Ch-6

006

Fredrick's POV 

    I had messed up, and all the confirmation I needed was right in front of me. If the anger in Alora's eyes could easily be translated into anything, it meant I was in trouble. 

When I had driven back to the city, I already had a plan, and believe me when I said Alora was no part of it. All I wanted to do was go in for my monthly checkup before heading out and putting things in order for the next step. If I had known that the footsteps and mumblings I'd heard from the rooftop belonged to Alora, then the tendency to have walked away would have been higher. 

“Fredrick.” She snapped, pulling me back to the present. Her eyes were still trained on me, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. “I believe I asked you a question.”

There was more anger than hurt in her voice and I understood perfectly well. Just when things were going on well between us, I disappeared. 

“Alora, I….” She cut me off immediately. “The truth. Now.”

“Fine.” I huffed. I ran my hand through my hair as I adjusted my thoughts. I had the truth just at the tip of my tongue, but was she going to believe me? Because, sometimes I had a hard time believing that something like that could have happened to me too. “But you have to believe that it was never intentional.”

“Yeah, right.” She scoffed. “ I'm listening.”

“I didn't just disappear, Alora.” I let out slowly. “I would never do that to you.”

While that was true, a huge part of me knew that she didn't believe it. Alora said nothing and I took that as my cue to continue. 

“For the past three years, I've been locked up in an asylum.” She raised her eyebrows at my words, but I continued anyway. “I know it sounds crazy, but that's the truth. Henry framed me.” 

I said the last part with a kind of anger that scared Alora, but just for a little while. 

Henry and I stared everything together growing up, and that made it all the more harder to figure out if we were twins or not. I did my best to be the best older brother Henry could ask for, but I guess there were just some things greed couldn't prevent. 

“When it was time for our inheritance to be shared, my younger brother changed.” I continued. “I always saw it as him being sad or somewhat upset that father didn't trust him enough to grant him a share of the company's faction and like that wasn't enough, I was literally on the verge of being the new CEO.”

“I was the only one who believed in my younger brother, so I did what I thought was right.” I swallowed. “I decided to talk to him.”

“As per our usual routine, I invited him for a drink to talk things out and he'd agreed.” A sigh slid past my lips. “We went to one of his favourite spots in time and I explained to him that he realky didn't have to take Dad's decision to heart. I knew he was responsible and I was still going to give him a part of the company, once I became the CEO officially. He agreed with joy in his eyes and I really thought that was it, until he drugged me.”

“What!” She exclaimed. “Henry would never do that. He's your brother and he loves you just as much as you love him.” 

“That's exactly what I thought.” I shook my head .“Not only did he do that, he made arrangements for me ti be shipped out of the coubtry and into a mental asylum over there. Can you even imagine how confused I was when I woke up?” 

It wasn't something I wouldn't be able to forget no matter how hard I tried.

 “I'd woken up with straps around my hands and legs, each one holding me down to the bed.” My eyes fell shut immediately, and I could vaguely replay the memory, feel it. “ I tried to explain to them that it was a mistake and I had no idea how I had gotten here, but all of my efforts proved futile. The asylum attendants refused to believe me, they all thought I was mad, and they had every reason not to believe because my younger brother had brought me in there on the verge of The Most Severe Case of all time.”

“Every day of the past three years have been nothing but hell for me .” i shook my head. “I was beaten, forced to take drugs, sedated,shocked. I went through a handful of punishments too, for no just reason.” 

I had no idea why I did it, but I opened the buttons on my wrist, before sliding the material up a bit. Just in between the shirt and other layers of my skin, a deep injury sat. 

“I got that while trying to explain to them that I wasn't mad and they were keeping me in here unjustly.

“Why would he do that?” I shrugged at her question. “it just doesn't make any sense.” 

“That's what I thought too and for three years, I endured it all.” I felt my voice darken at my next words. “until I couldn't any longer.”

I ran away. It had taken a miracle but I believe I was destined to leave that prison hole that day. 

“I escaped and now I'm back for my revenge.” I hissed. “By the time I'm done with him, he wouldn't know what hit him.”

Something flashed in Alora's eyes at my words. She seemed less angry, and now more hurt, but I knew the reason why. 

The doctor had explained it all to me when I had gone to get her discharged. 

Alora had just lost her child and it was all thanks to her husband and her step sister. 

I half expected her to have moved on from me , but I didn't expect her to fall in love so deeply with someone else. 

How she reacted towards me told me everything I needed to know. 

.

I was now a thing of the past and she clearly loved her husband more. If she didn't, why else would she have wanted to kill herself?

“I know you're hurting.” I turned the tables towards her in a matter of seconds. She hadn't seen it coming, but she kept quiet, allowing me to continue speaking. “You don't deserve any of the things you've been through and I can relate to that. I can also help you.”

“Help me?” She raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

*Revenge.” My response flowed so effortlessly and I couldn't have been more proud of myself. “Eliaz and Cynthia have hurt you so much. Not only did they betray you, they took everything away from you, and right under your nose too.” 

“You trusted Eliaz, and what did he do?” The mere mention of her husband's name seemed to sting, but I didn't stop. “He betrayed you, without even giving it a single thought. Don't tell me you're going to let that slide.”

“What do you suggest?” Alora asked. “What do you think I should do?”

“Join me.” I was well aware of the cold dripping from my voice, but I pushed forward. “Together, we'll be unstoppable. You'll help me find Henry and take him down, and I'll help you do the same to Eliaz and Cynthia. What do you say?”

Seconds ticked by, and Alora didn't respond. Just when I thought I was never going to give me a reply, she spoke up. 

“Deal.” She nodded once, determination blazing in her eyes. “They wouldn't even know what hit them.”