[GIOSEFFO]
Since it was nighttime, and there was no one around, I decided to approach their gate. Their house wasn’t too far from the gate, so I could see Millie’s room. Yeah, I even know her room.
“You’re quite the stalker, Gio,” Elliott said. I glanced at him and shot him a look, causing him to whistle and quickly avert his gaze from me. Again, the two of them were with me, even though I was getting tired of them.
We hadn’t been standing outside the house for long when we heard a loud gunshot. The three of us exchanged looks and swiftly found a way to get inside the house.
We found no one there. I had a strange feeling, so I hurried to Millie’s room. I told Dario to check the surroundings.
I rushed into Millie’s room and opened the door. What I found inside shocked me. Astrid Pearce lay on the floor, covered in blood, appearing lifeless. Millie was seated on one side, crying and with blood on her hands.
I quickly approached her and grabbed her arm. Her body trembled, and she went into a panic when she felt my touch.
“Millie…,”
her name was the only thing that seemed to calm her, just hearing my voice. She looked up at me, her lips quivering, and I could tell she had many questions.
“What happened?” I asked her. As I did, her body shook again, and she broke into tears, her sobs overpowering her words.
“I-I sh-shot Mom,” she managed to say through her sobs. “I-I didn’t mean to! I was just so scared, I’m so sorry, I killed my mother!”
I gasped and looked back at Astrid Pearce, lifeless and bathed in her own blood. Millie kept repeating that she had killed her mother; she must have been in a state of shock.
“Millie, tell me what happened, and where are the others in the house? Is it just you and your mom here?” I inquired. “Tell me, and I’ll help you.”
She looked up at me, seeming to gain some composure from my words, but the reality of her mother’s death overwhelmed her once more.
“We don’t have anyone else here at the moment because Mama gave everyone a day off,” she said amidst her sobs.
“Papa isn’t here; he’s in another country for business,” she gasped for breath. “I was scared of Mama earlier. She didn’t like how the task she gave me turned out, so she punished me. In her rage, she took out a gun and said that if I didn’t fix it, she’d disown me and shoot me in the head. She said she didn’t need a child like me,” Millie sobbed and took a deep breath. “I-I was so scared that when I felt the gun against my head, I wrestled it away from Mama. We struggled for a moment, and the gun accidentally went off, hitting her. In an instant, I saw Mama falling to the ground, blood pouring from her. I-I killed her!”
I hugged the crying Millie and tried to comfort her. I had never attempted to comfort anyone before, so I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right.
“It’s not your fault. It was an accident. You were just protecting yourself,” I reassured her.
“I am a murderer. I killed Mama!”
I held her tighter when she said that. I let go when I thought of what to tell Millie. I held both her cheeks and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“You didn’t kill your mother. I did it to her. No, Millie. I killed your mother.” I just need to convince her.
her voice was shaky, and if this was called hypnotizing or brainwashing or whatever they called it, this is what I was doing.
I would rather have Millie think that I killed her mother than have her regret this accident for the rest of her life.
“I killed her, you hear me? It was me,” I raised my voice.
I saw Millie stop crying, so I felt relieved.
“That’s right. Remember my name, Gio Locatelli. I was the one who killed your mother for revenge.”
Millie nodded.
I took a deep breath and stood up. I held her hand and led her out of the room so we could clean it up and remove all the evidence that would point to Millie as the culprit.
I don’t know what had gotten into me, but I took the blame for Astrid Pearce’s death, even though I had nothing to do with it.
I glanced at Millie, who seemed dazed and out of it. I wanted to laugh at myself for what I was doing for this girl. Damn, I really have strong feelings for her, huh?
~***~
Elliott, Dario, and I cleaned up all the mess left behind after Millie’s mother’s death, even disposing of the gun that had been used. We moved the body into a room, wearing gloves to avoid leaving any fingerprints. Since it was difficult to remove the bloodstains from Millie’s carpet, we replaced it with a new one and burned the old one.
I went back to Millie, who was still in shock from everything that had happened. “You should go to bed,” I told her.
Earlier, I had also asked her about the CCTV control room, and she had pointed me in the right direction. I had also delegated that task to Dario. Millie remained silent, her eyes blankly staring into the distance. I sighed and gently took her hand, leading her to her room. I tucked her into bed and advised her to get some rest.
“Are you going to leave me?” she asked as I was about to leave her room. “Please don’t leave me. I can feel my mother’s eyes watching, and her blood all over me. I’m scared.”
I approached Millie and reassured her that I wasn’t going to leave her. I stayed by her side until she fell asleep, only leaving when I was sure she was in a deep slumber.
“Is everything clean now?” I asked Dario and Elliott.
“Yes, we’ve taken care of everything. Millie won’t be the one blamed for Astrid Pearce’s death. If they think she killed her, they have plenty of other suspects, not Millie.”
I nodded and left the scene, returning home. I didn’t go to Millie’s house the next day, but I sent someone to check on her.
“Enrique Pearce is there, Sir. He just got back this morning. He immediately called the authorities when he found his wife’s lifeless body in the room.” He looked at me as if he were scrutinizing me.
That wasn’t what I wanted to know. I wanted to know if Millie was okay.
“How about her?” I asked, referring to Millie.
“She can’t remember anything.” I raised an eyebrow at the statement. “Everything that happened last night and some memories about her mother, she can’t recall any of it.”
I didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, I was relieved that she didn’t have to carry the guilt of her actions, even though she had only acted in self-defense. On the other hand, part of the forgotten memories included me.
In the end, I realized it was probably better that she didn’t remember. At least she wouldn’t have to continue blaming herself for the death of a mother who had never treated her kindly.