Chapter 132

Chapter 132
Kelly

Davis was shot twice. Davis collapsed back again, his body hitting the ground harder than before. A strangled gasp escaped his lips, his hands pressing against his chest where blood was already spreading through his shirt. His breath came in short, desperate gasps, his fingers clawing weakly at the wound as if he could hold the life inside him.  

I stumbled on the floor, holding my ears, when I lifted my head again, blood had stained my jeans, blood coming from Davis laying beside me.

“Davis!”  

A sharp, familiar voice came through the chaos. I turned sharply, just in time to see a figure burst out of the shadows.  

Clara?  

She ran straight to Davis, dropping to her knees beside him. Her hands trembled as she pressed down on his wound, her face pale with panic.   

“Stay with me,” she pleaded, her voice cracking as she tried to stop the bleeding. “You’re going to be fine. Just breathe, okay?”  

Davis let out a low, pained groan, his body twitching under her hands. His eyes fluttered, unfocused, his breaths shallow and uneven.  

I stood frozen, unable to process what I was seeing.  Clara wasn’t just reacting, she was devastated.   

Her hands, slick with Davis’s blood, pressed desperately against his chest, as if sheer willpower alone could stop him from slipping away. Her shoulders shook, her breathing ragged, and there was something in her expression that made my stomach twist.  

This wasn’t just concern, this was grief. Something snapped into place in my mind.  

No… No, it couldn’t be. They were lovers?

Clara lifted her head then, her eyes blazing with a mix of anger and despair. And then, she said the words that changed everything.  

“You shot my brother.”

The air in my lungs turned to ice. I felt my breath catch at what I just heard, my mind struggling to make sense of what she had just said.  

Adrian stiffened beside me. Lucian, who still held his gun, barely reacted. But I… I couldn’t move.  

“Your… brother?” My voice cracked, barely a whisper.  

Clara let out a harsh sound, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe I didn’t know.  

“Yes, Kelly. My brother.” Her voice trembled, but her fury was undeniable. “Davis… Davis Elanzo. And I—” Her eyes met mine, full of betrayal. “I’m Clara Elanzo.”  

I felt the blood drain from my face.  

Elanzo….Clara Elanzo……Davis Elanzo. And suddenly, it all made sense. My stomach twisted violently as the weight of her words crashed over me. My hands trembled. I stumbled back, my pulse roaring in my ears.   

My father……My father was still tied up. I turned away from Clara, rushing toward him. His head hung forward, his breathing shallow.  

“Dad?” My voice cracked.  

His eyes fluttered open, weak and unfocused. I fumbled with the ropes, frustration and fear tangling together as I tried to free him. Behind me, Clara’s quiet sobs filled the air, mixing with Davis’s weak gasps.  

I clenched my teeth, trying to block it out, trying to focus on getting my father out of here.  

“You’ll be okay,” I murmured to him, my fingers releasing  the knots. “Just hold on.”  

A choked laugh from Clara made me turn my head. She was still on the floor, her hands soaked in Davis’s blood, but now she was staring at me with an unreadable expression. Her lips parted, but it wasn’t a sob that escaped this time.  It was a whisper.  

“I will kill all of you.”  

My heart stopped. Adrian immediately stepped forward, gun raised. 

“Relax, Clara.” Adrian said, as if he knew what was going on.

Clara didn’t move. She just sat there, cradling her brother’s bleeding body, shaking with anger.  

“You don’t even know, do you?” she murmured.  

I swallowed hard. “Know what?”  

She let out a slow, shaky breath.  

“That your father is a murderer.”  

Everything inside me stilled.  My father?  A murderer? I turned back to him instinctively, as if looking at him would make me understand what I just heard. His expression was unreadable, his breathing uneven.  

Clara’s face twisted into something ugly and broken.  

“He killed my father,” she spat. “And you? You’ve been living your perfect little life like nothing ever happened.”  

A sharp, hot pain bloomed in my chest. No. It couldn’t be true. My father had gone to prison for a huge crime, Yes. But…..the thing is, I never asked what the crime was. I had been too busy with my own life, my own problems. 

I had always assumed it was some corporate fraud, some under-the-table deal gone wrong. I had never questioned it.  And now, I was standing in front of the consequence of my ignorance.  

Clara’s fists clenched, her body still shaking with rage.  

“You knew nothing,” she whispered, her voice filled with hatred. “Nothing.”  

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. How could I defend something I didn’t even understand? How could I tell her she was wrong, when I had no proof that she was?  

My father’s silence behind me only made it worse. Had I truly been blind all these years? 

Clara let out a slow, shuddering breath. She looked down at Davis, who was barely conscious now, his chest rising and falling in shallow movements. Her face twisted with anguish, and for the first time, I saw something beyond her rage. I saw her pain.  

She was a sister watching her brother bleed out in her arms.  And I had been too focused on my own fear, my own world, to even acknowledge it. For the first time since everything unraveled, guilt crept up my spine like ice.  

I had been standing here, trying to untie my father, trying to protect my own, while she was losing everything.  I didn’t know the whole story. But I knew this, Clara had every right to hate me. 

She lifted her gaze again, her eyes burning with a promise.  

“I will end you,” she whispered. “I swear it.”