Chapter 85

“I’m Aidan’s best friend, you know,” Travis furrowed his brows, “What makes you think that I’ll believe you and be on your side?” Eliana shook her head, “It doesn’t matter whether you trust me or not,” she replied, “You asked me a question, and I told you the truth - it’s up to you to decide whether or not I was lying.” Travis was silent for a moment before he spoke up, “Eliana, you should know that it’ll be difficult to prove your innocence as you don’t have any witnesses to testify for you, or any evidence to prove that you hadn’t done it...I’m afraid that Aidan won’t let you off this time around.” “I know,” Eliana replied bitterly, “The nanny’s in cahoots with Laura - I already know that there’s no way that she would testify for me. Then again, it doesn’t really matter - I’m forever the troublemaker in Aidan’s eyes…” “What about the nanny and Laura?” Travis interjected before Eliana could finish her sentence. “The nanny...she said that Laura was the one who’d instructed her to do these,” Eliana revealed, “Laura wanted me to remember that I was the one who’d killed Evan…” Travis couldn’t help but feel conflicted - the way that Eliana was currently describing Laura was nothing like the sweet, demure and polite Laura whom he knew, dedicated and loyal towards Aidan. “Aidan and the others have gone quite far away now,” Travis changed the topic, “Let’s catch up to them.” Eliana nodded and grunted as she struggled to stand on her feet. Travis couldn’t help but sigh internally - now that Evan was gone, he was afraid that any chance of a reconciliation between Eliana and Aidan was now slimmer than ever. Eliana couldn’t help but stop at the bed of flowers that they’d passed by earlier - she stopped to gaze at them for a while before she picked up a torn yellow flower. She couldn’t help but feel tears well up in her eyes as she held it in her palm. I’m sorry that I failed to protect you, Evan, Eliana thought deep down in her heart. You were too young to leave this world. She then carefully put the flower into her pocket before walking away. Travis had been following closely behind Eliana when he suddenly furrowed his brows and turned back to where the bed of flowers was - he noticed how some of the flowers looked as though they had something heavy being pressed down onto them from earlier. Travis whipped out his phone to take a video before catching up with Eliana, “Eliana, can I ask - did you get into a fight with those two men?” he asked. “I didn’t stand a chance,” Eliana lamented, “They pinned me to the ground - they were too strong…” Travis couldn’t help but think about how the shape that the trampled-looking flowers had formed seemed to be the outline of a human - he couldn’t help but realize that Eliana was indeed telling the truth. Did this really mean that Laura…? But she’d always been good to Evan, hasn’t she? When Eliana and Travis returned to the car, Aidan was already sitting inside with Evan’s dead body in his arms. Laura was sitting beside him, sobbing quietly. Travis, who’d initially wanted to tell Aidan about what he’d discovered, decided to keep mum for the time being - moreover, he couldn’t possibly say what he wanted to say to Aidan in front of Laura. … Eliana was locked up in the basement as soon as they returned to Blanchard Garden - she’d been locked up in this dark place so many times now that she no longer felt scared. She lamented the fact that she wouldn’t be able to see poor Evan off - and so, she shrank in one corner with her knees folded to her chest, whimpering Evan’s name over and over sadly. She didn’t know just how long she’d been crying for when the door to the basement opened. The lights flicked on to reveal a few men pouring in and setting down a few torture instruments as they did so. Before Eliana could even comprehend what was happening, she was roughly grabbed and had her hands tied against a rack that was hanging above her. Just then, Aidan appeared at the door - he glared daggers into Eliana’s eyes as he approached her slowly. If looks could kill, Eliana would’ve been dead by now...