Chapter 63
Asher stormed into his room and Laura and Juliana followed silently. They didn't need him to spell it out for them to know how extremely furious he was. Jonathan could see it too. He tightened his grip on Laura's hand, holding her tightly. Asher was barely ever upset but he knew that anytime he was, he was a bit scary. Jonathan knew he was already in a lot of trouble as it was. Asher needed a moment to catch his breath. He took deep breaths in an attempt to calm his nerves.
He dropped his hands slowly and turned to Jonathan.
"Asher." Jonathan said in a whisper.
"Haven't I told you?" Asher asked him. "Haven't I told you never to go anywhere close to things belonging to Xavier and Theodore. You can play with anything else you want, as long as it's mine or mum's, ruin it all, I would not mind, but not theirs. Why did you disobey me?" Asher glared at him.
"I was only trying to catch a bird for you with my sling shot-"
"But I didn't ask you to!" Asher yelled at him and Jonathan cringed backward in fright. He was starting to tremble again. "Did I not ask you not to go around playing with that slingshot and throwing stones around?! Why did you do it? Why did you do the exact same things I asked you not to do and put us all in that position down there!"
Jonathan started to cry. Laura exhaled.
"Asher that's enough." She turned to Asher. "You of all people know that it was only a mistake. You're scaring him."
Asher raised his hand to his forehead. Could his day get any more irritating already? Just then, his eyes met Juliana and the maid. It was the first time, the first time he was taking notice of their presence.
"And what about you two?" He asked them. "Why do we even bother to pay you both if you can't do your jobs right? If things like this should keep happening then why do you work here? If you're going to continuously be useless then turn in your resignation right now."
"Asher."
Asher shook his head. He lowered his gaze to Laura. She was looking at him like she couldn't believe it, like she couldn't believe him.
"You knew." He told her. "That was why you wanted me gone because you knew they were coming back today. You didn't want me to be here with them. That explains why you're trying to get me to go on that stupid trip. That explains all this."
He turned to the bed half filled with all his things.
"I'm sorry mum but I can't." He told her. "I can't leave you both here with them, alone. I'm not leaving." He turned to the other maids. "Put everything back to where they should be immediately."
"Everybody get out!" Laura yelled on the top of her lungs. "Now!" Asher turned to her immediately just as Juliana bent over to reach for Jonathan. She could understand that Laura was asking for some privacy with Asher. Probably to talk him into calming down a bit.
"Come on sir Jonathan," she told him. "Let's get you washed up and ready for your piano lessons."
Jonathan knew better than to not listen to her. He was already in a lot of trouble with everyone including Asher. Getting on Laura's bad side was probably not a good idea at that point. He let Juliana lead him out of the room with the rest of the maids tagging along behind them. Laura waited until the door closed behind them. She exhaled and turned to the bed. She grabbed one of Asher's shirt and started to fold it. She placed it gently into the bag and took another one. Asher watched her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked her. "Why didn't you tell me that they were coming back today?"
"What would you have done if I had told you?" She kept on tidying his things. "Gone to your father and asked him to get us a house to move into? Called them and asked them to stay in England? Cancelled your trip to Eutherdore?"
"Mum, I can't go to Eutherdore."
She froze for a second and held her breath, holding on tightly to the short in her hands.
"That's exactly why I didn't tell you." She folded it and placed it into the bag.
"Mum, don't tell me you expect me to just leave, to leave you and Jonathan alone with them. You know how they are like and what they are capable of doing. How can Eutherdore possibly be the only thing on your mind right now?"
Laura turned to him immediately.
"The only thing I expect you to do is live like a normal teenager. I expect you to stop dedicating your life to taking care of me and Jonathan. You don't have to make us your responsibility, that is my job. All I want is for you to finally get a break from all of this, to forget every horrible thing about your life and just be happy with your friends, going to Eutherdore would make that happen."
"I don't care about Eutherdore or spending time with my friends. You and Jonathan are my responsibility. I can't leave you both alone in this house, I won't. I'm not going."
"You're going to Eutherdore."
"I'm not going!"
Laura stared at him for a while. She could see the fear in his eyes. He was scared. She exhaled.
"Asher,"
"You have no idea what they are capable of Mum. I close my eyes everyday and it's ten years ago once again. I'm drowning in that lake again and calling for help. I can still hear their irritating laughters, I can still see their shadows hovering above me, watching me as I struggle for breath, to live. What if it happens all over again? I can't let Jonathan go through what I went through. I can't let them hurt any of you."
Laura slowly reached for his hands.
"Eight years ago is a long time Asher." She squeezed them. "They have grown a lot since then. I'm sure Xavier and Theodore know better now. They know we aren't as weak as we were nine years ago. They know they'd never get away with hurting us this time around because we've grown a lot too. We weren't as vulnerable and weak as we were ten years ago, you're even friends with the prince. Messing with us would never be in their favor and they know that. Xavier and Theodore are many things but not stupid, plus your father is home now. He won't let them do anything to hurt me or Jonathan."
Asher scoffed.
"You see, you have nothing at all to worry about." She tried to force a smile on her face, one bright enough to look genuine. "We are fine. Go to Eutherdore, be with your friends and have fun, please. It's only going to be three days anyway. What could possibly go wrong in three days? I promise, Jonathan and I would be in one piece when you return. Don't stop your life because of us or we'd never be able to do anything without you."
"Mum,"
Laura exhaled. She took a step towards him and wrapped her arms around him. She hugged him tightly.
"God knows there's nothing I wouldn't do to see you happy." She told him. "If I could take away all the hurt you feel, and been through, I would. I just wish you could let other people take care of you the way you take care of everyone."
Asher exhaled. He slowly raised his hand to her back and wrapped it around her.
"I love you Ash. Don't you ever forget that."
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"Who-are you?" Mickey broke her words and made them so slow as she stared anxiously as the man in a black suit standing in front of them, tightening her hold around Abel's arms. Abel on the other hand, he didn't say much, he just sat still in his bed, staring at the man in front of them that obviously didn't look like a familiar face. From the way he dressed and the way he looked, anyone could easily tell he was there for official business.
Aiden held his breath as he watched the screen carefully so he didn't miss a thing, listening attentively to their conversation from the plugs in his ear. The control room of the hospital was almost empty just as he had instructed. It was just him, Elijah and one of the technicians in charge of security and CCTV cameras around the hospital. He didn't blink. He didn't want to miss anything. He knew he shouldn't have let Elijah talk him into being at the hospital, into seeing the supposed brother of this Anne-Marie Keisha had talked about but he found himself giving in. He found himself wanting to know if Elijah was right, if the royal family was being deceived by the Vutrons once again, If he was being deceived.
Abel watched the man put his hands into his pockets and brought out a picture. He held on to it firmly and raised it so they could see.
"Do you know who this is?"
Abel's gaze widened and remained extra focused when he noticed the picture of Anne-Marie. He could identify her immediately. It was a recent picture, it had to be since it was taken in a place he wasn't familiar with. She had a huge smile on her face.
What on earth happened to her hair?
"Huh?" Mickey leaned closer to him and pulled the picture from his grip immediately. She looked into it carefully, Abel too. He had to be sure his eyes weren't deceiving him and heard Mickey gasp when she recognized her.
"Abel," she turned to Abel immediately. "It's Anne-Marie." The smile on her face grew even brighter. "It's her isn't it?" She kept showing the picture to Abel, urging him to take a closer look.
The man raised a brow, deepening his frown.
"You know her?"
Mickey raised her head to him.
"Of course we do. She's my friend, and Abel's older sister."
He turned to Abel immediately as Abel slightly raised his head from the picture halfway towards the man.
"She has been gone for a long while now. She got a job offer far away." Mickey continued and then turned back to Abel. "It's her isn't it?" She asked him again. "Oh my, look how beautiful she is and healthier. Look at those clothes and shoes, they look so expensive too and her hair- woah, Anna really is living the life now. Looks like her job is really paying off. It's no wonder she has been able to send all that money. Thank God she isn't so excited to come home-
"Shhh." Abel turned his head slowly in her direction. He could sense something wasn't right. He didn't want Mickey to give so much information to this stranger they barely knew just yet. He slowly turned to the man.
"D-do you know my sister?" He asked him slowly. "Did she send you?"
"Are you sure the lady in that picture is related to you?"
"Of course." Mickey answered before Abel was able to even say anything. "How could a brother forget his own sister's face? Anne-Marie has an extraordinary face and really great features. You could never forget her face even if you wanted to. The only reason she's not by his side right now is because she's busy making money for his treatment. She would have been here just so-"
"Mickey." Abel whispered, jabbing her gently with his elbow so she stopped talking. Why was she talking too much? Mickey pursed her lips immediately just as Abel turned to the man.
"Who are you?" He had to ask. Since the man had so much question about Anne-Marie's identity, it didn't take Abel too long to figure out that he didn't know who Anne-Marie was either.
He watched the man exhale and slowly reached for the picture. He grabbed it from him and folded it neatly and then placed it back into his pocket.
"Is everything alright?" Abel went on. "Did anything happen to my sister?" He was really worried, worried and confused.
"Who did you say that boy is again?" Aiden didn't take his eyes off the screen. He watched it carefully, listening carefully too with his fingers right beside his face and his thumb scratching his index finger over and over again. He was almost bruising himself.
"Abel Davis." He went on. "According to what I know, he lost his parents seven years ago to the plague and was taken care of by his older sister who became his guardian ever since then. By older sister I mean-" Elijah couldn't bring himself to say those words because he could already see how shocked Aiden was, how confused too.
"Abel and Anne-Marie both lived in crystal lake. Three years ago, he was diagnosed of cancer. I asked around, it looked like Anne-Marie wasn't able to afford his medical bills as he wasn't an inpatient. She also took on multiple jobs to make ends meet. Two months ago, he was transferred here for medical treatment as he wasn't making any improvements in the previous one."
He stretched an envelope towards Aiden. Aiden turned slowly to look at him then lowered his gaze to the envelope. Should he take it? Was he really trying to know more than he already did? He was already confused as it was and scared. He didn't know if he needed to know anymore.
He slowly took it.
"A house was also purchased in his name a few blocks away. I traced the buyer to his benefactor and I realized that it was sponsored by the same people that are currently taking care of his current medical bills. JJP holdings. It's a really small real estate organization."
Aiden took out a few sheets from the envelope and took a good look at them one by one.
"They also made sure to clear every outstanding bill from the previous hospital and managed to erase every trace of Anne-Marie in crystal lake. I did a few investigations around the areas she used to live and work, but no one seems to know who she is. It's almost as if she didn't exist. Something felt really off and so I did an investigation on JJP holdings. At first it didn't make sense that there was no information that gave reason to why they chose to be so interested in the lives of Abel and Anne-Marie and so I dug deeper, management, finance, human resource, every sector you could think of and then I found something." He kept talking while Aiden kept his eyes glued to the papers. "Every month, JJP paid a hundred million was paid into a private account belonging to Devil's club. It's a club in old castridge, owned by Elizabeth Wang. Elizabeth Wang Vutron."
Aiden raised his head slowly to Elijah as Elijah swallowed the rest of his words. He exhaled, fully convinced that Aiden recognized the name he had just mentioned. Oliver's mother.
He couldn't believe it, it was true. Elijah had been right all along. The Vutrons really did have a hand in all of it. They had somehow found a replacement for Paris and were trying to manipulate the throne and take control of it. They were deceiving the royal family. They had committed treason or at least were about to. There had to be an ulterior motive. There was no reason they had done all of it for nothing.
"I also checked the prime minister's travel history since the incident. It happens that he has been making unofficial visits to an island in Spain. Some security guards claimed that he was spotted leaving the country, secretly as at that, the night before Miss Vutron allegedly opened her eyes and also on the night of your engagement. There's reason to believe that there's something the Vutrons are hiding on that island, more like someone. Maybe the real Miss Vutron."
He shut his eyes and exhaled, lowering the pictures of Oliver hurrying to jets on different occasions from his gaze. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let his guard down to even consider that there was a possibility things had changed? How could he let himself be taken advantage of? To be a tool that could have been used to destroy his entire family?
How did he let himself fall for someone who was living a complete lie? A lie just like everyone else around him. How could he have been so vulnerable? So quick to fall for her and even consider that she was innocent. He didn't even know who it was he had been with, who it was he was engaged to. Everything he thought he knew was a lie and he had clearly underestimated the Vutrons and how far they were willing to go.
He needed a minute, a minute to wrap his head around it, a minute to breathe. He bent over, holding on tightly to one of the chairs for support so he didn't fall from so much shock.
Very stupid Aiden, you've been very stupid.
That explained it, that explained why there was so many differences between the Paris he used to know and the one that was pretending to be her. How could he let himself be swayed like that? Be used? How could he let himself be made a complete fool out of. He could barely breathe and his heart was racing. It kept hurting when he tried to. Everything else Elijah was saying was like static to his ears, he could barely hear him. All he had were flashes, flashes of everything he didn't notice before. Flashes of how different they were. The day at the hospital, the day she slapped him at the pool, the scars, the park, Niyagra, everything that the real Paris Vutron would never do. He clinched on harder to the chair and his fingers were almost digging into it.
"Y-your highness."
Aiden let out a shaky breath, well aware of how worried he made both Elijah and the security man feel. But he couldn't help himself. He was angry, angry at himself. He felt hurt and betrayed.
"Ho-" he could barely even speak. He cleared his throat. "What's the latest news on the class trip?"
"All the kids are on their way to the airport as we speak. Sir Asher arrived a few minutes ago-"
"How long would it take to get to the airport?"
"Thirty minutes your highness, ten with the jet-"
"Get the Jet ready then." He raised his head to Elijah. "Now."
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