Chapter Five

Dangerous Cross road

It's been a week now since I got to know at least half of what I've Known in my life has been nothing but blatant lies, maybe all I should say.

My family, my father, my mom, everyone seems more like a stranger to me. I'm trying hard not to be mad at Mom for lying to me all of my life, but right now I can't give her what she wants, I can't even bear to look at her, all I see is deceit.

I love her and knew she loved me also but there are too many secrets in this family that no one is willing to talk about, not the man who claimed to be my father who has blatantly snubbed me since I got here nor my authoritative so-called grandfather who looks too scary for me to confront.

Alan I believe might have some idea of what's going on, but finds it difficult to share, I've been holed up in my room since I got here, this is the only way I can protest but no one seems to be affected by the looks of things, except for my mom, all she has done is wept and apologize but I'm too shattered to respond.

I have my demons to face and it's like absorbing. I'm Drowning in pain and sorrow. I lost my first child a few weeks ago and I never got the chance to see him or her. And now the man I love hates me most in the world and probably thinks I'm a murderer.

The door to my room opened. I looked up and so my mom entered.

"Hey darling." she greeted, making her way into the room skeptically. She sat on the chair across from the mini study station.

"They are here, and we need you to come out" She could barely look at me as she talked.

"Who?" I asked unsure who she could be talking about, I'm not expecting anyone.

"The police and Darren" Everything in me broke as I heard those words, the police are probably here to arrest me, and I'm not ready to face Darren.

I felt an attack kick in and I can barely breathe, my throat feels tight and it was burning like fire, Mom rushed to me and held me in her arms.

"Shhhhhh… Darling it's ok… It's ok, they are not here to take you away, we won't let that happen, I promise" She holds me in an embrace as she taps on my shoulder to calm me, I feel my breath calming and I could finally breathe again.

I followed her as she led us to the visitors, as I made my way into the room, my eyes locked with Darren's. The sweet caring look I used to know is now gone. He looks cold like a stone, I shivered in pain as his eyes pierced through me with hate and disgust.

He would probably take his chance to strangle me if given. I wanted to move closer to him and hug him, I wish I could prove to him that I'm innocent but there was nothing I could do to save myself, so I just stood there and stared back at him.

"Abby, you should come and take a seat here beside me, we've got unwanted visitors here, and I don't want them pulling their claws through you." Grandpa gave the detectives sitting down beside Darren a don't mess with me look.

Darren just sat down there staring at me all calm with no moves or words. Looking back at him scares me to the bone and is giving me a cold chill. I took the seat next to Grandpa feeling a little bit protected.

Anthony is nowhere to be found, wasn't expecting much from the man who claimed to be my father but has been absent all of my life. Alan walked in with a middle-aged man in a suit.

"Good morning everyone I'm Attorney Stiles, Miss Stone's Lawyer, and representative, I'm also the representative for the Cooper's, as you might have been aware." The man in suit introduces himself as he finds himself a seat, looking so confident and unshaken.

The room feels cold as I can feel the struggle for power coming from all angles, the detectives looking like they would do anything to drag me into their dark cold cells with some real guilty murderers that might actually stab me to death, Grandpa looks like he is in a battle where he would trample upon anything that comes his way to victory, my hotshot lawyer does not look like he is here to lose either.

Darren is not given out any emotions, if he is feeling one, he has all other control but he doesn't look like he is in love with me either, I'm sure he hates me the most right now, which scares me a lot more than dying in a prison.

"Alright gents, it is to my understanding that you have some unfounded allegations towards my client, Miss Steels. Kindly make your grounds." Attorney Stiles finally broke the dead silence in the air.

Detective clerk stood up and walked towards me.

"We just have a few questions about the accident she had With Miss Morgana. There has been suspicion of drug abuse, a very dangerous and new substance that is unknown, and also a motive for the murder of Miss Taylor. Although all evidence is pointing at her right now, she still has the right to her voice but I must warn you things are looking pretty good for her." The detective gave me a pointed look as he made his point.

The last statement got to me, if anything goes wrong here, I might end up in prison, there are a lot of things I want to tell Darren, he believed in me when no one did but what if I never get the chance to clear my name, my head dropped helplessly as I feel hot tears streaming down my cheek, I feel so pathetic.

"Evidence? You mean the words of a dead man?" I suddenly heard Attorney Stiles's voice. I looked up at him processing the words he just said out loud, and he was staring at Detective Williams with a questioning look.

"We are still looking into more details about Steffi's death, but until we are sure on what the ground his death is, his statement remains valid, Attorney Stiles." he finally turned to the attorney, releasing me from his deadly glares.

I looked up at Darren, he remained still, with no words, no emotions, he just glared at me like I am the only one in the room.

"We can't take the words of an unstable man to it, this person was mentally unstable leading to his death, by suicide. I'm not about to let you throw my client into prison based on a statement from such a mind."

Every word that flies around the room confuses me more, I figured the man in mention is the same man from the night before the accident, but dead, suicide? It's all crazy, he doesn't look like someone who'd commit suicide, more of someone that would kill, he seemed.

"There are still some tiny bits of clue pointing to murder, Mr. Steefi's cause of death might not be suicide but murder, we understand there are people with motives for wanting Mr. Steffi dead, and we are doing everything to reveal such people." Detective William spoke up for the first time since the argument started.

I've forgotten he was actually in the room with us.

"Motives you say? You might want to take your job seriously and be very thorough with your investigations officers"

Alan's voice came up from the corner of the room. He looked so pissed as he walked toward the detectives.

"My younger has never done drugs, and she never had a reason to, Abby was a sweet little girl, so if after everything she's gone through, you are still slacking around with your investigation and trying to pin down an innocent girl who could actually be a victim as your murderer suspect, you shouldn't expect us to sit back."

Alan turned back and stared directly into Darren's eyes, his eyes on him as he whispered.

"You should expect us to fight back with all our strength." This is the first time I'm witnessing the scary part of my brother.

I've always known him to be overprotective but I've never seen him this dangerous with determination. I kind of feel protected, it's crazy to think I'm the victim but all the webs of lies keep making me look guilty, even to my family's face.

"All we want to do is have some words with Miss Abby, Mr Cooper." The detective clerk answered with a wavering voice.

"You had her to yourself for six months, you kept my daughter practically locked up for six months, away from her family." I heard Mom's voice, she sounded angry and on the edge. Wiping away tears from the brim of her eyes, I can tell she is pissed.

"No proper investigation, just nothing. You never even tried to reach out to her family but you had the nerve to waltz in here and talk about taking her again?" Mom continued her voice rising with every word.

"Why? For the Taylors, I'm going to have you all investigated and locked up, you messed with the wrong person." Mom walked out without waiting for their response. I stared at her retreating back and I can tell she is sobbing hard.

"I'm sorry, but we tried all we could to locate Miss Abby's family but it was hard considering we had no means of identification to verify who she is, and we are still obliged to investigate her as a murderer suspect as there is still possibility of a motive considering her history with Mr Clay." The detectives keep talking about a motive but I don't know why they are really trying hard to pin a murder on me.

"And would you mind enlightening us further on the motive detective?" Attorney Stiles spoke up with a chuckle.

"It is to our knowledge Miss Abby had a fling with Mr. Clay, she became obsessed with him and started stalking him even after the end of the relationship, our sources reveal Mr. Clay got engaged to Miss Taylor months later, which led to Miss Abby arguing with her outside the hall before kidnapping her."

I raised my head and stared at the detectives confused, I stared back at Darren and noticed his face twitching, I can tell he actually believed all they were saying.

"I didn't do that," I whispered. I felt anger burning in me and rose to my feet.

"I didn't do any of that," I screamed, Alan rushed to my side and held me closer, this is unfair and I have the feeling.

"May I know if you verified Mr. Clay's engagement to Miss Clay to be true before making a move on it," Grandpa asked the detectives, sending the room back to silence.

"No…." Detective Clark was answering but Grandpa cut him off before he could finish up.

"As much as I would like to take charge of my granddaughter's case, the issue is now Mr. Clay's, it is now his responsibility to ensure his fiancee is not unjustly locked up."

"Fiancee?" I jerked up after hearing those words, and my eyes roamed the room in confusion. Before I could ask Grandpa further questions, he stood up and left, leaving me bewildered with only one person, Darren.