His eyes were half opened. She could only see the white parts of it. He twitched, and then his body started to shake. His arms and legs moved in a strange way, and then she realized he was having a seizure.
She wanted to sedate him, avoid him for the night. She knew he had been drinking since lunch, she knew what would happen if she put in those pills inside his drink. She was faced with reality as she watched in horror her husband’s body twitching and shaking.
She covered her mouth and took a step back. She thought it would knock him out completely, she was not prepared for a seizure. He was overdosing, she had to make a decision.
Tears started to rain down her cheeks. She had no idea what to do. Maybe he’ll die, and everything will be over. How long must she wait? If she even wanted that to happen. She ran to the bedside table and took her phone, she should call the hospital. What would she say?
She glanced at Armand, it was horrifying to see him that way. She wanted to help him. She whimpered, and put her phone down. “Oh God,” she mumbled. “What do I do … what do I do …” she paced back and forth.
She patted his cheek, “Armand … Armand …”
He wasn’t responding, he kept twitching. It seemed like he was unaware of his surroundings. His breathing was abnormal.
“Oh my God … what’s going on? Armand?” she cried.
Armand’s phone rang, it was Pasquale. Maybe he could help? Will he believe it was an accident? Will she be accused of trying to murder him? Was that what she was trying to do? She looked at the phone, her mind went blank. She glanced at him again. What if she just leaves? This will be her chance. And leave him like that? What if he dies?
She remembered what Diego said. Her life would be a lot easier if he’s dead. She held her breath and watched as his seizure continued. She stood over him in numbness. She covered her mouth, she was shivering uncontrollably. She was going to wait it out. It felt like an endless nightmare. She changed her mind ten times within seconds while standing motionless in front of him.
He let out a faint sigh when his seizure finally subsided, his head fell to one side and then … that final breath before he stopped moving completely.
She gasped. She felt cold, she was tensed in shock. She felt a rush go through her whole body. He was dead.
She fell on her knees, sat on the floor, her mouth gaped open, her eyes were staring into nothing. It was over. It was an excruciating moment that felt like hours, but it was merely minutes. She was dazed and confused, it felt surreal, yet the emotion was real.
She covered her face with both hands and wailed. She howled, long and hard until her stomach cramped. “Oh my God … what have I done?” she said between her cries. She loved him, she hated him, she wanted to kill him, she didn’t want him to die. “Oh God … help me …” she didn’t know what was happening to her, but she was physically confused. Her arms trembled, her legs shaking, she killed him, and she wasn’t sure if she could truly accept that fact.
The world went quiet. She wished she could just disappear into thin air. What now? Now that she has done what her angry head wanted to do, her heart will have to suffer the guilt for the rest of her life. The silence was whispering to her, she was really alone now. There’s no one left.
Her vision was blurry from the tears that won’t stop coming. There was a shadow approaching from the corridor, the door was wide open. She remembered she wasn’t alone.
Laura stood in the doorway, she was pale, her eyes widened in terror.
Before Ari could think of anything, her vision became clear and she saw a gun pointing at Laura’s head, and a face she recognized next to her.
“Diego?”
“Please don’t hurt me … please …” Laura pleaded.
“Are you alright? What happened?” Diego was baffled with the scene he was seeing.
“It’s okay … it’s okay … don’t hurt her, Diego, she’s okay,” Ari forced herself to stand up, she never had so much trouble standing up before.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her … I just needed assurance,” he lets her go. “Sorry about that.”
Laura gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes pinned on Armand, “Is he alright?”
When Ari finally stood, she rushed over to Diego and hugged him, “I thought you were dead … they said you were dead … they said …” she then realized there was a decapitated body found at the Inn. She looked at him in disbelief.
“Let’s not talk about that now … are you alright? What happened?”
Ari glanced at Armand, she started to cry again, “He’s dead …”
There was fire in his eyes, he approached the bed with his gun pointed at Armand, “Are you sure?”
She held his hand and lowered his arm, “Please … don’t … he’s dead.”
Laura was speechless. She was the only one who knew what happened. She was a witness.
“Laura … please …” Ari held her hand, she needed her to understand the situation.
“We have to go,” Diego said.
“What?” Ari was still confused.
“I’ll explain later, we have to go … we can’t stay here … they’re looking for me, they know I’m coming for you,” he grabbed her arm.
“But … what do I say? What do I do?” Laura asked.
“Call the hospital, tell them you found him like this and there was nobody else here … you don’t know anything, that’s all you know … you were in the kitchen preparing food, when you were looking for me and Armand to have dinner, this was what you walked into,” Ari told her.
She nodded nervously.
“I’m sorry … I’m really … really … sorry, I wish you didn’t have to be in the middle of this,” she continued.
“Ari … we have to go …” Diego said again.
Ari hugged Laura, “Please … you’ve been a big help, please help me with this too.”
She nodded again, she couldn’t believe what she had to go through.
“Thank you,” Ari finally lets go of her embrace and follows Diego’s lead out of the villa.
“She will talk,” Diego said.
“No … she won’t,” Ari defended her.
“Yes, she will … sooner or later,” he raised a brow and took her hand.
She looked at him without an answer, they were not going to kill her for that.
“Are you ready?” Diego asked.
She curved her lips, and nodded.
“Let’s go,” he pulled her hand and started running away from the villa. From that point on, there was no turning back.