CHAPTER 75
ROBERT’S POV
~ She lowered her head in shame and despair, avoiding our gazes. With her heavily tear-streaked voice, she muttered, “My name is Carina Kay and I was hired by Scarlett Milson to kill Mr. Ronald Wilson on the 28th Of May, 2015.” ~
Gasps rippled like shockwaves in the room, the tension and suspense rising to the peak.
“You…you mean Scarlett sent you to kill Grandpa?” Ginny asked with wide eyes, disoriented from shock.
Carina nodded without making eye contact. More tears streamed down her cheeks and converged on her chin, dripping down to the floor.
“Robert!” My dad called out sharply, his voice and facial expression hardening ruthlessly as he seemed provoked. “I don’t know what it is you have going on with these women. But whatever it is, you’d better explain it to me right now before I lose my temper.”
My father wasn’t one to be trifled with. He had a vicious temper and could do unimaginable things when provoked. Not to mention I was wasting his time. Wanting to avoid all that and end this as quickly as I can, I took in a deep breath to calm myself and explained everything to them, leaving no stone unturned, including how Scarlett framed Lily with those documents she made Frank forge and made me believe she was working with the enemy to sabotage the company and trying to take it from me.
“I can’t believe Scarlett will do all this just because she hated Lily and wanted to get rid of her,” Ginny snorted incredulously. “This is the height of evil.”
As if caught in a daze, Martin fell back hopelessly on the sofa and looked away with agonizing feelings of remorse and regret draining blood from his face.
“All these years I blamed her for Grandpa’s death and held on to that feeling of hatred, grudge and anger, not knowing she was innocent all along,” he lamented as if talking to himself, burying his face in the cup of palms. “What have we done, Robert? Will she ever forgive us for what we did to her?…”
I tried to keep my emotions in check as I watched him, my eyes and tightened jaw quivering. Seeing him like that, floundering in an agonizing maelstrom with misery as heavy as lead was having an enormous effect on me. I knew that feeling because I had felt it before the first time I found out about this. It makes you put all the blame on yourself and want to rip yourself apart from the inside for having acted so foolishly.
“Yes…yes, Martin. She will forgive us. I know she will.” I answered with renewed vigour but deep down, I was scared she wouldn’t. After everything we did to her, anyone in her shoes will find it extremely difficult to forgive us and might even want revenge for how badly she was treated. But what I feared the most was her moving on with another man. Though she was in prison for seven years, the remaining two years she left was ample time for her to do that. I don’t want her to love another man. I don’t want my kids to recognize another man as their father. I’ll be torn apart with no means of repair if that happens.
The next thing I heard was a sharp sound that reverberated on almost every corner of the mansion, like something striking flesh. I turned back, shocked to see that my mum just slapped Carina.
“So, you go around accepting scraps to kill people?” She seized Carina tightly by the neckline of her top, yanking her roughly forward, her eyes burning with unrestrained fury. “Is this what your mother raised you to do? Do you even realize the family you’re messing with? Did you really think, after all these years, that karma wouldn’t catch up to you? Uhh?”
“No…” Carina managed to say, her voice barely audible amid her ocean of tears and racks of sobs. Her right cheek where my mum had struck her was glowing bright red with traces of her palm imprinted on the skin. From the sound of the slap alone, I could tell the impact was enough to give one a chronic migraine. “I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry…I truly am.”
Her response only fueled my mum’s anger further. Her lips pressed into a tight, furious line as she shot Carina a withering glare. In one swift motion, she swung her arm and struck Carina again, this time a brutal backhand to her left cheek.
Carina’s face whipped sharply to the right, a thin line of blood dripping from the side of her lips which was now busted. But that didn’t deter my mum. She wanted to hit her again when I held back her wrist to stop her.
Frank left a while ago. He wasn’t there to stop my mum because my father insisted this was a family matter. As such only family members should be present. Frank had to go wait in the other living room while being served some refreshments. If I hadn’t stopped my mum then she would have continued striking Carina for as long as she could.
“I know you’re angry mum,” I said in an attempt to calm her. “You have every right to be, but this is not the way to go about this. Hitting her won’t bring back what’s lost so please stop.”
My mum didn’t say anything. She slashed out a furious breath and a defiantly murderous scowl settled on her face as she switched glances from me to Carina who was sobbing like a child with her head bowed low.
“We can’t let this slide,” she said in a merciless tone as she forcefully freed her wrist from my grip. “She and Scarlett will pay for what they’ve done. That good-for-nothing cheater. Even after all her lies and infidelity and making you raise a child that wasn’t yours, she still went ahead to do this. If only she was close by, I would have squeezed the living breath out of her giraffe neck.”
My mum stormed toward my father, her voice cold and venomous. “Julian, call the chief of police and gather some of your men. We’ll return the favour and kill this bitch’s family so she too can feel the pain we’ve been enduring all these years.”