet gave out underneath me. What sort of Dilemma was this? Why me th
"Hi," I whispered as I locked eyes with the boy, he broke eye contact and looked away, I watched as he grabbed a fistful of the white sheets and squeezed it, while his eyes stung with fresh tears."Trace," It was Tyler's voice, it sounded forced and strained, I watched as the man took tentative steps towards the boy but was barely able to make it to the mop of brown curls when the boy croaked out."She's gone isn't she?" I almost stumbled but I gripped the wall for support. I could feel my insides rumble with a sensation that was foreign and nauseating. "Trace, I —" "You didn't save her." He shot a glare at Tyler with a sharp tone. "She trusted you and you couldn't save her." He continued. His voice was hoarse and low but it pierced daggers into my chest even though I wasn't the one it was directed at."And all because of her." My forehead creased as his eyes landed on me, He stared accused and it reminded me of Rye, I sucked in a sharp breath. Everything was happening too fast."No
5 years later. “What happened here?” I sucked in a sharp breath as I glanced around what was supposed to be the children’s room but seemed like a battleground. World war three happened here. “It was him!” Bella cried in her high-pitched voice, I cringed at her tone and glanced in the direction of her voice. My heart skipped a bit when I could not find her, but if the mop of blonde curls that peaked out from beneath the bed was anything too go by; I was definitely on the right track. I took tentative steps toward her and crouched down to her height, “Baby, what’s going on?” my voice trembled slightly with worry but that was not the only thing threatening an anxiety attack from me at this moment. It was already 10:00 am and I wasn’t even dressed — forget about dressing up, Tyler wasn’t even around to handle the kids and he promised me. Today was my big day and he promised he would fill in, but as always, he just runs off with his burger. Bella reluctantly reached out to me and
You know how you can spend your entire life walking on the wrong path. You can feel like you have it all figured out even though you are just starting and struggling to be a good version of yourself. There are some memories, that don’t die when dawn comes barging in. Some dark times that even the sun can’t chase away. My point is: They are too many things out of our control and the last thing you want to do is get stuck with the guilt of not fixing or doing things that were never in your control, to begin with. As I ran my hands through my soaked scarlet hair, a lone tear crawled down my cheek and I swallowed sharply. I bit hard on my bottom lip as I thunderstruck and pierced my skin. It was almost scary how three years had felt like decades, how much I had linked to come here, all the promises, the guilt, everything that had built up to this exact moment. I wiped my tears which were mixed with rain. I found to hear the hesitant footsteps from Rye, but I did not turn. My fists cle
“There’s still time for us to run.” I glanced at Emilia as if she had grown two heads, but she had a serious expression on her face and I knew that she was freaking out deep down.So was I.“Run to where exactly?” I decided to humor her risky thoughts with a raised eyebrow, her stance deflated and she let go of my hand. We were outside the church now. It was crazy how much time had passed and how things were happening so fast.Until two weeks ago I was at Alice’s grave. Now I was walking down the aisle. I frowned and breathed. “When did Rye say she was going to get here?” I asked Emilia, the blonde seemed to be too engrossed in starting anything but the church that waiting for her. Her blonde hair had been styled in a perfect bun and Isabel had performed magic with her makeup. Her dimples were visible and she wasn’t even smiling. Emilia took a hold of my hand again, a small smile broke out on her plump lips.I held my breath as she stared me dead in the eyes before she broke out into
“This was the last place I thought I would ever come,” The words rolled out of my mouth and left a bland taste in my mouth, I could feel the heat from the ground tear my skin apart, and my eyes stung with fresh tears and my fists clenched.If anyone had told me, years ago, or even a month ago that I would do this, I would have laughed in their face and given them a fitting reply, yet here I was, tears pouring down my cheeks with a void in my heart that I was not sure time could heal.“It wasn't supposed to end like this, Alice. This wasn’t the plan. This wasn't the freaking plan,” I whispered and I could barely see from my clouded vision. “You always hurt me when it was alive and I always used to think that I would be happy when you died...” I trailed off and wiped my tears.“I’m not Alice,” I admitted. “I’m not happy at all ad it feels like my heart got ripped out. You took a part of me with you and it space you left stings a lot.” I swallowed and sucked in a sharp breath. I ran my
Tyler chuckled and his hand went to his neck for a nervous moment. “I don’t think you have realized it but… Alexander is in love, and it’s not with you,” I blinked in confusion.Tyler laughed at what seemed like my facial expression. “Alexander is madly in love with Lee.” My eyes widened and I immediately clicked the dots.Lee’s strange behavior ever since Alexander came into the house, her sudden change of heart, the reason she begged me to stop the wedding, why she was so devastated during the shoot-out, why she kept her gaze on Alex, and most of us, why she was bosses with taking care of Bella. “But she’s just a child and he- he’s twenty-five or something! This isn’t right!” I informed him.“She’ll be eighteen in a few weeks, by then she will be an adult, right?” Cole asked in a calm tone.“Well yes, but…” I trailed off and walked past him, I turned and continued. “She’s still a child, he’s five years older than she, and I don’t know, I’m just not comfortable with the idea.”“It’s
"Are you okay?" Tyler was standing at the doorwhen I came out, I nodded and walked past him. "Where's Gemma?" I asked with a straight face and glanced around the place. "She left," Tyler informed me absentmindedly. "She asked for a divorce." He added."Why? Did she finally realize that you are nothing like you claim you are?" I spat at him and he shrugged."She was pregnant for someone else," He continued. My eyes widened and I shrugged. "Oh wow." I chuckled. "You sue to surround yourself with the best kinds of people," I informed him and he relaxed on the wall"You don't seem okay, do you want to get some rest?" He asked and I rolled my eyes at his fake concern."I want to leave. Why did you bring me here?" I demanded in a sharp tone."You fell unconscious, I had no other choice," Tyler admitted bashfully and ran his hands through his hair. His lips were pursed into a straight line and he kept his gaze firm on me."Want some coffee?" He offered and walked towards what I assumed w
"I never thought you would come here." I heard a voice as I sat on the closest rock.From the view I had, the lake was breathtakingly beautiful, it had been months since I came here and I was dying for a breath of fresh air."Do you remember the last time we came here?" the voice continued on a steady pitch, I rolled my eyes at the tone and turned away. "Danielle, you are going to have to face me at one point or the other." Tyler finally confessed in what sounded like a defeated tone, I scoffed at his words. "There's nothing to settle." my voice came out strained. It had been one entire month since Alice was murdered and Aiden died at my hands. The memory still sends chills down my spine and for many days I refused to leave my home because I was terrified of the outcome, I sucked in sharp air and glanced at him."You ended this, remember?" I added in a soft tone, my eyes stung with tears but I blinked them away. Tyler sighed. He broke the small distance between us and sat beside me
I lunged at him. With all the force and anger I could muster at that moment. This was the moment I had waited for so many years. Three long years — I lived with that guilt and pain for three long years. I was broken, I had to deal with the pain and nightmares and the intense feeling that I could not protect the man who did nothing but love me. The only thing I had consoled myself with back then was that I would avenge his death.And only when I had avenged his death, would I visit his grave. Today, I would fulfill that promise.Aiden lost balance in shock, the gun went off immediately. My eyes widened when we hit the ground. I was basically on top of him, dangerously close with the gun between us and my breath hitched.My heart raced and it took me a few seconds to register the fact that the bullet had not hit me, rather it was stuck in Aiden who was bleeding from his nose.I must have taken too long to connect all these dots because the next thing I knew was hands around my neck, c
"Aiden," I growled and he smiled. He had a fun held up straight to my face and I was almost thrown off by the audacity of the man. Here, in broad daylight, he was pointing a gun at me, a smug grin plastered on his face as if he had just been given hot coffee on a stressful morning."Danielle" His voice was calm and held no remorse at all, his eyes narrowed at me and rested on Alice's body which was behind me. I watched as Aiden's grey eyes darkened for a bit before they returned to their previous form."For the first time in my entire life...I'm sad I was right about something." The words were not directed at me, rather it was where his gaze rested. Completely fixed on Alice. "If you cared about her, you would have stopped this a long time ago." I shot a glare at him, and he scoffed and stared at me with a piercing gaze. "It's because of her, I did this!" He snapped and shot one of the medics, I stumbled on the side of the van, my eyes went wide and I clenched my fist."That's a li