Forsaken betrayal

Episode 24

"You killed a person!" Her mother finally voiced out.

Gealic's shoulders slumped.

"Lora!" Her father screamed like she had just exposed a secret.

"No! She wanted to hear what she'd done wrong, I'll give it to her." Lora stepped forward, trembling as she came.

Gealic backed up as her mother walked nearer, the revelation shaking her to the bones.

"You want to know why I hate you? You killed my child! You killed my baby. You are a psychopath whose existence is a big mistake. I regret having given birth to you. I should have found you in a ditch so I could throw you back there when you murdered my child."

Gealic gasped, frightened by who Amelia was and what she was capable of.

"Are you satisfied now? You know the truth, why don't you say anything? Why don't you continue yelling about not getting any love?" "Mum,"

A resounding slap landed on her face, "Do not ever call me that!"

"Why don't I know this?" She asked, her words coming out in fearful stutters.

"Lora, we agreed to keep it from her. Why did you do this?" Ryan asked his wife in frustration before turning to face Gealic who had her hands over her heart, panting. "Amelia, don't listen to her. It was a long time ago-" He stopped and rushed to her side when she swayed.

Gealic could not put her hand to what was happening to her but her hands were cold and trembling and her blood had gone hot. Fear razed her face as the words that Lora said once became a chorused mantra in her head: "A murderer...I'm a murderer." Her breaths were coming in heaves so short that it felt like she'd stop breathing, and her balance was starting to follow suit. She slowly found a wall with her hands to lean on before sinking to the ground, her palms clamped over her ears in a futile attempt to block out the thoughts that were drowning her.

Ryan's face loomed above her, his lips moving in a soundless, desperate plea but Gealic had blocked out all reason and reality.

The ground beneath her seemed to tilt, leaving her pressing against the wall for dear life.

"Amelia!" Ryan yelled, tapping the frightened girl to wake her up. "I told you to keep it a secret."

The sound of a car at their front porch sent them into distress. The voice that came with it confirmed that they had trouble in their hands. They may hate Amelia but they were scared of her husband. "Lora, look what you've done." The both looked at each other.

Lennox came rushing into the living room alongside Mr Richard who had called him immediately the situation turned south.

"What's happening?" He asked no one in particular, squatting to hold Gealic in his arms.

"They said I killed someone." She finally spoke, slowly rocking herself.

"Amelia, look at me." He held her face in his palms and looked intently into her eyes. "You'll be fine, it's just a panic attack."

Tears started brimming from her eyes as her gaze fell on Lennox, her vision narrowing to nothing.

"Amelia!" He tapped her, before carrying her in his arms.

"I'll be back for you both." He said, taking the limp Gealic with him to his car.

Lennox gently scooped up Gaelic's fragile form and sat beside her, cradling her head in his lap. "Amelia, wake up," he urged softly, his voice etched with concern.

Just as he spoke, the car's tires skidded to a halt. Ryan was standing at the front of the car. He rushed to Lennox's window when the car stopped, his eyes locked on the driver. "I'm coming with you!" he said and got into the car. "What are you doing?" Lora cried out from the front porch.

"Fixing your mess," Ryan only muttered to himself before entering the car. "I'll go with you." He said to Lennox without daring to meet his eyes.

~~~

"Lora had a baby boy when Amelia was seven and Maggie was six, Amelia killed him. To Lora he was the child that would be the key to her father's heart." Ryan watched as Lennox listened with rapt attention. They both sat at the living room while Lennox's doctor attended to Gealic.

"Lora's father was the old, conservative man who believed only boys could inherit his wealth. Lora had always tried to live up to his standards, being one of two daughters he had, but the old man would not bat an eye about giving the company to any of their sons. So when she had Felix, he was the key to her father's love and inheritance." He explained.

"Amelia had been angry about another sibling just as she had been angry when Maggie was born. Three months after, while Lora was asleep, Amelia drowned him." Ryan sighed, hating how he had to relive the memory but he continued. "Amelia said she could not remember anything and Maggie who had witnessed it all told us that Amelia had taken him from his cot and drowned him. We found Maggie bound to her window in her room. Amelia was standing by the pool with a drowned baby before her."

"We could not bear to look in her face as she pleaded innocent, Lora especially. So we had her sent away to her grandfather's where she grew up. But something else happened, the approval Lora and her sister had always sought from their father, Amelia got in no instance. She became the sole heir to his empire."

"What about you, why do you hate her?" Lennox asked

"I don't hate her, I just have Lora and Maggie to protect."

"And Amelia?"

"She's strong on her own."

"You leave a seven year old and say she's strong on her own. Do you realize how ridiculous that is? What happened to therapy or an asylum if you were sure she was psychotic?"

"I hoped she would be strong on her own, I thought of she was able to kill a baby, she would know how to take care of herself. I too could not look her in the face after she drowned Felix."

"Did you investigate it?" Lennox asked, bored at the man's resort to emotional manipulation. He had gotten so many displays of the same from Amelia that he had turned immune to it. The older man's voice lowered in slight panic, "We were sure she was the one."

"Because Maggie said so?"

"There was no other witness but Maggie and she had confirmed that Amelia had pushed Felix into the pool. What could we have believed."

Ryan watched as Lennox's expression, though subtle, masked his confusion.

"I'll make sure she never disturbs you again. I'll also try to investigate the matter." Lennox stood with an air of finality. "Leave."

"You don't need to investigate anything, we've done that."

"You can leave Ryan." He had no respect for the man who had abandoned his child only for her to end up with him. "If this is the truth or if you're lying to me." He headed to Amelia's room while a guard ushered Ryan out of the house.

~~~

Lennox stood at Amelia's door, watching as she sat and wanted the sunset. The things Ryan had said to him, scattered across his mind, peeking at him from every thought he hoped to save Amelia with. If she was a murderer, he had a reason to finally end things with her.

If she really turned out to be her brother's murderer like Ryan had said, how much evil did she actually hold in her heart.

The circumstances surrounding their marriage has puzzled him too. The way she knew he needed help and had offered it in exchange for marriage, the way no other option he considered worked.

If she was a child murderer, he wondered how many people she had gotten to without him knowing.

Gealic turned her gaze from the window to him, her face lighting up in relief.

"Lennox!" She jumped to her feet and rushed to him, latching tightly to him. She watched his expression, hoping he could provide some sort of answer from him.

"I'll give you a second to let go of me." Lennox's snarled with contempt.

Gealic immediately removed her hand from his'. "W-what happened? D-did I really kill someone?"

"Did you?" Lennox asked back, mockery laced his voice. "You know that better than me, do you not?"

"I did not kill anyone, I am not a murderer!" She yelled.

"Don't lie to yourself." He yelled back. "You've not only come to ruin my life, you ruined your family too."

"I didn't kill anyone. Please don't do this to me," she begged.

"You did this to yourself!" He spat, shutting her door as he walked out of her room, leaving her screaming and banging at the door.

"Stay at her door till I dismiss you. Do not let her out of there." He ordered his men.

"Mr. Gu, get me a private investigator." He called over his phone.