Chapter 26
“So was that why you killed him?” Emily asked the woman seated before her looking straight into her eyes, without blinking anticipating her reply and her heart beating with anxiety. But Alyssa smiled, a kind of smile that bore no emotions even though it reached her eyes.
“I didn’t kill him Emily, at least not in the way you think”
“Then how?” Emily pressed.
“He killed himself, but I made him do it”
Emily paused, the air suddenly thick
“How?”
“I faked my death and ran away making it look like he did it, it was classic Gone Girl all over again, almost the same thing” Alyssa explained, nostalgic look on her face that looked almost painful but still contained elements of pride in them. Emily knew the book, read it even so it wasn’t hard to picture the scenario. A woman faking her death to punish her husband for infidelity except in her mother’s case, it went exactly too far.
“I wasn’t expecting him to kill himself really” Alyssa went on “I just needed enough time to leave the country so he wouldn’t have to look for me, because he would do anything in his power to bring me back”
“What of me? What happened to me? You just abandoned me?”
“I had to” Alyssa said “one thing you don’t know Emily is you lost your memory after that accident, you couldn’t remember a thing not even your name. It was frustrating and I was still so young. I had my whole life in front of me but I felt so stagnant I had to go even if it meant leaving you behind”
“So why come back, why now? You lived your whole life showing off on social media. You made it, you got the whole life you wanted so why bother now?”
Alyssa looked at Emily, as if racking her brain for a response or she wasn’t sure how to respond
“I…. I ha-” Alyssa wanted to say but Emily cut in
“I don’t think I want to hear it, I lived my whole life without you, living from hand to mouth, no parents except a grandmother that worked me to death. No education, no nothing but I had a rich mother somewhere who refused to acknowledge me and what now? You want to come back……”
“Emily, I….”
“You should go back really, I thought I needed you, but you were incredibly selfish but sincerely it was a pleasure….. mother” Emily concluded, she pushed her chair back unable to spare even a last glance and she walked out of the cafe with wobbly knees, her head hurting and the memories burning back. It hurt, everything she just heard and how she was just collateral damage in her parents fight.
But suddenly her head had started hurting again, the pain slowly spreading round her head and she struggled to steady herself as she walked.
Immediately she found a bench, she took out her phone and dialed Ethan’s number but it went quickly to voicemail. She massaged the sides of her head, as the pain doubled and she found the number she never imagined she would call, quickly she dialed and he picked on the first ring.
“Emily?” He called, his voice tinted with surprise
”
Can you come get me, I don’t feel so good” she said into the phone, her voice low and evident of the pain she felt
“I’m on my way, just send me your location”
Jackson Hatton didn’t waste one second when his phone pinged with Emily’s location and he quickly looked for the keys to his Corvette. He had been working, trying to draft up new ideas to up the sales in his company and it surprised him how surprisingly good he was at it. He had studied business in school with art alternatives but he had shown interest in neither field but now he had a rival and maybe he did have a flair for business.
Although he had spent the last few days, drowning himself in work trying to put images of Emily and her also dressed in a white dress on Ethan’s arms from the social media pictures behind his head, but it was almost impossible. It was glaring how much he wanted her, and even glaring how much he couldn’t have her but yet, his heart had skipped a beat when her call came through. He felt a drop in his stomach at the sound of her voice telling him she needed him, but she sounded in pain and he couldn’t waste one second.
He wondered what had happened, why wasn’t she calling Ethan, did they get into a fight? He would kill him if he ever laid a hand on her but it didn’t matter, she needed him and he needed to be there.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
He quickly got into his corvette, and drove off to her, where she called him from and not so long later he found her, sprawled on a bench on the street. It was way past 8pm and somehow his heart broke seeing her lie helplessly in the cold.
Quickly he rushed towards her, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her
“Emily!” He called gently shaking her and her eyes fluttered open slowly
“Jackson” she called softly
“What happened?” He asked her and she tried to sit up
“My head hurts” she told him, resting her head softly on his shoulder as he squatted before her
“What of Ethan?”
“I couldn’t reach him”
“Do you want me to take you home?” He asked her and she shook her head
“I don’t want to be alone” she looked at him and he caressed her face, lost in her mesmerizing eyes.
“I won’t leave you alone Emily, come on let’s go to mine” he helped her up and walked her to his car.
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It was a big shock to Ethan when he got home and met an empty house. He had expected to find Emily dressed and waiting for him, instead his footsteps echoed back at him
“Emily” he called but there was no response and immediately he dialed her number but it went straight to voicemail and it wasn’t abnormal when a slow panic had start to set in, he wondered if Anita had something else up her sleeve. He tried Emily’s number again but the robotic voice of the receiver kept screaming back at him.
“The number you’re calling cannot be reached at the moment, please try again…..” he hit the red button immediately.
He was worried still, where was she? He took out his phone again and decided to call Jackson instead and he wasn’t surprised when he picked on first ring. Jackson always had his phone with him.
“Where’s Emily” he said first not bothered enough to exchange pleasantries.
There was a pause on the line before he heard Jackson said
“She’s here with me”