Chapter 49: The night I died

Chapter 49: The night I died
The night smelled like mint tea and freshly baked bread. Mum had put in so much work for this meeting with Mr Colbert.... After all he was coming with a good news regarding the land allocation for Green Corps in Nothernham.
"I made this small feast to thank you for... you know standing by us and making sure we get the land" She said with a practiced smile
He returned the smile "it's nothing. My Father loves and recognises rising talents"
"Right"
While they discussed about the next step, Dad sat there in awkward silence. He'd been arguing with Mr Colbert a lot these days about Mr Colbert being mean to me and supporting mum's hateful remarks about me.
" I'm sure Gisele's concern is just coming from the place of a worried mother.
Whenever I fell to the ground and Mr Colbert will snap at me telling me to quit my silly antics and slowly the bridge between him and my father became bigger than expected.
Dad saw it as him getting jealous over the fact that I was getting his attention more.
"You'll believe her over me?" Mr Colbert asked hurt whenever Daddy took my side
Then the night came when Mr Colbert offered to take me shopping for a ball happening in Nothernham the next week. Mum agreed immediately but Dad wasn't buying it.
He was hostile to me and all of a sudden he was taking me to go shop for dress?.
As I'd suspected, Mr Colbert didn't take me to the mall to get dresses, he drove us to the hotel and led me straight to the rooftop to force a confession out of me. I knew this trick too well.
When we got to the rooftop, Mr Colbert yelled at me for trying to come between him and my father. I knew my Dad must've been following us and he'll show up anytime soon so of course I did not give in.
" I don't know what you're talking about " I feigned innocence
He grabbed my arm roughly pushing me to the ground in frustration while screaming at me to agree to my misdeeds.
"There's no one here so just quit the mind games and manipulation" He said pulling at his hair
I starter sobbing "please don't hurt me"
"I despise liars and manipulators" He grabbed my arms again
"Let me go please, I'm not trying to come between you and my Daddy i promise" I screamed trying to get out of his grasp
"Wha..."
"Let her go" My Dad yelled from behind him
"No" He yelled stepping back and dragging me along with him
"Your wife was right about her, she's making me look like a villain and that's ruining our relationship" He said shaking me roughly
"Let her go, she's bleeding already"
"What?" He said looking down at the wound on my abdomen and the knife at his feet.
"You lair...." His hands grab my neck....
Then the deafening sound of gunshot
He stood there, eyes wide and face twisted in pain. Behind him, my father stood with a gun.
He rushed over to me holding my face in his palm " Are you okay? "
I shook my head, my hand on my bleeding abdomen.... The last thing I saw was the all knowing look on Mum's face.
The sound of sirens....
hushed whispers....
.....beeping.....
The sound of nothingness.....
The smell of something void of life....
Then Footsteps....
I'm probably dead...
Then my eyes opened, after adjusting to really bright light
"You've been unconscious for so long. It's a miracle you're awake" The nurse said smiling down at me
But I had no memory of who I was
Flashback ends
I try to will my body to move, to respond to the signal from my brain...
I hear beeping around me
And in my pitch black dream, I feel a cold touch. My mother's touch
"I hope you never wake up"
Those words fuel my body to respond as i jolt awake
"You're awake" Nurse Judy let out a sigh of relief
As I look up at her, I suddenly feel a wave of familiarity. She was the nurse that attended to me during my recovery

The door creaks open and Stephen walks in. She turns to look at him, her eyes dragging slowly from his eyes to the gun in his hand.
"I thought you would've disappeared from my life after finding out the truth about your father's death" She says, a smirk playing on her face
But he's not even a bit amused, not even in the mood for games
"Don't you feel even a bit guilty?"
"No" She states simply, taking her eyes back to the flowers scattered on the table.
He stares at her, trying to understand the motive behind her thought process. What about the innocence she showed at the beginning of their marriage, was it all fake?.
"Your innocence, was it all fake?" His voice cracks as reality begin to sink in.
She looks up at him and for a moment, he doesn't see her but Rain. The one innocent person that was caught up in this mess.
His resolve breaks and he drops the gun on the table, crouching down to her level.
"I'm willing to start all over with you....I'm willing to pretend I don't know anything and just punish your family. You just have to choose me...."
She cuts him off by putting a finger on his lips
"You're so desperate to have me so you could feel even just one bit closer to Rain. You'll do anything to keep me alive because me dying will be a second death of Rain..." I say tsking, "To you, I'm just my sister's replacement "
He's about to argue but his phone rings and he goes to the side to take the call.
Her eyes follows him like a hawk and when he turns abruptly with anger radiating off him, she's already matching his stare with a satisfied grin on her face.
"How dare you? " He storms over to her and grabs her neck lightly, he doesn't dare press...
"What have I done?" She asks innocently
"I just got news that someone broke your father out of prison" He says trying so hard to not squeeze the life out of her.
She shrugs carelessly "I see, that's not so good "
"Something tells me you have a hand in this "
" I've been at home all day nursing my baby, what time do I have to break my father out of your heavily guarded cell" She takes his hands off her neck
" I've learned to never underestimate you Sallyanne " He scoffs, " I've come to know how well you can curate games"
She nod thoughtfully "I'm glad you're catching up very fast"
"Don't think you can get away from me...."
She smiles "I don't plan to leave anytime soon. Being with you is a reminder that I won over my mother and my sister", I sigh fulfilled " and that is something I want to bask in every single day"
A message pops up on her phone and Stephen snatches it off the table before she does.
Thank you for the tip you gave, he'll never trace the accident back to me
He'd only barely held himself back from strangling her to death just now. His vision blurs and all he can see is white rage.....
Then gunshot....