Chapter 131
Elena’s POV:
Suddenly, the shrill chime of the doorbell pierced through the heavy silence that had settled over the house. I frowned, my muscles tensing involuntarily.
Fiona looked up and said with a forced cheerfulness, “It’s probably just the delivery guy, Elena. Mom ordered some groceries for dinner prep.” She pushed herself up and headed out of the room, her footsteps light on the wooden floor. With my blood already simmering from the horrific video I had just watched, I quickly pushed the thought of a normal, peaceful dinner out of my mind.
I stood up abruptly, a wave of nausea washing over me. My stomach clenched, the familiar pre–dinner sickness hitting me with full force. I made my way to the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind me, and leaned over the toilet, the bile rising in my throat.
God. Why did such terrible things always seem to happen to the good ones? Mielle, with her quiet kindness and her dreams of helping her brother… it felt so profoundly unfair.
I stripped off my clothes, the words from Fiona echoing in my mind, the image of Mielle’s violated body burned onto my retinas. Mielle’s rueful smile as she told me about her dream of designing that car for her brother. Her brother Norman’s heartbroken expression at the funeral. Her mother’s inconsolable crying figure. The sheer injustice of it all threatened to suffocate me.
Tears streamed down my face, hot and angry, and my chest felt so tight it was hard to breathe.
But I forced myself to not succumb to the overwhelming grief, to remain standing even on shaky legs. I took a deep, calming breath,
abdomen. consciously trying to relax my clenched fists, and gently rubbed my hand across my
One month. How much longer until I wouldn’t be able to easily hide this pregnancy?
I knew stress affected the baby, so I had to force myself to pull myself together, to find some semblance of calm amidst the storm raging inside me. The one thing that, for some reason, I regretted the most in all of this was not telling Mielle that I was pregnant too. Maybe if she had known she wasn’t entirely alone in this, carrying this secret, she wouldn’t have felt so utterly isolated and terrified.
hair dry and pulled out a pair of I pulled myself together, took a shaky breath, and stepped out of the shower. I quickly toweled m comfortable track pants and a full–sleeved top from the cupboard. The evening had grown noticeably chillier, and I needed to make sure not to catch a cold, not with everything else going on. I also put on a pair of warm socks and my worn lounge slippers before making my way back downstairs. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I found the front door standing slightly ajar, a cool draft wafting through the hallway.
I frowned, a prickle of unease raising the hairs on the back of my neck. “Mom?” I called out hesitantly, my voice echoing in the quiet house.
“Elena? Come here, quickly!” She replied, her voice sounding panicked, and I quickened my pace, my heart suddenly pounding with a renewed sense of alarm.
I found her in the living room, still wearing her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose as she looked down at papers strewn across the coffee table. A thick manila file lay beside them.
a collection of
“What’s all this?” I asked, my gaze sweeping over the documents, a growing sense of foreboding settling in my stomach. Then, my eyes narrowed as I looked towards the window. The floral–print curtains had been pulled slightly aside, revealing the cherry–red color of a car parked in the driveway under the streetlight. I gasped, my breath catching in my throat. “Is that…?”
Mom nodded slowly, her expression a mixture of bewilderment and a guarded kind of hope. “It’s our car, Elena.”
I looked at her, completely confused. “How? How is that possible? Did you somehow manage to buy it back? But it’s been years since we had to sell it. Also, where on earth did you get the money, Mom?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t buy it.”
Just then, Aunt Rose entered the living area, her brow furrowed in confusion. “A man was at the door a few minutes ago. He was wearing a full black suit… looked like some kind of goon straight out of a movie. He just handed me these papers, along with a set of car keys, before turning around and leaving without another word.”
I frowned, a knot of suspicion tightening in my chest. “Did he say anything at all?”
Fiona entered the living room behind her mother, rubbing her arms like she’d just come from outside. “Gosh, the car looks as good as new! It’s squeaky clean inside and out… not a single dent or scratch on it.” She exclaimed, her initial surprise giving way to a childlike wonder. I looked back at Mom, my unease growing with each passing moment.
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Chapter 131
“He said it was a small apology from his ‘boss.” Mom’s jaw was clenched tight, her knuckles white as she gripped the armrest of the sofa, and I suddenly felt a powerful foreboding feeling wash over me.
Slowly, I moved towards the table and picked up the thick manila file. It was the paperwork for the car, the title clearly displaying Mom’s name. Then I looked down at another document beneath it, and my eyes widened in stunned disbelief. I grabbed the paper, my fingers trembling slightly. “The debt… it’s been completely cleared?” I whispered, the words not just directed at Mom and Fiona, but also a quiet confirmation to myself.
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. There was only one person, of course, who could orchestrate something like this, apart from Nikolai. And I knew somehow it wasn’t Nikolai who did this.
Mom then handed me a sealed envelope, her expression grave. “This was also given to me by that man, Elena. He specifically told me to give it directly to you.”
I frowned, my fingers tracing the embossed lettering on the expensive–looking envelope. I ripped it open and pulled out a single piece of folded paper with a handwritten note.
My heart sank like a stone in a bottomless well as I read the brief, chilling message scrawled across the page: “Your friend’s death wasn’t an accident. Call me.” And then, below the words, there was a phone number listed.
Mom looked at me, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anticipation. “What is it, Elena? What does the note say?”
I swallowed hard, my gaze locked on the ominous message. Should I tell her everything? Then I sighed, a weary sound filled with resignation. I had already kept so much hidden from her, built so many walls of silence between us in an attempt to protect her. I didn’t want my continued secrecy to further strain or distance our relationship. Plus, I knew my mother. Once she knew the truth, she would undoubtedly be firmly on my side in this.
So, with a deep breath, I silently handed her the note. She took it, her eyes scanning the words quickly, but she didn’t make any major outward expression of surprise or shock. All she did was slowly sit down on the sofa, her shoulders slumping slightly, and take off her reading glasses, her gaze then fixed on me, her expression a mixture of concern and a quiet, unwavering resolve. I knew what she was going to ask, and that was exactly what she said, her voice low but firm.
“Are you going to call, Elena?”
I pursed my lips, the weight of the decision pressing down on me. But honestly? My mind had already made itself up the moment I had read those words on the paper. “Yes,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. That’s all I said. And Mom simply nodded, her gaze never leaving mine.
“I know you are an adult, Elena, and perfectly capable of making your own decisions. However,” she added, her voice gaining a touch of her usual maternal firmness, “as your mother, I have every right to be worried about you. If you’re going to call this person, you do it right here, in front of me. I don’t trust that man, Elena. Not for one second.” She said, and I nodded, a wave of warmth washing over me.
I moved closer to her, kneeling down beside the sofa. I knew that even when it felt like I was completely alone in this chaotic world, there was always going to be one person standing fiercely by my side. My mother. “Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t hide anything else from you. I promise,” I said, offering her a small, reassuring smile.
She nodded slowly, her hand squeezing mine, but the worry in her eyes remained.
I pulled out my phone, my fingers trembling slightly. “Can you read out the number for me, Mom?”
She nodded again, her voice steady as she started reading the digits aloud, one by one, and I carefully dialed the number, my heart beginning to race a mile a minute with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.
The call picked up on the very first ring. And the voice that answered, a deep, rough baritone that sent a shiver down my spine, simply stated, “Who is this?”
I wai
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