Chapter 45 Their past
Eric drove all the way to Lilac's new company and stopped. When she realized where they were, Lilac frowned. She wondered how much tabs he kept on her. Did he not hate her? Why keep tabs on her?
She glanced at him and met his eyes only to pause. A sneer almost slipped from her lips. Yes. What does live have to do with keeping tabs on person. People kept their eyes on those they hated too.
"Your meeting should be done in an hour, right?" I will be here to get you. If you are not back, I will send people up to drag you down," Eric warned.
Lilac restrained her expression and got out of the car.
The moment she left, Eric received a call from an odd number.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Where are you? Let's meet," the man on the other end of the line said. Eric immediately recognized his voice and gave him an address. After a few minutes, the man showed up at the parking lot where Eric still remained parked in his car. He knocked knt eh window and Eric unlocked the car door to let him in.
"I never thought you would call for my help, Eric. What happened? You can do this research on your own with your resources instead of coming to me," The man said.
"Get to the point, Neil. What did you find?" Eric asked.
"Well, your wife was at the mountain lounge when you had gotten attacked. From what I hear, only the Hart family rented out that louge. The odd thing is, the records say the Harold's family, but the old staff say the little girl was definitely named Lilac. They recalled she came with the Hart family butler," Neil explained.
"So, there is no way Tessa Harold could have been there," Eric said.
"I mean, this is on you. Who builds an entire relationship based on a little girl saving him as a child? From what I know, it makes sense for your wife to be obsessed with you like her family said. Records show she was the one you were talking about to online while in studying abroad. The Harolds family definitely came together with the Hart family to change this detail. The way it looks to me, you had never met Tessa Harold till you returned back to the country and that was years later," Neil said, taking out a cigar to light, but Eric stopped him.
"Not in my car, She hates it," Eric said. He felt a head ache coming along.
"Your wife? But I heard you two are going to get divorced," Neil said an Eric threw him a glare.
"Hey, don't look at me that way, I am not the one who got played by the Harold's family. You could be considered lucky. After all that game they played, you still married Lilac instead of Tessa. Besides, should you be worried about this? To trick you this long, it means they have infiltrated deeper into your organization than you think," Neil continued.
Eric thought back to how disappointed Lilac had become to how much hate she had come to hold for him and felt dizzy. This had nothing to do with who he actually loved; the girl from childhood or the Tessa he had come to know. He owed the girl from childhood too much.
His head hurt.
"Keep digging. This time, I want to know who tried to abduct my years ago," Eric said. Niel nodded and got out of the car.
Eric was not sure how long he had been there. His mind wandered till the car door was pulled open again. He looked up sharply to find Lilac.
"Fine, let's go," Lilac said and Eric paused.
Looking at Lilac now, he was uncomfortable all over. Her eyes darted around the car and frowned.
"You met with someone or your smoked?" She asked and Eric realized that Neil had probably smoked before entering the car and the smell had lingered.
"I had to pick up a package," Eric lied. He felt uncomfortable, but Lilac was even more uncomfortable.
"I hope by package, you do not mean that there is a human being locked in the trunk," she said and Eric's face fell. She really thought the worse of him. But what could he do? He was the one who showed her his worst sides to scare her. But being talked to that way irritated him.
Eric's frustration spilled as he opened his mouth and smiled darkly, "Don't worry, you do not need to deliver this one," he said and Lilac's face fell.
She could not believe she had guessed right. She clutched to her seat belt as he drove out of the parking lot.
Eric had changed his mind. He no longer wanted to send her to the safe house he prepared. He had other ideas. He immediately sent over instructions as he drove.
He was distracted all the way till he drove into a nice gated house.
Lilac stepped out and followed him inside.
She honestly had a million things to say, but she felt oddly numb. She could not form words and was severely tired. She had not decided how to escape Eric yet and it bothered her.
They walked into a nostalgic home and Eric called for the butler to prepare Lilac's room. The older man glanced at Lilac with curious eyes, then hurried away to handle it. Eric watched Lilac take in the house and was oddly apprehensive. He followed her eyes, wondering what she thought of the place, but her silence only made him more apprehensive.
"Are you hungry?" Eric asked, but Lilac did not respond. This cause him to frown. Looking at Lilac just standing there, staring at the stone carving on the display shelf made him uncomfortable.
Eric slightly begun regretting letting Lilac see his ugly side. He had not really wanted to send Lilac to Madame Lee, But he had started to find Lilac's resistance irritating. Lilac already had a bad impression of him that he had already come to expect, but he had not thought he would have had to go that far.
Eric knew of Madam Lee's brutal tendencies and knowing what was in the crates, he had expected that she would display them. He had known, but he wanted to scare Lilac just a little bit.
He wanted to clip that tongue of hers just slightly. But her silence made him uncomfortable.
"You must be hungry. You have probably not eaten all morning. Come, let me show you to your room," Eric said, then led Lilac through a corridor.
"This is yours. Mine is just next door," Eric said, opening the door to a spacious room.
"Do you like it? I know you like this style, Japandi, right?" Eric asked and Lilac paused. Now that she thought about it, this was her favorite design style and she recalled that this entire house was designed in that style.
Lilac ignored him and took off her shoes.
"The entire house is just as you would like it, so be more comfortable, Lilac," Eric said.
Lilac slowed while walking. She saw that her personal things she had brought with her from home had all been carefully placed in the room.
"Are you suggesting that you designed this entire house just for me?" Lilac asked with a sneer. She found his words offensive.
Hearing her finally talk, Eric smiled slightly.
"Is that odd?" Eric asked as Lilac walked over to the closet and opened to find it filled with clothes. She walked over to the bathroom and it was already set with products she would usually use.
Lilac felt her heart drop. Every part of this house was to her taste. It was almost as thought this house was prepared for her. As she stood there Lilac suddenly had a horrible thought. Eric has waited a long time to bring her here.