CHAPTER 71
ROBERT’S POV
~ I resisted Frank, swinging my elbow back as it connected with the side of his face. I tightened my grip on the poor thing’s neck and she gasped desperately for air that was fast eluding her system, her skin turning scarlet red like a swollen tomato. I wanted to squeeze the living breath out of her and watch her die that slow painful I wanted. ~
But in the wake of the moment, I remembered Frank’s words and realized I was letting anger cloud my judgment. I wasn’t a bloody murderer like her and will never be.
With a disgustingly defiant expression on my face, I released my grip on her neck and looked away from her pale face with a conflicted heart. She cradled her neck and coughed violently to regain her lost breath, looking at me like I was a monster straight out of the pit of hell. But I was only a monster she made.
Before she killed my grandpa, I don’t think she bothered to conduct a background check on him to know the kind of family he came from. If she did, then she wouldn’t have agreed to kill him because that would mean playing with fire. Now that she foolishly did, she has succeeded in getting herself involved with a family that will hunt her to the ends of the earth and grind her existence into dust, leaving nothing left of her. And I’ll make sure I’ll be the one to do that.
I got off her and quickly helped Frank to his feet. A thin line of blood ran down from the corner of his lip, where my elbow had struck him. His lips were wounded but not so badly. Seeing I was responsible for that only made me feel worse.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I helped him up. “I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t know what came over me.”
He acknowledged with a quick shake of his head. “It’s okay, it’s nothing.”
He headed for the bathroom to grab a tissue and clean the blood while I questioned the woman who was still shaken due to how vicious I had acted. But I wasn’t going to go any easy on her because of that.
“Why did you do it?” I asked with pain smouldering in my voice. “Why would you take the life of an innocent old man who had done nothing to you…Because of money, uhh? Just how cheap and heartless can you be? How would you feel if someone else did that to your grandpa or your father or even your brother…”
My words made her weep aloud in guilt and regret, violent sobs that sounded like tremors bashing her insides. She looked so miserable anyone seeing her would feel pity for her. Anyone but me.
“I didn’t mean to do it,” she sniffled heavily with her head bowed low in shame. “Scarlett made me. She found me at my lowest. I’d just lost my job and had no savings, no investments that could sustain me. I could barely afford a meal a day, let alone fund the online course program I desperately needed. She said I looked like someone she despised, someone she wanted gone for reasons I couldn’t fully understand. She promised to pay me very well and protect me too. Little did I know she was lying. I…I can’t believe I fell for her tricks and manipulations.”
My eyes bore into her, trembling with disgust and anger that I was struggling to hold back as I looked at her. “You should be ashamed of yourself. So, because you were broke, you chose to murder an innocent old man? We’re living in the 21st century, in a world full of opportunities. Were there no other ways for you to make money besides taking someone’s life?”
“I’m sorry…” She looked up to me and said with her voice which had become rough and raspy from too much crying. “I really am. For the past nine years, I have been at war with myself for what I did. No day and night go by without me regretting my actions. I know I can’t turn back the wheels of time and bring him back, but if there is anything I can do to make amends for my sins, then I’m willing to do it even if it means getting the death penalty or spending the rest of my life in prison.”
Clenching my jaw as a low growl escaped, I looked away from her and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. Her contrite expression was making me regret how I had acted earlier and how I was treating her.
This was all Scarlett’s fault. She’s a snake and a manipulator. She had tricked Frank the same way. She promised to pay him a huge sum of money which she didn’t to forge those documents that made me fire Lily. As if that wasn’t enough, she came up with this one too even after all her lies and infidelity. I can’t believe she put my grandpa’s life on the line just to get rid of Lily and make my entire family hate her. She’d gone too far. She just touched the lion’s tail. I don’t care what happens this time because I will make sure she pays severely for her actions. Locking her behind bars would be far too lenient. After everything she’s done, only her death can even the scales.
“Tie her up,” I ordered Frank who had stepped out a few minutes ago from the bathroom with a tissue paper pressed against the side of his bruised lips.
He looked a little surprised at my command but still went ahead to carry it out. I don’t want the bitch running off again or attempting to do something stupid. She might just be putting on an act to deceive us.
I went out of the room and closed the door lightly behind me. I pulled my phone from my suit pocket and dialled Scarlett’s number. As it rang, I boiled with rage while impatiently waiting for her to pick up, each second feeling like a torturous eternity. But she didn’t answer. The call eventually cut off, leaving me glaring at the screen. I tried again, and again, but it was the same; ringing, cutting off, and no response. The silence on her end only fueled my frustration.
Why wasn’t she picking up? Did she somehow find out that I knew the entire truth, that I had her hit woman under my custody?
I decided to call Raphael since Scarlett will probably be with him. He picked on the second ring.
“Robert…”
Not that I was bearing a grudge against him but I had no time to exchange pleasantries because of the situation at hand.
“Pass the phone to Scarlett,” I cut him off coldly.
“Oh…” he exclaimed lowly in surprise. “Is anything the problem?”
“Just pass the phone to her,” I insisted, becoming impatient and angrier.
“I can’t.”
“Why?” My brows pinched in sharply.
“Because she’s dead.”