What Did You Do?

AT Ripley Manor, Latton sat on the makeshift swing on one of the trees in the garden.

While swinging, Lucius marches towards her.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"No!" She replied.

Then stop the swing from moving: "I'm young, smart, and rich, and I could get anything I wanted but still kept clinging to someone I couldn't. Why is that Lucius?" She inquired, her eyes expressing sorrow.

He smiles bitterly, "Because you are in love. You fell deeply in love and it clouded your judgment. You left all logic and reasoning behind. Love makes us stupid. If it didn't, then it's not that deep. That's the rule."

She laughs, "The shittiest thing I've ever heard.” She glances away, "Have you fallen in love before?" She asks.

He nods. "It is bliss. The best feeling ever. Then reality hits us, and we wake up and understand it's all a dream." He explains.

She hugged him tightly. “Let’s grow old together.” She said jokingly.

He laughs and then pokes her cheek. "You go out there and meet new people."

She heaves deeply, “I thought everything was going well. Even if he doesn’t remember me, I can feel that he is trying to make new memories with me, and then suddenly everything changes. He became angry and I don’t know why. I kept asking but he did not say anything. Is it part of being in love?” She smiled bitterly.

His eyes narrowed, “Xavier.” He mumbled under his breath.

Later that day, Lucius marched to Xavier’s room. “Xavier, what did you do?” He yelled while holding Xavier’s shoulders firmly. “Don’t think of lying to me.”

Xavier removed his hands from him, “Saving her from being broken again. That guy is bad news,” he exclaimed.

Lucius gasped in disbelief, “Do you think she looks happy now? Have you seen her? She looked more depressed than when Catherine died. I told you not to meddle in things that don't concern y–”

"It concerned me. She's family. ” Xavier intervened. “Va-Yor-Ri. Vaughn York Ripley Unlimited, our father's last name, is the first letter from the biggest company in the city. It will never happen in a million years. Our mother, the illegitimate child of a billionaire to a maid, married our hardworking father from a middle-class family. In everyone's eyes, we are nothing."

"She's the only one that treats us like family. Have you forgotten you are a COO now because of her? If she hadn't taken over Ripley International and changed it, Albert Ripley would never have let our family near the Ripley fortune. So don't ever say it doesn't concern me." Xavier shouted.

Lucius' eyes reddened. He could sense his brother’s pain. “Still… She needs to know the truth.” He mumbled.

“You’re going to snitch on me?” Xavier shouted. Fist clenched tightly.

Lucius shook his head, “You’re going to tell her. I don’t know how but you will. It'd be better if she learned it from you," he explained calmly.

“No. I don’t need to. As long as you shut that mouth of yours,” Xavier declared.

Lucius sighed, then shook his head in disappointment. “Do whatever you want, but if these lies of yours come to light. She… She might banish us from the Ripley estate. Our parents, especially our mother, will be devastated.” He warned, then leaves.

Lucius' words linger in Xavier’s mind, but he brushes them off and continues with his day.

Meanwhile, at Lucian's Villa.

He received a message from the jewelry store, asking when he would pick up the ring he had purchased.

“Ring?” He asks himself. Soon he drove to the store.

“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Caldwell. As promised, here’s a 13.1-carat pear-shaped white diamond,” The sales clerk said.

Lucian sighs.

The sales clerk's face paled. “Is it too small again, Mr. Caldwell?”

The sales clerk’s words piqued his attention. “Again?” Lucian mumbled.

The clerk nodded. “The last time you looked at a 10-carat black diamond, you said it was too small. You specifically mentioned something bigger than 12.5 carats,” he replied.

"Why would I want something like that? Am I buying it for my mother," Lucian muttered to himself.

“I thought the wedding got called off since you did not arrive last time you scheduled to pick up the ring.” The clerk mumbles jokingly.

Lucian’s eyes widened, “Wedding? Am I getting married? To whom?” He asks himself.

"When did I schedule to pick up the ring?" He inquired.

"Exactly 2 months ago," The clerk responds.

Lucian's gaze narrowed, "That's the same day I got into an accident, and, as per John, I'm supposed to attend Latton's divorce party." He thought to himself.

The clerk coughs. Jolting Lucian back to reality. “So should I put it in the box?” He asks nicely.

Lucian nods.

The clerk's eyes beamed in happiness, “Thank you, Mr. Caldwell. It’s nice doing business with you again.” He uttered in glee.

“Again? Have I bought something else here?” Lucian asks.

The clerk nods, “A promise ring. It’s a white gold ring surrounded by small diamonds.” He explains as he wraps the ring.

The description reminds him of the one Latton threw at him. He rummaged in his pocket and showed it to the clerk, “Is this the ring I purchased here?” He asked frantically.

The clerk nods. “Yes, that’s the one. There’s an engraving inside it,” He replied gently, then turned with a frown, “Did she return the ring, Sir?” He added in concern.

Lucian ignored his remarks, “Are you done wrapping the ring?” He inquired.

The clerk nods.

Shortly, Lucian took the ring and went straight to his car. “What the fuck?” He uttered. His face expresses defeat while looking at the engraving on the promised ring, ‘L & L’.

“What did I do?” He asks himself while unknowingly crying his eyes out. “I can't remember her, yet she's all I wanted to see."

Shortly, an idea entered his mind, and he hastily drove home.

When he reaches his villa, he instantly opens the room at the end of the 2nd-floor corridor. Boot up the computer and search for the footage Latton mentioned before.

But to his disappointment, the hard drive was wiped clean. He was about to give up when suddenly a message popped up on the notification taskbar.

'Sync in progress'

"Sync?" He mumbled, then remembered he had a drive that backed up everything in the cloud.

It took him several times to log in. In the end, he successfully accessed his account.

Lo and behold, there's a folder with Latton Ripley's name. He opens it, and it shows all the images and videos neatly arranged in different folders with dates and locations. Mostly in Fleur De Ville, but there's a location that caught his eye: a folder named 'Caldwell Farm'. He clicked on the folder and saw the video...

"She's not the overbearing stalker..."

"...I am"

He mumbles while the video plays in his background. It shows how he tied her to the animal breeding stand and roughly penetrated her. He could see the fear in her eyes and hear her whimpers in sync with his movements.

-

NOTE: animal breeding stand scene- available in Chapter 36 - Fear