Chapter 22

“So - are you really going to do that? I’ll be overjoyed if you really are, you know - after all, what more do I want than for Laura to die as soon as possible? The more miserable her death…” Eliana grinned in an almost menacing manner, “...the better.” Aidan growled as he reached out to grip Eliana roughly by the chin - “Eliana, you utterly vicious and despicable woman - how could you say something so evil without any sort of emotion? You’re an absolute psychopath.” “Why would I have any sort of emotion? Like you said, I’m a psychopath - I have no conscience. That’s the truth - what are you going to do about it, Aidan? Eliana retorted, “You must choose wisely - you know well that Laura is the one whom you love, while I’m just some whorish and wicked woman who deserves nothing that to be trampled upon like garbage. So what makes you think that I’ll have any sort of emotion, especially towards someone like her? You know what? I despise her - I wish that she were dead.” Smack! Even after being tightly slapped across the face by an infuriated Aidan, a smug smile crept upon Eliana’s lips. Further provoked by the way that the latter was acting, Aidan growled as he gripped her tightly by the shoulders. “You owe her so much, Eliana - how could you talk about her like this? She has done so much for you, for God’s sake! Why are you so utterly ungrateful and remorseless?” Eliana scoffed as she reached out to grab Aidan by the collar, “Tell me, Aidan - what do I owe Laura? First, my skin, and then, my blood, and now - my liver? Tell me, tell me, Aidan! Just how much more do I owe her - are you sure that it’s me who owes her...or she who owes me…?!” Aidan scowled, “You have no one but your brother to blame for that - had you not gotten him to hurt her and cause her to fall ill, she wouldn’t have ended up like this!” Eliana was instantly stunned - “My brother? What does he have to do with this?” Aidan scorned, “Don’t act all innocent as though you don’t know anything - your brother had already admitted to it himself. What more to you have to deny?” “What did he admit?” Eliana asked - she was genuinely confused. What is going on? “Eliana - oh, Eliana,” Aidan scowled sarcastically, “Your acting skills are so good that they’re honestly Oscar-worthy - say, have you ever considered going into professional acting? You know what? Fine - since you don’t seem to know anything, why don’t I have your brother come here and confront you about it himself? Maybe that’ll help you remember.” After he finished his sentence, Aidan whipped out his phone and dialed Robert’s number - “Bring Bryan Harvey to Eliana’s ward in half an hour’s time.” Just as Eliana was about to ask Aidan about more, the latter turned and left the room without even glancing back at her - the former was completely confused and lost. … Less than half an hour later. Aidan returned with a man dressed in a suit and leather shoes and about five feet eleven in height - while he was handsome, the latter seemed timid and frightened by his ordeal. Before he could even comprehend what was happening to him, the latter was shoved roughly towards Eliana by Aidan. “Bryan, your sister seems to have forgotten what she’d told you to do in the past...why don’t you say something to jolt her memory?” Bryan staggered forward slightly before looking up at Eliana - he muttered, “Eliana - have you forgotten about how I’d secretly made contact with you while you were in prison?” He paused for a moment before continuing, “You asked me to deal with Laura - and so, I did...I hurt her and caused her to fall ill…” Eliana couldn’t believe the absolutely untrue words that were coming out of her brother’s mouth, “Bryan, what the hell are you talking about?” she gasped in dismay, “None of that ever happened! Stop lying!” “I’m not lying,” Bryan replied, “You’re the one who told me to make Laura pay the price for murdering your child - or at least, that’s what you thought that she’d done.” “Bryan, are you out of your mind?” Eliana couldn’t believe what her brother was saying, “I’ve never seen you my entire time in prison,” she turned to Aidan and she pleaded, “You can go to the prison to check the visitor records - I haven’t seen him at all during my time there, I really haven’t!” Bryan sobbed, “Ellie, that’s enough - please don’t make this any worse than it already is, alright? I went in secretly - of course, there wouldn’t be any record. Please, don’t do this to me - everything I did was all for you. Please, don’t make me go to prison...you wouldn’t want to watch me suffer in there, would you?” Eliana was at an utter loss for words - she had no idea where all the nonsense that her brother was spouting was coming from, nor did she know just what had gotten into him. Aidan, who was watching everything unfold behind him, scoffed as he sat himself down on the sofa and took out a cigarette. He spun it slightly in his hands as he scorned, “What a wonderful and brilliant performance you’re putting up, Eliana - really, I applaud you. Since you seem to think that it’s Bryan who’d set you up, would you like me, your husband, to handle it for you? Send him off to prison and make him repent…”